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Monthly Archives May 2023

Yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome: 7 Poses for Fixing the Slouch in Your Neck

A woman stretching out while using yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome

A woman stretching out while using yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome

Do you experience neck pain, difficulty turning your head, or headaches? Upper Cross Syndrome, or Upper Crossed Syndrome, is a common neck problem that can manifest with a variety of symptoms. Whether you may be experiencing this issue yourself or you’re a yoga teacher or yoga therapist looking to help clients who face this problem, there are a variety of ways to use yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome with great results.

I’m Brandt Passalacqua, the Founder, Director, and Lead Teacher of Breathing Deeply, a yoga therapy training program. I’ve worked directly with numerous clients suffering from Upper Cross Syndrome and its counterpart, Lower Cross Syndrome, and trained many other yoga therapists on how to address these conditions.

Keep reading to learn more about what this syndrome is, its causes and symptoms, and how to correct it with an example sequence of 7 Upper Cross Syndrome yoga poses and breathing techniques. You can also contact us about working with myself or another yoga therapist I’ve trained to address your neck problems online, or apply to one of our programs if you’re interested in becoming a yoga therapist yourself.

Table of Contents:

What Is Upper Cross Syndrome (or Upper Crossed Syndrome)?

A diagram showing the muscles in the neck, shoulders, chest, and upper body that are affected, which you can use yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome to correct

Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS), sometimes also referred to as Upper Crossed Syndrome, is a musculoskeletal disorder that is caused by muscle imbalances in the upper body. This condition is characterized by extreme muscle tightness, reduced range of motion, neck and shoulder pain, and headaches.

What Causes Upper Cross Syndrome?

Poor posture, especially from sitting for long periods of time, is the leading cause of Upper Cross Syndrome. But it can also be caused by overuse of muscles in your shoulders, neck, or upper back. If these muscles are imbalanced—whether they are too tight, weak, or overworked—it can result in Upper Cross Syndrome.

Recently, I’ve worked with a number of clients who came to me with complaints about their necks:

  • One client came in for his arthritis. He said that he has always had pain in his neck around C7 (at the base of the neck).
  • Another client has had constant pain in his neck near the occiput (at the base of the skull).
  • I also had a client who was having trouble turning her head without pain.

Even though each person had a different story and complaint, they shared one thing in common: their posture was quite similar. Their heads were pushed forward and their shoulders were rounded, indicating Upper Cross Syndrome.

When you spend long periods of time in a hunched forward posture, your chest muscles can become shortened while your mid-back and shoulder muscles become weakened. This leads to a muscular imbalance in the upper body, where the mid-back and shoulder muscles lack the strength to counteract the muscle tightness and shortness in the neck and front of the body.

This muscular imbalance forms an “X” shape when viewed in profile, hence the name of the syndrome. It crosses from the tight upper trapezius and levator scapulae in the shoulder to tight pectorals in the upper chest, and from the weak cervical flexor muscles in the neck to the weak rhomboid and lower trapezius muscles in the upper back. The first cross is overly tight, and the second is too weak to counteract the first’s tightness.

How Many People Are Affected by Upper Cross Syndrome?

Upper Cross Syndrome affects a large number of people in a range of ages and professions. It is particularly common among:

  • Office workers who spend significant time sitting at a computer
  • Assembly line workers who must look down and perform repetitive tasks
  • Truck drivers, cab or rideshare drivers, or those who commute long distances
  • Athletes, especially swimmers and weightlifters
  • Students who spend significant time sitting at a desk or computer
  • The elderly, especially those who have posture or mobility issues

Repetitive movements and everyday activities that require focusing on something that is in front of the body but below the head can contribute to Upper Cross Syndrome. The condition can affect anyone who remains in a bad posture position for long periods of time.

Several studies have been done showing how Upper Cross Syndrome affects different populations:

Can Upper Cross Syndrome Affect Breathing?

In addition to causing neck pain and headaches, Upper Cross Syndrome can affect breathing by altering the position of the rib cage and diaphragm. The tightness in the chest muscles pulls the shoulders forward and downward, which can cause the rib cage to become compressed. This can lead to a decrease in the amount of air that can be inhaled and exhaled, resulting in shallow breathing.

