Elizabeth 'Libby' Walen Walunas is a yoga therapist (C-IAYT) and an autistic person who has been a yoga practitioner since 1996. She is a guest lecturer in yoga therapy at The Minded Institute in London and wrote the manual section on yoga therapy for autistic adults. She also guest lectures on neurodiversity and mental health for SVYSA USA yoga therapy trainings in Houston, Texas. She runs workshops on yogic energy management, stress reduction, and relaxation, and has experience in adapting teaching to meet the needs of neurodivergent adolescents and young adults as a former high school and community college teacher and yoga club advisor.
Description
Yoga therapy is uniquely suited to addressing the needs of autistic clients, yet there are very few opportunities for yoga therapists to learn about the adaptations and approaches that best serve this population. Providing yoga therapists with the resources they need to make their services accessible to autistic adults without intellectual disability, this book, from experienced autistic yoga therapist Elizabeth Walen Walunas, examines the social and medical contexts of autism and explores ways of integrating this knowledge into yogic practices. Chapters include research on the potential benefits of yoga and mindfulness adapted for autistic adults, insights into adaptations used in healthcare and mental healthcare and finally applications of traditional yogic frameworks including kosha, guna and adhi-vyadhi theories. Offering yoga and mindfulness practices tailored to different presentations of autistic traits, this guide allows yoga therapists to provide the safe, empowering and empathetic support that their autistic clients deserve. With this multi-dimensional approach, yoga therapists will be well equipped to begin collaborating with their adult autistic clients.