This Training Is For You If You:
- Work with clients who understand their anxiety ,but still experience panic, tension, or inability to relax
- Have had sessions where a client becomes physically escalated and you are unsure what will actually help
- Have recommended breathing or relaxation techniques that were ineffective or increased distress
- Work with clients who experience symptoms like chest tightness, nervous stomach, sleep disruption, shallow breathing, tension, or chronic physiological arousal
- Need practical, body-based strategies that are safe for clients with trauma, panic, or sensitivity to internal sensations
- Want clear guidance on what to use, when to use it, and how to adapt it within your professional role
When Anxiety Is in the Body
Many clients with anxiety continue to experience persistent physiological symptoms even when they understand their thoughts. Panic, muscle tension, disrupted breathing, sleep disturbance, and chronic nervous system activation can remain active despite effective therapy.
This reflects longer term patterns of nervous system dysregulation that require more than insight or short term coping strategies to shift.
Why Coping Techniques Are Not Enough
Clinicians are often taught to offer calming techniques, but without guidance on how to match them to a client’s physiology, these approaches may fall short.
Common recommendations such as deep breathing or breath control can increase distress for some clients, particularly those with panic, trauma histories, or heightened sensitivity to bodily sensations.
Without a framework, it becomes difficult to know what will regulate the nervous system and what may unintentionally reinforce anxiety patterns.
A Framework for Lasting Physiological Change
This course goes beyond a list of techniques. It provides a structured, evidence-informed framework for understanding anxiety as a pattern of autonomic nervous system dysregulation and for working with both immediate symptoms and longer term physiological patterns.
Participants learn how to select, sequence, and adapt movement, breathwork, chanting, and meditation practices to support regulation over time, not just in the moment. Emphasis is placed on safety, contraindications, and scope-appropriate integration so these tools can be used confidently in clinical care.
The result is a more strategic approach that helps shift the underlying patterns driving somatic anxiety, not just manage symptoms as they arise.
Course Format:
Self-paced online learning with approximately three hours of video instruction, demonstrations, and guided practices.
CE Credit:
3 CT-NASW CECs
This program has been approved for Continuing Education Credit Hours by the National Association of Social Workers, CT and meets the continuing education criteria for CT Social Work Licensure renewal. Approval also meets the continuing
education criteria for CT LMSWs, LMFTs, LPCs, and licensed psychologists.
Tuition:
$49. Course is accessible for one year from purchase date.
Instructor:
Sara Merrick-Albano, C-IAYT, with contributions from Christine Saari, MA, C-IAYT
About Your Instructors
Sara Merrick-Albano, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT
Co-Founder, Yoga Therapy Associates & ClinicAlly Trained™ Sara Merrick-Albano, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, is a yoga therapist specializing in trauma recovery, pelvic health, chronic pain, and autoimmune conditions. She integrates functional movement, breathwork, and meditation to support symptom management and long-term regulation. As co-founder of Yoga Therapy Associates and ClinicAlly Trained™, Sara provides continuing education for DMHAS and the Connecticut Women’s Consortium on the clinical use of yoga, breathwork, and somatic awareness. She is also a contributing expert for Roon, where she offers guidance on yoga therapy for pelvic health concerns including endometriosis, menopause, and chronic pelvic pain. Sara has been featured at the Neuroscience & Yoga Conference Community Showcase, presenting Taking the Indirect Route to Chronic Pain Relief, and frequently teaches on pelvic health through national webinars such as The Pelvis: From Anatomy to Awareness with beYogi. In this course, Sara offers her clinical expertise on anatomy and physiology as well as clinical insights drawn from her work in trauma recovery and chronic pain management.
Guest Instructor
Christine Saari, MA, C-IAYT
Director, ClinicAlly Trained™ | Co-Founder, Yoga Therapy Associates Christine Saari, MA, C-IAYT, is an author, educator, and yoga therapist dedicated to bridging yoga therapy and mental health care. As Director of ClinicAlly Trained™, she develops specialized continuing education and yoga teacher training programs for clinicians who want to integrate evidence-based somatic and breath-based interventions into therapy practice. Christine’s clinical background centers on supporting individuals living with anxiety, trauma, depression, and cancer. As a breast cancer survivor, she brings lived experience and clinical expertise together with genuine compassion, recognizing both the depth of suffering people carry and the practical tools that support real healing. As co-founder of Yoga Therapy Associates and ClinicAlly Trained™, Christine envisions a professional platform where yoga therapy and behavioral health meet. Her work emphasizes elevating best practices, strengthening ethical standards, and ensuring that yoga therapy is represented with the same rigor and accountability expected in clinical disciplines. Through a partnership between Yoga Therapy Associates and the Held Center for Healing, Christine helped develop the EMbody Trauma Recovery Program, an IOP alternative for individuals recovering from addiction and trauma that combines EMDR and yoga therapy. She has also presented multiple times at Smilow Cancer Center at Yale New Haven Hospital on yoga therapy for emotional and physical recovery. In addition, she provides continuing education for DMHAS, the Connecticut Women’s Consortium, and EMDRIA’s national webinar catalog, teaching clinicians how to integrate yoga therapy and breathwork into trauma treatment. Christine’s writing and teaching reflect a deep commitment to professionalizing yoga therapy, making it accessible, research-informed, and relevant to the realities of modern clinical practice. Learn more about Christine’s work at www.yogatherapyassociates.com/about/christine-yoga-therapist and explore her specialized programs for therapists at www.clinicallytrained.com.