breathingdeeply

From Kundalini to Power yoga to hot yoga, there are various forms and philosophies of yoga that can help with a variety of ailments and human conditions. Each of these kinds of yoga has its benefits, but not every style of yoga is right for everyone. Some may be looking for daily exercise, while others may require Ayurvedic yoga therapy, which can deeply attend to their individual goals and alleviate their suffering.

An example of yoga therapy that centers on the individual rather than a group is Ayurveda yoga. Incorporating Ayurveda into the healing process may be the key to lasting well-being, but what is Ayurvedic yoga, exactly?

I’m Brandt Passalacqua, the Co-founder, Director, and Lead Teacher at Breathing Deeply. I’ve spent decades practicing, sharing, and teaching Ayurvedic yoga. Keep reading to learn more about what ayurveda is, how it relates to yoga, the research on ayurveda yoga, the conditions it can treat, and how to get started either as a client of a yoga therapist like myself or train to become an Ayurvedic yoga therapist yourself.

Table of Contents:

• What Is Ayurveda?
  • What Are the Three Doshas?
• What Is Ayurveda Yoga?
  • How Does Ayurvedic Yoga Work?
  • What Is Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy?
• Does Ayurveda Yoga Work?
• What Conditions Can Ayurvedic Yoga Treat?
• Get Started with Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy
• Apply to Our Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy Training

What Is Ayurveda? 

Ayurveda is a traditional Indian system of medicine that has been practiced for over 3,000 years. Its name comes from the Sanskrit words ayur (“life”) and veda (“science”/”knowledge”), or “knowledge of life.”

According to an Ayurvedic model, the universe and all its inhabitants, including humans, are composed of five elemental forces: ether (space), wind, fire, water, and earth. These five elements combine within the human body to form three key life forces, or doshas: vata, kapha, and pitta.

In the view of Ayurveda, the body and mind are interconnected, and the purpose of Ayurvedic practice is to bring about tridoshic balance. Everyone possesses a distinctive combination of doshas, typically with one or two being more prevalent, which dictates your personal health constitution. This means you may need to adopt certain changes in your diet, activities, or lifestyle to achieve greater doshic balance.

What Are the Three Doshas?

What are these three doshas in Ayurveda? They are vata, kapha, and pitta, and they correspond to your physiological, mental, and emotional health.

• Vata
  • Elements: Space and Air
  • Characteristics: Vata affects bodily movement, including breathing, blood flow, and bodily waste. It also affects the mind, enhancing communication, creativity, flexibility, and mental agility.
  • Qualities: Dry, light, cold, rough, subtle, mobile, clear
  • When In Balance: When vata is well-balanced, it promotes creativity and flexibility.
  • When Out of Balance: When vata is out of balance, it can encourage fear and anxiety.
• Kapha
  • Elements: Earth and Water
  • Characteristics: Kapha helps to emphasize structure and solidity. As a water-based dosha, it helps to hold the body together and encourage its growth. It’s also important for immune health.
  • Qualities: Heavy, slow, steady, solid, cold, soft, oily
  • When In Balance: When kapha is properly balanced, it’s easier to love and forgive others or yourself.
  • When Out of Balance: When kapha is not carefully balanced, it can encourage jealousy, insecurity, and even weight gain.
• Pitta
  • Elements: Fire and Water
  • Characteristics: Regarding the body, pitta influences your metabolic systems, including digestion, absorption, nutrition, and body temperature. Mentally, it encourages intelligence and understanding.
  • Qualities: Hot, sharp, light, liquid, mobile, oily
  • When In Balance: When pitta is in balance, it can enhance your intelligence and promote feelings of contentment.
  • When Out of Balance: When pitta is out of balance, it can contribute to ulcers in the body, as well as feelings of anger or jealousy.

When the three doshas are in balance, congratulations! You’re in good health, both mentally and physically. However, when your doshas are imbalanced, disease and unhappiness can take root in your life.

Ayurveda yoga, in particular, aims to assist with this balancing of your doshas with a customized program of special postures, meditation, and breathing exercises.

What Is Ayurveda Yoga?

So exactly what is ayurveda yoga, or ayurvedic yoga? Ayurveda is considered the sister science to yoga. According to some views, Ayurveda provides you access to the diagnosis of your ills, while yoga provides the cure.