Additionally, the weakened mid-back muscles can cause the muscles in the neck and upper chest to work harder to lift the rib cage during inhalation, which can cause increased tension and fatigue in these muscles. This can further exacerbate the breathing difficulties associated with Upper Cross Syndrome. One of the benefits of yoga is that it can easily incorporate Upper Cross Syndrome breathing exercises.

Can Upper Cross Syndrome Be Corrected?

Fortunately, Upper Cross Syndrome can be corrected! When the three clients of mine I mentioned earlier corrected their postures, their symptoms diminished or vanished.

Most interesting to me is the client with arthritis. He had seen a medical doctor and a physical therapist and was convinced that he was doomed because of his diagnosis. It only took 2 minutes for me to correct his posture and get him completely out of pain!

Of course, it can take a little more time to strengthen the muscles that have been weakened to the point where your posture can be corrected for the long term. Keep reading to learn how to use yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome correction.

What Is the Best Way to Fix Upper Cross Syndrome?

Upper Cross Syndrome can be corrected with a combination of strengthening, stretching, and lifestyle changes.

  • Strengthening exercises can correct the muscle weakness that has occurred, helping to encourage proper alignment and posture.
  • Stretching exercises can alleviate tension in the tight muscles, reducing the imbalance between the tight and weak muscles.
  • Lifestyle changes, such as breaking up or reducing repetitive movements and maintaining good posture, are also critical for addressing the root cause of the condition.

Consistency and regularity in performing these exercises are important, as well as fixing any poor posture. Yoga can be a highly effective way to fix this issue, addressing not only the strengthening and stretching exercises with effective yoga poses for Upper Cross Syndrome, but also incorporating breathing techniques and improving mental health to support these efforts.

Does Yoga Help Upper Cross Syndrome?

As mentioned above, there are plenty of highly effective ways to use yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome. Yoga can help to stretch tight muscles and strengthen weak or underactive muscles, which can alleviate tension and remedy imbalances in your posture. The most important point is to focus on strengthening muscles that keep proper alignment without forcing the body into alignment it isn’t ready for.

Yoga also possesses a few unique benefits to help with Upper Cross Syndrome:

  • It can incorporate breathing techniques to help promote backbends, stimulate parasympathetic nervous system response, and relieve tension in order to combat Upper Cross Syndrome.
  • It can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, helping to improve follow-through and habit change associated with lifestyle efforts against UCS.

7 Upper Cross Syndrome Yoga Poses in Sequence

My general approach to putting Upper Cross Syndrome yoga poses in a sequence looks something like this: moving and breathing, then strengthening, then stretching. Below is a very simple sequence of yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome using this method, keeping in mind that there are a dozen other sequences to achieve the same goal.

An example sketching out Upper Cross Syndrome yoga poses in a sequence

As you can see, several rounds of moving and breathing with Cat-Cow Pose (Bitilasana), Child’s Pose (Balasana), and Warrior 1 Pose (Virabhadrasana I) prepare the joints for the static Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana), which focuses on strengthening. I recommend doing Cobra Pose while tucking the chin in order to strengthen the cervical flexors and the muscles between the scapula (shoulder blades), while also releasing the suboccipitals.

We then spend 16 breaths stretching the pecs with Supine Spinal Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana) so that they get the message to lengthen. This is followed by rest and relaxation in Corpse Pose (Savasana). And that’s it. Keep it simple, clear, and concise.

When we are using yoga poses for Upper Cross Syndrome or to help with other physical problems, my opinion is not to get fancy. It is better to be economical and clear. As yoga therapists, we work with our clients to empower them to fix their health issues.

I’ve seen this type of approach help hundreds of people suffering with neck issues. Yoga asana is really helpful and elegant if we let it be. If you are trying to help others or yourself, go for the most obvious remedyno matter how simple it might seemand work from that place.

1. Cat-Cow Pose (Bitilasana)

Someone performing Cat Pose and Cow Pose in a sequence of Upper Cross Syndrome yoga poses

  • Start on your hands and knees, with your wrists directly under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.
  • As you inhale, arch your back and lift your tailbone and head towards the ceiling, creating a curve in your spine (Cow Pose).
  • As you exhale, round your spine towards the ceiling, tucking your chin into your chest (Cat Pose).
  • Repeat 6 times.

