Heather is the founder of the Minded Institute, a professional yoga therapy training organization, and the Director of the Yoga and Healthcare Alliance. She specializes in the treatment of trauma and anxiety, and the use of physiological assessment in yoga therapy.

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Heather Mason

<h4
 id="h-heather-mason-is-a-yoga-therapist-who-has-pioneered-yoga-and-mindfulness-in-the-healthcare-sector-including-for-the-national-health-services-in-the-united-kingdom-here-she-is-interviewed-by-ekta-bouderlique-of-the-heartfulness-yoga-academy-in-the-yoga-4-unity-2022-program">
 HEATHER MASON is a yoga therapist who has
 pioneered yoga and mindfulness in the healthcare sector, including for the National Health Services in the
 United Kingdom. Here, she is interviewed by EKTA
 BOUDERLIQUE of the Heartfulness Yoga Academy in the <a href="https://www.yoga4unity.com/" target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener">Yoga 4 Unity 2022</a> program.
</h4>



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Q: Welcome, Heather. Thank you for being with us.



HM: Thank you so much. It’s a delight.



Q: How were you introduced to yoga?



HM: I started practicing yoga in 1996, when I was 19,
 while studying in India, but it was really in 2000, when I went to Asia and Southeast Asia to work on my mental
 health, that I developed an appreciation of what yoga could offer. I was a gymnast, so at first I thought yoga was
 an adult form of gymnastics. It took some time to understand the real value.



Q: What is the aspect of Yoga that has attracted you the
 most?



HM: First and foremost, the philosophy. For many people
 it’s the movement, the idea of doing all these interesting poses, whereas I have always been drawn to the concept of
 oneness, to the dispelling of the illusion of the mind. From a young age, I have known that the mind can envision
 things that are not the truth. I wanted a practice that would allow me to cultivate wisdom and let go of confused
 and false views. Later, I understood that wisdom is also supported through movement, through breath work, through
 the further cultivation of the Yamas and Niyamas, the disciplines and observances.



I always had an inkling that there was something more than mundane reality. I have always questioned the nature of
 truth. I went to Costa Rica when I was 18, took a malarial medication, and had a really bad reaction to it. It led
 me to realize that there is not always stability in the mind. It was quite an intense realization for a young person
 to have; I really thought I was crazy.



When I returned to Manhattan, I went to see a psychiatrist. He said to me, “I’m sorry, I know you want a pill to
 fix what’s happening to you, but some people have special experiences, and I believe you’re one of them. The only
 thing you need to manage is your anxiety.”



Soon after that I was on a bus in New York, and a man sat next to me, handed me two tickets and said, “You don’t know
 me, but I would like you to go to Gurumayi’s ashram in New York.” So I went to visit Gurumayi, and she gave me a
 mala and said, “If you want more answers, Heather, go to India.” I went home and said to my father, “Listen, I
 know this is a strange request, but I need to go to India. Since you said I could study abroad for a semester,
 that’s where I want to go.” That’s where I started yoga.



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Q: What an adventure! I can only imagine what it must have been
 like for you to discover a country like India, the cliché of an ashram, and yet you have done something very
 different with it. You often speak of mental health issues, which are not easy for people to talk about. Many of
 us are haunted by these things that affect some part of our lives. How did you deal with your depression? And
 what were the lessons you gleaned from it?



HM: I worked with yoga and mindfulness practices from the
 Buddhist tradition in two ways. First, I learned that all mental phenomena are processes. Now that isn’t easy. You
 have to meditate for long periods for that to be anything more than an intellectual concept. Being psychologically
 unwell, it was extremely difficult to meditate. Critical thoughts and feelings of self-loathing would overcome me.
 Thankfully, I was fortunate to have a very dedicated teacher.



Second, asanas helped me to be with very clear sensations in my body. When I practiced asanas that were challenging
 enough to direct my mind to the body, I would find my thoughts settling, simply by experiencing the pulsing
 sensation of the here and now. When I stayed present with that, tension would release, and I would have the clarity
 to sit and meditate. I started to see through the illusion of my thought processes, such as, “You’re not lovable,
 you’re not good enough.” These thoughts were because of things that had happened to me in the past.



