O U R M I S S I O N
Welcome to YogaX at Stanford Psychiatry
In February 2019, YogaX was welcomed into the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University's School of Medicine, under the sponsorship of the Department’s Chair, Dr. Laura Roberts. YogaX, the outgrowth of decades of therapeutic yoga work by Dr. Christiane Brems, is a Special Initiative of the Chair that is designed to integrate therapeutic yoga into healthcare. This groundbreaking endeavor equips healthcare providers and yoga professionals with comprehensive toolkits that encompass integrated holistic yoga practices, empowering people on their journey toward healing, resilience, and thriving.
Extensive research literature attests to the multifaceted benefits of yoga, spanning physical, psychological, emotional, and relational wellbeing and thriving. With a commitment to evidence-based, individually-tailored practice, YogaX advocates for yoga as an abundant source of accessible treatment and prevention methodologies. We offer a spectrum of advanced educational programs, including yoga teacher training with a focus on preparing yoga teachers for therapeutic yoga work in healthcare settings, an educational pathway for healthcare providers that offers them therapeutic yoga principles and practices to support their own and their clients’ wellbeing and thriving, ongoing education, accessible and intentional yoga services with profound benefits, research endeavors, and active participation in shaping public policy.
At its core, YogaX is dedicated to fostering individual and collective emotional resilience, psychological flexibility, and compassionate wisdom. Our mission revolves around a unique integrated holistic model, aiming to facilitate yoga as a healthcare and lifestyle practice. We emphasize accessibility and affiliation; beneficence and lifelong new learning; intentionality and purpose; wholism that transcends reductionist approaches to healing and thriving; and integration of ancient and modern primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies for healing and transformation. Integrated Holistic Yoga embodies:
A practice accessible to everyone
A practice with profound benefits
A practice intentional lifestyle choices
A practice of wholeness
A practice of integration
“Yoga is complexity embodied; it is a lifestyle – a commitment to ourselves, our loved ones, our communities, our world of sentient beings, our environment, and our planet. Yoga brings to our lives a clarity of purpose that transcends our own small-world and self-centered perspective. It instills a passion for making our complex world a better and healthier place, for being engaged and feeling responsible for the betterment of society and the earth. Yoga, grounded in its ancient roots and informed by modern science, draws us inside to make us better people on the outside by teaching us how to cultivate and utilize the wealth of resources inherent in all of us.”
– Dr. Christiane Brems, PhD, ABPP, ERTY500, C-IAYT
Training Programs & Classes
200Hr and 300Hr Training Programs
The YogaX YTT200, registered with Yoga Alliance, integrates yoga philosophy and psychology with scientific research, neuroscience and modern psychology, as well as social justice and public policy. The program is designed for individuals who want to embark on teaching yoga in healthcare settings.
The YogaX YTT300, registered with Yoga Alliance, is based in a deeply scientific, as well culturally and historically appreciative curriculum that covers the breadth and depth of yoga history, psychology, anatomy and physiology, ethics and professional practice, and teaching methodologies and pedagogy based in science. The program provides advanced training for yoga teachers who want to teach therapeutic yoga in healthcare settings.
The YogaX IAYT-Q program is a pathway for qualified health professionals who want to bring therapeutic yoga principles and practices into their extant clinical practice. This IAYT-accredited program is steeped in deep appreciation of ancient wisdoms and modern scientific foundations for tailored, person-centered integrated holistic yoga therapeutics.
YogaX Workshops & Free Classes
Want to practice with us?
Find guided meditations, movement practices, breathing sessions, and mindfulness moments. Access recorded sessions any time or join live-streamed events.
V I S I O N & V A L U E S
YogaX at Stanford Psychiatry is dedicated to enhancing individual and collective wellbeing and resilience. It is rooted in the deep honoring of the profound wisdoms inherent in ancient yoga philosophy and psychology and their important relationship to modern neuroscience, psychological research, interpersonal neurobiology.
The adoption of yoga as a lifestyle practice is propelled by its empirically validated health and mental health benefits. This approach garners increasing interest from individuals seeking integrative healthcare, psychological and emotional support, or simply a physical practice.
Our commitment to making yoga accessible to all resonates deeply within our values. Every facet of YogaX is meticulously crafted to ignite inspiration and foster growth. These offerings are not just initiatives; they are a manifestation of our unwavering commitment to these deeply ingrained values. We are deeply committed to fostering:
