Trainings FAQS

Our certification-level trainings are for yoga teachers and practitioners, clinicians, people with brain injury, caregivers, and others who are passionate about making yoga and meditation fully accessible to the brain injury community. Learn more and discover which training is best for you!

 

General Questions

Which training is best for me?

  • LoveYourBrain Yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury Training - Level 1: for yoga teachers, health professionals, yoga practitioners, people with brain injury, and caregivers looking for practical tools and skills to make yoga, meditation, and pranayama accessible for people with traumatic brain injury, including concussion. You’ll learn the science of resilience, key principles of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, and the neuroscience of why yoga works for brain health. It’s also for yoga teachers who want to be certified to teach in the LoveYourBrain Yoga program and deliver our research-backed, six-week curriculum to their local brain injury community through partnerships with LoveYourBrain Affiliate Yoga Studios across North America. If you want to learn to teach gentle yoga to the brain injury community, or use it to support yourself and others, this training is for you!

  • LoveYourBrain Yoga for Health Professionals Training: specifically designed for health professionals (PTs, OTs, SLPs, MDs, PhDs, therapists, and more) working in inpatient to post-acute brain injury services for patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke, and other forms of ABI who want to integrate evidence-based tools in gentle yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga nidra guided meditation into their clinical practice. You’ll learn the science of resilience, foundational research on the effectiveness of yoga for brain injury, and how simple mindfulness-based tools enhance the patient-provider relationship and health outcomes. If you want to incorporate adaptive yoga, meditation, and pranayama techniques that accommodate a broad range of brain injury symptoms and severity levels into a clinical setting, this training is for you!

  • LoveYourBrain Yoga and Facilitation Training - Level 2: this training builds upon our Level 1 & Health Professionals trainings by deepening and expanding your skills, knowledge, and hands-on experience offering accessible yoga and group facilitation specifically designed for brain injury. If you are a yoga teacher or practitioner, work in brain injury advocacy and support groups, are a health professional, or anyone with a deep passion for creating mindfulness-based, inclusive programming for the brain injury community, this training is for you! *Certification from this training is required to facilitate the research-backed, six-week online LYB Mindset program.*

What are the main differences between each training?

Our Level 1 Training is geared towards yoga teachers and clinicians who want to teach accessible yoga to people affected by TBI in community settings (e.g., yoga studios, gyms, and community centers). We expect that participants in the Level 1 training don’t have an extensive background in traumatic brain injury, so we have a didactic module on defining traumatic brain injury, common symptoms, and more expanded principles of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and the neuroscience of why yoga works,, which we don't include in the training for health professionals. 

Our Health Professionals Training focuses on additional techniques for people with more severe levels of brain injury, including greater mobility limitations (i.e., wheelchair use, hemiparesis, spasticity) and cognitive limitations. We also dive into the practical application of yoga in the healthcare environment (i.e., billing procedures, hospital-grade props, research methodologies) to set you up to successfully integrate yoga-based tools into your clinical practice. This training also provides training in different meditation and pranayama practices than our Level 1 training. 

If after completing the Level 1 or Health Professionals trainings you would like to go deeper, and learn more about facilitating accessible and inclusive spaces, we encourage you to join our Level 2 Training!

Our Level 2 Training is intended for graduates of the Level 1 or Health Professionals trainings to deepen their skills in offering accessible yoga asana (movement-based practices) and mindfulness practices, as well as incorporate new information and practices like yoga nidra. It is also designed to offer more nuanced skills in offering facilitated group discussion and connection - expanding on tools for boundary setting and self-care, managing difficult emotions, enhancing inclusive practices to support diversity, harm repair and relationship building. This training is required if you would like to facilitate our LYB Mindset Program.

Do I need to be a yoga teacher to take LYB trainings?

Nope. We welcome beginner to seasoned yoga practitioners or yoga teachers and anyone with a strong interest in learning how to adapt yoga for people affected by traumatic brain injury. We also encourage people who are interested in eventually pursuing their 200-hour yoga training certification to take this training before to help you gain more clarity around what you want your 200-hour training to focus on. There are many paths you can choose to take, and not all 200-hour trainings incorporate adaptive or accessible yoga theory and techniques.

Will I receive a certificate of completion?

