Pliske, M. & Balboa, L. (2019). Integrating Yoga and Play Therapy: The Mind-Body Approach for Healing Adverse Childhood Experiences. Jessica Kingsley.
Yoga Play Therapy Certification
Children's Yoga Certification: Yoga & Play Therapy
The Firefly Institute children's yoga certification is grounded within the practice of Imagination Yoga. This process encourages children to engage in narrative storytelling and imaginative play. Children use toys, art and movement through yoga poses to bring their story to life.
The goal of integrating yoga and play is for children to achieve focus, remain regulated throughout the session as they absorb the content and process of their work. This becomes a neurosequential and trauma-informed treatment modality by allowing the lower brain stem to regulate, thereby allowing children to remain within the edges of their window of tolerance. Treatment centered entirely around cognitive processes or behavioral modification are often missing a large aspect of human experience. A missing component are the nuances and complexities of the nervous system as a result the complex trauma in a child’s neural development during prolonged and toxic stress states. The Firefly Institute asserts therapy facilitated from a holistic approach drawing upon research and practice-based wisdom, which integrate theory and incorporates the body and mind within social connection creates the possibility for a deeper and longer-lasting multi-generational impacts for health.
The development of a safe, secure and therapeutic relationship in which there is trust and rapport is important for all therapies, but essential when working with children who have experienced relational trauma. Children with relational trauma often need opportunities to rework attachment difficulties. This program prepares clinicians for clinical practice utilizing yoga movement and expressive arts to create treatment plans for trauma informed care.
The certification program also covers family and group processes. Play therapy and expressive arts are incorporated into a directive curriculum including scripted yoga narratives. The program equips students with the knowledge and skills to create their own yoga narratives or narratives can be acquired through the institute for therapists to utilize in clinical practice. The process allows for creative expression and to further explore the integration of content. The play and expressive art content will also provide the child with an opportunity to ‘make it their own’ shifting into the child’s process, drawing upon metaphor within the application. The process is relational through the group interaction with children or families working together to problem solve, engage in the play therapy game or art activity, aligning with the theme or content from the yoga narrative.
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