Program Objective
The Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga® Therapy Training program is dedicated to serving truth seekers who want to spread the light of divine consciousness and joy with others in a deeply meaningful and yet practical way. Our goal is to train experienced yoga teachers to become yoga health advocates and competent yoga therapists within the tradition of Rajadhiraja Yoga and its focus on guiding people towards increasingly higher expressions of themselves in body, mind and spirit.
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga® Therapy is based in the teachings of Tantra Yoga as interpreted by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti and his direct disciple Ganga Devi. Our focus is on practical application of those teachings to everyday life. We view physical, psychological, and spiritual wellness as inseparable, and therefore use therapeutic yoga tools to help people heal on all of these levels.
An 1000+hour Yoga Therapist Training that can be completed over a period of 2 to 3 years.
We offer an in-depth training that combines zoom + pre-recorded training sessions.
You may still enroll for the early bird fee until the 15th of September.
Level 1,2 and 3 is £4999 with the early bird discount
Level 2 and 3 is £4000 with the early bird discount
Also, there are payment plans where you can pay a monthly fee over a year or longer, with paying down only a £1000 deposit. Email us for more information at
info@himalayanyogainstitute.com
What is the structure of the Yoga Therapy training?
Level 1
The 300hr Yoga Teacher Training registered with Yoga Alliance provides the foundations of yoga therapy with broad strokes yoga therapy practices. The 300h training can be completed in either 6 to 8 weeks of intensive study, or 12 months for a more slow-paced study.
Level 2
Students enrolled in our Level 1 program can take Level 2 classes concurrently; otherwise an RYT500 is a prerequisite. Level 2 coursework includes the following modules:
- The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita
- The Essence of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra
- The Essence of Ananda Sutram
- Advanced Pranayama Training
- Meditation Teacher Training
Level 3
A natural extension of Level 2 programming, trainees will matriculate into Level 3 upon completion of Level 2. Level 3 includes the following modules:
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy: Prevention and Hygiene
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Principles
- Adaptive Gentle Yoga Training
- Restorative Yoga Training
- Yoga Nidra Training
- Yoga, Chakras and the Mind, Psychology and Mental Health
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Seniors and Bone Strength
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Musculoskeletal 1
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Musculoskeletal 2
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Ayurveda
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Health Challenges 1
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Health Challenges 2
- Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Energy Clearing, house blessing, baby naming ceremony, blessing trees and the environment
- Additional Healing Modalities: Colour therapy, Crystal Therapy, Aromatherapy, Nada Yoga and Mantra Therapy, Marma Therapy, Acupressure
In total, the entire 1000+ hour program takes 34 months / 2 years 10 months for students taking all 3 levels. For those who are entering as an RYT500 and starting with Level 2, the program will take 30 months or longer, depending on one’s personal pace.
This training is designed to help you work at the root of symptoms and not just the visible effects. We approach physical symptoms as not just a purely physical event, but as a result of a constellation of thoughts, feelings, unresolved experiences and holding patterns that interact with compromised areas of the body to create symptoms. Work on symptoms singly and you could be busy for a lifetime. Work at the root, and all the symptoms simultaneously begin to dissolve. This approach to Yoga Therapy allows you to address the TOTAL person and address the entire range of causes from the invisible to the visible.
Over the course of this 1000+ hour professional yoga therapy program, the student becomes versed in the therapeutic application of the tantric system of healing, the 4 branches of yoga and the 8 limbs of yoga.
The goal of this program is to empower participants in their own self-healing through the practice of asana, pranayama, conscious relaxation techniques, mudras, kriyas, mantras, diet, herbs, positive affirmations and transformation of thought, meditation practices and visualization.
You will gain practical tools, foundational concepts and philosophical knowledge so as to create the framework for more advanced study as you progress through the program. Most people are unaware that health is not simply the absence of disease, but rather a state of vibrancy in body, mind and soul. It includes the optimum state of a healthy physical body, a balanced mind along with the bliss and joy of the soul. This involves understanding the deeper and subtler causes of disease and stress.
Examples of health conditions addressed include chronic stress, respiratory disorders, cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, auto-immune disorders, musculoskeletal conditions, psychological conditions, etc.