So the dual approach of asanas and meditation allowed me to work with my depression. I understood that it is actually
 our own processes that give rise to these painful experiences. That is difficult, because it puts the onus of
 responsibility back on us, but it also means we can let go of the habit of negative thinking and supplant it with
 clear vision, seeing, and positive thought.



I gleaned that I could help other people, which is probably the most important part of my journey. I went to the
 depths of being unwell, and I worked really hard to become well, so often I know what it’s like to be there.



Q: Suppose somebody is just a beginner yoga practitioner. How
 long do you think it will take them to feel well, whether it’s depression, anxiety, stress, or any other
 difficulties related to the mind?



HM: It’s person specific. We also need to realize that if
 we have mental health issues we need to see yoga as hygiene, and continue to do it for the rest of our lives.
 Evidence suggests that months of regular practice, for example, five days a week, thirty minutes a day, yield
 significant results. Practicing for six months regularly seems to be more effective than practicing once a week for
 a number of years. Of course, there are people whose mental health challenges are very extreme, and it may take them
 years.



One of the most important things I learned is that I wear the scars of my past. I had depression and PTSD. I don’t
 expect to always be a perfect, balanced human being. I accept who I am, with some level of dysregulation. That is
 the arising Heather Mason in this life, and that is part of the healing.



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<h4 class="has-text-align-center">I could help other
 people, which is probably the most important part of my journey.</h4>



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Q: This is the first time I am hearing somebody speak about yoga
 inducing self-kindness and self-acceptance, especially with mental illness. Could you tell us more about working
 with trauma?



HM: I’m a yoga therapist and I run the <a
 href="https://themindedinstitute.com/">Minded Institute</a>. Some time back, I was delivering an eight-week yoga
 therapy course for depression and anxiety when one of my students said to me, “There’s a course in Boston on yoga
 for trauma. Nobody’s done it in this country, so can you do it?”



So I did it, and it was so important. yoga has so much to offer people with PTSD, because it allows a gradual sensing
 into the body. For many people with PTSD, the body has been compromised in some way, and attending to the body
 causes fear. yoga offers breathing practices that regulate the autonomic nervous system, and a key feature of
 managing PTSD and trauma is that regulation.



Yoga allows for gentleness within the self, so that the body can become a place of safety rather than a place of
 fear. It’s a potent strategy. When I did the training in 2008 or 2009 there were not that many openings for yoga and
 PTSD. Now it’s burgeoning. The trauma community has a clear understanding that yoga can help their clients.



Q: This is an extremely relevant issue. With war a major reality
 in Europe, what measures do you think need to be taken? Do we need to do prevention rather than just
 healing?



HM: Well, prevention for sure. Unfortunately, for the
 people of Ukraine, prevention is not currently accessible, but for everyone, building the resilience of the nervous
 system is important.



I’m a huge proponent of breathing practices. Personally, I have found pranayama, the breathing practices
 offered by yoga, to be the most potent aspect. If you elongate the exhalation, you increase the messaging to your
 heart through your vagus nerve, the nerve that starts at the brainstem and travels to many different places,
 including the heart. Every time you exhale, the vagus nerve releases acetylcholine to the heart, reducing the heart
 rate, which is further picked up as a message from the body to the brain, allowing for a stilling of the mind.
 Practicing that for ten minutes a day has the potential to calm you down and cultivate resiliency.



Another thing is coherent breathing – inhaling for the count of six and exhaling for the count of six, so each breath
 cycle is twelve counts. That means five breaths per minute, which has significant effects on cardiovascular
 measures, and physical and psychological flexibility. I wish that the world would practice pranayama. No matter what
 tradition a person comes from, no matter how flexible they are, no matter what philosophical system they espouse,
 everyone can improve their breathing. We would enhance the capacity of our nervous systems to become robust,
 protecting us from some of the tragedies that befall us. Breathwork could become part of the healing regime offered
 in different therapies, and it could be done in large groups to support the social aspect, as we do need social
 bonds in order to support our well-being.



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<h4 class="has-text-align-center">No matter what tradition a
 person comes from, no matter how flexible they are, no matter what philosophical system they espouse,
 everyone can improve their breathing.</h4>



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Q: I noticed that through the Minded Institute you have extended
 your work to the National Health System in the UK. What is the difference you are making? And what do you expect
 to achieve in the years to come?



