Yoga therapy is the application of Yoga to individuals to empower them to progress toward greater health and freedom from disease.
Ganesh Mohan, Svastha Yoga and Ayurveda
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Faculty
The program’s faculty includes the following top instructors in the fields of yoga therapy and ayurveda.
Courses
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Your new career is in reach
Courses
Why become a yoga therapist
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Courses
Your new career is in reach
Full Course Details
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This 300-hour, Level 1 Foundations in Yoga Therapy course is designed to introduce you to the vast field of yoga therapy, overview the teachings and philosophies of the yoga tradition and their relevance and application to yoga therapy, introduce you to modalities of yoga therapy as applied to various health conditions, and provide you with a solid foundation to build your knowledge on your path to become a yoga therapist.
Topics include: Intro to Yoga Therapy; Functional Yoga Therapy[TM]; Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy; Yoga for Depression; Yoga & Stress Resilience; Pain, Science, and Therapeutic Yoga; Yoga of Recovery; Bedside Yoga; Yoga for Grief; The Chakras and Healing; Yoga for Cancer.
Course information
Course offerings
- April 30 - December 11, 2022: [FULLY VIRTUAL] One module per month beginning April 30, 2022 and concluding December 11, 2022. Download Detailed Course Outline for dates, details and virtual classroom hours.
- October 2022 - April 2023: [PART VIRTUAL/PART IN-PERSON] This course includes virtual/online modules from October 2022-March 2023 and a final week in person in Austin, TX (April 21-29, 2023). Download Detailed Course Outline for dates, details and classroom hours.
- May - December 2023: [PART VIRTUAL/PART IN-PERSON] This course includes modules from May-December 2023. Two modules will be in person in CO Springs. Download Detailed Course Outline for dates, details and classroom hours.
A deposit of $750 holds your space. (This deposit is refundable up to 30 days prior to the start of the program. Tuition balance is due 30 days prior to the start of the program unless you opt for a payment plan.) Register here.
Informational Webinar
If you're interested in our upcoming training and would like to learn more, watch this informational video. Or, request a consult here.
This is the first course in our 800-hour accredited Yoga Therapy Certification Program.
Program Details
Important information
By the end of this course, you should have understood, completed or demonstrated the following:
- The pancamaya kosha model and well as other frameworks for understanding and assessing individuals
- The four basic guiding principles of yoga therapy
How the practice heals through asana, pranayama, mudra, mantra and meditation - Advanced anatomy physiology and its relationship to specific structural and physiological issues within the body
- The use of asana, pranayama, chanting, and meditation for healing based upon ayurvedic principles
- Breathing exercises, easy postures, guided meditations, and other experiential yogic tools for mood management that are not often taught in regular yoga classes but are useful in working therapeutically with individuals and groups
- How to combine Ayurveda and Yoga with traditional recovery tools to offer a more holistic mind, body, spirit approach to addiction and self-destructive behaviors
- Common injuries, diseases and pain from a biopsychosocial perspective. This knowledge will be integrated with the wisdom of yoga, enhancing and broadening your perspective of yoga as a preventative and rehabilitative modality
- Skillfully work with survivors of any type of cancer, at any stage of recovery. We will explore how yoga can positively impact the physical effects of cancer and its treatment, and also how to address the energetic, mental, emotional, and spiritual components of a cancer diagnosis
- Learn how to transform chronic and acute back issues with this customized therapeutic program.
A 50 hour homestudy assignment in between sessions that includes 3 case studies with clients and a research paper on the the Yogic Treatment of Disease. (Topic can be chosen by the student.)
- The Concise Book of Muscles by Chris Jarmey (or another anatomy book of your choice)
- The Secret Power of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi
- Yoga and Science in Pain Care by Neil Pearson, Shelly Prosko & Marlyssa Sullivan
- Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy by Mukunda Stiles
- Functional Yoga Therapy Ball Kit: Purchase online here
- The Healing Path of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi
- Yoga for Depression by Amy Weintraub
- Yoga for Grief Relief by Antonio Sausys
- Mudras for Healing and Transformation by Joseph & Lillian LePage
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as interpreted by Mukunda Stiles
Pre-requisites for entry into the program include:
RYT 200*
Minimum of 1 year teaching experience and
1 year of yoga practice experience
Completion of pre-reading assignments/ articles
*A 200-hour yoga teacher certification is required for participants seeking 800-hour certification with IAYT-International Association of Yoga Therapists. A 200-hour yoga teaching certification is not a prerequisite for attendance for health professionals, body-workers, and/or holistic practitioners who are not seeking IAYT certification.
The course is now being delivered virtually (live online) as 3- or 4-day modules over the course of 8-10 months (28 days total). Each day is divided into segments, including: meditation asana practice, lecture, application, practice, discussion and observation. Students are expected to participate.
Students are required to keep up with reading, participate in class discussions, and complete homestudy assignments. Homestudy assignments will be turned in (either via hard copy or electronic file) and reviewed by Inner Peace Yoga Therapy faculty and/or mentors. Written feedback will be provided at the end of this course.
