The optional Lunch-Hour Roundtables are available for an additional $25. Lunch is provided and seating is limited.
Therapeutic yoga is an awakening giant of modern medicine. Valued through the millennia as a key to prevention, recovery and self-care, today it is proving itself a valuable partner in modern medical fields as diverse as pain management, healthy aging, treatment of diseases, psychiatry and neuroscience, as well as in education and social services.
In a day-long program, experts in the field of contemporary yoga therapy discuss their research, professional and personal experiences, and guide demonstrations of evidence-informed practices including postures, breath work, and meditation techniques for physical and emotional wellbeing.
Linda Stern Lang, director of Therapeutic Yoga of Greater Washington and advisory council member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, moderates.
9:30–10:45 a.m. Yoga as Lifestyle Medicine
Experts highlight the practices they endorse based on their research and suggest how you can safely and intelligently integrate yogic practices into your life. They include Loren Fishman, director of Manhattan Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation; Judith Hanson Lasater, a physical therapist and a founder of Yoga Journal magazine; and Sat Bir Khalsa, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and associate neuroscientist, Brigham and Women's Hospital.
11 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Finding the Right “Yoga Rx”
How can you safely and effectively incorporate yoga into your life? Fishman discusses yoga for prevention and rehabilitation in the areas of back pain, sciatica and scoliosis, arthritis, osteoporosis, weight control, PMS, and common injuries. Lasater focuses on “living your yoga,” stress relief, and restoratives. Khalsa shares his research with children, insomnia, anxiety, PTSD, and discuss the nature of a yogic lifestyle.
12:15–1:15 p.m. Lunch-Hour Roundtables
Optional roundtables are led by specialists in areas of medical and mental health, rehabilitation, addiction recovery, and meditation and stress reduction; lunch is provided.
1:15–3:00 p.m. Therapeutic Yoga for Healthy Living
Discussions focus on yoga as therapy, special conditions, individual case studies, and universal applications of practice. Panelists include JJ Gormley, a master yoga therapist who practices the healing style commonly called Viniyoga; Heather Mason, founder of the Minded Institute, which addresses mental health and chronic conditions and quality of life through yoga therapy and mindfulness programs; and Steffany Moonaz, associate academic director at the Maryland University of Integrative Health, the country’s first master’s-degree program in yoga therapy, and founder of Yoga for Arthritis.
3:15–4:00 p.m. Yoga Therapy as an Art and Science
Panelists offer advice on how to begin yogic practices and guidelines to encourage further exploration and personal discovery in the realms of yoga and meditation.