Cat-Cow Pose helps stretch and strengthen the neck, shoulders, and spine, improving posture and reducing tension. This makes it a great Upper Cross Syndrome yoga pose to start with. Those with physical limitations can use props like blankets or blocks for support.

2. Child’s Pose (Balasana)

Someone performing Child's Pose as one of their yoga poses for Upper Cross Syndrome

  • Start by kneeling upright and bringing your big toes together.
  • Raise both arms above your head and inhale.
  • Fold forward at your hips as you exhale, bringing your pelvis back toward your heels, extending your arms forward on the floor in front of you, and lowering your forehead toward the floor.
  • Turn your head to one side and place it against the floor.
  • Repeat 6 times, alternating which side you turn your head.

Child’s Pose helps to relieve tension in the neck, shoulders, back, and hips. You can use a pillow or blanket if needed to provide cushioning for your knees or head.

3. Warrior 1 Pose (Virabhadrasana I)

Someone performing Warrior 1 Pose in a sequence of Upper Cross Syndrome yoga poses

  • Start by standing up and stepping forward with your right foot, 3 or 4 feet apart from your left foot.
  • Bend your right knee to a 90-degree angle, so your right knee is directly above your right ankle and your right thigh is parallel to the floor.
  • Turn your left foot out slightly, keeping your left leg straight.
  • Inhale while raising both arms straight above your head toward the ceiling, tucking your chin toward your chest, and pulling your shoulder blades together.
  • Exhale and release from the pose, moving back to a typical standing position.
  • Repeat 6 times, alternating which foot you move forward.

Warrior 1 Pose helps to stretch the chest, shoulders, back, and neck. This makes it an excellent option for Upper Cross Syndrome yoga poses, since these areas are often tight in those with UCS. It also strengthens the legs, glutes, and hips, improving overall stability and balance.

In this version, we tuck the chin and pull the scapula (shoulder blades) together to address the posture imbalances of UCS. When you’re extending yourself toward the ceiling with this pose, you’re training your body to hold an upright posture, correcting the issues found in Upper Cross Syndrome.

To modify the pose, you can reduce the angle of the forward knee or widen your stance to make it easier to balance.

4. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)

Someone performing Cobra Pose as one of their yoga poses for Upper Cross Syndrome

  • Start by lying on your stomach.
  • Place your palms flat on the floor outside your shoulders.
  • As you inhale, push on your palms to raise your head and chest, facing forward while tucking your chin.
  • As you exhale, bend your elbows and drop your head and chest back onto the floor, drawing your shoulder blades together.
  • Repeat 6 times.
  • Pushing on your palms, raise your head and chest again, inhaling and then holding for 6 breaths.

Cobra Pose is an excellent choice when using yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome. It helps to alleviate the symptoms of UCS by strengthening the muscles between the scapula (shoulder blades) and releasing the suboccipitals, which can help to reduce neck and shoulder pain. If you have limited mobility, you can modify the pose by keeping your elbows bent.

5. Child’s Pose (Balasana) Again

Someone performing Child's Pose as one of their yoga poses for Upper Cross Syndrome

  • Start by kneeling upright and bringing your big toes together.
  • Raise both arms above your head and inhale.
  • Fold forward at your hips as you exhale, bringing your pelvis back toward your heels, extending your arms forward on the floor in front of you, and lowering your forehead to the floor.
  • Hold for 6 breaths.

Child’s Pose is a restorative yoga pose that not only stretches your neck, shoulders, and back, but also helps you to de-stress. Returning to Child’s Pose here provides a restorative break in the sequence, allowing for a moment of relaxation and reflection before moving onto the next Upper Cross Syndrome yoga pose.

6. Supine Spinal Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)

Someone performing a Supine Spinal Twist in a sequence of Upper Cross Syndrome yoga poses

  • Start by lying on your back with your arms extended out to the sides.
  • Draw both knees up toward your chest.
  • Bring your knees across one side of your body at the hip, keeping both shoulders on the floor still.
  • If needed, you can use the hand on the same side of the body as your knees to hold them, but do not pull on your knees to force the position.
  • Hold for 16 breaths, then repeat on the other side.

Supine Spinal Twist can help release tension in the neck, shoulders, and back, while also improving spinal mobility. You can modify the pose if needed by placing a cushion or block under your knees.

7. Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Someone performing Corpse Pose as one of their yoga poses for Upper Cross Syndrome

  • Start by lying on your back with your head in a neutral position.
  • Spread your arms and legs slightly in a starfish position.
  • Release any tension in your limbs and let them rest comfortably on the floor.
  • Hold for 3 minutes.

Corpse Pose is a restorative, restful pose, making it a great place to conclude a sequence of yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome. This pose helps to increase your awareness of your body and its posture while also relaxing it.

For those suffering from Upper Cross Syndrome, Corpse Pose can help to unhunch your shoulders, open your chest and neck, and release tension through the front of your body. If needed, you can use a cushion to support your head and neck.

Upper Cross Syndrome Breathing Exercises

There are a number of Upper Cross Syndrome breathing exercises you can incorporate into your yoga sequence or perform on their own.

  • Inhaling during backbends, such as Cat-Cow Pose, Warrior 1 Pose, and Cobra Pose, can help expand the ribs. This helps promote backbending, which is a movement that counters the slouching of Upper Cross Syndrome.
  • Deep, purposeful breathing can stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. Regular breathwork can help to train your nervous system response, turning off your fight-or-flight response and encouraging your rest-and-digest response. When practiced in conjunction with a yoga sequence that helps correct your posture, conscious breathing can send signals to the brain that what you’re trying to do differently (keep your body upright rather than hunching over) is a good thing. This makes it easier to change your habits and improve your posture long term.
  • Standalone breathing exercises can also help relieve tension generally by regulating your nervous system responses. This can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, making it easier to follow through with new habits and lifestyle changes such as proper posture.

For those who experience shallow breathing or difficulty breathing due to Upper Cross Syndrome, breathing exercises can also help combat these symptoms.

Get Started with Yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome at Breathing Deeply

Yoga therapy, or the practice of applying yoga techniques to specific health conditions, offers people another path to good health, healing, and well-being, especially when Western medicine has failed them. For over a decade, I’ve made it my mission to make yoga therapy more accessible, both through my own private yoga therapy practice where I’ve helped thousands of clients, and through my yoga therapy programs where I’ve trained hundreds of yoga therapists.

I’ve seen firsthand how incredibly effective it can be to use yoga for Upper Cross Syndrome and other sources of neck pain. Whether you’re looking for relief for yourself or for your yoga students or clients, I’d like to help.

To become a client, contact us today about working with me or one of the yoga therapists I’ve trained. We offer private, online yoga therapy sessions via Zoom.

To become a yoga therapist yourself, learn about our yoga therapy training programs and apply today. New classes will be starting soon!

Yoga Certification for Occupational Therapists

After receiving her yoga certification for occupational therapists, this OT helps an elderly patient stretch with yoga
After receiving her yoga certification for occupational therapists, this OT helps an elderly patient stretch with yoga

As an occupational therapist, you work to help the people you serve to develop the strength, strategies, and skills they need to live happy, independent lives. But have you ever wondered: what can occupational therapists do with yoga? Your services are invaluable to your clients, and getting yoga therapy training and even a yoga certification for occupational therapists can give you even more options to help these clients and expand your career.

At Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy, we offer yoga therapy training that prepares you to work with a range of clients and their health conditions, both mental and physical. From children to the elderly, mobility issues to autism, yoga can be a life-changing tool to help clients heal and gain better control over their bodies.

We’ve had the pleasure of providing yoga therapy training for occupational therapists in the past, and we’d love to welcome more OTs into our next round of classes. Keep reading to learn about our adaptive yoga training for occupational therapists or get in touch with our team today.

Table of Contents:

Can OTs Do Yoga?

Many people assume that occupational therapy and yoga are mutually exclusive disciplines. This assumption is often reinforced by the fact that people most commonly go to see an occupational therapist and a yoga therapist separately.

Finding a yoga therapist who also has occupational therapy experience can be a huge convenience and benefit to these clients’ health and wellness. More and more OTs are looking into yoga as a means of expanding their practices as well as improving outcomes for the people they serve.

But OTs can’t just start doing yoga without being properly trained first. Yoga therapists learn specific techniques and strategies to work with specific pathologies. Without this specialized knowledge, it is possible to use or recommend yoga techniques in a way that is harmful to clients, which is why it’s critical to undergo yoga training for occupational therapists first.