Intensive study in Yoga psychology, the therapeutic effects of meditation practice, the theory of karma and disease, counselling techniques based on ancient wisdom and spiritual coaching techniques, Ayurveda, anatomy, physiology, and pathology, as well as understanding the root cause of addiction are covered in the curriculum. Thus, this program allows you to become not just a yoga therapist but also a Yoga Health Advocate. It will provide you with the knowledge and intuitive capacity to become instrumental in helping others to heal and enjoy optimum physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.
Highlights of the yoga therapy training
- Sequences and protocols for common conditions
- Energy and physical anatomy basics for yoga therapy
- Profound & unique teachings of yoga psychology
- A unique yoga-based model for emotional integration
- Understanding energy and its healing potential
- Understanding breath and its role in emotional resolution
- Yoga Nidra to create a resilient brain and integrate unresolved trauma
- Ayurvedic principles to allow the body to optimally heal itself
- Applied anatomy and assessment tools
Who benefits from this knowledge?
- Yoga teachers
- Health care providers
- Hospitals
- Acupuncture clinics
- Physical therapist and chiropractor offices
- Social workers
- At-risk youth facilities
- Psychologists
- Therapists
- Counselors
- Nurses
- Life coaches
- Corporate wellness programs
- Those with a true passion for health and well-being
Therapeutic Application of Yoga
Be trained in the therapeutic application of Yoga techniques that show positive effects on the following health conditions (examples):
Preventative care, Health and Lifestyle
Daily routines, diet and nutrition, kriyas, yogic secrets of health and longevity
Psychological and nervous system disorders
Psychosomatic diseases, sleep disorders, anxiety, insomnia, depression, stress, trauma (PTSD), addiction, chronic pain
Subtle Body and Mind
Chakras as substations of the mind, psychic propensities, yoga psychology
Cardiovascular conditions
Hypertension, blood pressure, heart disease
Reproductive conditions
Infertility, menstrual trouble, menopause
Metabolic conditions
Diabetes, obesity, auto-immune disorders, chronic fatigue
Respiratory disorders
Asthma, improper breathing
Musculoskeletal conditions
Back and neck health and spine issues, arthritis, osteoporosis, balance issues, mobility and stiffness due to age or sedentary/immobile modern lifestyle
Special populations
Senior and aging
Lack of spiritual health
Lack of self-discipline, self-care, meaning of life
Program Overview & Schedule
The Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga® Therapy Training is a modular program, requiring a minimum of two years and 10 months for completion (either after having completed or concurrently completing the 300h program - the Level 1 yoga therapy training). The following courses comprise our curriculum, and the recommended schedule for taking the courses is outlined below.
The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita
The Essence of the Yoga Sutra
The Essence of Ananda Sutram
Advanced Pranayama Training
Meditation Teacher Training
The following courses comprise our Core Yoga Therapy courses:
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy: Prevention and Hygiene
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Principles
Adaptive Gentle Yoga Training
Restorative Yoga Training
Yoga Nidra Training
Yoga, Chakras and the Mind, Psychology and Mental Health
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Seniors and Bone Strength
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Musculoskeletal 1
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Musculoskeletal 2
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Ayurveda
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Health Challenges1
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Health Challneges2
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Environmental therapy, house blessing, baby naming ceremony, blessing trees and the environment
Additional Healing Modalities
Prices and Payment Plans
Total of 1000+ hours taken over 28+ months
Our 300h yoga teacher training overlaps with the level 1 yoga therapy training.
If you have completed the 300h training already then you are left with completing level 2 and level 3 (600 hours), which in total adds up to 900 hours.
LEVEL 1, 2 & 3
Level 1 £1299 can be taken at the same time with the Level 2 course
Level 2 + 3 £4800
The total for level 1, 2 and 3 is £6099 - regular fee
You can either pay in full and receive additional discounts when paying it all at once or you can pay in installments. Check out the payment options below.
