Integrative Yoga Therapy :: Yoga teacher training & certification

One-week Specialization Programs

Integrative Mudra, Pranayama and Bandha Teacher Training
This comprehensive training program focuses on the yogic arts of mudra, pranayama and bandha. These three modalities are facets of an integrated approach within Hatha Yoga to cultivate healing in the physical body and equanimity in the mind to serve as a vehicle for spiritual awakening.

The mudra portion of the training is based on Joseph and Lilian Le Page’s new book, “Mudras for Healing and Transformation”, the most in-depth presentation on mudras currently available.

The pranayama portion of the program is based on the twenty-five page pranayama manual prepared by Joseph and Lilian that divides 32 major pranayamas and breathing techniques into 10 graded levels that guide the student from the most basic breathing practices to the most complex pranayanas. This graded approach allows for optimal benefit, ease of learning and safety.

The bandha portion of the program presents the physiology, psychology and spiritual aspects of bandha practice and their benefits for the subtle body within the vision of Hatha Yoga. A five-page study booklet on bandhas is included.

This program includes:

Understand prana, the life force energy, in theory and practice as a vehicle for cultivating dynamic health and balance at all levels of our being.
Learn how mudras work at the physical, subtle, psychological and spiritual levels.
Explore and practice the 112 hand mudras described in, “Mudras for Healing and Transformation”. These mudras are divided into eighteen families, including Mudras for Specific Health Conditions, Mudras for Ayurvedic Healing, Mudras for Balancing the Subtle Body (chakras and pranavayus ), Mudras for Restoration and Rejuvenation, and Mudras for Meditation.
Learn how to use the guided-meditation scripts that accompany the mudras to awaken their essential archetypes.
Practice 32 pranayamas and breathing techniques organized in 10 progressive levels, along with benefits, contra-indications and specific mudras to support each pranayama practice.
Explore the appropriate use of bandhas in the context of asana practice, pranayama practice and meditation, including the use of bandhas to release the three granthis or psychic knots.
Learn how to integrate hand mudras into asana practice through instruction in 30 yoga asanas together with the specific hand mudras that awaken their archetypal symbolism, facilitate their practice and amplify their benefits.
Explore Mudra sequences that accompany mantras of the Vedic tradition including Gayatri.
Learn the application of mudra , pranayama and bandha in specialty asana classes for awakening the subtle body, including Chakra Yoga, Pranavayu Yoga and 5 Element Yoga.
Explore the mudras described in the texts of Hatha Yoga including gestures of the face, eyes, and whole body.
Learn meditation methods that combine mudra, pranayama and bandha to integrate the essential benefits of Hatha Yoga including health, balance and spiritual awakening.

Certified Yoga Teachers and Yoga Therapists, who complete this program are authorized to present mudra workshops based on the book “Mudras for Healing and Transformation” by Joseph and Lilian. They are also certified to teach the pranayamas in the system of 10 levels.

This program is open to all, but is especially relevant for Yoga teachers and Yoga Therapists.

Required Reading
Joseph and Lilian Le Page, Mudras for Healing and Transformation
(coming Spring 2012 - click here)

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What Students Are Saying

"The thematic flow was extremely helpful in experiencing the subleties of the mudras. I feel such a clearer connection with the pranayama and the bandhas. And the imageries are both lovely and profound in effect."
-Julie K.

"Amazing and life-changing!!! I’m a licensed clinical social worker and I think I learned more about myself and the way to really help myself and others than in five years of college study psychology and graduate school. This was really a gift – thank you, thank you, thank you."
-Leah B.

"Now I really understand much better the mudras, pranayama, and the bandhas, and also the pranavayus. And I discovered that mudras are very effective!"
-Jocelyne B.

"My heart feels fully open and appreciative to have received the energetic transmissions for mudra practice. I feel a stronger connection to the subtle aspects of pranayama."
-Katherine C.

"I more clearly understand and can feel all three modalities in all their variations. This couse has fine-tuned my skill set and I can see how I will integrate this into my current program."
-Aimee P.

"I have loved mudras since my first training. They have been very powerful in my work for health issues that have limited my more physical practice."
-Vicky L.

"Brilliant teaching and keen ability to make what appears to be so complicated, so accessible! I appreciated his delivery and method of teaching and way of making the information so interesting." -Mary L.

I feel my understanding of the koshas is much more solid. With so many fantastic teachers and such a diverse and talented group, I came to have a broader vision of yoga therapy."
-Sue F.