HM: Just to clarify, the Minded Institute is a training
 organization for yoga therapists. Many of my graduates do enter the health system through their own efforts. I’m
 also the Founding Director of the <a href="https://www.yogainhealthcarealliance.com/" target="_blank"
 rel="noreferrer noopener">Yoga in Health Care Alliance</a>, which has created a yoga protocol for health, and
 that’s what we are doing within the NHS. The NHS has something called social prescribing, which is based on the
 understanding that social isolation is a major risk factor in a host of different diseases, due to both poor
 self-care and to the overall effects on the body. The cardiovascular and neurological systems are impacted by
 isolation. Cutting-edge research also shows that there are different genetic expressions in those who are isolated.
 Based on this understanding, the UK innovated a scheme of social prescribing whereby people are referred to activity
 groups, and yoga is one of the activities.



The Yoga for Health program was commissioned by the West London clinical group, created and evaluated by the
 University of Westminster. Paul Fox, the CEO of the Yoga in Health Care Alliance, and myself have trained hundreds
 of Yoga teachers in the UK and beyond. I see a lattice arising, where every clinic, or every small region of the UK,
 will have this program available for people who are isolated.



We built the program for the early intervention of type 2 diabetes, mild depression, mild anxiety, and people at risk
 of a cardiovascular event in the next ten years. By addressing these groups in the early stages, we hope to save the
 NHS a lot of money, and also shift the health trajectories of many people. Many health conditions fall into a social
 isolation risk for a cardiovascular event, mild mental health issues, and type 2 diabetes.



Q: I hope we will see this happening in other European
 countries. Why just Europe? I know that you have worked a lot in the US, too. How is it different from what you
 saw in India? Can yoga be seen as something more than just physical exercises in the West?



HM: The idea that yoga is perceived first and foremost as
 exercise in the West is misconstrued. The US does a complementary health survey every few years. The last one, done
 in 2012 and published in 2016, showed that a third of the population uses complementary treatments. That’s around
 100 million people. 9.5% of those 100 million were practicing yoga specifically for health conditions. If we fast
 forward another ten years, it will probably be closer to 20%.



So a good proportion of people understand the stress relieving effects of yoga. When I speak to people I usually
 hear, “It’s really good for relieving stress.” So the common mindset is changing and will continue to do so.



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Q: Wonderful. Heather, what is your plan for Yoga Day?




HM: I sent a proposal to the Indian High Commission, as
 we want to have a big event in Trafalgar Square. Two other things will happen, regardless: Paul Fox and I have
 authored a book called Yoga on Prescription, and we will launch the book on June 22;and on June 27 there’s
 a parliamentary group on Yoga in Society that’s going to meet in Parliament. I hope a representative of Heartfulness
 will come for this.



Q: We will be happy to join you, Heather, and with your future
 endeavors.



Finally, what led you to call your organization the Minded
 Institute?



HM: One day I was driving home, and I had an epiphany
 that I would create programs for yoga for mental health. I thought of Yoga for the Mind, but that was not
 descriptive enough. I think sometimes things just arise when you meditate a lot. Knowing sometimes comes from the
 ether, and it’s not analytical.



Q: Thank you so much, Heather. We have benefited from
 understanding how you set up your work on trauma, and how you see it changing the world in the days to come.
 We’ll be following you closely, and hope that a lot of people will read this and be inspired to join you. Thank
 you so much for being with us, and for what you do.



HM: Thank you. It was lovely being here.



