with Vicky Fox
26 – 29 January 2023
at triyoga Camden + online
yoga for cancer teacher training
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< yoga for cancer teacher training
overview
This 40-hour training will give you the tools to create a safe and healing environment to teach yoga and relaxation to people diagnosed with cancer or other long-term health conditions. It is open to qualified yoga teachers or therapists and healthcare professionals with a committed yoga practice. It is accredited by Yoga Alliance Professionals.
This course is at our Camden studio, and will be live-streamed if you prefer to attend online. You can sign up for either option. Attendance at all sessions is required in order to qualify. All participants will receive 14-day access to recordings of the training.
We acknowledge an under-representation of BIPOC in the yoga world and we are committed to doing our part to change this. Vicky Fox and triyoga are delighted to be able to offer one part-funded scholarship for a BIPOC student. To apply, download a scholarship application here and submit it by 1st December 2022.
What an incredible course. Vicky was so professional with her meticulous preparation and facilitation of the programme. I am so touched by her generosity in sharing her mantras, meditations and all the added extras. The guest speakers were outstanding.
Having felt overwhelmed at points, I now feel well equipped to take safe care of people with side effects from illness, both mental and physical, and am excited to incorporate this into my practice.
Joanna Hancock
course content
Each day will begin with a practice suitable for people diagnosed with cancer so that you have the opportunity to experience four different classes and the adaptations that might be necessary. This is followed by discussion of the focus set for each class. Each practice will include the use of mudras and pranayama.
The day will start at 9am and include a mixture of physical practice, lectures and working in smaller breakout groups. There will be a break in the morning and afternoon and one hour for lunch. The day will end at 5pm, finishing with pranayama and/or meditation. There will also be opportunity to observe a yoga for cancer class.
Day 1: Gentle practice with mudras the importance of building back strength slowly. Overview of cancer terminology and diagnosis. How to create a safe and healing environment. Understanding stress, fear and anxiety and the impact of living with cancer. Treatment for cancer and how to start creating a toolbox of poses and adjustments to help with the side effects of treatment and diagnosis.
Day 2: Guest speaker Louise Malone, Specialist Oncology Physiotherapist at LOC, will talk about how movement helps to maximise a person’s function before, during and after treatment. How it can help with and might prevent side effects of systemic treatment such as muscle weakness, peripheral neuropathy and treatment related fatigue (TRF). Stronger practice with mantras. Breast cancer treatment and reconstruction and its implications. Modifying the practice and the importance of building back range of motion and strength. How to create compassionate classes that start with ourselves. Building on our toolbox. Lymphoedema-specific exercises.
Day 3: Chair practice. Koshas: a multidimensional approach to healing. Hormones and menopause, building our toolbox to support the side effects. Osteoporosis and building bone strength. The big Cs are also Community and Connection. Group class planning. How to start putting what we have learnt into practice. Working in small groups in breakout rooms. Secondary cancer.
Day 4: Guest speaker Liliana Branco, Supportive Care/Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist, will talk about how to support people in palliative care. The importance of learning to relax on a deeper level including meditation, yoga nidra and guided relaxation. The business of teaching yoga for cancer.
course structure
Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 January 2023
9am–5pm daily
Lunch 1–2pm
additional hours
Vicky encourages all students on the training to observe a yoga for cancer class being taught.
learning outcomes
- Cultivating a safe space, how to hold that space, to listen and be compassionate in a yoga studio when working with fear, anxiety and possibly pain. To reassure people who may have found themselves in a world filled with tests and procedures. How you as a teacher can make the yoga studio a welcoming place that is accessible for a very wide range of experiences, abilities and quality of health.
- Understanding cancer terminology. Diagnosis and grading of cancer. Treatment for breast cancer and implications of reconstructive surgery. Lymphoedema and cording and how to adapt the class to allow people to increase range of motion and build strength slowly and in a safe way. How your class can minimise muscle atrophy and keep blood and lymph circulating to help promote wellbeing.
- A-Z of side effects and using your skills as a yoga teacher or therapist to adapt classes so that the class is accessible and inclusive to all.
- Exploring the concept that we are not just a physical body and are multidimensional beings of mind, body and spirit that are connected. Our bodies are made up of different layers or koshas that are constantly changing. We will explore how to fully let go and how we need to relax each layer from the outer to the inner layers for us to allow healing to take place.
- Chair classes: how to modify postures to include those who need to remain seated. Considering what your students may need most to feel empowered but also taking into account practices that support the changes occuring such as bone density, menopausal symptoms or secondary cancer.
- The role of yoga nidra, guided relaxation and meditation. Use of language that is validating and supportive.
eligibility + pre-requisites
This training is open to all qualified, accredited yoga teachers, and therapists and healthcare professionals with a committed yoga practice. Prior to the course all participants will be asked to read an account of cancer from a supplied reading list, then reflect on and answer five questions.
There will also be post-course work that must be completed, including teaching a class, reading the book Making Friends with Death – A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality by Judith L Lief, and completing an assignment on it.
accreditation
40-hour specialist training accredited by Yoga Alliance Professionals
next course
26 – 29 January 2023
cost
course fee: £650
discount fee: £595 early bird discount until 1 Dec 2022
venue
Camden + online
contact
faculty
Vicky Fox