Yoga exercises help mindfully connect you with your body. Ayurveda encompasses more than just exercises, though; in practice, it represents an entire philosophy of life and living.

When you get right down to it, Ayurveda and yoga are really two sides of the same coin. And Ayurveda yoga, in particular, represents the great intersection of these two ancient sciences of life. In short, Ayurveda yoga practitioners have access to diagnosis and cure in one package, promoting a more holistic approach to your well-being.

How Does Ayurvedic Yoga Work?

More popularized forms of yoga offer a one-size-fits-all approach to wellness. You’re in a room with others, and everyone does the same exercises at the same time. But, since every human being is different, Ayurvedic yoga offers a more specialized practice of yoga. It’s based on your own needs, tailored to correcting your own individual imbalances.

Remember the meaning of “Ayurveda?” It’s “knowledge of life.” As for “yoga,” that comes from the Sanskrit root word yuj, meaning “to join” or “to unite.” Ayurveda yoga is, thus, the holistic union of the knowledge of life and the practices of yoga.

Because Ayurvedic yoga must be personalized by its very nature, it resists the typical group yoga class structure. It requires an experienced practitioner to sit down with a client, assess their doshas, and determine an appropriate treatment. This would include holistic changes to your lifestyle, for example:

• Going outside every morning
• Performing breathing exercises at a particular time
• Eating your biggest meal around noon
• Yoga poses to practice on a regular basis
• When to go to bed

To achieve this kind of individualized care, especially if you want to address a particular health concern, you should seek the help of a yoga therapist.

What Is Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy?

A yoga therapist works one-on-one with a client, using yoga techniques to address specific physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health issues. An Ayurvedic yoga therapist uses their knowledge of the three doshas to guide clients through yoga practices that fit their clients’ unique physiologies and characteristics.

For instance, what works for someone with a vata imbalance will not work for someone of a pitta nature or a kapha imbalance. Great care must be taken in the approach to dosha-specific asana (movement) and pranayama (breathing) practices.

There are many benefits to ayurvedic yoga therapy, but these are a few of the major ones to keep in mind:

• It’s personalized: Yoga therapy isn’t a one-size-fits-all package. The element of personalization comes from the Ayurveda yoga therapy assessment. To truly personalize yoga therapy, it should not only take any specific health conditions into consideration, but also the person’s unique circumstances and doshic balance.
• It’s holistic: Ayurveda yoga involves more than just practicing a set of yoga poses. It can help you change your life holistically to better balance your doshas and achieve overall well-being, involving how you move, exercise, breathe, eat, sleep, and schedule your day. Western medicine tends to look at each condition a person has separately. Ayurvedic yoga therapy looks at them all together, giving you a better picture of what’s happening and how to address it.
• It evolves: As you continue to go to yoga therapy sessions, your yoga therapist can assess how your mind and body are responding to treatment. If you notice any other symptoms or issues, these can be taken into account as well. If you need to make further adjustments to the yoga techniques you practice or your lifestyle, these can evolve to meet your needs.
• It empowers: You don’t need to see a yoga therapist indefinitely. Our job is to properly assess your needs, work through techniques with you, and get you to a place where you can continue with the Ayurvedic yoga practices and lifestyle changes we’ve recommended on your own. This empowers you to have more control over your health and well-being.

Does Ayurveda Yoga Work? 

On the whole, Ayurveda yoga can help restore balance and provide great relief for those dealing with many issues. Ayurvedic yoga therapy is a mind-body-spirit approach that can aid in getting in touch with, rather than suppressing, your emotions. Ayurveda offers a path to a happier, healthier, and more physically fit life.

Here are just a few of the scientific findings on Ayurveda and yoga:

• A 2023 literature review from the University of Maryland School of Nursing found multiple studies that indicate yoga techniques, particularly pranayama (breathing exercises), can effectively lower blood pressure for those with hypertension. The author concludes that Ayurvedic yoga can be beneficial as a non-pharmaceutical treatment for hypertension.
• A 2022 literature review published in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine found that there is evidence to suggest that yoga and Ayurveda can affect the immune system to prevent or reduce infection, as well as improve respiration and mental health. In particular, there is potential for yoga and Ayurveda to help prevent COVID-19 infections and, for those who are infected, to help ease their symptoms, reduce their infection, and improve lung function, mental health, and quality of life.
• In a 2019 study from the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, researchers came to the following conclusion: “A whole-systems Ayurvedic medicine and Yoga therapy approach provides a feasible promising noninvasive low-cost alternative to traditional weight loss interventions with potential added benefits associated with sustainable holistic lifestyle modification and positive psychosocial changes.”
• A 2019 research article published in the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health found that health and wellness courses that use Ayurveda, with its mind-body-spirit emphasis, can improve well-being in a variety of ways both during and after the course.

