This two-part workshop explores how yoga can serve as a powerful tool for emotional wellness. Drawing on NIH-funded research co-authored by Liz Owen and conducted at Boston University School of Medicine, each session weaves together discussion and practice — giving you both the understanding and the direct experience of how asana and breathwork can ease depression, calm anxiety, and cultivate lasting emotional well-being.

Part 1: Discussion
We explore the eastern and western dimensions of depression and anxiety, and how their intersection can open a path to mental and emotional health. Topics include:

• The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
• Allostatic load and its role in depression and anxiety
• The vagus nerve — and how yoga stimulates it for optimum functioning
• The philosophical teachings of yoga as tools for healing
• How pranayama, asana, the chakras, and the liver, kidney, heart, and lung meridians work together to balance the nervous system
• Which specific breaths and postures to practice for depression and anxiety
• Meeting the mind and body exactly where they are

Part 2: Practice
The practice portion includes active and restorative asanas, pranayama, and therapeutic deep relaxation. Suitable for all levels, especially beginners.

This workshop is open to all practitioners — yoga students, teachers-in-training, yoga teachers, and other professionals seeking a deeper understanding of how to ease depression and anxiety. Yoga Alliance CEUs available.

The Yoga Effect: A Proven Practice for Depression and Anxiety by Liz Owen & Holly Lebowitz Rossi (Da Capo Lifelong) will be available for purchase at the workshop.

“Readers will find an excellent review of the basics of yoga theory and practice in addition to well-presented instructions on a wide range of specific yoga practices that are likely to improve mental health and well-being. The research described in The Yoga Effect has been a meaningful contribution to the field.”
— Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School