Monthly Archives January 2022

Welcome to episode 23 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and Meditation podcast.

In today’s episode, Breathing Deeply Meditation Program Coordinator, Sara Bowman sits down with Brandt for an interview about meditation and how meditation can help us understand our life path and ourselves better and make decisions that are in line with who we really are.

“One of the great gifts of meditating is being more sensitive to ourselves and more intuitive in terms of knowing what’s important to us and being open and clear enough to follow that advice from ourselves.”

Brandt covers questions around how long we should meditate for to start seeing effects, why it’s not a one-fits-all approach as well as how meditation can increase our intuitive abilities when it comes to listening to our own guidance and how this can support us in making big life decisions and creating better habits.

We hope you enjoyed this episode! Let us know in the comments or send us a message on Instagram or Facebook any key takeaways or questions about becoming a meditator.

If you’d like to meditate with us, you can! 

Sign up for a free 30-day trial of our meditation program here: https://bit.ly/3Ar6xJy

Meditate with us for free on Insight Timer here: https://insighttimer.com/brandtpassalacqua

Om Shanthi

This episode covers the following questions:

• Is it worth starting a meditation practice even if I don’t have much time to meditate?
• How long do I have to meditate to feel the effects of meditation? Will I see any changes right away?
• How can meditation help me understand what my life path is and make big decisions?
• How does sitting still or using a meditation technique lead to us knowing ourselves better?
• Will mediation support me in changing habits that are no longer benefiting me?

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.

As you seek to turn your passion for yoga into your profession, you may have questions about becoming a yoga teacher, such as, “What’s the difference between a yoga therapist vs. a yoga instructor?” and “What training is required for each position?”. Luckily, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll break down the difference between a yoga therapist vs. a yoga teacher and what requirements you’ll need to complete for both in this article. 

What Is a Yoga Teacher?

Let’s start with a yoga teacher. As a yoga teacher, you’ll be tasked with teaching yoga which is often taught within a certain system. Ashtanga, Bikram, Sivananda, as examples, all have their ways of training yogis to teach. In the western context, yoga teachers are often trained to teach yoga classes that are primarily a physical practice. These sessions have labels like “vinyasa” “Hatha” “restorative” “yin”, etc.

A well-trained and skilled yoga teacher can lead groups in a class setting, helping students learn whatever style or system they are sharing. Yoga classes have a therapeutic effect for many. In addition, a very experienced and skilled yoga teacher can educate students in all aspects of yoga, helping them progress on a spiritual level. This is mentioned because even an enlightened teacher is technically a yoga teacher as opposed to a yoga therapist.

On average, a yoga teacher will make $30/hour. Many yoga teachers can also set their own schedules, giving plenty of flexibility to those in this role. 

What Is a Yoga Therapist? 

As a yoga therapist, on the other hand, you’ll be tasked with applying yoga techniques to specific health conditions. A yoga therapist, therefore, must be trained in both the techniques (asana, pranayama, chanting, philosophy or point of view, and meditation) and the therapeutic applications of these techniques.

A yoga therapist — like anyone in the health field — must have knowledge of the conditions they are working with, including anatomy and physiology. Yoga therapists are trained to look at health conditions through a yoga therapy lens, as well as assess from a western medicine perspective. From there, they use yoga therapy as a way to improve the well-being of their clients. 

In the U.S., yoga therapists make an average of $136/hour. Similarly, you’ll have flexibility to work as you would like, helping clients heal and maintain high-quality health. 

Yoga Therapist Vs. Yoga Teacher Training

Now that we’ve defined these roles, we’ll discuss the required training for a yoga therapist vs. a yoga teacher.

Although yoga teachers and yoga therapists are usually lifelong learners, the training entry point for yoga therapists is much higher. The IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists) has set standards that have a minimum training time of 800 hours. This is in addition to the prerequisite of a 200-hour YTT (yoga teacher training). Also, yoga therapy schools are tasked with graduating competent yoga therapists with a proven ability to work with medical conditions in a safe, effective way.

Since yoga therapists are always yoga teachers it is easy to see why the public can get easily confused. Yoga therapists often play both roles — teaching interested students yoga and working individually with clients that have health challenges. Most essential is that those with physical or mental health issues looking to yoga for help consult with a yoga therapist as opposed to a yoga teacher.

Individualized education from a yoga therapist will have much better outcomes and minimize the chance of an untrained yoga teacher inflicting harm due to a lack of knowledge and education.

Become a Yoga Therapist at Breathing Deeply

At Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy, we pride ourselves on providing high-quality yoga therapy education with continuing support for yoga therapists. We are confident that our students and in turn, graduates are educated in a way that promotes positive client outcomes and integrity in this rapidly growing field.