As the public becomes more aware of Ayurvedic yoga, I expect to see more studies conducted on it and more evidence of its efficacy.

What Conditions Can Ayurvedic Yoga Treat?

What other conditions or ailments might really benefit from Ayurveda yoga? As an approach that addresses physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, Ayurvedic yoga can help with a wide range of conditions.

In my experience, mental health tends to be where Ayurvedic yoga really shines, due to its intrinsically individualized nature. But it can help promote healing for a huge variety of conditions, such as:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Trauma
• PTSD
• Addiction
• Insomnia
• Eczema
• Chronic conditions
• Autoimmune diseases
• Cancer support
• And many more!

Get Started with Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy

If you’re looking to holistically improve your health and well-being, consider our Ayurvedic yoga therapy. Led by myself and a hand-picked group of certified yoga therapists, you’ll receive individualized care online over Zoom. Learn more and fill out a form today to see how we can help.

Apply to Our Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy Training

If you want to become a yoga therapist yourself using an Ayurvedic yoga approach, apply to Breathing Deeply. Whether you have already studied yoga as a yoga teacher or not, we have a path for you to become a qualified yoga therapist online under my direction with our Ayurvedic yoga therapy training. Learn more and apply today to start your journey to help others heal.

Now that you’ve been practicing yoga for a while, you understand the transformative influence it can have on your well-being. Depending on your skills, knowledge, and in-depth experience, you may consider taking your practices to the next level as a yoga instructor.

If you are concerned about the pay, challenges, or your teaching abilities, don’t be! Becoming a teacher is a rewarding and profitable experience where you help others navigate their challenges and enrich their lives. In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of teaching yoga so you can help others live life to its fullest potential.

Why Do Yoga Teacher Training?

Is yoga teacher training worth it? This is the question you might ask yourself. Becoming a yoga instructor is a wonderful opportunity to guide others towards a more holistic lifestyle while growing personally. Let’s discuss the benefits of teaching yoga in more detail.

You Get To Help Others

Everyone needs some form of guidance in their lives. Becoming a yoga teacher is more than just about teaching body techniques; it’s about empowering people and helping them navigate their setbacks, inner demons, and negative emotions. Through your holistic approaches, you become a voice of inspiration and help others alleviate their stresses and anxieties. 

You Get To Do What You Love

There is no point in dragging yourself through a profession that you find meaningless or boring. Yoga teaching is about passion, excitement, and enjoyment in one’s holistic lifestyle. If you take great pride in your teachings, your students will take notice and feel inspired by your commitment. There is no greater feeling than turning your passion into a sustainable career where you are eager to grow personally and professionally.

You Increase Your Skill Level

Ironically, one of the benefits of becoming a yoga teacher is having the opportunity to develop your skill set. Your expertise will improve as you spend more hours instructing students on proper stretches, poses, and stress-relieving movements. You will learn more about your body’s strengths and limitations, allowing you to become confident in your capabilities.  

It Is Profitable

With the right expertise, commitment, and patience, you can earn a good living as an instructor. However, it takes a great deal of time to turn your business into a lucrative profession. Aspiring yoga teachers must define their niche, market themselves, and build a client base for their business. Additionally, you should build an online presence through social media engagement and content creation.

This will help you establish your brand as you try to differentiate yourself from your competitors. All of this takes time and coordinated effort. Keep this in mind as you work towards establishing yourself as a reputable yoga teacher.

You Improve Your Lifestyle

Yoga is about examining yourself and making appropriate health changes. Instead of working a corporate job from nine to five and starting a computer, you initiate and maintain a wellness routine. Your flexibility, balance, and strength will improve. You will learn to become more mindful of your thoughts and behaviors, allowing you to connect with your inner self. You’ll also learn to make more informed decisions. 

The result is a fulfilling life without the physical or mental barriers holding you back from your full potential.

