• Defining the Practice and Profession of Yoga Therapy - Understanding Yoga Therapy as a complete model of health and healing based on Yoga psychology.

• Understanding the evolving field of mind, body, wellness - As wellness programs move from alternative to complementary to mainstream, students need an understanding of how to bring Yoga based wellness into a wide variety of mainstream settings as a powerful vehicle for changing the way health and healing are viewed in our society.

• Experiential Anatomy and Physiology - This course provides students with an extensive understanding of the systems of the physical body, specific health conditions within each system and the effects of stress in relation to each. We'll learn specific Yoga practices, benefits and contraindications in relation to each system and condition.

• Specific Applications of Yoga Therapy - We'll learn how Yoga serves as a modality for wellness both in group classes and individual Yoga Therapy sessions. Specific conditions covered include: AIDS, arthritis, asthma, back pain, cancer, diabetes, digestive conditions, fibromyalgia and chronic pain, high blood pressure and heart disease, osteoporosis, prenatal Yoga, MS, recovery and addictions.

• Body Reading and Kinesiology - Through this course you'll learn body reading and applied kinesiology including the movements of the body and the role of the different muscle groups within the Yoga postures. There will be a special focus on musculo-skeletal conditions including back pain, arthritis and osteoporosis. You'll also learn how Yoga works with each of the main joints in the body, including shoulders, hips, knees and spine.

• Science of Stretching - Stretching , lengthening, strengthening and toning of muscles are a much wider science than the stretching involved in Yoga poses. As Yoga Therapists, we'll learn specific tools for assisting students to develop a healthy balance of strength and flexibility. These include Somatics, PNF, and hands-on assisted stretching.

• Making Yoga Safe, Working with Yoga Injuries - As Yoga becomes increasingly popular, students need a greater understanding of which practices are safe for specific individuals and groups. Yoga Therapists also need to know how to work with Yoga injuries by modifying and redesigning the practice, so that which harms can actually heal.

• Energy Healing - Asana represents only a small percentage of the healing tools available within Yoga. Yoga Therapists must develop an in-depth understanding of breath and energy through the sciences of prana vidya, pranayama and mudra with an understanding of how to apply these for specific needs. This course also includes the practice of hands-on energy healing and healing through the chakras.

• Working with the Mind and Emotions - In our stressful society, with its high level of personal and cultural change and insecurity, Yoga Therapists must have practical skills for supporting clients and students at the psycho-emotional level. This training includes skills in relaxation, concentration and meditation with a special focus on the emotional healing process of Yoga Nidra.

• Creativity, Imagination and Imagery - Guided imagery, imagination, body mapping and tracing the life journey through art and movement are important parts of the healing process. In this program we'll learn Yoga based methods for unlocking the doors to healing through creativity, including mandala drawing and guided imagery.

• Specialized Yoga Teaching - Yoga Therapists require a wider tool box from which to draw techniques both for classes and individual sessions. This course covers several specialized Yoga teaching areas including Yoga for pregnancy and women issues, restorative Yoga, partner Yoga, mandala Yoga (Yoga in groups). The course also includes theory and practice of the intermediate and advanced IYT Yoga series, level II and III.

• Ayurveda and Yoga Therapy - Students learn ayurvedic assessment techniques which allow them to individualize a Yoga Therapy program. This includes learning to use the IYT ayurvedic assessment form, learning how specific asanas, pranayamas and mudras affect the doshas and understanding the role of the five elements as part of the healing process.

• The Integrative Healing Retreats - IYT offers specialized healing retreats for individuals with health challenges, such as cancer, heart disease, and auto-immune conditions. The heart of these retreats is a series of Yoga based healing techniques called The Healing Tools. As Yoga Therapist, you'll learn to organize these tools into effective healing retreats appropriated for a wide variety of health challenges.

• The Wheel of Yoga as a Vehicle for Healing - All of the facets of the wheel of Yoga, including devotion, chanting, selfless service, intuitive wisdom, and the science of meditation have important roles to play in the healing process. Within this course, we'll explore how these various facets form a single gem of healing which is Yoga.

• The Yoga Sutras, the Heart of Yoga - The Yoga approach to healing is unique in that it sees illness as a form of separation from the body, the breath, nature, parts of ourselves, other people, and from God. The integration of the person at all of these levels is Yoga Therapy. In this course we learn how classical Yoga texts, including the Yoga Sutras, supported by the Upanishads form the heart and foundation of Yoga Therapy.
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Frequently

Asked Questions

The PYT is a modular training with three components:

1. A One-week practice module
2. A Two-week main module
3. A twelve to eightteen-month Internship

Each component of the program is registered for and paid for separately. This allows the student to complete the full program at their own pace and within their own time frame. The PYT program qualifies for the Advanced (500 hour) Yoga Teacher Training certificate from the Yoga Alliance for students who have already obtained the basic, 200 hour certificate.

• Do I have to take all three components?

You may register and take each module separately but you will need to take all three to qualify for the Professional Yoga Therapist certificate. Substitutions of training from other programs is no longer allowed, in keeping with the Yoga Alliance standards encouraging in-depth training with a single teacher or school.

 
• Who can take the Professional Yoga Therapist Training?

The PYT training is open to Yoga teachers of all traditions and backgrounds. For those Yoga teachers who are certified through another school but have not been through our basic IYT Teacher Training program, enrollment in the IYT Home Study Program is recommended.

The PYT program is also open to health professionals and body workers with a strong background in Yoga whose interest is in-depth and detailed understanding of the therapeutic application of Yoga for individuals.

Those entering without having taken a Yoga Alliance recognized 200 hour Yoga teacher training will need to provide documentation of 200 hours of basic Yoga teacher training in order to receive the 500 hour certificate.

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