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Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Body Awareness, Bhavana and Pratyahara

Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Body Awareness, Bhavana and Pratyahara

Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Body Awareness, Bhavana and Pratyahara

May 12, 2021 - 19:00 (EDT)
1 hour 30 minutes

Yoga and Science in Pain Care Chapter 9: Body Awareness, Bhavana and Pratyahara

Body awareness is a multidimensional mind-body construct that involves proprioception, interoception and exteroception and is influenced by thought processes including beliefs, memories, attitudes, affect, past experience, evaluation and attention.  Maladaptive body awareness is correlated with increased physical and emotional pain whereas cultivating non-judgmental, non-evaluative body awareness is associated with reduced pain and suffering. 

This webinar will explore both modern medical and yogic perspectives of how subtle body yoga practices can be used to cultivate adaptive body awareness and modulate pain (or modulate the pain experience).

Learning Objectives for Chapter 9:

  1. Explain the difference between maladaptive body awareness and adaptive body awareness and how this relates to persistent pain.
  2. Understand how cultivating awareness of the subtle body through the senses can support people in pain. 
  3. Learn how the practice of pratyahara as described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras correlates with modern research and how this can support people in pain.  
  4. Be able to guide clients through a novel visualization practice for cultivating awareness and supporting people in pain. 

What you will learn can be effectively applied via virtual and in-person consults.

This webinar is a part of a larger webinar series. You can choose to register for individual sessions or you can register for the entire series at a discount. You will be presented with these two options below. NOTE: You must be signed in to Embodia in order to register. Creating an account on Embodia is free.

We look forward to seeing you soon and if you have any questions, please reach out to us at support@embodiaapp.com

Here is the description for the entire 15-part webinar series:

Are you looking for ways to better help people in pain? If you are, you’re not alone. It is estimated that over 1.5 billion people worldwide are affected by chronic pain. That’s 20.5% of the world population that is suffering and needs your help.

Join Neil Pearson, Shelly Prosko and Marlysa Sullivan, the co-editors of Yoga and Science in Pain Care, and 8 co-authors for the first-ever 15-part book club webinar series that will take place once per month over 15 months.

This book club webinar series is intended for:

  • Practitioners including yoga therapists and healthcare practitioners interested in integrating yoga with their persistent pain population to expand their approaches in clinical practice
  • Yoga teachers interested in understanding aspects of the science behind yoga and pain
  • Medical/healthcare professionals who want to better understand pain or want to integrate yoga and mind/body practices
  • Mind/body contemplative practitioners/researchers/clinicians who want to better understand the science around pain and how yoga as a mind/body practice works with people in pain
  • Yoga practitioners or integrative health consumers who want an in-depth read with practical knowledge in this field.
  • Yoga therapist programs and medical university/college programs that require online course study in pain care
  • Schools that have online mind/body programs as stand-alone modules or as part of medical programs and other mind-body institutions.
  • People suffering from pain, particularly those keen about learning some practices to help with pain self-care and who want to learn more about the value of integrating pain science and yoga

We also hope that this series will help bring together yoga therapists and health professionals. There is value in blending science and yoga therapy in pain care – for the person in pain, for the health professional, and for the yoga professional.

Learning Objectives for the Full Series:

  1. Describe the complexity of pain including the lived experience of pain and the science surrounding pain.
  2. Learn how yoga philosophy and practices can be used as an effective and evidence-informed intervention and provide a biopsychosocial-spiritual framework in pain care.
  3. Practice, experience and examine the application of yoga principles and practices in pain care that demonstrate addressing all aspects of the person in pain and the complex components of pain. Examples of case studies will be provided.

Is the Course Eligible For CEU's?

The answer is dependent on your profession and geographic location of practice. For Canadian Physiotherapists, this webinar series counts towards your learning hours and professional portfolio.

For other professions and jurisdictions, please submit the webinar and course descriptions and objectives we have provided to your professional association to review.

For Physical Therapists in the U.S., The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) Continuing Competency Team has announced that it is re-evaluating the process of CEUs or CCUs and has discontinued the aPTitude system and ProCert program that we would have used to submit for CEUs/CCUs for this course. Notification from the FSBPT can be read here. This Forum article discusses the future focus of the FSBPT continuing competency initiative.

This webinar series may qualify toward learning hours but we cannot guarantee this.

Certificate of Completion:

Following each live webinar session, you will be provided with a link where you can generate a certificate of completion (including learning hours and course information) as well as lifetime access to the recording + resources.

WARNING: Space is limited for each webinar. Make sure to reserve your seat and choose the full series to join each session. Register below! 

Important Notes:

All webinars will be recorded and made available on Embodia Academy. If you purchase the webinar bundle, you will be provided with complimentary access to all recordings and all resources provided during the live sessions. 