Paying in FULL
Early Bird fee when paid in full
If paid in full for level 1, 2 and 3 before the 15th of September the fee is
£4999
Without Early Bird when paid in full
If paid in full for level 1, 2 and 3 after the 1st of July the course
the fee is £5299
Paying in INSTALLMENTS
Available payment plans
Option 1
Early Bird - pay deposit before the 15th of September 2022
If you opt to pay in installments, the fee structure will look like this:
If registered by the 15th of September, you may take advantage of the early bird discount of £799 which brings the fee down to a total of £5300
An initial deposit payment of £1000 will be made before the 15th of September (leaving you will a balance of £4300)
Monthly payments of £239 over a period of 18 months will be made, starting on the 1st of October
Option 2
Without Early Bird
If you opt to pay in installments without early bird, the fee structure will look like this:
An initial deposit payment of £1000 will be made any time before the 1st of October (leaving you will a balance of £5099)
Monthly payments of £284 over a period of 18 months and starting on the 1st of November
LEVEL 2 & 3
In case you have already completed the 300h Yoga Teacher Training (which is also level 1 of the yoga therapy training), you would only enroll for the level 2 and 3
Only Level 2 and 3:
Level 2 + 3 £4800
The total fee for level 2 and 3 is £4800 - regular fee (without early bird discount)
Paying in FULL
Option 1
Early Bird fee when paid in full
If paid in full for level 2 and 3 before the 15th of September the fee is
£4000
Option 2
If paid in full for level 2 and 3 after the 15th of September and before the 1st of Oct the course the fee is £4300
Paying in INSTALLMENTS
Available payment plans
Option 1
Early Bird - pay deposit before the 15th of September 2022
If you opt to pay in installments, the fee structure will look like this:
If registered by the 15th of September, you may take advantage of the early bird discount of £600 which brings the fee down to a total of £4200
An initial deposit payment of £1000 will be made before the 15th of September (leaving you will a balance of £3200)
Monthly payments of £267 over a period of 12 months will be made, starting on the 1st of August.
Option 2
Without Early Bird
If you opt to pay in installments without early bird, the fee structure will look like this:
An initial deposit payment of £1000 will be made any time before the 1st of October (leaving you with a balance of £3800)
Monthly payments of £316 over a period of 12 months and starting on the 1st of November
Please email us at info@himalayanyogainstitute.com to express your interest
At the time of enrollment, please indicate the following:
- You are enrolling for level 1,2 and 3
- You are enrolling for level 2 and 3
- You are paying in full
- You're paying in installments
You can pay through our website by clicking on Register Now, or via digital invoice or bank transfer
The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita
Course Hours: Total: 35 hours
Teaching Format
This is a 7-day online course, spread over three weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), which includes a combination of lectures, discussion, and experiential asana workshops.
Course Description
Students will learn how to unlock the secrets of this powerful scripture. The Gita’s teachings are given in a way that is direct, accessible, and applicable in daily life. This full-immersion program will take participants into the essence of those teachings in a way that allows for a deeper understanding not just intellectually, but also intuitively and practically.
There will also be a workshop in which participants explore the practice and teaching of a number of special asanas, and there is a class to explore the application of these teachings to the practice of yoga therapy.
Learning Objectives
At the completion of the course, students will know:
- How to recognize the inner battle of life and make the effort that will win it
- The interplay of Prakriti and Purusha, and how that affects a person’s life
- How the law of karma works, including the effects of vasanas and samskaras
- How to use the workings of karma to one’s advantage
- How to recognize and avoid a variety of psychological traps
- The nature of right action
- How to overcome desire, anger, and attachment
- A deeper understanding of the paths of Karma, Jinana, Bhakti, and Raja Yoga
- The three gunas: how they manifest in life and in people, and how they relate to improving one’s experience of life
- Recognizing varna tendencies in oneself, and what to do to integrate all varnas in order to become a whole person
- How to get past attachment to experiencing pleasure and avoiding pain
- What one can do when he bogs down, spiritually
- How to deepen your relationship with God
- How a yoga therapist applies the above knowledge to serving clients best interest
The Essence of the Yoga Sutra
Course Hours: Total: 30 hours
Teaching Format
This is a 6-day online course, spread over two weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), which includes a combination of lectures, discussion, and experiential asana workshops.
