The Minded Institute

The Minded Institute We are a world leader in yoga therapy, providing research-based professional training. We hope you enjoy learning with us!

The Minded Institute is an international leader in yoga therapy and mind-body training. We wholeheartedly believe that yoga therapy and aligned disciplines can play a vital role in prevention, management, and treatments of various mental and physical long-term conditions. To support this mission we provide expert education to help yoga and health professionals in the service of this goal and work to translate the benefits of yoga therapy to health services. https://themindedinstitute.com/product-category/courses/

All of our courses incorporate a yogic therapeutic perspective, the psychological and physiological understanding of conditions and related yoga practices, up to date research, and guide for best practice - based on years of clinical experience. As the body-brain-mind connection is often crucial in unearthing the benefits of yoga therapy we also like to do a deep dive into neuroscience when appropriate!

We’re going Live on Monday 24 November at 7pm (UK time) with Elizabeth “Libby” Walunas to explore what autism-affirming ...
24/11/2025

We’re going Live on Monday 24 November at 7pm (UK time) with Elizabeth “Libby” Walunas to explore what autism-affirming yoga therapy looks like in practice.

This Live is a warm introduction to Libby’s work ahead of Wednesday’s Yoga Therapy for Autistic Adults observation, where you can witness a full session and hear her reflections on supporting autistic adults without intellectual disability.

Observation details:
📅 Wednesday 26 November 2025
⏰ 6.30–8.15pm (UK time)
💻 Online, live only (not recorded)

Link in the first comment.

Don’t wait, meditate.Across the UK, yoga and mindfulness keep showing up in the most unexpected places. Heather spotted ...
24/11/2025

Don’t wait, meditate.

Across the UK, yoga and mindfulness keep showing up in the most unexpected places. Heather spotted a drawing on the high street near her house, created in response to a short poem about bringing wellness to the world. Amanda, our Quality and Standards Manager, mentioned that a seaside pub in Kent has been turned into a yoga studio. Another team member said a fourth yoga studio has just opened where she lives, along with a new local meditation group.

There’s a sense that something is evolving, that people are finding new ways to bring yoga and mindfulness into everyday spaces. Perhaps this reflects a wider change in what people value, more awareness, more balance, more real connection.

As we talked, our curiosity grew. What’s happening where you are? If everyone shared what they’re seeing, we’d uncover such an inspiring mix of stories and get a real sense of how yoga and mindfulness are taking shape all over the UK and beyond.

Have you noticed something new where you live? A class, a group, a space, or even a sign that made you stop for a moment? Share it in the comments or tag us in your post. We’d love to see it.

“Yoga for autism” is often misunderstood.It is not about treating or changing autistic traits.It is about shaping yoga a...
21/11/2025

“Yoga for autism” is often misunderstood.
It is not about treating or changing autistic traits.
It is about shaping yoga around the person; their sensory needs, communication style, pacing, preferences, and lived experience.

Many autistic adults experience masking, sensory overload, and gaps in neuro-affirming support. When yoga therapy is adapted with care and respect, it can become a meaningful resource for regulation, embodiment, and well-being.

We have two upcoming opportunities to explore this work:

Yoga Therapy for Autism: Live Observation Session
📅 26th Nov 2025
🕡 6.30–8.15pm (UK)

Autism and Yoga Therapy CPD: Principles for Affirming Practice
📅 23 & 24 May 2026
🕐 1.00–5.30pm (UK)

If you work with autistic adults or are looking to develop neuro-affirming skills within yoga therapy, we invite you to join us.
Links in the comments.

Trauma affects the body as much as the mind. For individuals living with PTSD and C-PTSD, physiological patterns such as...
20/11/2025

Trauma affects the body as much as the mind. For individuals living with PTSD and C-PTSD, physiological patterns such as hyperarousal, disrupted sleep, and difficulties with regulation often persist even with talking therapy or medication.

On 25 November, Heather Mason will join PTSD UK to discuss how yoga and yoga therapy can support recovery by working directly with the nervous system. This session will explore:

• The neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning PTSD and C-PTSD
• How yoga can reduce stress responses and support emotional regulation
• The role of yoga therapy as an individualised, person-centred, somatic approach
• Practical tools that can be safely used by individuals and integrated within clinical practice

The 90-minute webinar is Pay What You Can, with free places available to ensure accessibility for all.

Live Online Event
25 November 2025 · 7:30–9:00pm GMT

Registration details are available via https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ptsduk/1927180 - link in the comments.