Students must attend the entire course, arrive on time for each class, and stay until the course ends. Absence may result in a student being dropped from the class.
Generally speaking, the program’s daily schedule is as follows:
- 6:30–8:30 Morning Practice
- 8:30–9:30 Break
- 9:30–1:00 Morning Class
- 1:00–2:00 Break
- 3:00–5:30 Afternoon Class
- 5:30–6:30 Daily wrap up, integration, meditation and closing
Module # 2:
Functional Yoga TherapyTM Preparatory Skills and Tools
FACULTY: Maria Shamas
Module # 4:
Bedside Yoga | Yoga and End of Life Care
FACULTY: Molly Lannon Kenny
(Self paced) Pain Care Aware Foundations training.
FACULTY: Neil and Lisa Pearson
Module # 6:
Pain Care Aware Certificate Level1: Teaching Groups
Module # 7:
Yoga Therapy across the Cancer Care Continuum
Module # 1:
Introduction to Yoga Therapy
- In our first module together, we will overview the expectations and outline of the course
- Get to know each other through group exercises and ice-breakers
- Discuss the panchamaya kosha model and well as other frameworks for understanding and assessing individuals.
- Learn the four basic guiding principles of yoga therapy.[3]
Module # 2:
Functional Yoga TherapyTM Preparatory Skills and Tools
- Explore advanced human anatomy and its relationship to physical movement
- Learn how to conduct postural assessments and apply practical treatment applications
- Get understanding in practitioner sensitivity & awareness.
- Participants will both experience and facilitate all assessment techniques taught
Module # 3:
Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy
- Understanding āyurvedic yoga therapy as a multi-dimensional approach
- Learn and practice of three vinyasas for vāta, pitta, kapha balancing
- Gain insight into the “gunas” or qualities of nature and their interpretation and application
- Discover the pillars of health
- Learn practical tools to support your personal sādhanā, or practice, prevent illness and support health and well-being
- Includes daily talks on the Sutras of Patanjali Chapter II, integrating an āyurvedic and yogic point of view
Module # 4:
Bedside Yoga | Yoga and End of Life Care
Module # 5:
Yoga of Recovery
- This is the first comprehensive course that combines Ayurveda and Yoga with traditional recovery tools to offer a more holistic mind, body, spirit approach to addiction and self-destructive behaviors.
- You’ll learn the empowering approach to counseling from the west (12 Steps) and the East (Yoga and Ayurveda)
- You’ll get the skills to introduce the healing potential of the holistic sciences of Ayurveda and Yoga into your own life and those around you.
(Self paced) Pain Care Aware Foundations training.
- Online, self-paced with weekly check-ins.(30 hours)
- Part of your professional development program, you will dive deeply into yoga teachings and the science of pain
- Explore pain as a human condition and learn how to foster fearlessness, hope and resilience in yourself and your students.
Module # 6:
Pain Care Aware Certificate Level1: Teaching Groups
- How to apply awareness regulation and the Pain Care Movement Guidelines in practice
- Ways to reconceptualize Yoga cueing language and compassionate skills practices
Module # 7:
Yoga Therapy across the Cancer Care Continuum
- You will discover yoga therapy across the cancer care continuum from diagnosis, to treatment, to survivorship and beyond.
- You will be able to review case studies and create yoga class sequences for particular cancer care.
- You’ll learn about specific topics related to this unique care:
- Side effects of treatment and yoga therapy response
- Guidelines for safety precautions and contraindications
- Cancer perspectives, beliefs and attitudes, cancer in different age groups
- Shock of diagnosis, PTSD and Cancer-related trauma, stress and cancer
- Prehabilitation: working with caregivers and couples
- Benefits of individual and small group yoga therapy
- Cancer and yoga research
- Adjusting to the new normal after cancer
Module # 8:
Yoga of Stress Resilience
In this three-day course, we will review the science of human function and factors that make us more vulnerable to the effects of stress. We will also learn how to use self-care techniques from the ancient tradition of yoga, including movement, breathing techniques and meditation to help us build resilience through the daily stressors we experience in our lives.
Module # 9:
The Chakras and Healing
- Discover how the chakra system can clear and heal obstacles, freeing you to move closer toward balance, gratitude, and grace. Closer, that is, to yoga.
- Find out how the chakras provide us with a structured model for deep therapeutic inquiry and transformation, as well as a map for understanding the evolution and expansion of our consciousness (the knowing principle, what we are aware of).
- You will learn how Chakras are the energetic centers where prana, or the vital life force, is either channeled or trapped.
- You will learn how each chakra corresponds to unique relationships in our lives and is associated with specific physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual considerations.
- Deepen your understanding of the energetic centers through their associated asanas, bija (seed) mantras, elements, intentions, and qualities.
- Using these powerful investigative tools, you will explore the central qualities and questions governed by each chakra, and listen into the conversations among them. begin to reveal (and help heal) emotional, energetic, psychological, physical, spiritual, and relational imbalances.