Let's co-create a new care standard together.
For too long, chronic disease has stopped the people experiencing it from leading their lives well. Together, we can co-create a new care standard for chronic disease — one that empowers the people experiencing it to move their life story forward. Join the founding cohort and help lead the way.
Only 20 slots remain · $888 through August 1, then $2,222
Group Yoga Coaching
for Chronic Disease
A 2-Day Event
For yoga, coaching, wellness, healthcare, and allied health professionals ready to empower their clients to move their life stories forward.
Do you want to empower people living with chronic disease to stop feeling overwhelmed and start feeling empowered to live life to its fullest? Then you'll want to join us for this very special event!
Let's move life stories forward — together.
Yoga helps people center and align mind, body, heart, and spirit. Coaching helps people break through limiting beliefs that stop them from moving their life story forward. Group Yoga Coaching brings the two together and adds in the power of social support, so each person can feel empowered to move their life story forward without going it alone.
Chronic disease is a daily reality for 80% of U.S. adults — and 93% of older adults.
When something this widespread is framed only as a burden, the people living with it inherit shame on top of everything else. But when we bring people together to share their experiences of diagnosis and self-management, they feel empowered to heal and know they are not alone.
A burden to be managed.
The system labels people by their diagnosis. Patients are told to take their medication and adopt healthier habits to manage their illness. This focus on treatment misses the real impact that the illness is making on the patient's life story -- their sense of self, their feelings of isolation, and/or their loss of identity. They are asked to make sense of the plot twist of chronic disease diagnosis alone.
- Being labeled as a diagnosis
- Feeling the burden of treatment
- Not being seen as a whole human
- Experiencing illness identity
A life story to move forward.
We can support clients in feeling seen, heard and supported through the practice of group yoga coaching. Through a combination of talk- and movement-based coaching, we can provide opportunities for patients to share their story and to make sense of a new paradigm for living - one where they feel empowered to navigate the plot twist of their illness without losing their sense of identity.
- Possibility, agency, potential
- The whole person as author
- Care co-created with the client
- Self-care becomes self-leadership
One Human. Four Levels of Life Story Medicine.
Identity, relationship, community, and system aren't separate categories. They're four levels of lived experience that every person lives within every day. That means that the patient needs support in moving their life story forward at all levels, too.
Let's transform isolation into support.
Stop isolating people living with chronic disease, and start empowering them to share their life story.
Let's know what to say and not say.
When someone we love is living with a chronic condition, we can support them well when we know what talk heals, vs. harms.
We facilitate connection and belonging.
It's vital for people experiencing chronic disease to feel supported by, and contribute to, a community who truly cares.
Let's transform value-based care.
When we bring payers, policymakers, patients, and providers together in partnership, we can co-create transformation across the care system.
Four Stages of Life Story Medicine — to move lives forward to thriving, together.
Group Yoga Coaching as Life Story Medicine — theory & practice.
The morning explores how Group Yoga Coaching can support people living with chronic disease across all four levels of Life Story Medicine. The afternoon moves into practice labs, where you experience the YogaMedCo method of group yoga coaching firsthand as a facilitator and group member.
Chair Yoga for One & All
We gather and align in our common healing intention: supporting people with chronic disease to move their life story forward to thriving.
Why Yoga for Chronic Disease?
What if the real mechanism of yoga has been hiding in plain sight? A look at the medicalization of yoga and its real-world impact on chronic disease.
Life Story Medicine
Suzie debuts themes from her new book The Leading Role sharing how both her personal lived experience and her research in health communication inspired her to develop Group Yoga Coaching as a new care standard for chronic disease.
Relationship Medicine
When one person lives with chronic disease, so do those who love them. Why relational communication matters — and how to move lives forward together.
Networking Medicine
Social connection is a pillar of lifestyle medicine — yet practitioners often work alone. The science of belonging, culture, and community, and what it means for professionals and the clients we serve.