Yes. All of our trainings provide you with a certificate of completion and a logo to market yourself as certified by LoveYourBrain Yoga. You will receive these resources after completing all steps for certification (reading, a short assessment,  etc.)

Will I receive Continuing Education credit?

Yes. We are a qualified provider of Continuing Education (CE) contact hours through Yoga Alliance, and are able to offer CE hours for all trainings. 

  • We are able to offer 2.0 CEUs to OT/OTAs in all 50 states through AOTA, for completing our Health Professionals Training.

Who are the training Faculty?

Our training faculty have expertise in yoga, mindfulness, meditation, teaching, facilitating accessible and inclusive spaces, brain health/physiology, clinical spaces and more.

Learn more about the Level 1 Training teaching team here.

Learn more about the Health Professionals Training teaching team here.

Learn more about the Level 2 Training team and guest faculty here.

What is the cancellation policy?

If trainees need to cancel their participation, please contact trainings@loveyourbrain.com - Tuition is non-refundable, however we are happy to transfer you to a different training.

Do you offer scholarships?

Yes! We are able to offer a limited number of full and sliding scale scholarships for each training. Learn more about our scholarships here!

Online Trainings

How do LYB online trainings support learning?

We offer closed captioning to make this training more accessible to all lived experiences, learning styles, and individual needs.

We circulate in advance our electronic 200+ page manual and slides.

We keep our group size to less than 50 people to ensure everyone feels seen and heard, can ask questions, and connect with one another.

We record the content and share with you all so that you will have ongoing access. We upload recordings on YouTube where closed captioning is available.

How do LYB online trainings compare to in person trainings?

Our trainings always prioritize a ‘feel’ of close connection and intimacy, so we offer this online training as an interactive, live program instead of a pre-recorded course. Although, in the past, we have offered compelling and comprehensive pre-recorded courses with Yoga International, we want these trainings to be about bringing our trainees together to share, learn, and grow together in real-time, even if not in the same physical space. 

We offer the same schedule (embodied yoga practices, lecture, large and small group work, interactive breakout sessions, live Q&As) so there will be cohesiveness and engagement amongst all participants.

The cost is the same as our in-person trainings because the amount of content and quality is the same. However, for people facing financial uncertainty, we hope our online format helps minimize additional costs (e.g., travel, accommodations, eating out).

Are the trainings accessible to traumatic brain injury (including concussion)?

Yes! We created and structured our trainings with TBI in mind. Along with the format and resources mentioned above…

We realize screen time can be challenging, and that it's hard to maintain attention and focus for a whole day on the screen, so we’ll include many breaks (both rest and movement) throughout the day to help you re-energize and integrate the content.

We encourage you to participate in a way that suits you best, and offer many resources and tips to support this. We see your simple presence, as well as unique contributions, as participation.

Level 1 - LoveYourBrain Yoga for TBI Training

How is this different from the LoveYourBrain Yoga for Health Professionals training?

Our Level 1 training is geared towards yoga teachers and clinicians who want to teach accessible yoga to people affected by TBI in community settings (e.g., yoga studios, gyms, and community centers). We expect that participants in the Level 1 training don’t have an extensive background in traumatic brain injury, so we have a didactic module on defining traumatic brain injury, common symptoms, and more expanded principles of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and the neuroscience of why yoga works,, which we don't include in the training for health professionals.  

The training for health professionals focuses on additional techniques for people with more severe levels of brain injury, including greater mobility limitations (i.e., hemiparesis, spasticity, wheelchair use) and cognitive limitations. We also dive into the practical application of yoga in the healthcare environment (i.e., billing procedures, hospital-grade props, research methodologies) to set you up to successfully integrate yoga-based tools into your clinical practice. We also include a module on best practices for offering yoga nidra guided meditation for people affected by brain injury, both as an opportunity for clinicians to personally understand the benefits of this practice for their own self-care as well as for supporting healing after brain injury.

After completing this training, what am I certified to teach?

You are certified to teach accessible yoga for brain injury. We ask that when teaching you do not call the class “LoveYourBrain Yoga,” unless you are teaching with a verified Partner Studio. Other terms you can use include, “brain injury friendly,” “TBI friendly,” and “yoga for brain injury.”

LoveYourBrain Yoga for Health Professionals Training

How is this different from your Level 1 training?

