PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

The Autonomic Nervous System is responsible for determining which neurochemicals and what amounts are released into our bodies; these chemicals create the physical environment our cells form and live in. This course explores the link between the way we chose to think (our perception), the neurochemicals those mental states determines and how chemical imbalances cause disease. Based on clinical evidence, ANSR investigates how and why, what we think influences our level of physical wellbeing and explains, in practical terms, how changing our thinking process will dramatically improve our physical health.

This course explores why people can find themselves ‘trapped’ in old belief systems, negative thinking and habitual ideas that do not contribute to living happy or healthy lives. It provides a deeper understanding of the simple and practical tools we can use to help adopt a more positive and healthier thinking process. It includes in-depth exploration of how and why particular thinking patterns manifest into specific physical illness. Based on scientific research and humanistic psychology, this course takes the mystery out of ‘mind body medicine’ and brings a popular theory into a new light as concrete healing modality.

This course provides people with the tools required to self-manage depression and anxiety as well as better manage stress in daily life. As we witness the distressing increase in the number of people dependent on antidepressant drugs to cope with daily life, we realise how essential it has become to provide natural and self-managed alternatives to medication as a standalone treatment. Teaching Meditation for Depression and Anxiety is particularly useful for practitioners who wish to focus on the epidemic of stress, depression and anxiety-related disorders that are rampant in our society.

Modern research has confirmed the age-old wisdom that meditation has the ability to cure many physical and psychological ailments. This training program allows practitioners to specialise in the area of self- empowered healing and personal pain management and covers self-healing, recovery and meditation for pain management. This is an excellent course for anyone who is interested in working in the holistic healing field and combines particularly well with Chair Yoga teaching.

This is a great course for those with a special interest in children. Teaching meditation to children is very different from teaching adults and offers young students a fantastic first step toward a lifetime of health and happiness. The kids’ classes are lots of fun and high energy. Children learn the basics of traditional yoga poses through role play. They learn about how their bodies work, how to look after themselves and how to be calm and relaxed as well as developing a myriad of important positive life skills to help them cope with the pressures of daily life. Learning meditation also significantly contributes to better sleeping patterns for children and a wide range of other health and emotional benefits for kids and their parents.

Prenatal meditation and the use of meditation during childbirth contribute significantly to a more peaceful, faster and less painful birthing experience. It also helps to create a calmer, happier baby and a more confident, relaxed mother. This is a wonderful and rewarding field to teach meditation in and the program you will learn to facilitate can be offered as a two-day workshop or adapted for a weekly class structure.

This course offers a fantastic opportunity to explore the issues many men face in our modern society. Subjects include men and communication, understanding anger, facing fear, sexuality, men’s roles in modern society, rites of passage, fatherhood, men’s health, and cultivating creativity for men. This course also covers running workshops and retreats for men, including warrior-style workshops and celebrations of manhood.

This course will prepare you to support women in transition and guide them with beautiful tools that assist in developing high self-esteem, self-empowerment, inner strength, trust, self-love, joy and forgiveness. You will also learn about the physical effects of menopause, explore social attitudes regarding women and aging and develop an understanding of the effects of diet, exercise and meditation during menopause. This course also covers running workshops and retreats for women, including goddess-style workshops and celebrations of womanhood.

This course delves deeper into the practicalities of holistic counselling therapy. You will study

communication skills (verbal and nonverbal), building counsellor/client relationships, relationship counselling, the holistic counselling process, mental and emotional wellbeing, counselling parents, counselling teenagers and releasing past trauma. This course also looks at the important ethical aspects of holistic counselling and will guide you in developing a completely professional practice.

Grief and Loss counselling become necessary when a person is so disabled by their grief and so

overwhelmed by their loss, that their normal coping processes are disabled or shut down.

People may require Grief and Loss Counselling after the death of a loved one, after a long term relationship ends or even after losing their job. All people experience grief and loss differently. Grief counselling facilitates the expression of emotion and thoughts about the loss, including their feeling sad, anxious, angry, lonely, guilty, relieved, isolated, confused, or numb. Holistic Grief and Loss Counsellors are able to provide clients with coping skills, emotional support and

resources (and sometimes referrals) to help support them through the normal grieving process and also through what is known as ‘complicated grief’ (which occurs when the client gets stuck in, or does not progress through, the natural stages of grief on their own.