System Medicine
Healthcare is moving to value-based care. This panel (facilitated by Dr. Carmack) will explore ways each of us can co-create partnerships to transform chronic disease care at the systems level.
Check-in & welcome.
Doors open. Coffee, registration, workbook pickup, and a moment to settle in before the day begins.
The five sessions of Life Story Medicine.
An opening practice with Dr. Carmack, followed by the five sessions above — identity, relationship, community, and system, grounded in life story medicine scholarship and stories.
Lunch is served on-site.
Included in your registration. A real break to eat, talk, and connect — and to celebrate awardees from the YogaMedCo community.
The Yoga Coaching Labs — moving lives forward.
Small round-robin sessions rotating through coach, client, and observer roles. A real-time walkthrough of the YogaMedCo COACH model, a live Genius Break, and Q&A with Dr. Carmack.
- 2:00–3:30 · COACH model review & labs. Give and receive peer feedback on your yoga coaching, in real time.
- 3:45–4:00 · The Genius Break. A live, embodied experience of the YogaMedCo movement framework.
- 4:00–4:30 · Q&A & closing. Your questions, the field's questions, and where we go next.
Book signing & a toast.
Meet our speakers and get books personally signed, then raise a glass to the day and our future together — with photo ops and time to connect with attendees from around the globe.
Make an impact on your community.
Day 2 is designed to equip you with the skills and resources you need to transform your community through the YogaMedCo evidence-informed Group Yoga Coaching Program. Facilitated by Suzie Carmack, PhD, C-IAYT, NBC-HWC; Carrie Robinson, NBC-HWC, YACEP, ERYT500, CPT, CNC and Alexis Hartwick, MAT, NBC-HWC, ERYT 500
The Group Yoga Coaching Model — Setting a New Care Standard.
The day begins with a brief review of the YogaMedCo Yoga Coach training (a prerequisite self-paced training included with your registration, that focuses on Yoga Coaching in 1:1 settings). Then we explore the all-new Group Yoga Coaching model, and how it is expands Yoga Coaching into group settings by aligning with the NBHWC Group Health Coaching Competencies. By lunch, you'll understand the model and how you can use it to make an immediate impact on your community - online and/or in person.
- Applications by Audience. How Group Yoga Coaching applies specifically to people living with chronic disease.
- Group Yoga Coaching Program Toolkits. Promotional materials, facilitation guides, and participant resources — everything to launch a Group Yoga Coaching program in your community - online and/or in person.
- NBHWC competencies. Learn the new competencies for group-based health coaching from one of the co-authors of the studies that established them for the field (Dr. Carmack). Then develop skills in applying them, with feedback in Group Yoga Coaching case study labs.
Lunch is served on-site.
Included in your registration. A chance to talk through the morning with the practitioners who are now your founding cohort community.
Designing your community launch.
Step by step, you'll make the decisions involved in launching your first program. You leave with the tools to launch and recruit participants for your Group Yoga Coaching program.
- Evaluation-based program design. Build measurable outcomes in from the start.
- Choose & customize. Learn how to co-create the program that will work best in your community and how to adapt the GYC program for your client, community and caregiving goals.
- Promote & fill. Receive a ready-to-go launch playbook and the assets to turn your GYC program into a successful program that co-creates value in your community.
Ten group programs, ready to deliver.
Certification includes access to ten evidence-informed group yoga coaching programs, each with promotional tools, participant materials, and a referral pathway through the YogaMedCo app. Full certification requires attending both event days and completing one program in your area with mentoring from Dr. Carmack and the YogaMedCo team.
-
i.
Show Up Fully as a FacilitatorThis work asks you to first receive Group Yoga Coaching as a participant, so you can apply the principles of Life Story Medicine in your own life and experience its impact on your own life story - before sharing GYC with your clients and community.
-
ii.
Get a Full Year of Mentorship.The full certification pathway includes the 2-day event, and one year of mentoring support from Dr. Carmack and monthly group yoga coaching sessions to support you personally and professionally. You will also qualify to partner with YogaMedCo to share and publish your program findings (restrictions may apply).