What Can Occupational Therapists Do with Yoga?

A patient using an exercise ball for support to stretch, showing what occupational therapists can do with yoga

Once you receive training, occupational therapists can do a lot with yoga:

  • Improve clients’ mobility, flexibility, and muscle strength
  • Support elderly clients’ physical health with techniques and strategies for osteoporosis, balance issues, and other common problems
  • Address mental components to a client’s health, such as autism, ADHD, OCD, anxiety, depression, and more
  • Ultimately, have additional tools to give a wide range of clients greater independence

Improvements in these areas would enhance any physical therapy regimen, including almost any occupational therapeutic treatment goal. Studies have indicated that yoga can improve balance and mobility in older adults as well as benefit their mental well-being, among many other benefits for a range of populations.

While physical exercise alone is recommended for almost anyone, it is generally focused on improving muscular strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness. This can leave muscles needed for specific tasks undeveloped, as exercise tends to be done in a repetitive, mechanical fashion.

Yoga remedies the limitations of other exercises by adding organic movements, dynamic tension, and all the benefits of a spiritual tradition that is thousands of years in the making. Not only does yoga support physical health, but mental and emotional health as well, creating a more holistic approach.

How Is Yoga Used in Occupational Therapy?

If you receive yoga therapy training and even yoga certification for occupational therapists, the next step is to bring it into your practice (or start a yoga therapy practice and use your OT techniques there). Of course, this is what you’ll learn how to do throughout the course of your training.

To give you an idea of how yoga can be used in occupational therapy, here is an overview of some of yoga’s most common techniques:

  • Asanas, or yoga poses, allow you to incorporate a variety of physical movements and postures into your practice.
  • Pranayama, or breathwork, involves consciously controlling the depth, duration, and pattern of your breathing.
  • Meditation heightens your attention, awareness, and focus to help clear your mind and achieve a state of calmness.

With these techniques and training on how to use them, you can add even more tools for supporting physical health to your practice. Yoga therapy can also help to fill in the gaps to address mental conditions that your clients may face which affect their lives and treatment. Not only that, but yoga is something that clients can learn to practice on their own as well, giving them greater independence and agency over their bodies.

What Is Adaptive Yoga for Special Needs?

A woman in Warrior Pose demonstrating how to use chair yoga poses for muscular dystrophy.

Many able-bodied people are intimidated by yoga or simply believe they can’t do it well enough for it to be worthwhile. This can be especially true for those who are living with an injury, illness, disability, birth defect, or have other special needs.

That’s where adaptive yoga comes in. Adaptive yoga is a way to make the benefits of yoga available to people who might otherwise not be able to perform the movements and poses in their traditional forms.

Asanas, or yoga poses, are adapted to work for those who may not be able to perform them otherwise. Chair yoga, which adapts asanas to be done while using a chair, is a prime example of adaptive yoga.

For the occupational therapist looking to expand their therapeutic offerings with yoga, adaptive yoga is almost always going to be right on target. It is important to complete adaptive yoga training for occupational therapists to use these techniques safely with clients.

What Are Adaptive Yoga Techniques?

As mentioned above, adaptive yoga techniques are modified versions of traditional yoga poses. The purpose of these modifications is to accommodate physical limitations such as injury or impairment, mobility restrictions, balance deficits, and more.

These modifications are designed to enable those with such physical limitations to gain the benefits of yoga without the pain or risk of injury that attempting to perform the traditional pose might involve. Rather than push a person to perform a traditional pose, adaptive yoga permits clients to work within their bodies’ abilities with confidence.

Yoga can be adapted to accommodate for an individual’s strength, flexibility, mobility, and spatial relationships. Adaptive yoga can help clients who struggle to perform traditional yoga asanas due to a range of circumstances, such as:

Common use cases for adaptive yoga techniques include:

  • Adapting asanas to be performed seated in a chair
  • Adapting asanas to be performed standing while using a chair to lean on for support
  • Adapting asanas to use other props for support, such as blocks, bolsters, straps, and cushions
  • Adapting transitions between yoga sequences to make them more accessible
  • Adapting stances to be wider than usual

With adaptive yoga techniques at your disposal, your OT practice will offer even more value to the people you serve. It can open doors of opportunity for you, make new clients interested in your services, and boost your job satisfaction immensely. The next step is finding adaptive yoga training for occupational therapists to practice yoga safely.