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The journey of a lifetime

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">HEATHER MASON is the Founder and Director of The Minded Institute, a professional yoga therapy training organization. She is also the recipient of four master’s degrees. She is interviewed by RUBY CARMEN on the simplicity and strength of coming back to the mind, body, and spirit through yoga, and how her own yoga practice has changed her life.</h4>&nbsp;Q: Good morning, Heather. Thank you very much for this interview with Heartfulness magazine. What inspires you on this path of yoga and yoga therapy?HM: The first thing is the felt experience of the practice. The world shifts because you shift. Perception is everything. When you calm the mental processes, the nervous system, while also invigorating an awakening inside, the world shifts. You see things more clearly and with greater ease. When that happens, there’s an organic inspiration and a love for the practice, for the arising experience of self, which is not all about ego. Then, it also arises for the external world.&nbsp;I am also deeply inspired by colleagues, students, and clients who overcome great adversity through these practices. First and foremost, it’s the practice itself.&nbsp;It’s easy to get caught up in all the trappings of the world. It’s easy to externalize and worry about the vicissitudes of life and the problems that emerge, which may be great or small. So, the spiritual teachings of yoga are incredibly important, even if we already know them intellectually—to embody them and find nourishment.&nbsp;I lived in Buddhist monasteries for about three years. When you’re enmeshed in that world, day in and day out, the remembrance is there moment by moment. But when you’re not in that environment, it helps to have an active process of being with other people, reminding you of the values, reading literature, maybe spiritual texts, so you inculcate those ideas on a daily basis. You can choose the approach yourself; I’m not suggesting any indoctrination because there are so many competing factors, and we live in a world that’s very much based on success being material gain and prestige. Unfortunately, chasing those things doesn’t lead to joy.&nbsp;It's important to keep coming back to what it feels like to be present in your energy—to watch, feel, stretch, breathe.Q: It’s important to think about interiorization, especially when there are many external distractions. You specialize in yoga therapy and have a keen interest in neuroscience. What can we learn from the ancient past, from yogic psychology, and how can it help us with modern issues?There’s also a lot more discourse around trauma. Many people are opening up and being more honest about struggling and needing support. How can yoga help with understanding trauma?&nbsp;HM: There are two different questions here. In terms of yoga psychology, we all possess an indestructible but obscure perfected nature. No matter what has happened to us, wellness is always present. That has been an invaluable reflection, especially when I have felt broken to the core of my being, as if there was no coming back from it. Adhering to the atman [soul], connecting to the greater whole, which can never be tarnished, is very supportive. Also, we all have the capacity to build mental faculties through practice.&nbsp; That doesn’t mean we can entirely extricate pain and memories from life. I don’t want to sell it as, “Do this and life will be easy.” Many of us have undergone things for which we will wear scars for life, and yet we can tap into unattainable wellness. It’s vital for the field of PTSD.Here, we touch upon neuroscience. There is an appreciation now that PTSD has a common neurological signature for everybody; it shows up in the brain and the nervous system in common ways, which is why we can diagnose it as a condition with common symptoms. And as we understand the impact of the practices, we can apply them in ways that support the regulation of the nervous system.&nbsp;One of the core things in PTSD is dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that is associated with “rest and digest” (parasympathetic) or “fight or flight” (sympathetic). For example, Pranayama, yogic breathing practices, elongate the exhalation and that increases parasympathetic activation. So, yoga can help in a moment or over time with repetition by promoting greater regulation. A similar thing happens through movement.Other limbs of yoga that require the mind can be tougher when there is trauma, like meditation, the Yamas, and the Niyamas, because the mind is the very thing causing us agitation.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/world_shifts2_862b97d1ec.webp" alt="world-shifts2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_world_shifts2_862b97d1ec.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_world_shifts2_862b97d1ec.webp 357w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/world_shifts2_862b97d1ec.webp 357w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">So, yoga can help in a moment or over time with repetition by promoting greater regulation. A similar thing happens through movement.</h4><hr>Q: In your journey, was there one significant moment when you realized that yoga would be significant in your life, or was it a series of different events?&nbsp;HM: I think it was a series of events. When I was doing my yoga therapy training in India, I wasn’t sure what I would get out of it and the ultimate purpose. I was in an ashram, and they let us out for the day after two weeks. Afterward, I was driving back to the ashram and everything fell into place. I remember a mountain in the distance and beautiful greenery. I had spent so much of my life focusing on mental health, with a Masters in Psychotherapy, and a degree in Buddhist Studies with a focus on psychology. I had struggled with my mental health for many years, and was using Buddhism and yoga practices to transform my mind. Suddenly, I thought, “Okay. I need to use yoga therapy to help people with mental health issues,” and the course emerged out of the ether. It was an epiphany, and I started teaching that course when I returned to the UK. It’s something that people can learn to teach.