Rest and Reconnect Through Mindful PracticeJoin The Minded Institute for two online events led by Heather Mason, invitin...
19/11/2025

Rest and Reconnect Through Mindful Practice

Join The Minded Institute for two online events led by Heather Mason, inviting you to rest, reflect, and renew through embodied awareness and compassionate practice in community.
These events are shaped by Heather’s unique integration of Buddhist meditation, yoga therapy, and neuroscience, offering space for reflection, rest, and connection with yourself and with others before the year turns.

Half-Day Winter Retreat — 23 December, 1:00–5:00 pm (UK)
Gentle yoga postures, calming breathing techniques, walking and seated meditation, and loving-kindness practice; a time to release tension and restore balance.

Free Christmas Day Practice Space — 25 December, 1:00–3:00 pm (UK, optional sharing until 3:30)
A gentle online space to move, breathe, and rest in community. Includes restorative movement, breath practices, meditation, Yoga Nidra, and a short compassion practice.
Both events are online, open to all, and recordings will be provided. You’re welcome to join live and share the practice in quiet company, or take part later in your own time.

A moment to return to what steadies you, and to what connects us all.

Two Mason sisters, each in her own way, devoted to the health of others.Honouring Dr. Kimberly Kamara’s role in supporti...
17/11/2025

Two Mason sisters, each in her own way, devoted to the health of others.

Honouring Dr. Kimberly Kamara’s role in supporting the WHO validation of trachoma elimination, a milestone for Mauritania and Burundi.

While I have devoted my life to applying compassionate, evidence-based mind-body practices to support those living with non-communicable diseases, my sister, Dr. Kimberly Kamara (A.K.A. Captain Banana to me), has dedicated hers to eliminating neglected tropical diseases, working fully within public health systems and alongside governments.

Recently, in her role at the END Fund, Dr, Kamara supported the governments of both Mauritania and Burundi in achieving WHO validation of the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem, a preventable bacterial infection spread by flies and poor sanitation that, over time, can cause irreversible blindness. It’s an extraordinary achievement, and I am so proud of her.

My sister, ever precise and modest, keeps reminding me that elimination does not mean the disease has disappeared entirely, but that it has been reduced below the threshold where it poses a public health threat. So I wanted to take a moment to celebrate her, and to honour this remarkable milestone for both nations. In different ways, our work both seeks to reduce suffering and strengthen the systems that support human wellbeing.

Chair yoga bridges the gap between clinical movement and mindful practice, helping older adults and people with limited ...
14/11/2025

Chair yoga bridges the gap between clinical movement and mindful practice, helping older adults and people with limited mobility experience yoga’s full benefits.

Our new blog, Chair Yoga for Seniors: A Path to Wellness at Every Age, explores the evidence, philosophy, and training that make this practice both accessible and transformative.

Join Liz Oppedijk for a free online Chair Yoga Workshop on Wednesday 19 November, 7–8:30pm (UK time) to experience how inclusive yoga can change lives. Accessible Chair Yoga - Sit And Get Fit

🔗 Read the article and register for the workshop via the link in bio or first comment.

Introducing the Frontiers in Yoga Therapy Seminar SeriesThe Minded Institute launches a new initiative exploring how yog...
13/11/2025

Introducing the Frontiers in Yoga Therapy Seminar Series

The Minded Institute launches a new initiative exploring how yoga therapy, science, and healthcare continue to evolve together.

Designed for professionals, researchers, and practitioners, the series brings leading voices to share innovative perspectives on pain, trauma, and the future of integrative health.

Upcoming Seminars
Dr Raquel Chinchetru
Beyond the Eyes: Movement for Pain and Nervous System Balance
Tuesday 2 December, 6.30–8 pm UK

Rachel Bilski
Yoga Therapy for C-PTSD: Polyvagal Insight and Embodied Practice
Wednesday 10 December, 6.30–8.30 pm UK

Heather Mason
Yoga Therapy in Healthcare: Pathways to Integration
Tuesday 13 January, 6.30–8.15 pm UK

Live online, with recordings available for later viewing.

Learn more and register via the link in the first comment.

Introducing The Yoga4Health Podcast with Heather Mason and Paul Fox, from Yoga in Healthcare Alliance Yoga is increasing...
12/11/2025

Introducing The Yoga4Health Podcast with Heather Mason and Paul Fox, from Yoga in Healthcare Alliance

Yoga is increasingly recognised as a credible therapeutic intervention, supported by research and its growing adoption in clinical settings. The Yoga4Health Podcast explores how yoga influences brain, body, and behaviour, and what that means for health and healthcare. Each episode draws on research, professional insight, and lived experience to reveal how yoga fosters focus, balance, and wellbeing, and how it’s being integrated into health systems that value prevention, whole-person health, and person-centred care.

