Student Choice Placements

The aim of this course is two-fold. The first aim is to explore the practice of yoga (physical postures, breathwork, relaxation and meditation) as a tool for enhanced mental and emotional wellbeing and personal development in students’ own lives. The second is to explore the evolution of the yoga tradition (encompassing philosophy, ethics and culture) and to examine its place in the medical, social, educational and therapeutic realms as a possible tool for creating social change. Students gain an overview of the historical, spiritual, philosophical and therapeutic aspects of the yoga tradition while learning about the scientific evidence basis supporting the practice.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Acquire knowledge of the health benefits of the various practices and a greater understanding of the mind-body relationship
• Demonstrate anunderstanding of the spiritual, historical and therapeutic aspects of the yoga tradition
• Demonstrate comprehension of basic yoga philosophical concepts in a modern and relevant way while applying insights of mindfulness and yoga practice to their daily lives
• Understand the neurophysiology of how yoga manages stress and improves wellbeing, both for use in their own lives and with future patients/peers
• Understand how trauma plays a role in nervous system regulation and physical and psychological health – and how yoga supports healing from trauma
• Research and present the evidence for using yoga as an adjunct to pharmaceutical interventions with health issues such as IBS, depression, cancer treatment, Autism, disordered eating, stress-related disorders etc
• Understand and explore the benefits of compassion, gratitude and visualisation practices in the context of self awareness, personal growth, relationships and goal-setting
• Understand how principles of yoga culture, ethics and philosophy can be applied to modern life and the workplace, in medical, social, educational and therapeutic realms
• Learn about, research and understand how yoga has been used in prisons, schools, social work and across the healthcare system from leaders and organisations working to create positive social change
• Share in describing their own experiences and supporting one another’s as part of their own self enquiry and self development

Integrative Medicine (IM) is an emerging, whole person care approach which has been described as the intelligent combination of conventional, lifestyle, functional and holistic approaches. As you will discover, it is much, much more than that. It aims to offer wider choices to practitioner and patient alike and seeks to provide a deeper sense of what health and healthcare means. This becomes even more important in later life when we are aiming to optimise health and stay well within a prevention model of healthcare. Teaching is delivered via a range of seminars and experiential sessions. During the SCP, you will be encouraged to critically appraise research in this field and to learn about a few IM approaches (e.g. nutrition or mind-body medicine) that particularly interest you. Your project will then focus on one aspect which you will interrogate through an evidence-based lens and understand trial design when applied to complex interventions. 

Aims of the SCP  

• To introduce the concept of IM, consolidating the whole person care model with an emphasis on health promotion 

• To start to model the nature of “optimum health” from multiple perspectives and specifically looking at preventative medicine, social prescribing approaches and complementary approaches e.g. acupuncture for chronic pain or nutritional approaches for heart health 

• To understand illness from the patients’ perspective and look at what patients use to support their health and wellbeing 

• To interpret and make use of the emerging evidence for social prescribing and/or IM programmes/interventions, critically analysing the available research in the use of complementary approaches for the management of particular conditions.  

• To create an in-depth piece of work in an area of IM that is of interest to you and where you can use scientific inquiry and explore the evidence mosaic to analyse this emerging model of healthcare. 

This SCP will focus on the evidence for and practice of Yoga in reducing stress, cultivating wellbeing and supporting the healing of trauma. The aim of this course is to explore the practice of yoga (physical postures, breath work, relaxation and meditation) as a tool for enhanced mental and emotional wellbeing and personal development.  Students will gain an overview of the historical, spiritual, philosophical and therapeutic aspects of the yoga tradition while learning about the scientific evidence basis supporting the practice. There is a thread of Self-Care woven throughout the course which we emphasise due to the ever-present threat of burnout in the Healthcare Profession. You will have an opportunity to practice various styles of yoga, breathwork and meditation and be encouraged to develop a personal practice between sessions to build into your regular self-care routine.  Crucially, this SCP will also look at how you can personally manage stress in the future and explore a range of practices that can support your health and wellbeing and that of your future patients. All sessions will include a combination of physical practice, a lecture-style learning component and group discussion.

Based at Ham Green house just outside Bristol, this SCP will focus on the evidence for and practice of Nature Connection in reducing stress. NCIM in partnership with the Natural Academy will explore the evidence for Nature Connection and how it is being delivered into the NHS for children and adults. We will also explore social prescription as a way of prescribing activities rather than pharmaceuticals and how this can resource individuals and communities to build resilience. Crucially, this SCP will also look at how you can personally manage stress in the future and explore a range of lifestyle and integrative approaches that can support your health and wellbeing. There will be time for you on the land around Ham Green and the option of a short retreat. 

Learning outcomes:  

• to understand nature connection and how it can vary from ecopsychotherapy to a community horticulture for health social prescribing initiative 
• to understand models of stress and how to recognise stress in ourselves and our patients 
• to understand Integrative Medicine and how it safely combines conventional, lifestyle and complementary approaches to support health and wellbeing 
• to learn about how lifestyle approaches such as nature connection, breathworks, yoga and nutrition can be combined to reduce stress 
• to critically assess the evidence for these approaches and how they can be incorporated into modern healthcare 
• To explore models of delivery of Nature Connection into the NHS 

You will meet dynamic teams across the two organisations NCIM and the Natural Academy and there will be a range of interactive seminars looking at managing stress with nutrition, sleep, movement, breath, and nature connection along with opportunities to join yoga and breathwork classes and Food for Mood cooking from scratch sessions. There will be mindfulness elements in nature and learning breathing techniques and the opportunity to take part in a short retreat.