Further Your Education With a Yoga Therapy Certification

If you want to take your holistic aspirations further and move from a teacher role to a certified therapist one, you can do that too. If so, your journey starts with Breathing Deeply’s 200-hour yoga teacher training program. Taught by yoga therapists, our highly-interactive program guides you through the core concepts, practices, and teaching skills needed to establish yourself as a yoga mentor.

Once you complete our teacher program, expand on your education through our advanced therapy program. As you progress, you’ll learn how to assess clinical conditions, make informed decisions, and empower clients therapeutically. 

Is Yoga Teacher Training Worth It?

Why do yoga teacher training? At this point, you have a solid understanding of the role, expectations, and internal benefits that come with serving as a yoga instructor. Make no mistake: teaching isn’t for everyone. Simply enjoying yoga or making it a daily routine is not enough to make an educated decision. Instructors have to effectively communicate with their audience, develop productive relationships, and establish themselves as thought leaders who can empower others. 

What about online training courses? Is online yoga teacher training worth it? Yes, yoga teacher training online can be highly valuable and practical for those with busy schedules. Work on your own schedule with online training options. 

Take Breathing Deeply’s 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training

Is yoga teacher training worth it? If you want to share your expertise and make a profound difference in people’s lives, then becoming a certified yoga teacher is the right choice!

Once you are ready, check us out at Breathing Deeply. Our 200-hour teaching program prepares graduates to incorporate therapeutic practices into their classroom settings.

Become a leader to those seeking a holistic lifestyle. Contact us to get started.

Many people with compassion and a great capacity for empathy wonder how they can best help people with their gifts. Oftentimes, they realize how yoga has helped them get in touch with and heal themselves, and they feel a strong urge to do the same for others as a yoga teacher or yoga therapist.

However, they don’t always know how to find details such as yoga teacher training costs, so they pursue a different path in life. If not knowing how much it costs to become a yoga teacher is all that stands between you and life as a yoga professional, read on to discover all you need to know about how much yoga teacher training costs. Breathing Deeply offers comprehensive yoga teacher training programs for individuals just like you.

How Much Does Yoga Teacher Training Cost?

How much does yoga teacher training cost, exactly? Becoming a yoga instructor can incur significant costs, to the tune of thousands of dollars. For example, the online course 200-hr yoga teacher training from Breathing Deeply costs around $2,000, more or less. Suppose you add other programs to complement your regular training (for instance, a well-rounded yoga therapy program). In that case, your total yoga certification cost could rise to anywhere between $4,000 and $5,000.

Different Courses, Different Costs 

The kind of yoga certification you choose to go for obviously also plays a role in determining costs. For a course focusing on foundational yoga therapy knowledge and training, you’re usually looking at a price tag of between $3,000 to $4,000. If you opt for an advanced, in-person 875-hour therapy program, you could find yourself ultimately paying a little less than $14,000, with the price including room and board, meals, and so on.

While these price points may seem daunting, think of what you are committing to –– how you’ll be able to help other people suffering a range of maladies. Plus, if you consider the costs of becoming a full-time yoga therapist versus getting a more formal education, what you pay will end up being far less than many people pay to get a university degree.

How Long Will It Take To Become a Yoga Teacher?

How long will it take you to become a yoga teacher? That depends on a number of things, such as how familiar you already are with yoga, the length of the course you’re taking, and how many hours you are able to put in outside of your class time to truly become an expert in your field.

Ideally, you should already have a considerable amount of experience with yoga before venturing into the world of yoga instruction. Why? You will need your body to be in peak physical condition before embarking on a yoga teacher training course. And having a lot of yoga experience will help you to tailor certain poses or exercises to your needs. It will be much easier to justify any yoga teacher training cost if you feel you are both mentally and physically ready for the demands of the course and job.

Plan on having at least three months of regular practice to truly be prepared for becoming a yoga teacher.

As for the classes themselves, depending on where you receive training, you generally have the choice between a 200-hour course and a 500-hour yoga teacher training course. If you’re really eager to become a yoga teacher, a 200-hour course like that offered by Breathing Deeply may be your best bet. You’ll learn all of the fundamentals and core principles of yoga therapy over six weeks and then complete a course of modules that are usually completed in four to six months, including seminars.

The 200-hr yoga teacher training cost for this is a little less than $2,000 if you pay all at once or slightly more if you decide to go with a monthly payment plan.