How to Find Adaptive Yoga Training for Occupational Therapists

An OT working with a child to stretch their legs using a prop, demonstrating the uses of adaptive yoga training for occupational therapists

You may not have heard of adaptive yoga before today, but as an occupational therapist, you’ll likely find that it is right in your wheelhouse. As explained above, adaptive yoga is based on the fact that not all bodies are built the same and we cannot all perform the same movements in the same way.

The idea applies to anyone with varying strengths, flexibility, and body mechanics. But more importantly, adaptive yoga is about helping people with injuries, illnesses, and disabilities to safely perform asanas and benefit from yoga.

As an occupational therapist, you are uniquely well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities provided by adaptive yoga. All you need is the right adaptive yoga training for occupational therapists.

To make the most of your yoga therapy training, think about which health conditions affect the population you want to serve:

  • Are you predominantly focused on balance and mobility issues? Are there other health concerns that tend to come up for the population you want to serve?
  • Do you want to help a particular population, such as children, the elderly, veterans, or amputees? What are the barriers and health issues they most often face?
  • Do you want to specialize in treating a specific condition, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, arthritis, or carpal tunnel syndrome?
  • Are there mental health conditions that impact your clients in their daily lives, careers, or treatments? If so, what are they?

Look for a yoga therapy program that addresses both physical and mental health issues, and ask if they offer lessons, training, or case studies on the health conditions and concerns that affect your clientele.

What Qualifies a Yoga Therapist?

If you’re wondering what qualifies a yoga therapist, the short answer is completing yoga therapy training. The journey to becoming a qualified yoga therapist generally looks like this:

  1. Completing your 200-hour yoga teacher training. This is a prerequisite for yoga therapy programs, and it will give you a starting place for understanding yoga techniques and developing a personal practice. It also allows you to teach yoga poses and certain other techniques to group yoga classes. Even at this stage, you can start seeing the benefits of yoga for occupational therapists.
  2. Completing your yoga therapy training. This specialized training will teach you to apply yoga techniques to specific health conditions, both physical and mental. You will learn how to use yoga therapeutically with your clients in ways that can enhance your OT practice. If you’re interested in starting a private yoga therapy practice and applying your occupational therapy skills there, Breathing Deeply’s yoga therapy training includes lessons on the business side of being a yoga therapist that can help. You will develop a deeper understanding of the theories and practices of yoga, as well as learn how to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western medicine to best benefit your clients.
  3. Completing advanced yoga therapy training if desired. At Breathing Deeply, we offer a Foundations Program that provides you with yoga therapy training in as little as 1 year. For OTs who already have their occupational therapy license, this may be all you need to start bringing yoga therapy into your practice and helping your clients. If you’re looking for more advanced training that will allow you to get certified, however, you can complete our 800-hour Advanced Program in as little as 2 years, which includes all of the training from the Foundations Program.
  4. Getting IAYT certified if desired. The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) sets the standard for our industry and offers the highest level of yoga therapy certification. You must complete your 800-hour yoga therapy training from an IAYT accredited program such as Breathing Deeply’s, become an IAYT member, pass the IAYT Certification Exam, and pass the IAYT Ethics and Scope of Practice Quizzes in order to earn certification through the IAYT. This is the best option for yoga certification for occupational therapists.

What’s the Best Yoga Certification for Occupational Therapists?

If you’re looking for the best yoga certification for occupational therapists, you’ll want to get certified with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT).

As mentioned above, the IAYT provides the highest level of certification for yoga therapy. Their certification is the industry standard. If you encounter clients who want more information about your yoga therapy credentials, IAYT certification will be one of the best ways to reassure them.

To become an IAYT certified yoga therapist, you must satisfy the following conditions:

  • Complete your 800-hour yoga therapy training from an IAYT accredited program like Breathing Deeply.
  • Become an IAYT member.
  • Pass the IAYT Certification Exam
  • Pass the IAYT Ethics and Scope of Practice Quizzes.

