As I've continued on through my education, I've come to appreciate the more alternative modes of therapy that have come into acceptance. While I haven't done all the research that I would like on some of these things, I have come to embrace meditation pretty fully in my practice, and have now started thinking about the integration of yoga. As it is, I have suggested yoga to some of my clients, and know that a few others were already involved in it at a clubhouse.Time has just released an article titled Psychotherapy Goes From Couch To Yoga Mat, and I really appreciated some of the points.
From some of my own healing, I've learned about the importance of the mind-body connection, and I truly believe that yoga, along with other physical activities, can help us bridge this gap.
You know, I talk a lot, but the fact is that I haven't been to yoga in SO long. It's time for me to get back there...
i'm with you there, i haven't been to yoga in ages and I really need to go. once I get over this sinus infection... or stop procrastinating with lame excuses, lol.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree about the yoga - in fact I came to social work (am studying for a BSW) with a yoga background first - I wanted to get more therapy skills so I could integrate that side more into my yoga teaching - especially doing private sessions.
ReplyDeleteThere is a marvellous teacher of meditation and yoga who is also a psychoanalyst. His name is Michael Stone - if you ever get a chance to study with him do - he's based in Toronto though he travels quite a bit. He's doing a course at the Social Work Dept at Dalhousie in Halifax in June on mindfulness and meditation in clinical practice - it's a week long course (with a certificate) and is under their continuing education program. I'm currently trying to figure out whether I can get to it.
Now if you could just get the insurance companies to acknowledge yoga as therapy & therefore pay for it...
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dawtch
Thanks for this post! I've always thought about teaching yoga, but in my mind it was usually yoga OR social work. This week I started to google "social work yoga", just to see if there were people out there combining the two. I graduate with my BSW this May!
ReplyDeleteAnd I can actually be pretty anti-social around people I'm not close to, so this blog post really stuck out to me in the list!
That is exactly how I found this page - by googling "social work yoga"! One organization I found that is doing interesting work is Street Yoga - they are based in Portland, OR. There is also an interesting conference coming up in May on yoga therapy at Kripalu. I am interested in using yoga when working with people suffering from PTSD.
ReplyDeleteSeattle: There is a similar organization in Vancouver called Yoga Outreach, I think. That's cool that it's in different places. I'll have to look up that conference...
ReplyDeleteAnd I've just read some good stuff about PTSD and yoga. Sounds interesting. Thanks for the comment...reminds me to get back on the mat. ;)
I got my MSW 2 years ago and a starting to look at integrating more alternative and complementary approaches to my practice. I am taking a integrating yoga into social work practice from BU and recently took a conference on journaling and social work.
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