-
iii.
Co-create a New Care Standard.No longer do you have to drive change in your community alone. You are now part of a year-long cohort that supports each other in the implementation of making a community impact.
What you need to step into Act II.
- Active board certification as a health coach (NBC-HWC), ICF-certified coach, Registered Yoga Teacher (Yoga Alliance), licensed allied health provider, and/or certification as a fitness instructor.
- Completion of the self-paced Yoga for One Coach Training — included with your registration.
- Full attendance to both event days.
- A short post-event orientation meeting with Dr. Carmack, scheduled after the event.
Hi, I'm Dr. Suzie Carmack.
Many people know me as the founder of YogaMedCo, the author of four books on coaching and yoga, and a peer-reviewed scholar in health communication. What fewer people know is that my own life story has been deeply shaped by chronic disease — both as a family member of loved ones lost, and as someone who lives daily with my own diagnosis.
For a long time I carried real shame around my experience of illness. As someone trained in wellness and lifestyle medicine — someone who trained public health professionals and yoga therapists as a professor — I felt I had somehow failed when I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder.
But the deeper I researched, the more clearly I saw a different truth: over 80% of adults and 93% of older adults live with chronic disease. I wasn't alone. And I realized I could write a new story around my illness — not a moral failure, but a sacred opportunity to author how I live and tell my life story.
That became the center of my work and the mission of YogaMedCo. It's why we're delighted to welcome you to this event. I believe we can transform lives at every level — individual, relationship, community, and system — by breaking through the blame and shame around chronic illness through Group Yoga Coaching and the practice of Life Story Medicine. Register today and I'll see you there!
From the practitioners doing this work.
Yoga and coaching are a natural duet for helping people facilitate integrative well-being. Safety is a priority for facilitating whole-person wellness.
Yoga coaching is about guiding transformation, not just teaching poses. The COACH model provides a structured approach to help clients achieve sustainable wellness.
Many people come to yoga with medical concerns. The Traffic Light Method helps people have a safe, personalized experience — like meeting people where they are in coaching.
I hadn't thought of using coaching principles in yoga practice. The COACH acronym is a wonderful, succinct method to reflect on how I'm showing up for my clients.
One registration for one om-mazing experience.
One ticket includes both event days, your self-paced prerequisite course, the Group Yoga Coaching certification, and a full year of mentorship. This is the founding cohort — only 20 slots remain.
- The prerequisite course — Yoga for One Coach Training (14 CECs)
- Full Day 1 — speakers, lunch, book signing & yoga coaching labs
- Full Day 2 — the live Group Yoga Coaching certification training, with lunch on-site
- A full year of monthly meetups & mentorship with Dr. Carmack
- Listed as a Group Yoga Coach in the YogaMedCo app directory (iOS and Android)
- 10 group program toolkits — promotional materials, adaptable curricula & participant handouts
- Continuing education credits to be announced July 1
Founding cohort · only 20 slots remain · first come, first served
Only want to attend Day 1? Email us and we'll take care of you.
Frequently asked questions.
Can I register for just Day 1?
I'm a yoga teacher with no coaching background. Is this for me?
I'm a credentialed coach (NBC-HWC and/or ICF), not a yogi. Will I be out of my depth?
Is yoga coaching trying to replace yoga therapy or somatic work?
What is the YogaMedCo yoga coaching model?
Is yoga coaching evidence-based or evidence-informed?
Can I attend virtually or get a recording?
Will continuing education credits be available?
I live with a chronic condition myself. Will the event be accessible?
Take the leading role in your life story.
Every person living with chronic disease deserves to feel empowered to move their life story forward — without going it alone. Come help us make that the standard of care. We'll save you a seat in Fairfax.
September 15–16, 2026 · Country Club of Fairfax, VA
Only want to attend Day 1? Email us.
Register today to secure your slot and complete the 14-hour prerequisite online training. See you in September.