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/world_shifts3_5558c89daa.webp" alt="world-shifts3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_world_shifts3_5558c89daa.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_world_shifts3_5558c89daa.webp 357w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/world_shifts3_5558c89daa.webp 357w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;There’s great potential for yoga to help people suffering with mental health issues. There also has to be consistency and a willingness to face difficulties, because sometimes you have to come up against the most difficult things within yourself for there to be change. I think it’s essential to do yoga with lightness, take your time, and practice over a broad period to know that transformation is possible. I’m an example. It hasn’t been an easy life, so I know what’s possible.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">There’s great potential for yoga to help people suffering with mental health issues.</h4><hr>Q: You touched upon two things: the first is change, transformation. Sometimes people feel stuck in their lives and don’t know how to change. Yoga and meditation are certainly tools for transformation. The second thing you touched upon was consistency. That’s practice, what we call abhyas. It’s not a one-off quick fix. That’s important.&nbsp;You also mentioned the idea of processing. If you have experienced trauma and challenges, you can process them through yoga practices. One thing that has come up for me in the last couple of years is the concept of spiritual bypassing, saying something like, “Okay, I’ve done this six-week course and I’m healed now,” whereas from my own experience, and from what you’ve shared, it’s an ongoing process.&nbsp;HM: And using spiritual practices is also a way to avoid ourselves.&nbsp;Q: Actually, a lot of people have the misconception that meditation is an escape, whereas you’re actually coming to yourself, seeing yourself as a mirror.&nbsp;HM: Yes, meditation is very revealing.Q: Is there anything you wish to share with young people?&nbsp;HM: Start to practice early! Realize that if you are struggling, so is everybody else, even if they look like they’re not. Have empathy for other people’s challenges. Even if it’s hard, reach out to your peers; you are not alone, and growing up is a challenge. When adopted early, these tools help you to meet some of those challenges, and influence the development of the brain. You can set up a lifetime of different neurological circumstances, making it easier to manage life. The brain doesn’t become fully formed until the ages of 23 to 25.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/world_shifts4_e498a1914b.webp" alt="world-shifts4.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_world_shifts4_e498a1914b.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_world_shifts4_e498a1914b.webp 357w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/world_shifts4_e498a1914b.webp 357w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">There also has to be consistency and a willingness to face difficulties, because sometimes you have to come up against the most difficult things within yourself for there to be change.</h4><hr>I really wish I had practiced yoga from a young age. I was a gymnast, and I was competitive, so I could make a lot of shapes with my body, but it was all about show and not about embodiment. I wish somebody had offered me yoga practices then. My life would be so different.&nbsp;Q: I studied psychology in the ’90s, and back then they thought that neuroplasticity disappeared after puberty. Newer research shows that neuroplasticity continues later in life, and that yoga and meditation support neuroplasticity.&nbsp;&nbsp;HM: It continues to the very last stages of life; there is neuronal growth even during dementia, and while parts of the brain are atrophying, which can be prevented through practice. At all stages of life, we have the potential for neurogenesis and neuroplasticity.Q: There are a lot of stereotypes out there about yoga. A lot of time is spent busting myths about yoga and meditation. Can you give some examples?HM: One thing is that yoga teachers think we breathe in through the left nostril to activate the left side of the brain, and breathe in through the right nostril to activate the right side of the brain. That is not true. Alternate nostril breathing has the potential to balance the nervous system. We don’t breathe from our left nostril into the left part of our brain, and the sensory pathways from our noses (except those involved with smell, which do go straight to the brain) go all the way back down to the brain stem.&nbsp;Q: Brilliant. Thanks so much, Heather. Is there anything else you want to share?HM: Yoga for dogs!&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/world_shifts5_e9f43a9425.webp" alt="world-shifts5.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_world_shifts5_e9f43a9425.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_world_shifts5_e9f43a9425.webp 357w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/world_shifts5_e9f43a9425.webp 357w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL</h4><hr>

Heather Mason

Heather is the founder of the Minded Institute, a professional yoga therapy training organization, and the Director of the Yoga and Healthcare Alliance. She specializes in the treatment of trauma and anxiety, and the use of physiological assessment in yoga therapy.

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