Essential information
Capacity for personal & group process. Commitment to inner healing.
This training is dedicated to deepening your embodied awareness and self connection. During this process, body memories and emotions will surface. This therapy is not a spiritual bypass, you will need to be open to accessing extra therapeutic support along side this training. This could be cranial-sacral therapy, body psychotherapy, compassionate inquiry, somatic experiencing, etc.
As we are building a container for mutual respect and shared vulnerability, you need to be responsible for your personal material, triggers and shadow which involves being committed to your inner healing. This means that whatever comes up for you, will not derail you. Rather, you will have the belief and courage to engage with it.
If you do not have a background in personal inquiry or growth, i.e. you have not done any inner work on your ego, defences or vulnerabilities, please reflect on whether this course is right for you.
I ask all apprentices to engage in a wholesome therapy to support them alongside their participation in the womb Gaia tenemos-container. Being well resourced will enable you to birth your truth and light and cut away your fears, aversions and doubts.
If you have a mental health condition/are dysregulated and NOT seeking professional help, this apprenticeship is NOT for you. It is not a substitute for counselling or psychotherapy.
Assessments
This training uses assessments to empower individuals to take responsibility for their own learning and development. Assessments consist of spoken reflections, a written assignments and case studies. This apprenticeship training has no pretenses to tick the right boxes. Assessments are used to support commitment and accountability, Please read here about the decolonial-process orientated learning pathway that this course follows.
In this training, we use body mapping, journaling and sharing to support growth and insight. Students need to regularly journal and self reflect, to integrate their understanding This material forms the basis of your spoken testimony and written assignment. You will not be asked to quote some one else's work but to rely on and use your own experience and insight.
There are 2 assignments to be completed in the second year. 1 written and 1 sharing/spoken.
After the course, there are 3 case studies to complete,. 2 of which follow two different clients, aiming for 12- 20 weeks and 1 of a therapeutic- somatic yoga class (maximum 6 people) over a minimum of 8 weeks, aiming for 12 to 14 weeks. You will have 8 months to complete this.
Scope of practice:
This course will support you to become clear and confident about how to integrate process orientated somatic yoga therapy and embodiment skills into your existing professional practice. It will define what you can do as well as your professional boundaries. You will understand about safeguarding for the public and when to refer onwards to another health or caring professional.
You will gain the skills to read your clients somatic expressions, knowing when to put the brakes on without reactivating their nervous system. You will be able to facilitate and teach small groups and support clients 1 to 1 sessions. You will be able to work with women who are recovering from from chronic stress, pain, tension, burn out, shock, trauma and injury. If you are a mental health professional, you can incorporate these skills into your practice and work more comprehensively with trauma.
Pre requisites:
You will be an existing holistic, mental health or caring professional and have a background in yoga, somatics or embodiment. If you are a yoga teacher please consider if you are ready to shift to a therapeutic way of working which is radically different to teaching.
If you do not have a level 3 A & P qualification you will need to undertake the online course here
You will also need to have a background in personal therapy/development as well as an ongoing commitment to personal growth & healing.
Before the course starts, I ask each apprentice to sign and honour an agreement, respecting terms and conditions, confidentiality and commitment to self -care. It ensures we build a safe container together.
Professional standards.
Professional bodies can offer protective structures for the public but they currently exist within an industrial complex that generates profit, regulation and rigid structures.
On completion of this course, you may register with the Yoga Therapy Collective, a new professional organization for Yoga therapists that is committed to a non hierarchal, democratic way of professional accountability, validation and ethical conduct.. www.yogatherapycollective.org.uk You will benefit from peer support, supervision and mentoring. Womb Gaia Sophia is a member school of the YTC.
You may also wish to stay with your existing professional body and add trauma informed somatic body work & yoga therapy as an extra modality within the therapeutic framework that you use.