Take a breath with social prescribing

In this webinar the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) will explore the benefits of yoga and mindful exercise for people's physical and mental health and how people can access these through social prescribing. You will hear from two organisations helping people through yoga and other mindful forms of physical activity. There will also be a short yoga session as part of the webinar in which everyone can take part.

We will hear from:

Yoga on Prescription – a social prescribing success story

Yoga can be an effective social prescribing intervention to support NHS patients to make lifestyle change and lower risk of chronic disease. Yoga offers movement, relaxation, mindfulness, social connection and stress release. Recognising the potential benefit, the NHS commissioned the Yoga in Healthcare Alliance (YIHA) to create a 10-week protocol, Yoga4Health, to be evaluated by Westminster University. In this session Dr. Sat Bir Khalsa from Harvard Medical School will review the evidence for yoga efficacy in healthcare, while YIHA founders Heather Mason and Paul Fox will share the findings from the Westminster study and discuss how yoga can be effectively delivered on social prescription. Participants will also take yoga through some basic yoga components of the programme that can offer stress-relief and improved flexibility.

Green Close

Emma Lowther-Wright, yoga and dance therapy teacher, will tell us about the Thriving Communities funded social prescribing pilot bringing together mindful walking in relation to art, nature and movement activities.

Speakers:

• Heather Mason, Director, Yoga In Healthcare Alliance
• Paul Fox, Chief Operating Officer, Yoga In Healthcare Alliance
• Dr. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
• Emma Lowther-Wright, Mandala CIC