However, you can get started with yoga therapy for your clients as soon as you complete your yoga therapy training.

Is Yoga Certification for Occupational Therapists Worth It?

For those who want to support clients’ independence, healing, and physical and mental health, yoga therapy training is well worth it for occupational therapists to complete. Yoga therapy is an excellent way to supplement your occupational therapy experience and provide a more holistic approach.

Getting certified as a yoga therapist can help signal to others that you have been properly trained to work safely and knowledgeably with your clients. It can help to legitimize your new skills and techniques, putting clients at ease and furthering your career.

However, you can start using yoga therapy with clients as soon as you finish your yoga therapy training. Yoga certification for occupational therapists who already have an OT license may not always be necessary. Your clientele may not be interested in seeing that you are also a certified yoga therapist, as long as you have successfully completed yoga therapy training.

Get Started with Breathing Deeply

Are you looking to take the next step in your career? Do you want adaptive yoga training for occupational therapists to help a diverse range of clients?

At Breathing Deeply, we’re passionate about providing the very best yoga therapy training. Our mission is to make safe, practical, and ethical yoga therapy more widely accessible. We understand and appreciate the importance of working with clients to address their unique bodies and needs.

As one of the co-founders of Breathing Deeply, I would be proud to have you consider our programs. We offer 200-hour yoga teacher training for anyone who needs to meet that prerequisite, as well as our yoga therapy training programs. Our IAYT accredited yoga therapy training prepares occupational therapists for yoga therapy certification if desired as well.

Apply to one of our programs today or get in touch with us for more information.

Anandamaya Kosha: Accessing Bliss Through a Ritualized Yoga Practice

Anandamaya kosha
Anandamaya kosha

Welcome to episode 57 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and Meditation podcast.

The Anandamaya kosha is the part of ourselves that is pure bliss.

In this episode, we explore the Anandamaya kasha or Bliss body, which is the innermost kosha in the 5 kosha system we teach here at Breathing Deeply. 

Learn more about the Anandamaya Kosha and tools to balance this layer of our being through devotion and ritual. Discover a devotional deity yoga practice to balance this kosha and learn why yoga nidra can also help us access the bliss body.

This recording is an excerpt from our free 6-week course the Radically Balanced Yogi! Learn how to balance all other layers of yourself and receive the philosophy readings, poems and sutras to contemplate alongside the chanting practice, sign up now for free! https://bit.ly/2WX1HGc

Om Shanthi

This episode covers: 

  • What is the Anandamaya Kosha/the Bliss Body
  • Balancing this kosha with Bhakti/devotion & love
  • Inner peace & connection and our birthright to access it
  • Devotional practices for ananda maya Kosha
  • Ritualising your practice & samadhi
  • A deity practice for Anandamaya kosha
  • Yoga Nidra for the Anadamaya kosha

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. As I explain in Total Shape, yoga gives you a multi-faceted approach to weight loss by supporting regular exercise, good diet, quality sleep, relaxation, and finding a healthy relationship 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.

Dualism vs Non-Dualism in Yoga, Meditating Correctly & Ethics in Yoga

non-dualism
non-dualism

Welcome to episode 56 of The Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy and Meditation podcast.

In today’s episode, we are sharing a clip from a live Q&A that Brandt facilitated with students inside the Breathing Deeply Meditation Mentor Certification Program.

In this Q&A, Brandt’s discussion focuses on the distinction between dualism and non-dualism is the context of the yoga tradition.

 He discusses whether we can do a spiritual practice wrong, the concept of dualism vs non-dualism, the purpose of the namas and niyamas and ethics from a non-dual perspective.

Brandt facilitates live Q&A sessions for all members of our meditation certification program!

Join us and begin your journey to becoming a certified Breathing Deeply Meditation Teacher: https://bit.ly/3YqrqAh

Not ready to teach but want to deepen your personal practice with Brandt? Join our meditation community, free for 30 days! https://bit.ly/3jbO6lo

Om Shanthi

This episode covers: 

  • Is it okay to listen to a mantra instead of reciting it myself?
  • Dualism vs Non-dualism
  • The Namas and Niyamas in the yoga sutras vs non-dual yoga traditions
  • The journey from the dual teachings to the non-dual teachings in yoga
  • Ethics in non-dual yoga traditions

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.

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