Ready to begin your yoga therapy training and become a Yoga Therapist?

Apply today. A new class will be starting soon!

Welcome to episode 22 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and Meditation podcast.

In today’s episode, Being at Peace with Food course instructor, Joe Simek, shares with us the four foundational principles needed to find peace with food and reach our health and weight goals.

The four principles are letting go, awareness, effort, and sustainability.

Joe then sits down with Anna Passalacqua, Breathing Deeply director & yoga therapist to dive even deeper into these four foundational principles and how to work with them and with clients. Anna has offered yoga therapy since 2006 with an emphasis on weight, body image & eating disorders.

This episode has been taken from our Being at Peace with Food program and offers a snapshot of what you will learn inside the program. Being at Peace with food is a specialized yoga therapy program for holistic weight loss, rooted in yoga.

If you are a yoga teacher or therapist, mental health professional, integrative medicine practitioner, or work with clients in health and wellness, this training is for you!

Being At Peace With Food is a 30-hour self-paced online training that is designed to take approximately 6 months to complete.

Our next course starts on the 17th Feb 2022!

For more information & to apply click here: https://bit.ly/3AwonLr

This episode covers:

• Letting Go
• Awareness
• Effort
• Sustainability
• The four principles with Breathing Deeply co-founder, Anna Passalacqua
• Do we work with the four principles in a linear fashion?
• Do you need to become a yoga teacher at the end of this program?
• How do we get our clients to hone in on what the right amount of effort is?

Finding sustainability through incremental changes

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.

Friends in Yoga,

As we reflect on 2021, there are so many lenses we could look through. The pandemic lens, the social justice lens, the lens of our global and personal community, personal needs and responsibilities, etc.

I’m sure you, like myself, have wrestled with all of your different roles and perspectives over the past year. These different lenses can sometimes support and sometimes conflict with each other. This is part of what makes us human. Our ability to have so many thoughts and perspectives at the same time. To be in harmony and conflict with ourselves and still be an integrated whole. This is yoga in a nutshell. Teachings on how to expand awareness and integrate all the parts of ourselves so that we may know ourselves more fully.

To do this well, we must follow our dharma. Dharma is our own unique personal path that leads us to the knowledge of ourselves that we seek.

“It is better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one’s own dharma. But competition in another’s dharma breeds fear and insecurity.”
-Bhagavad Gita

If you are reading this you have made some very specific choices this year in regard to your dharma. You have chosen to pursue or continue to pursue a yoga therapy education amid all the other inputs and filters. Maybe you are looking at changing how you dedicate your time, helping others find health and contentment.

I’ve had the privilege this year of watching students in their practicum do just that. Using their newly acquired skills to work with mental health conditions, trauma, grief, pain—all with great success. In the Foundations Program, students and graduates are also working in the field, living their dharma by developing programs for public school districts, helping patients and families in hospitals, helping children with scoliosis, sharing yoga with veterans suffering from PTSD, and the list goes on and on…

When we try to figure out what our dharma is there is an element that helps guide us. It is our conscience. Not what we believe to be important or right but rather what feels most important for us to contribute at this time.

As aspiring and working yoga therapists, we understand the importance of knowing oneself. Healing can happen when we have the tools to fully experience ourselves and move toward integration, health, and contentment. We have chosen to share these tools with others. To study, practice, and know the teachings in a way that can help more people move away from suffering.

This is what I see. Hundreds of us all over the world living our dharma to the best of our ability. In service of those who wish to know themselves better and find the healing that is their birthright. Individually and together we make an enormous difference in people’s lives. As a school, we have influenced thousands of positive outcomes this year. And this only gains momentum as each one of us does our part to share the wisdom of yoga therapy.

So on the eve of a New Year, I raise my cup of chai and say “Jai Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapists!” May living your dharma bring peace and health to those whose lives you touch. And may all beings be free and happy.

Blessings to you all,
Brandt

Welcome to episode 21 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and Meditation podcast.

In today’s episode, Brandt sits down to answer some of the most common questions we receive about being a practicing yoga therapist. We receive these kinds of questions all the time from our students.

This episode covers the type of employment that yoga therapists can expect to have in the current market, what types of people come to Breathing Deeply to learn yoga therapy throughout their stages in life, how a typical session will look as well as the types of conditions that we can treat and how that differs to different health practitioner’s modalities.

We hope you enjoyed this episode! Let us know in the comments or send us a message on Instagram or Facebook any key takeaways or questions about becoming a yoga therapist that you have.

Om Shanthi

This episode covers:

• What type of employment can a Breathing Deeply graduate expect to have?
• Who is a typical Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy student through the stages of life?
• What does a typical yoga therapy session look like?
• What conditions can Breathing Deeply yoga therapists treat?

