Eileen Lafer

Eileen Lafer, PhD, is certified as a C-IAYT Professional Yoga Therapist by the International Association of Yoga Therapists and the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy, and registered as an E-RYT500, RPYT, and YACEP with Yoga Alliance. She also holds credentials as a teacher of iREST yoga nidra meditation, restorative yoga,  and trauma sensitive yoga.  Yoga therapy utilizes the tools of yoga to empower individuals towards better health and wellness.  The whole-person approach of yoga therapy looks at individuals through a bio-psycho-social-spiritual lens that leads to psychological and eudaimonic well-being.  The process begins with assessment, followed by a selection of appropriate yoga tools to facilitate restoration of balance. This can include a variety of customized movement, breath and meditative practices. She offers iREST guided meditations as a regular part of her yoga therapy practice. In 2019 Eileen created Beyond Wellness Aljezur in the Parque Natural da Costa Vicentina in Portugal in order to bring state-of-the-art Yoga Therapeutics to the Algarve in a beautiful seaside setting in harmony with nature. She delivered yoga therapy services to members of the local community throughout the pandemic utilizing her beautiful outdoor studio space. She has worked with clients ranging in age from 13-86 navigating a variety of health challenges and normal life transitions including anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD, cancer, diabetes, long COVID, dementia, multiple sclerosis, pelvic floor dysfunction, degenerative disc disease, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, chronic pain, pregnancy, menopause, and aging. Eileen enjoyed a 35-year career as a professor and research scientist leading an NIH funded research program in Neuroscience at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio where she currently holds the title of Professor Emeritus. While still a university professor she trained to be a yoga teacher and yoga therapist, and taught yoga to cancer patients at UT Health/MD Anderson Cancer Center, yoga to young medical professionals, and the science of yoga to yoga teacher trainees. She is an expert on the Science of Yoga, and wrote a chapter in a textbook for Medical Students on the evidence base for yoga therapy.