Course Description
Patanjali, the great ancient exponent of yoga, described the stages of spiritual development for all seekers. These principles of yoga are based not on dogma, but on how we are made. This course explores these important subjects:
- Ashtanga Yoga
- Obstacles to yoga
- Samadhi
- Attitude
- Making Patanjali practical
- How to apply the teachings of the Sutras and especially the yamas and niyamas to the practice of yoga therapy
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, students will know:
- How to use the Eightfold Path to enhance success for you and your clients on all levels including spiritually and in yoga therapy.
- What holds people back spiritually, and how to overcome it in yourself and how to help your clients.
- What is this state of Samadhi or Oneness, and how can you and your clients move toward an actual experience of it.
- How to help clients develop the attitudes essential for success on all levels of life.
- How to help clients integrate the essence of yoga into daily life.
- The essence of the yamas and niyamas and how they apply to an individual’s ability to achieve wellness on all levels.
How a yoga therapist applies the above knowledge to serving clients’ best interests.
The Essence of Ananda Sutram
Course Hours: Total: 40
Teaching Format
This is a 9-day online course, spread over three weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), which includes a combination of lectures, discussion, and experiential asana workshops.
Course Description
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti a spiritual master, visionary and philosopher, composed verses in Sanskrit which, reflect the complete Ananda Marga philosophy in a nutshell, an ideology for a spiritually-based society.
The text consists of five chapters of eighty-five sutras (threads) describing the universe, the mind, the spirit, and the foundations of a healthy society.
This course explores the following subjects:
- Brahma Chakra, the Cycle of Creation and Human Evolution
- Dharma And the Nature of the Universe
- Mind and Sadhana
- Creation of the Universe and Kundalini
- The Samaj Chakra (Social Cycle) and Socio-Economic Theory
- How to apply the teachings of the Ananda Sutras to the practice of yoga therapy
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, students will know:
- How to use the understanding of dharma to determine a healthy and wholesome course of life, for you and your clients.
- How to use the understanding of the human mind to enhance success for you and your clients on all levels including spiritually and in yoga therapy.
- What is the goal of human life and how one can attain complete all-round healing
- What is the essence of spiritual development and how it can transform one’s entire being
- How to help clients develop the attitudes and positive thinking essential for success on all levels of life.
- How to help clients integrate spiritual teachings into daily life
How a yoga therapist applies the above knowledge to serving clients’ best interests.
Advanced Pranayama Training
Course Hours: Total: 45
Teaching Format
This is a 9-day online course, spread over 3 weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), which includes a combination of lectures, discussion, and experiential pranayama/asana workshops and teaching practicums.
Course Description
Pranayama is the key to a deep experience of yoga postures and meditation. In this course students will learn the anatomy and physiology of breath on the physical and subtle levels and how to teach advanced pranayama or energy control techniques, bandhas and mudras.
Learning Objectives
At the completion of the course, students will know:
- Anatomy and physiology of breath
- Prana – the key to a long and happy life
- Complete practice of pranayama
- How to teach pranayama
- How to help students correct a range of breathing abnormalities
- How to integrate asana, pranayama, and meditation;
- subtle anatomy
- prana vayu (prana, apana, vyana, udana,samana)
- surya/chandra (sun/moon)
Meditation Teacher Training
Course Hours: Total: 50
Prerequisite
Students need to be meditating daily for a minimum of 30 min over a minimum period of 3 weeks, with the technique the course faculty sends them with written instructions.
Teaching Format
This is a 12-day online course, spread over 4 weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), which includes a combination of lecture, discussion, experiential, practice teaching of the meditation technique, and student teachings. On three afternoons of the course we have the students teach each other, with supervision of qualified faculty and feedback. There are two sessions in which each student gives a presentation on meditation, with an assigned topic to talk about. At the second presentation, each student receives feedback by a senior faculty on how well they did and how they can improve.
Course Description
This course is focused primarily on teaching the students how to teach an ancient, universal technique of meditation, but the training also includes many aspects of meditation, such as how to sit comfortably for meditation, how to guide through a variety of pranayama techniques, before meditation, how to lead affirmations and visualizations to aid meditation, and a variety of other related aspects, that can be helpful to the teaching of meditation.
