Joann Lutz, MSW, LICSW, C-IAYT, E-RYT,  YACEP, the developer of “Nervous-System Informed, Trauma-Sensitive Yoga" (NITYA), has been training mental health professionals internationally for 10 years, as well as offering a certification program in this approach. She is the author of the book, Trauma Healing in the Yoga Zone, (Handspring, 2021); a research paper, Classical Yoga Postures as Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Autonomic Nervous System Regulation, (Cambridge Scholars Press), and a CE Course, Bringing Yoga into Social Work Practice,  (NASWMA). She has offered workshops at the United States Association of Body Psychotherapy International Conference, the International Psychosynthesis Conference, and online, for Somatic Experiencing International. She has  taught for the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers; the Integral Yoga Institutes; the University of South Florida, and many other venues, and is a trainer for PESI, Inc. She was the initiator and co-chair of the 2016 and 2017 national conferences, "Integrating Yoga into Mental Health Care," (USA), and continues to teach trauma-sensitive yoga classes to special populations. She completed Level One of the Somatic Experiencing training and the 40-hour training in Trauma-Sensitive Yoga at The Trauma Center in Brookline, Ma. She is certified in Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy through the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers; in EMDR and Psychosynthesis, and is a Certified Integral Yoga teacher.