Become a Yoga Teacher With Breathing Deeply

One of the most fulfilling paths you can take in life is to become a certified yoga teacher or yoga therapist, but the costs can admittedly throw a lot of people off. Plus, it takes time to become a therapist your clients can truly rely on to help them with whatever they need. You can’t rush through a program and expect to be at your best for those who need you at your best, so it’s worth it to commit to the time, and over time, you’ll see that the money was well-invested.

Ready to embark on the journey of becoming a certified yoga teacher? Satisfied with the answers to the question, “How much does it cost to become a yoga instructor?” If so, what comes next? The answer is to visit Breathing Deeply and look into course options. 

With a 200-hour training course, a yoga therapy foundation course, meditation programs, and more, Breathing Deeply has the knowledge and instruction that can serve you well as you prepare to become a yoga therapist.

Visit Breathing Deeply today to choose between different yoga certification and yoga therapy programs and take the first steps toward a more rewarding path in life.

Yoga is quickly growing in popularity as physically and emotionally exhausted individuals seek out proven methods of rehabilitating their minds and bodies. Those who choose to study yoga can thus rest assured that there will be plenty of work in the future, though few are familiar with yoga degrees and how certified experts are credentialed. 

Do you really need a master’s in yoga therapy to become a professional success? Where should those interested in studying yoga turn to first? Here are 3 types of yoga degrees to explore if you seek to become a professional yoga master. 

Do You Need a Master’s Degree in Yoga To Be Successful?

First, let’s address the question above. No, you do not need a master’s degree in yoga therapy from a university to be a successful yoga therapist. Thankfully, there is a better option: Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy. It’s possible to become a certified yoga therapist without getting a degree from an expensive university. In fact, the Yogatique names us as the best online yoga therapy training in 2022!

Breathing Deeply offers students extensive yoga therapy training programs built to help you turn your passion into a profession. You will grow and learn from certified yoga professionals during your courses and receive expert mentoring opportunities. 

If you are still interested in weighing your options and learning about yoga degrees, read on to hear about three different degree options.

3 Yoga Degrees To Consider

Few people in the general public are familiar with yoga degrees, but it is indeed possible to receive higher education in the field of yoga. Some academic institutions offer a formal degree in yoga therapy to undergraduate students. Others offer more advanced master’s in yoga therapy that graduate students can take advantage of. A few also offer degrees that aren’t specific to yoga but could easily apply to the trade, such as a degree in mindfulness. 

Bachelor’s Degree

Most yoga degrees offered by accredited universities will likely be Bachelors of Arts. Naropa University in Colorado offers a Bachelor of Arts in Yogic Studies, for instance, which entails anatomy lessons and more traditional yoga classes. Students at Naropa can choose to minor in yoga studies, too, illustrating how flexible the undergraduate path to a yoga degree may be. 

Specialized Studies

Other undergraduate institutions may offer students the chance to secure a Bachelor’s in Special Studies, which allows them to formulate a custom, individualized degree program tailored to their individual desires. Students can then devise a clever curriculum for themselves after receiving approval from their guidance counselors that teaches them valuable yoga lessons which can be put to use by getting yoga degrees or credentials elsewhere. 

There are also tangential degrees to consider which may not be centered on yoga studies but are quite relevant to the field. Mindfulness studies are popular with those who are interested in the yogi lifestyle. 

Mindfulness is a meditative practice that can yield helpful insights for yogis seeking to help their clients, though they may not help you secure industry credentials that are important for commercial practice. Sometimes referred to as “contemplative degrees,” these may also be pursued as minors or certificates in many universities if you’re uninterested in majoring in their study. 

Master’s Degree

Finally, those who aspire to become true experts in the field of yoga can pursue a master’s degree in yoga offered by institutions like the Maryland University of Integrative Health’s Master of Science in Yoga Therapy. 

A more advanced graduate program of this nature will include detailed knowledge of yoga therapy and other insights which prove valuable in the field of commercial meditation, therapy, or rehabilitation services. Advanced degrees typically require an undergraduate degree in hand before you apply, however, so recognize that this may be a long-term goal if you’re just entering the yoga practice.

For more information, read our blog post about whether you need a master’s in yoga therapy.

Yoga Degrees Aren’t Essential To The Trade

While many newcomers to yoga believe that yoga degrees are the key to success, there are professional certifications provided by current yoga therapy providers that are far more likely to result in personal and professional success in yoga. 