Questions? Reach out to us at support@embodiaapp.com

WARNING: Registration is limited and this series is in popular demand. To ensure you get a spot, please register for this webinar below. NOTE: You must be signed in to Embodia in order to register. Creating an account on Embodia is free.

The instructors
Shelly Prosko
PT, C-IAYT, PCAYT

Shelly is a physiotherapist, yoga therapist, educator, author and pioneer of PhysioYoga who has been integrating yoga into physiotherapy since 1998 with a focus on chronic pain, pelvic health, compassion in healthcare and professional burnout. She guest lectures at numerous yoga therapy and physiotherapy schools, presents at yoga and medical conferences globally, contributes to academic research and writing, provides mentorship to professionals, and offers courses and resources for yoga and healthcare practitioners and the general population. Shelly is a Pain Care Aware Lead Trainer.

She considers herself a lifelong student and emphasizes the immense value gained from clinical experience and learning from the patients she serves, the professionals she teaches, and the colleagues with which she collaborates.

Shelly has written several book chapters in yoga therapy and integrative rehabilitation textbooks and is co-editor/author of Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Treating the Person in Pain. She maintains a clinical practice in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada and believes compassion is the foundation of healthcare and overall well-being.

Learn more about Shelly’s work at www.physioyoga.ca to learn more


Marlysa Sullivan
MPT, C-IAYT

Marlysa is a physiotherapist and yoga therapist with over 15 years of experience working with people suffering with chronic pain conditions. She is an Assistant Professor in Yoga Therapy and Integrative Health Sciences at Maryland University of Integrative Health and holds an adjunct position at Emory University, where she teaches the integration of yoga and mindfulness into physical therapy practice in the DPT program. She is also the author of Understanding Yoga Therapy: Applied Philosophy and Science for Well-being and co-editor of Yoga and Science in Pain Care: Treating the Person in Pain as well as several peer-reviewed articles.

Marlysa has been involved in the professionalization of the field of yoga therapy through the educational standards committee of IAYT, which helped to define the competencies for the field, and in characterizing the yoga therapy workforce through research. Her research interests focus on defining the framework and explanatory model for yoga therapy based on philosophical and neurophysiological perspectives.


Neil Pearson
PT, MSc(RHBS), BA-BPHE, C-IAYT, ERYT500

Neil is a physical therapist, yoga therapist, author, researcher, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, faculty in three IAYT-accredited yoga therapy programs, board member for the International Association of Yoga Therapists and pain care advocate. He conducts research into the effects of yoga on veterans with chronic pain and people with osteoarthritis. Neil is the recipient of awards honouring his work in pain care, patient education and physiotherapy by Queen’s University, the Canadian Pain Society and both provincial and national physiotherapy associations, including the Canadian 2021 Medal of Distinction.

Neil is a consultant to Partners in Canadian Veterans Rehabilitation Services, and to Lifemark’s 300+ clinics in Canada. Neil is a past board member for Pain BC, Canada’s premier non-profit transforming the way pain is understood and treated. He co-authored – Yoga and Science in Pain Care 2019, authored the patient education ebook, Understand Pain Live Well Again in 2008, and is lead contributor to many free patient resources offer by Pain BC.

For more information and course offerings, see www.paincareaware.com


Lori Rubenstein Fazzio
PT, DPT, MAppSc, C-IAYT

Yogachemmal Dr. Lori Rubenstein is a Clinical Professor of Yoga and Health at Loyola Marymount University(LMU) in Los Angeles where she teaches in the Yoga Studies Master of Arts and Post Graduate Certificate in Yoga Therapy programs and is the Clinical Director of Yoga Therapy Rx at LMU where she designed and implemented the first Yoga Therapy internship within an integrative medical clinic. She began her practice of Yoga over 25 years ago as a “spiritual seeker” and soon recognized the health benefits of these practices. A practicing physical therapist, yoga therapist, and meditation teacher, she is a lifelong student and practitioner of Yoga and compassionate care. She took her first Yoga teacher training in 2000 with Matthew Taylor and has since studied with many teachers including Larry Payne, Srivasta Ramaswami, Swami Veda and Richard Miller.

She leads an annual Yoga Therapy Journey to India for study at Kaivalyadhama and the Center for Yoga Therapy Education and Research with Dr. Ananda Bhavanani. Integrating her studies of Yoga, neuroscience, Somatic Experiencing and shamanic medicine, she developed a novel approach to pain care which proved to be effective in a pilot study she conducted with Dr. Ellen Langer at Harvard University. She contributed a chapter, “Body Awareness, Bhavana and Pratyahara” to Yoga and Science in Pain Care and is often highlighted in Yoga Therapy publications and news articles across the world. A frequent presenter at conferences, her research interests include neuroplasticity and the effects of awareness and subtle body practices on health, well-being and transformation. www.mosaicpt.com

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