This course provides students with the skills and information required to work with married couples, unmarried couples, families, siblings and others involved in close relationships who are seeking assistance to overcome difficulties within the relationship. In this role the Marriage and Relationship Counsellor will often act as a mediator and will provide the couple (or family) with positive communication skills and life tools to assist them in expressing their emotions in a positive and non-blameful manner, taking responsibility for their part in the relationship breakdown, setting goals and identifying desired outcomes for themselves and the relationship.

This course will assist you in developing a good understanding of the causes underlying weight problems, eating disorders and obesity; the physical and emotional impact these conditions have on people’s health and quality of life and teach you how to facilitate workshops which assist people in accomplishing a healthy body weight, developing and maintaining healthy lifestyles, healthier mindsets and a more positive self-image. You will also be able to assist people in adopting healthy eating habits, basic exercise programs and meditation routines and guide them towards developing positive thinking skills. Your clients and students will be exposed to a new understanding of why they have weight issues and will be inspired to apply new, practical and achievable ideas. They will have the resources and support they need to

overcome the root causes of their weight issues and move forward into a healthier and happier future.

Stress can have a major effect on work performance. Some of the consequences include absenteeism, diminished performance, negative attitude and cynicism, decline in commitment and creativity, and a decreased ability to concentrate, learn and interact with other employees. Stressed workers can also develop a range of negative health symptoms including insomnia, headaches, back pain, gastrointestinal disorders, fatigue, anxiety, irritability and depression. This course focuses on developing your skills as a Corporate Stress Management Consultant and using your qualification to help build strong workplace stress management programs, better self-esteem among employees, stronger workplace teams and greater productivity levels for business owners.

Movement meditation encourages natural and authentic self-expression and provides a means of re-connecting with our most primal, graceful and authentic self. It opens our creative life force, expands awareness and develops equanimity. Students will experience the benefits of movement meditation and learn how to facilitate courses and workshops for a range of different groups.

A living cell is a blend of resonant frequencies — vibrational healing influences cellular health by changing its frequency through sympathetic resonance. Sound Therapy acts as a catalyst for healing by transferring energy frequencies into the physical body. This type of therapy has been used in medicine in both treatment and diagnostics for many years. Learn how and why this intriguing therapy works and experience Sound Therapy and Vibrational Healings self-evident benefits for yourself.

Based on the ground-breaking work of psychiatrist, author and educator, Bessel van der Kolk, who has been at the forefront of research in the area of post-traumatic stress the 1970s. Dr van der Kolk has spent his career studying how children and adults adapt to traumatic experiences and have interpreted his findings into his book; The Body Keeps the Score.

Students will explore what PTSD is, how it is recorded in the brain, and how it affects the development of the cells. You will also discover very effective ways for supporting your clients to move beyond PTSD into self-empowerment and improved mental, emotional and physical health.

Creating art is a type of meditation that can have fast and profound healing benefits. Art making is a natural vehicle for meditation, relaxation and self-connection. It increases awareness and emphasises acceptance of feelings and thoughts without judgment. It is a catalyst for relaxation of the body and the mind. Art is useful where talk therapy is ineffective because the client cannot express their issues in words. It assists clients to explore, express and accept their thought and feelings in a peaceful and self- empowering way.

So many, if not all, emotional issues and mental health problems can be traced back to childhood trauma. Inner child work is a way of effectively identifying and resolving childhood trauma. It is focused on the experiences, emotions and unconscious beliefs still being held onto by the adult as a result of childhood experiences. It helps to develop a sense of safety as well as connecting us to the joy, innocence, playfulness, openness and confidence of childhood.

This course prepares students to offer telephone and online counselling therapy for clients who are unable to attend in person for various reasons. These reasons may include family or work commitments, disability, location, lack of transport or isolation.

Telephone counsellors need special skills to ensure the client experiences as close as possible, the safe and nurturing environment the counsellor would provide in a face-to-face consultation.