Expert organizations full of yoga professionals like Breathing Deeply offer professional training courses that will equip you with the skills and certifications you need for commercial yoga work. 

Breathing Deeply lets would-be yogis turn their budding passion into a profession without having to undergo the hassle and expenses of a four-year program. Instead, 200-hour yoga teacher training will ensure you’re familiar with yoga therapy’s core principles and the industry’s best teaching practices before you’re ever in charge of a classroom. 

Lectures, forums, assignments, and assessments provided by Breathing Deeply will create a truly authentic educational experience without the immense debt generated by most universities. Those who pass the 875-hour advanced yoga therapy program will be eligible for C-IAYT status, the highest certification in the industry. 

Breathing Deeply’s many courses also include meditative modules and sections on healthy eating for a well-balanced lifestyle. Interested students can even seek to become a Breathing Deeply Meditation Mentor to guide others on their path toward the yogi lifestyle.

Finding your happy place is a lot easier when you’re not drowning in debt or struggling to keep pace with coursework that may have nothing to do with yoga but is mandated by your general education requirements.

Millions of people are in desperate need of yoga therapy services. Becoming a yoga therapist is both an excellent career choice and a great way to help those in need who are seeking meditative tranquility. Learning how to become a yoga therapist is the first step toward this lofty goal, especially if you seek professional certification.

Breathing Deeply offers several yoga therapy training courses for those looking to pursue this career path. With Breathing Deeply, you will learn how to become a yoga therapist from qualified and caring professionals. 

Interested in learning how to become a yoga therapist? Here’s everything you need to know about becoming a certified yoga therapist. Read on to learn more about how Breathing Deeply can help you meet your career goals.

How To Become a Yoga Therapist

Once you enroll in a school of your choice, you can start becoming a yoga therapist by attending an introductory course. Consider Breathing Deeply’s Foundations Program. The course will teach you anatomy, philosophy, theory, and how to apply this information and tools in a therapeutic setting.

Yoga therapy is incredibly rewarding, so expect these introductory sessions to lead to additional fulfilling lessons later on. After completing your introductory course you can take an IAYT-accredited advanced course that will provide you with the highest-level formal training you need to become C-IAYT.

Your teachers should be wise individuals who can impart many helpful resources to you in the course of your education. They may be able to provide you with helpful work experience as a student that helps you grasp the fundamentals of being a great yoga therapist. 

Graduating from an accredited program isn’t enough by itself, however to become a certified yoga therapist — you’ll also need to solicit formal approval from the IAYT after you’ve finished your courses. You can apply at any time once you’ve completed your training program, but there’s only a limited period of time each year when the IAYT reviews and accepts these applications. 

The most recent window for IAYT Certification (C-IAYT) ended on January 21, 2022. The next 4-month window is March 7 – July 5, 2022. Learn more about your eligibility and how to become a yoga therapist on their official website. 

What Is The IAYT?

Have you heard of the International Association of Yoga Therapists before? The IAYT will become an important part of your life if you seek to become a certified yoga therapist. This organization provides important professional credentialing to those yoga therapists who want to stand apart from the crowd. 

Consider getting a certification from the IAYT before you launch your yoga therapy business. Accreditation shows other healthcare service providers your customers may visit that you are a legitimate professional yourself. It will also prove instrumental to your marketing efforts, especially when you appeal to your very first customers. 

However, you do not need to be IAYT-certified to run a successful practice. Becoming a yoga therapist begins with taking an introductory yoga therapy course from an organization such as Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy. We provide various course options that will ensure you’re familiarized with the best yoga practices in 2022. 

Continued Education for Skilled Yoga Therapists

Becoming a yoga therapist who is widely renowned for their talent will take years of hard work. Luckily, there are resources for continuing your education that make becoming a yoga therapist master more achievable than ever before. 

The IAYT offers an Approved Professional Development program to help you maintain core competencies while staying up to date on the latest innovations in the field. This will make eventual recertification easier if you want to know how to become a yoga therapist who remains successful for years after their initial accreditation wears off. 

The information provided by these courses will help you generate satisfied clients every session. It will also provide you with a level of professional credentialing that will lure in new customers as you turn yoga therapy into your full-time trade. Above all else, it can grant you the peace of mind that you’re a true expert who possesses valuable insights others can benefit from. 

