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Yoga for Cancer
HEALING YOGA FOR CANCER SURVIVORSHIP

 

This 40-hour training with Cheryl Fenner Brown is a yoga therapy course designed for yoga teachers and health care practitioners wishing to help cancer patients and survivors use the ancient practices of yoga to nurture wellness. Combined with the Yoga Nidra Training (an additional 10 hours), this training will give you the tools and understanding to confidently guide cancer patients and survivors through their healing journey with asana, mudra, pranayama, mantra, sound, intention, and meditation.

In this training you will learn:

About cancer biology, how and why cancer happens, and the link between stress, inflammation, and immunity.
About traditional Western medical, complementary, and alternative cancer treatments and how side-effects impact patients’ well-being.
The theory and practice of yoga protocols for the management of cancer treatment side-effects (pain, insomnia, lymphedema, digestive distress, cognitive fog, anxiety, depression, neuropathy, and cancer-related fatigue).
How to adopt common practices for patients in active treatment, what is safe and what should be avoided.
Somatic movement therapies enhance lymphatic flow to boost functional and physical well-being.
The practical application of adaptive, chair, and restorative asana for patients in treatment and beyond.
How cancer impacts the subtle body including the koshas, the vayus, and the chakras.
About the powerful practice of mudra and how it helps manage both the physical and emotional side-effects of cancer.
Safe pranayama practices for cooling the body and promoting awareness and calm.
The brain science behind how Yoga Nidra promotes healing at the deepest levels.
The art of writing your own customized Yoga Nidra meditations.
How to guide students through intention setting and transforming intentions into personal Sanskrit mantras.
The power of sound practices, bija mantras, and japa mala meditation.
How to adapt the yoga for cancer protocols for individual sessions and group yoga classes.
To build confidence around how to support emotional processing when it arises in your students and clients and how to protect your boundaries while working with this population.
How to effectively teach and assist cancer patients with practice creating case study protocols.

This training is broken up into several training segments, described below. To learn more about the Yoga Nidra Training, which is priced separately but required to complete this training, click here.

Principles of Yoga Therapy for Cancer

This introductory session covers the biology of cancer as well as and how traditional, complementary, and alternative treatments impact patients’ health. Learn how stress impacts the immune system and how yoga can help; plus, how to adapt common practices for patients in active treatment, what is safe and what should be avoided. Explore the basic yoga protocol used in the Healing Yoga for Cancer Survivorship research study including asana, mudra, pranayama, guided relaxation, and sound.

Cancer & Asana

Learn how to adapt common asanas for both cancer patients and survivors. Take a deep dive into restorative and chair yoga, as well as somatic movement therapies that boost immunity. Learn specific protocols that reduce cancer treatment side-effects such as lymphedema, pain, insomnia, anxiety, depression, digestive distress, neuropathy, and cancer-related fatigue. Practice customizing asana protocols with group case studies.

The Power of Breath and Sound

Online pre-requisite includes a review of yoga philosophy and the difference between Samkhya and Vedanta views; an introduction to the subtle body including prana, nadis, vayus, koshas, doshas, sound, and the chakras; and learn how to view cancer through the lens of the subtle body. Learn the science behind pranayama and how to guide patients through practices during treatment and beyond. Experience specific pranayama protocols to manage anxiety, depression, pain, insomnia, lymphedema, neuropathy, cancer-related fatigue, cognitive fog, and digestive distress. Cultivate the power of using intention and the sound practices of chanting, bija mantra, and japa mala to enhance meditative states. Learn how to guide clients in creating personalized Sanskrit mantras. Group case study work will help you apply your knowledge and customize breath, sound, and intention protocols.

Mudras for Healing

Learn the powerful art of mudras and how they elicit positive changes in the physical, emotional, mental and wisdom bodies. Learn how to create your own personalized mudras, and explore specific mudra protocols to promote immune health, and manage anxiety, depression, pain, insomnia, lymphedema, neuropathy, cancer-related fatigue, and digestive distress. Learn how to combine mudra with asana, pranayama, chanting, and meditation to promote deeper awareness and healing. Practice customizing mudra protocols with group case study work.

Working with Patients Practicum

Are you ready to apply your yoga for cancer knowledge to a real-world teaching scenario? This practicum is an opportunity to work one-on-one with cancer patients and survivors under supervision. Learn how to protect your boundaries while working with this population, and how to support emotional processing when it arises. Get tips on how to effectively teach and assist cancer patients. Observe and practice the client assessment process. Customize yoga protocols that combine asana, mudra, pranayama, sound, intention, and yoga nidra to meet your client’s needs. Finally, practice teaching your protocols then receive feedback from your peers in a safe and supportive environment.

LIVESTREAM

Cost: $800 (40 hours)

 

Cost: Yoga Nidra Training: $275

LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE:

Saturday 8/27 from 9:00-11:30 am + 1:30-4:00 pm PST
Saturday 9/10 from 9:00-11:00 am + 1:00-3:00 pm PST
Monday 9/12, 9/19, 9/26 from 1:00-3:00 pm PST
Saturday 10/8 from 9:00-11:00 am + 1:00-3:00 pm PST
Monday 10/10, 10/17, 10/24 from 1:00-3:00 pm PST
Saturday 11/5 from 9:00-11:00 am + 1:00-3:00 pm PST
Monday 11/7, 11/14, 11/21 from 1:00-3:00 pm PST
Saturday12/3 from 9:00-11:30 am + 1:30-4:00 pm PST

 

About the instructor: Cheryl Fenner Brown

Cheryl Fenner Brown

Cheryl found yoga in 2001 as a way to ease chronic back pain and became instantly enchanted by the subtle connections between the breath, body, mind, and emotions. Students appreciate her deeply educational approach to yoga and her classes weave anatomy, philosophy, asana, mudra, chanting, pranayama and yoga nidra together for a well-rounded experience delivered with compassion and humor. Cheryl encourages each student to honor where they are in their bodies every time they step onto the mat so deep healing and transformation takes place. She specializes in working with people over 50, cancer patients, and those with structural injuries and ailments.

Her training with master Hatha teachers from Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, California, and the Integrative Yoga Therapy school at Kripalu helps her to blend both traditional Hatha teachings and alignment principles with subtle energy work and intuitive healing.  She is certified as an E-RYT 500 through Yoga Alliance and maintains their certification as a continuing education provider.  In 2016, she was among the first group of teachers to be certified through the International Association of Yoga Therapists as a C-IAYT. She has been a Reiki practitioner since 1997 and was certified as a Holy Fire® III Karuna® Reiki Master in 2019.

As a yoga therapist with over 1,600 hours of individual client experience, Cheryl co-creates home practices that meet the lifestyle needs of her wide variety of clients. As a teacher, she has taught over 7,700 hours of public classes, workshops and retreats in studios and cancer centers nationwide, and serves on the faculty of several teacher training and yoga therapy schools across the country. As a mentor, she helps to develop both aspiring and seasoned yoga teachers. As a researcher, her Healing Yoga for Cancer Survivorship study on the benefits of yoga for reducing side-effects of cancer treatment has been presented at IAYT’s Symposium on Yoga Research and the Society of Integrative Oncology’s annual conferences in 2015 and highlighted in Yoga Journal. Cheryl is a published author with three Yoga Nidra CDs and a companion DVD to the cancer research available from her discography.

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