Our Level 1 training is geared towards yoga teachers and clinicians who want to teach accessible yoga for people affected by traumatic brain injury in community settings (e.g., yoga studios, gyms, and community centers). We expect that participants in the Level 1 training don’t have an extensive background in traumatic brain injury, so we have a didactic module on defining traumatic brain injury, common symptoms, etc, which we don't include in the training for health professionals.

The training for health professionals focuses on additional techniques for people with more severe levels of brain injury, including greater mobility limitations (i.e., wheelchair use, hemiparesis, spasticity) and cognitive limitations. We also dive into the practical application of yoga in the healthcare environment (i.e., billing procedures, hospital-grade props, research methodologies) to set you up to successfully integrate yoga-based tools into your clinical practice.

Our training for health professionals provides training in different meditation and pranayama practices than our Level 1 training. If after completing the Health Professionals training you would like to go deeper, and learn more about facilitating accessible and inclusive spaces, we encourage you to join our Level 2 Training!

Do you have any financial or non-financial interests to disclose?

No, LoveYourBrain nor the presenters of this training have any financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Do you offer CEUs?

We offer 2.0 CEUs to OTs/OTAs through AOTA. The LoveYourBrain Foundation is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development. Course approval ID# 651. This distance-learning interactive activity is offered at 2.0 CEUs, introductory level, OT Service Delivery. The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA. There is a processing fee to receive CEUs.

Level 2 - Yoga and Facilitation Training

How is this different from the LYB Yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury - Level 1 Training?

Our Level 2 training is intended for graduates of the LYB Yoga Level 1 and Health Professionals Trainings and/or people with a strong understanding of TBI to deepen their skills and confidence in offering accessible yoga asana (e.g., best practices in leading hybrid mat-chair yoga classes), mindfulness practices tailored for TBI (e.g., in-out-in method), and evidence-based practices like yoga nidra guided meditation. It is also designed to build upon our foundational Level 1 Training to offer more nuanced and expansive skills in how to effectively facilitate group discussion that fosters belonging, reframing the TBI experience, and a Growth vs. Fixed mindset, tools for boundary setting and self-care, creating community agreements that foster vulnerability, trust, and brave space, and managing difficult emotions and cognitive challenges. Uniquely, this training focuses on enhancing trainees skills in yoga and facilitation practices to support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and harm repair and relationship building.

Are there any prerequisites?

We require trainees to have completed our LoveYourBrain Yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury - Level 1 Training or our LoveYourBrain Yoga for Health Professionals Training unless you already have a strong understanding of traumatic brain injury and receive permission from LYB.  

Additional Prep Work:

If I want to become a Facilitator for the LYB Mindset program, what do I need to do?

LYB Mindset is a six-week online program for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and caregivers. There are two types of programs, and people who take this training are eligible to be considered to be Facilitators, depending on whether you meet the below criteria:

LYB Mindset Group Discussion Facilitators & co-Facilitators must have: 

  • Completed the LoveYourBrain Yoga & Facilitation - Level 2 Training

  • Completed the LYB Yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury - Level 1 Training

  • Experience (or strong interest in) facilitating group discussion, ideally for people with TBI, and have a background in mindfulness. 

  • Strong skills in operating Zoom as a ‘co-host’: Muting/Unmuting participants, Troubleshooting video/audio, Admitting participants from waiting room, and Managing chat function.

  • Technology Requirements: Access to reliable and consistent high-speed internet, a device that connects to the internet, with a webcam, preferably a desktop or laptop computer.

LYB Mindset with Yoga Facilitators & co-Facilitators must: 

  • Have completed the LoveYourBrain Yoga & Facilitation - Level 2 Training

  • Be certified LYB Yoga Teachers (i.e., have completed the LYB Yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury - Level 1 Training) with experience (or strong interest in) facilitating group discussion, ideally for people affected by TBI. 

  • Strong skills in operating Zoom as a ‘co-host’: Muting/Unmuting participants, Troubleshooting video/audio, Admitting participants from waiting room, and Managing chat function.

  • Technology Requirements: Access to reliable and consistent high-speed internet, a device that connects to the internet, with a webcam, preferably a desktop or laptop computer

What if I have more questions?

Email us at trainings@loveyourbrain.com