You can also find assistance at the annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) held by the IAYT. There you’ll find rich personal and professional development that may help you assist others after you become a certified yoga therapist.

Additionally, you can enhance your skills through courses and programs offered at Breathing Deeply. Whether you’re just starting out in your yoga journey or are looking to advance your skills, Breathing Deeply provides multiple courses that can meet your needs. 

Turn Your Passion Into a Profession With Breathing Deeply

Ready to become a yoga therapist? The experts at Breathing Deeply will share their knowledge with you in easily accessible courses that are always taught by certified professionals. Breathing Deeply will help you make a positive impact on every client you help through relaxing and meditative yoga services.

Expert mentoring, continuous support, and a culture of constant learning are all just one click away. Get in touch with Breathing Deeply to become a true yoga professional.

Yoga therapy is a relatively new phenomenon, but it’s one that has nevertheless become increasingly popular in the past few years. Yoga therapists are trained to do therapy for specific conditions using yoga, not teach more generalized yoga classes. This means that rather than taking place in large group classes, yoga therapy revolves around private sessions between a yoga therapist and their client.

Physical therapy centers on physical wellness and recuperation, while mental therapy revolves around treating the symptoms and causes of psychological distress. Yoga therapy is unique in its focus on trying to address both mental and physical conditions, providing holistic evaluations and solutions for clients. Anyone with the right mindset and training can take up yoga therapy as a means of helping others.

Qualities of a Good Yoga Therapist

Given its focus and setting, there are certain qualities of a good therapist that make someone fit for yoga therapy. So if you’re interested in taking it up yourself, have a look.

Grounded in Own Practice

The first quality of a good therapist is being grounded, primarily in their own practice. Yoga therapists able to stay grounded and present in their own practice can translate this skill over to client practices. The practice of grounding helps individuals tolerate large emotional states and connect with their inner selves. Yoga therapists should know how to help clients achieve this, and what better way than to understand how to do it on their own?  

Applicable Science of Yoga Knowledge

Yoga is more than just a state of mind. The science of yoga focuses on human elements such as anatomy, psychology, and physiology. Yoga therapists should understand and be able to apply this knowledge to every practice. In fact, they should have a drive for learning and applying this knowledge every step of the way. 

Clear Understanding of Yoga Therapy

Contrary to some beliefs, yoga and yoga therapy are not the same. Therefore, yoga teachers and yoga therapists aren’t exactly the same, either. To properly conduct sessions, yoga therapists need to understand how to apply yoga practices to health conditions. This practice extends beyond finding inner peace or healing and aids in the entire human system. Yoga therapists should have a clear understanding of the context behind yoga therapy. 

Self-Awareness

Yoga therapy training doesn’t just end when you receive your certification. There are always new practices and applications that emerge as we learn more about the human system. Yoga therapists should be aware of this and maintain a strong self-awareness and desire to grow. By understanding their strengths and weaknesses in the yoga realm, yoga therapists can continue to strengthen their skills to better assist clients. 

Co-Creator

Yoga therapy offers more than one application method. Yoga itself is a versatile practice that can be adapted to fit the needs of those practicing. Therefore, yoga therapists should look to their role as being a co-creator. Instead of approaching every client with a “one-size-fits-all” mindset, yoga therapists should approach each client without an agenda. Be open to establishing a relationship with every client that focuses on the individual client’s needs. 

Holistic Approach

Yoga is an inherently holistic science. That’s why one of the best qualities of a good therapist is a holistic perspective. Addressing health conditions through yoga therapy should go beyond just a physical approach and take the entire being into account. Yoga therapists should factor this approach into their training and prepare to maintain this perspective throughout their tenure. 

Educator

Last but certainly not least on our list of yoga skills for therapists is being an educator. Many clients seek out yoga therapy in hopes of better understanding their bodies and minds. The responsibility of providing education, then, falls to the yoga therapist. As a yoga therapist, you should be able to clearly explain each step of the practice and the science and purpose behind it. 

Learn Yoga Therapy Journey with Breathing Deeply

Yoga therapy is a discipline that requires much of those who practice it. As a yoga therapist, your clients will rely on you to closely guide them on the path to mental and physical wellness. They will trust in your knowledge, compassion, and authenticity as you use your unique expertise to help them work through what is burdening them.