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.

Welcome to episode 20 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and Meditation podcast.

In today’s episode, Joe Simek, Breathing Deeply assistant teacher, sits down with Breathing Deeply founder Brandt Passalacqua to talk about yoga therapy and mental health.

At Breathing Deeply, we teach our students how to create individualized practices that empower their clients to take their health into their own hands!

Listen in as Brandt shares with us how the yoga therapy approach to mental health is different from mainstream western medicine. Find out what the process is for assessing someone’s mental health as a yoga therapist and developing specific yoga practices that work the best for an individual.

Each person lands at their mental state depending on their own personal journey and their specific imbalances. Therefore, two people who are both suffering from anxiety may be given completely different practices from a yoga therapist.

Brandt discusses the multiple assessment models taught at Breathing Deeply. These are used to come up with an individualized practice that unfolds in relationship with each client. He then walks us through his process for assessing & developing a yoga practice for a client with anxiety.

Breathing Deeply’s goal is to bring balance back to the entire system of all of our clients to lessen their suffering. 

Om Shanthi

This episode covers:

• The difference between yoga therapy’s approach to mental health & the traditional standard of care given in western medicine
• What does the assessment of someone’s mental health look like in yoga therapy?
• The difference between going to a yoga class for mental health benefits and seeing a yoga therapist
• The most important distinction between Breathing Deeply and other yoga therapy schools
• Seeing our yoga therapy clients as people, not conditions
• The models we use to teach our students to individualize yoga therapy practices for their clients
• The process for a new yoga therapy client who comes in with anxiety

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.

In the video above, you’ll meet the Being At Peace With Food team and learn more about this specialized yoga therapy training for weight loss.

Listen in as Breathing Deeply co-directors and yoga therapists, Brandt and Anna Passalacqua talk about their experience working in this space, from their own weight loss journey to working privately with clients with weight loss needs and eating disorders, to creating yoga programs to train others to do this work.

You’ll also meet Joe Simek, yoga therapist and one of the instructors from the training, who will talk about the philosophy and principles behind Being At Peace With Food, as well as the details about the training.

The group also discusses how this program focuses on mental health and how this training is a great option for mental health professionals looking to integrate a yoga therapy model for weight and body image into their skill set.

More details about the training along with an application to join can be found HERE.

Welcome to episode 19 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and meditation podcast.

This episode has been taken from a live Q&A session with lead teacher, Brandt, and his yoga therapy students.

In this Yoga Therapy Q&A session, Brandt focuses on the topic of being trauma sensitive with all clients as a yoga therapist, even if you don’t know all of their trauma history. Brandt offers advice on how to gauge whether someone may have some trauma, how to approach people by always giving options. Brandt also covers consent in the context of yoga therapy as well as how to allow clients & students the space to give honest feedback.

Other topics covered include optimal transition times when you’re seeing multiple clients in a day, tips for meeting with clients over zoom instead of in person, the importance of strengthening muscles and why the Breathing Deeply curriculum focuses on strengthening over Iyengar style alignment!

This Q&A is full of incredible information & advice especially if you are interested in approaching people in a trauma sensitive way, whether you are a yoga teacher, yoga therapist or a practitioner of any other type of modality working with the body.

We hope you enjoyed this video! Let us know in the comments or send us a message on Instagram or Facebook any key takeaways that you have!

Om Shanthi

Timestamps:

• 00:35 – How much time should I leave to transition between yoga therapy clients?
• 03:51 – What are the best methods to approach clients in a trauma sensitive way when you aren’t sure if they have any trauma? 
• 11:00 – What is consent in yoga therapy? 
• 15:03 – Giving people permission to give feedback on things that make them uncomfortable
• 16:33 – How can I do muscle testing with a client over zoom?
• 18:28 – What is the benefit of strengthening muscles over focusing on alignment?

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.

Welcome to episode 18 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and meditation podcast.

In today’s episode, our co-founder and lead teacher, Brandt Passalacqua shares his personal health journey through a life-threatening autoimmune disease and how the healing power of yoga helped to make a full recovery that defied the odds!

Brandt then shares with us how this led him to embark on a journey to becoming a yoga teacher, yoga therapist and to eventually the creation of Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy.

Brandt’s aim when creating Breathing Deeply was to create an accessible place with an online element and an abundance of live teaching guidance to learn yoga therapy. The intention is that through our trainings and programs people can benefit from the therapeutic tools of yoga therapy to reduce their suffering and the suffering of others.

Do you want to become a yoga therapist? We’d love to hear from you!

