Yoga for depressed people

For whom?

Maybe you feel extremely exhausted all the time, can't bring yourself to do anything at the moment let alone sign up for something new? Read on anyway, because that's how the other participants usually feel too. And you would like to regain some energy, right? For this course you don't have to go anywhere. You just have to be there, with all the heaviness you might currently feel. Once a week for 1.5 hours on Zoom. This course is for you if you:

have been diagnosed with depression or burnout
suspect that you are suffering from depression or have been feeling sad, listless or exhausted for a long time (here you will find a list of typical symptoms)
you do not feel well and want to prevent a depression

Why?

What helped me most in 20 years of suffering from depression was and is: compassion, breathing, gentle movement and breathing exercises for mood management, sharing myself with people I trust. That's why I designed this course. I am convinced that people suffering from depression need a community with others who know their experience from first hand. We feel less alone and together we can reduce the stigma about and the identification with the illness and practice ways out. I will guide you through body-mind exercises such as certain gentle yoga exercises, breathing techniques and rituals that have proven effective for depression (here I draw on knowledge from behavioural therapy and mindfulness research, further reading below). In this way we reduce stress hormones and set the course out of physical heaviness and gently increase our energy. In addition to the physical exercises and according to each week´s topic, we will train our mental and emotional powers in reflections, inputs and sharings with: defusion (distance from one's own thoughts), shame resilience, self-compassion and mindfulness.

What do you get?

More energy, well-being and health through special physical and mental exercises that work on the nervous system (such as an animating breathing exercise for after getting up).
A better way of dealing with depression or difficult states through the trained mindfulness and the learned self-compassion.

(Please be aware that the course is not a substitute for medical or therapeutic treatment)

When?

Thursdays 7.30-9pm

from 12 August 2021 to 4 November 2021 (30.9., 14.10., 21.10. cancelled)

10 dates

Free info evening: 20 July 8pm (Zoom)

Taster workshop:17 June 7pm-2pm (Zoom)

Fridays 10-11.30am

starting 29. Oct 2021 until 14. Jan 2022 (24.12. and 31.12. cancelled)

10 dates

Free info evening: date coming soon

Taster workshop: date coming soon

how much does it cost?

Course total (10 weeks) regular: 190 Euro per person

sponsoring: 250 Euro (you support a participant with less money)

sponsered:130 Euro (you are sponsored by someone who can afford it)

The course is subsidized by German statutory health insurances.

Taster workshop 17 June: 20 Euro per person

Private booking (10 dates each 1,5-2hours) all-inclusive: 1000€ (up to 8 participants), 50€ for each additional participant

How do i Sign up

You can ask questions or sign up here: wangerin@kongruenz.net.

You can stay informed about upcoming courses and Imke´s other offers here: Newsletter

Programm

Week 1: Opening ritual. Theoretical input: What depression is and why it is so hard to get out of it alone. Sharing. End ritual

Week 2: Beginning ritual. Activating the senses. Restorative and Mindful Yoga. Aromatherapy. Homework "Senses". End ritual

Week 3: Opening ritual. Input: What is mindfulness. Exercise: Self-compassion. Radical Acceptance. End ritual.

Week 4: Opening ritual. Input: shame resilience. Sharing. Mountain meditation. End ritual

Week 5: Beginning ritual. Aromatherapy. Scale energy before, Animating yoga, scale energy after. Sharing. End ritual

Week 6: Beginning ritual. Reflection on Purpose (what is important to me). Restorative yoga. End ritual

Week 7: Beginning ritual. Chakra meditation. Self-compassion worksheet. Breathing exercises. End ritual

Week 8: Beginning ritual. Restorative yoga. Sharing (what is hard right now and what helps me). End ritual.

Week 9: Beginning ritual. Animating Yoga. Input: Wheel of emotions. Sharing. End ritual.

Week 10: Beginning ritual. Power Posing and Power exercises. Sharing: Outlook. End ritual

Why it works

1.) First aid techniques that help acutely with depression and that everyone can do autonomously (e.g. self-compassion pause[1], shame resilience, radical acceptance).

2.) Community. Connection to like-minded people in a loving and non-judgemental space.

3.) Sense and sensibility. Sense: reflecting on what is really important to me in life gives me support and orientation. Sensuality: activating the senses as a way to get out of the head. Mindful exercises to hear, smell, taste, feel, see. Use of aromatherapy

4.) Stimulation of the vagus nerve through specific exercises help the body out of its heaviness and blockages.

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/urban-survival/202005/research-finds-self-compassion-can-relieve-depression

References

Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal, Jon Kabat-Zinn: „The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness"

Amy Weintraub: „Yoga for Depression"

Amy Weintraub: "Yoga Skills for Therapists"

Nicole Plinz: „Yoga bei Erschöpfung, Burnout und Depression"

Jan Kabat-Zinn: "Full Catastrophe Living"

Stephen C. Hayes: "Akzeptanz- & Commitment-Therapie: Achtsamkeitsbasierte Veränderungen in Theorie und Praxis"

Chris Germer: "The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion"

Tara Brach: "Radical Acceptance"

Stanley Rosenthal: „Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism"

Vivian Dittmar: „Beziehungsweise“ und „Gefühle und Emotionen eine Gebrauchsanweisung"

Imke Wangerin: "Stressfrei. Mein Übungsbuch für mehr Gelassenheit und Entspannung im Alltag"

Oprah Winfrey and Prince Charles talking about depression in: "The Me you don't see" (Apple TV)