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Debra Premashakti Alvis Related seminars and products: 5

Ph.D.

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Debra Premashakti Alvis, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and private practitioner who developed and led the Mind/Body Program at the University of Georgia that specializes in addressing anxiety, stress and depression in individuals with physical health concerns and co-morbid mental health issues.

In more than 25 years of clinical experience in treating clients with anxiety, Dr. Alvis has found that she can help clients recover from anxiety more quickly, and more effectively sustain the gains made in therapy, by combining brain-based principles, body-oriented techniques and traditional psychotherapeutic approaches.

Dr. Alvis lectures and leads retreats around the world. Her trainings have helped thousands of clinicians to integrate the richness of contemplative practices and somatic psychotherapies with cognitive approaches for greater clinical effectiveness. Dr. Alvis maintains a private practice in Georgia where she treats clients with anxiety, trauma, shame, depression and relational concerns.

She also continues to work as a professor at the University of Georgia where she supervises the clinical work of doctoral students and co-leads a research team investigating mindfulness.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Debra Premashakti Alvis is in private practice. She receives compensation as a Professor for the University of Georgia. Dr. Alvis receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.

Non-financial: Debra Premashakti Alvis has no relevant non-financial relationship to disclose.

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Objectives

1. Evaluate ways that autonomic nervous system dysregulation contributes to PTSD symptoms.
2. Ascertain symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder which can be decreased through a trauma-sensitive yoga practice.
3. Practice trauma-informed chair yoga postures for use in the individual or group psychotherapy session.
4. Determine the benefits of bringing yogic deep relaxation into the therapy session.
5. Specify yogic strategies to help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in clients.
6. Apply applications of chair yoga and three-part deep breathing practices into your clinical work, using scripts and practice sessions.

Outline

• Yoga, Patanjali and MIR’s
• The importance of heart rate variability (HRV)

• The Triune Brain: left out of traditional psychotherapy?
• Regulating the brain’s trauma center
• Tracking body sensation and breathing deeply
• A frame of reference from Somatic Psychotherapy
• Neuroplasticity and interpersonal neurobiology

• The evidence in evidence-based yoga practice
• Yoga and polarities
• Guided script for chair yoga:
  • 5 trauma-informed chair yoga postures
  • Guiding and integrating the poses into your existing treatment modality (EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, etc.)
• Chair trauma-yoga:
  • Tracking body sensation
  • Gaining self-mastery
  • Increasing self-regulation
  • Expanding present-moment awareness
• Experience a chair yoga warm up and posture sequence

• Respiration and the autonomic nervous system (ANS)
• Breathing techniques to regulate the ANS and calm symptoms of trauma, anxiety and depression
• Experience the three-part deep breath and script

• Evaluating the client
• Opening the session
• Healing polarities:
  • Inner/outer
  • Sympathetic/parasympathetic activation
  • Sensing/action
  • Cognitive/somatic
• Healthy symptoms of trauma discharge
• Key points in making referrals to yoga classes

• The benefits of sleeping while awake
• Varieties of Yoga Nidra
• Guided experience of Satchidananda’s Yoga Nidra
• Discussion of Yoga Nidra script

• The relaxation response
• Mindfulness meditation: open-focused meditation
• A guided experience of both styles of meditation
• The benefits of meditation in the trauma psychotherapy session

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