If you display the qualities of a good therapist, you can make the yoga therapy journey more effective for your clients. At the same time, learning yoga skills for therapists will ultimately end up being more rewarding for you, too. Is this a journey you’re willing to take with your clients? If so, then to see how you can become a yoga therapist who makes a difference in others’ lives, visit Breathing Deeply today.

If you are reading this article, it means that you have completed a 200-hour Yoga Training program. To that we say congratulations! By completing our interactive and highly therapeutic program, you have taken a monumental step towards establishing your credentials as a yoga therapist ready to help nurture, assess, and guide clients through their psychological, physical, and spiritual barriers.

As you evaluate your next chapter in your yoga career, you might find yourself asking the question: What can you do with a 200-hour yoga certification? In this article, we’ll dive into several recommended starting points you can take to further enhance your objectives, advance your yoga education, and learn how to start teaching yoga should you choose to go down this path.

9 Steps for New Yoga Teachers 

Evaluate Your Objectives

Before you establish a detailed next steps plan, think about what objectives you’re pursuing. Whether you are seeking to mentor your friends as a certified instructor or want to work directly with clients as a yoga therapist, consider both your short-term and long-term objectives.

1. Establish short-term goals: What do you hope to accomplish in the next week, month, or year? Maybe you’re hoping to expand your background and learn more about the physiological benefits of yoga. Maybe you want to diversify your education by enrolling in other certificate programs. Whatever the case, make sure you keep a detailed track of your short-term objectives.

2. Consider long-term goals: Go beyond a year and visualize how you believe yoga will have transformed your life. Do you hope to own a studio where you teach others self-healing methods? Are you hoping to become a certified yoga therapist and work in a healthcare setting? Whatever the case, consult with others as you navigate a long-term vision for yourself.

3. Do your research: There’s more than one answer to the question “what can you do with a 200-hour yoga certification?” Spend some quality time investigating your options and areas of interest, and apply them to your objectives. Make an honest assessment of your future based on your findings. 

Advance Your Education

The saying “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” certainly applies to yoga. In this case, evaluate what resonates with you, what you enjoy learning about yoga, and what kind of teachings you plan to focus on.

4. Pursue other certificates: Once you’ve completed the 200-hour teaching program, consider diving deeper into subject matters that best suit your objectives. If you’re seeking to become a certified yoga therapist, consider enrolling in our Advanced Yoga Therapy Program. You will learn new skills, gain practical experience, and establish yourself as a trusted mentor for clients seeking self-harmony.

5. Create a personalized profile: By this, we mean you should formally outline your experience and expertise as you develop your career. Start with a resume and begin organizing your credentials. You should create a comprehensive and personalized profile that speaks volumes about your credentials. Present your training experience, certificates, and specific areas of strength so you can establish a yoga career.

6. Network with professionals: Make sure to make yourself known on every job site (e.g., Indeed, Linkedin) and formally reach out to certified instructors for advice on starting a yoga career. Reach out to your formal instructors since they can provide you with more personalized advice and consult with you on how to start teaching yoga after training.

Teach

If you decide that teaching is the path you’re striving for, make sure you follow these steps to help guide you to a full-time position.    

7. Continue training: Yoga therapists are avid learners. There’s an abundance of courses and new information available that can assist you as you teach others. Stay on top of new trends and refine your skills with continuous education. 

8. Obtain liability insurance: Make no mistake, obtaining liability insurance is something you must cross off your to-do list. As an aspiring yoga instructor, you should understand the risks involved in a class-like setting, including injuries and possible misconduct allegations. Liability insurance can protect you against injury claims, settle disputes, and allow your business to thrive in the face of challenges.

9. Market yourself: The idea of marketing yourself means focusing on self-promotion and branding yourself as a yoga professional. Focus on what you can offer your students and how you stand out from fellow competitors. In other words, you must grow your brand and ensure you remain active on social media. Consider posting regular observations of your practices online.

Complete Your Next Steps with Breathing Deeply

What can you do with a 200-hour yoga certification? As you can see, the answer is a handful of exciting opportunities to challenge yourself, deepen your knowledge with yoga experts, and serve a community in need of healing teachings. 

Here at Breathing Deeply, we can help you take that next step in becoming a wellness professional at the highest level. Check out our yoga, yoga therapy, and meditation courses to continue your journey with a fresh mindset and establish yourself as a true mentor of self-care and preservation.