Hosted by Paul Fox and Heather Mason, the series brings together healthcare leaders, clinicians, researchers, and practitioners to discuss what it takes to embed yoga in healthcare, and how it can help build more integrative and equitable approaches to care. Whether you’re leading change, delivering services, teaching, or seeking a deeper understanding of wellbeing, this podcast invites you into the conversation.

It’s not about postures; it’s about people, practice, and public health.

Anxiety isn’t just in the mind.It’s a full-body experience shaped by breath, movement, and the nervous system itself.Whe...
10/11/2025

Anxiety isn’t just in the mind.
It’s a full-body experience shaped by breath, movement, and the nervous system itself.

When we learn to work with the body rather than against it, calm becomes possible.

Join Heather Mason, founder of The Minded Institute and a leading expert in yoga therapy for mental health, for a free online workshop exploring how yoga therapy can help ease anxiety and restore balance from the inside out.

🗓️ Tuesday 18 November, 11am–12pm (UK)
💻 Attend live for free, or access the full recording (video and audio) for £5
♿ Includes gentle, chair-based options with Liz Oppedijk
In collaboration with the College of Medicine and Integrated Health

This session combines practical tools, therapeutic movement, and neuroscience to help you understand anxiety through a new lens; one that empowers, not overwhelms.

On Sunday, November 2nd, our second cohort of Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy (IYP) students completed the taught element...
07/11/2025

On Sunday, November 2nd, our second cohort of Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy (IYP) students completed the taught element of their training, a phase characterised by intellectual depth, personal transformation, and the synthesis of contemplative and clinical disciplines.

Their work has explored how yoga therapy’s embodied awareness, psychotherapy’s relational depth, and neuroscience’s insights into mind-body integration converge to support psychological wellbeing. Many have already begun supervised clinical practice, and others will soon continue, carrying these teachings into the reality of the therapeutic encounter.

Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy is the only psychotherapy training grounded in yoga therapy, a unique synthesis that expands the field of mental health education by attending equally to physiological, psychological, and philosophical dimensions of care.

Applications are now open for the September 2026 intake, including a bridging course for qualified yoga therapists from other accredited programmes. If you would like to receive the prospectus or learn more about this evolving field of study, please message us directly.

Breath Holds: Another Way Yogic Breathing Shapes the Brain The yoga community is waking up to the fact that carbon diox...
06/11/2025

Breath Holds: Another Way Yogic Breathing Shapes the Brain

The yoga community is waking up to the fact that carbon dioxide isn’t just something to exhale, at healthy levels, it’s essential. It widens blood vessels and boosts oxygen delivery to cells.

When we hold the breath, CO₂ naturally rises. As the body produces our energy molecule (ATP), carbon dioxide is created as a byproduct. The longer we hold, the more CO₂ accumulates, while oxygen levels fall because it’s being used by cells for the production of ATP.

Neurons are particularly sensitive to this shift. Unlike other cells, they cannot produce ATP without oxygen, which means they depend entirely on a steady supply. When oxygen begins to drop, the body compensates by increasing cerebral blood flow, ensuring that whatever oxygen remains is directed to the brain where it’s most needed.

When we finally inhale, this heightened circulation continues momentarily, flooding the brain with oxygen and nutrients while clearing out metabolic waste. For most people, this supports neurological health and resilience —and with repeated practice of kumbhaka (the yogic term for breath retention), it may even have neuroprotective effects. (It’s not suitable, however, for those at risk of stroke or other conditions where increased cerebral blood flow could be harmful.)

Practised consistently, kumbhaka trains the body to tolerate slightly higher levels of carbon dioxide. In those with chronic anxiety, the brain is hypersensitive to CO₂. With practice, however, it can adapt to slight increases, reducing the tendency to trigger a sympathetic response unnecessarily and enhancing our capacity to stay calm. As rising CO₂ comes to feel safe, the breath, heart, and mind naturally find greater balance and ease.

Breath holding is just another way that science is revealing how pranayama changes the brain.

Hear Heather and dozens of other speakers explore the intersection of neuroscience and yoga at this year's neuroyoganyc Conference 2025 - link in first comment.

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