To learn more about our range of yoga therapy and yoga teacher training programs and to apply for our next cohort, click here: https://bit.ly/3ykU3CS

This episode covers:

• Brandt’s story
• How Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy came to be
• Yoga therapy & relieving suffering
• What it’s like to be a Breathing Deeply yoga therapist 
• Training to become a yoga therapist with Breathing Deeply

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.

Welcome to episode 17 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and meditation podcast.

In today’s episode, Joe Simek, Breathing Deeply Teaching Assistant, sits down for a conversation with Breathing Deeply’s co-founder and lead teacher, Brandt Passalacqua, about our specialized yoga therapy program for weight loss, Being At Peace With Food. 

Brandt shares with us his own weight loss journey and how he came to do this work which has led to the Being At Peace With Food Program.

Being at Peace with Food offers a holistic approach to weight loss rooted in yoga with the intention of helping people achieve a healthier, happier and fulfilled life. 

This program is not only for yoga teachers and therapists but mental health professionals or anyone involved in the health and wellness industry, including health coaches and Ayurvedic specialists.

There’s so much work in this area because there are so many people suffering and who need help with their weight and with eating disorders. It is so empowering for people to feel like they have some control over food and their weight. 

If you’re looking to share this kind of information with people, you want to have gone through a process where you really understand how to help people ease their suffering in this way. 

Being At Peace With Food is an excellent choice to achieve that.

By the end of the course, you will earn your Being At Peace With Food Certification and receive 30 APD credits towards C-IAYT (if applicable).⁠

⁠Our next class for Being at Peace with Food starts on December 2, 2021!⁠

⁠For more information & to apply, click here: https://bit.ly/3AwonLr⁠

⁠Om Shanthi⁠

This episode covers:

• Brandt’s personal weight loss & health journey
• The unique yoga therapy approach to weight loss & eating disorders
• Which types of professionals might benefit from adding this program
• How successful this model has been in Brandt’s experience working with clients
• The power of following a defined pathway for individuals seeking weight loss
• How this program can give you a unique niche to market yourself with
• Why it is so important for us to do this work to help more people

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.

Welcome to episode 16 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and meditation podcast.

For this episode, our Meditation Community Coordinator, Sara Bowman, sat down with our founder & lead meditation teacher, Brandt Passalacqua to talk about meditation, anxiety and much more. 

A regular meditation practice can lead to an expanded state of consciousness, through the retraining of the mind. This allows us to perceive and react to reality in a totally different way, through a wider lens.

In this discussion, Brandt tells us why meditation is a useful tool to help us reduce feelings of stress and anxiety in our everyday life by changing the way we react to experiences that happen to us.

Brandt also covers how much we should meditate and how long it tends to take for people to see the benefits of their meditation practice.

We’d love to know how you found this episode! Share your experiences as a teacher with us in the comments or over on our Instagram or Facebook page (linked below)!

Our meditation program offers a direct pathway to help you implement a regular meditation practice to find more tranquillity and expanded states awareness in your everyday life with the guidance of Brandt as your teacher. To learn more and to start your free 30-day trial, click here: https://bit.ly/3yllE71

Om Shanthi

Questions covered:

• Would it be useful to meditate if you are experiencing the effects of anxiety? 
• Does that mean you are becoming less anxious or you feel different about your anxiety? 
• How long does it take to retrain the mind?
• How often and how long do I need to meditate to see the benefits?
• Do I have to meditate for a long time to feel the benefits?

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.

Welcome to episode 15 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and meditation podcast.

This episode has been taken from a live Q&A session with Brandt and his yoga therapy students.

In this Q&A Brandt covers a range of topics including practices for someone recovering from COVID, the difference between the energies in the left and right nostrils in alternate nostril breathing and breathing exercises that people can do at work when dealing with stress.

This Q&A also includes a discussion on marma points from Ayurveda and how they relate to acupressure points found in Chinese medicine as well as the length  & complexity of yoga therapy sequences vs regular yoga class sequences and Brandt’s take on working towards a ‘peak pose’ during a yoga class.

We’d love to know how you found this episode! Share your experiences as a teacher with us in the comments or over on our Instagram or Facebook page (linked below)!

Om Shanthi

Questions Covered:

• What practices can I give someone recovering from covid?
• How does alternate nostril breathing affect the left & right energetic channels?
• Which pranayama exercises are good for dealing with stress at work? 
• What is the difference between marma points and acupressure points? 
• How long should my yoga therapy sequences be? 
• What is the issue with classes focused on a peak pose?

Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School, founded by lead teacher Brand Passalacqua in 2014. We hold online and in-person Yoga Therapy Foundations and IAYT accredited Advanced Programs and retreats along with Meditation Programs, including online meditation teacher training and certification and holistic weight loss with Being At Peace with Food.

Breathing Deeply is made up of an active and thriving community of yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.