CPD10 Compassion Focused Yoga Therapy and Meditation Teacher Training with James Kirby

So from the very first hours of our lives right through to our last moments, kindness, gentleness, warmth and compassion are the things that can sustain us and help us bear the setbacks, tragedies and suffering that life will rain on us.

– Paul Gilbert, PhD

Research over the past decade demonstrates that cultivating compassion can meaningfully influence emotional wellbeing, social connection and physiological regulation. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), combined with yoga, somatic and contemplative practices, engages brain body systems that support safety, affiliation and regulation.

This four-day CFT yoga training offers psychologists, mental health clinicians, social workers, doctors, psychiatrists, yoga therapists, monastics, meditation teachers and allied health practitioners an opportunity to develop a strong foundation in CFT and its integration with somatic CFT, yoga therapy and meditation based practice.

CFT and compassion based meditation have demonstrated effects on autonomic regulation, including heart rate variability and vagal tone. These approaches offer clinically relevant pathways for supporting clients experiencing anger, trauma related distress, PTSD, anxiety, depression and chronic stress, when applied within ethical, scope appropriate and trauma responsive frameworks.

Participants explore how contemplative breath practices, postural work, mindful movement and interoceptive training can create compassionate change in both brain and body. The course develops skills in compassion based interviewing, therapeutic presence, self regulation and behavioural change, equipping practitioners to provide safe, sustainable and evidence informed support.

This intensive integrates evolutionary models of human emotion with practical contemplative and somatic methods that cultivate compassion toward self and others. These skills enhance emotional balance, resilience and the therapeutic relationship across diverse clinical and wellness contexts.

Associate Professor James Kirby, PhD
Compassion Researcher and Clinical Psychologist
Co-Director, UQ Compassionate Mind Research Group

James Kirby is an internationally recognised compassion researcher and Clinical Psychologist whose work focuses on compassion, emotion regulation and the treatment of shame, self criticism and trauma related distress. He brings extensive experience in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) research, clinical training and supervision. James leads the theoretical and clinical foundations component of the training, delivering evidence informed CFT frameworks relevant to mental health, psychotherapy and interdisciplinary clinical practice.

Celia Roberts BSc
Senior Yoga Therapist, Somatic Meditation Teacher and BIYOME Director

Celia Roberts brings more than two decades of experience in yoga therapy, embodied contemplative practice and somatic meditation. Her teaching integrates neuroscience, breathwork, trauma responsive principles and evidence informed yoga therapy. Celia leads the experiential component of the program, guiding somatic CFT practices that cultivate compassionate presence, interoceptive awareness and embodied regulation within safe, ethical and scope appropriate frameworks.