This 50 hours training provides a solid foundation for teaching both the science and the art of meditation. Our curriculum includes classes and workshops on these topics:
- How to teach basic meditation skills to anyone
- The essential connection of meditation and energy
- Concentration techniques for quieting the mind
- Patanjali’s Eight Limbed Yoga
- How to teach breathing exercises, visualizations, walking meditations
- Simple yoga stretches to prepare for meditation
- How to sit comfortably for meditation
- Opening the heart and developing devotion
- The scientific effects of meditation on the brain and nervous system
- Meditation and prayer
- Meditation and intuition
- Spiritual counselling suggestions
- How to set up and market your classes
The spectrum of techniques we share during the training are based on ancient yogic and tantric meditation practices of India. Our curriculum prepares students to teach meditation skills to anyone. We consider this to be one of the key skills of a yoga therapist.
Learning Objectives
Students will know:
- How to get comfortable for a silent, sitting meditation, and how to teach students to do the same;
- How to use the breath to calm the body and mind;
- Concentration techniques to overcome mental restlessness;
- How to use affirmations, visualization, and walking meditations;
- How to open the heart chakra and develop one’s feeling nature;
- How to use music as an aid to meditation;
- Effective presentation skills and how to overcome stage fright;
Part 2 Meditation Teacher Training (20 hours)
Meditation Solutions
Part 1 Meditation Solutions
Awaken to Superconsciousness
Part 2 Meditation Solutions
Pranayama and Personal Effectiveness
Part 3 Meditation Solutions
Affirmations and Visualizations
Part 4 Meditation Solutions
Working with the Chakras
Part 5 Meditation Solutions
Nature Meditations
Part 6 Meditation Solutions
Relationships and Health
Learning Objectives
Students will know practices to help their students/clients deal with difficult issues in their lives. By the end of the course, students will know:
- The three levels of consciousness: Where do solutions reside?
- How to use meditation techniques to find solutions.
- Introspection and personal commitment.
- How to deepen your meditation practice.
- Tools to help raise consciousness and how to use them: affirmations, visualizations, pranayama.
- Working with the chakras to transmute negative energy.
- How to find solutions to specific issues. (health, relationships, money, stress)
- Discussion of questions that you as teachers face with your students.
- Daily special guided sadhanas to help deepen your meditation and variety of ways to go deeper in meditation.
- One day of guided seclusion to go deeper into your personal transformation. Tips on how to benefit from silence and find your own answers.
- Student teaching sessions. Each student presents a 30 min of how to use meditation to solve problems in daily life, with a specific area of difficulty.
Prevention and Hygiene
Course Hours: Total: 30
Teaching Format
This is a 6-day online course, spread over two weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) which includes a combination of lecture, discussion and experiential.
Course Description
Students will learn some of the fundamental yogic techniques to maintain good overall health and hygiene. This is part of the preventative care, which comes within the scope of being, not just a yoga therapist, but also a yoga health advocate.
Common cautions and contraindications are covered as related to each technique.
Learning Objectives
At the completion of the course, students will know:
- How to maintain good overall health
- The benefits of bathing
- Tongue Cleaning
- Nasal Cleansing
- Throat Cleaning
- Oil Pulling
- Fasting
- Water Drinking
- Mud Packs
- Sun Bathing
- Taking the air
- Mental Purity
- Trataka
- Eye-Cupping
- Yoga for Eyes
- Foot Massage
- Self-Massage
- Facial Massage and Exercizes for health and beauty
- Dietary Recommendations – Yoga and Ayurveda
- Exercize
- Walking
- Correct Breathing
- Postural Alignment and Spinal Health
- Spine – neck, upper back, lower back, pelvic floor
- Healthy Joints (elbows, wrists, shoulders, neck, hips, knees, ankles)
- Sacroiliac Joint
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Principles
Course Hours: Total: 36 hours plus 74 hours practicum
Teaching Format
This is a 7-day online course, spread over 3 weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), which includes a combination of lecture, discussion, case studies and practicum.
Course Description
This in-depth 7-day program provides many practical foundational skills necessary for a safe and effective yoga therapy practice including assessment skills from the perspective of structure and function, posture alignment, breath, subtle energy, chakras, Ayurvedic assessment of Prakruti, Vikruti, Gunas. Intuition and energy healing are presented as essential skills for yoga therapists to cultivate. Therapeutic relationships are discussed as well as practiced by working with volunteer clients in class and at home with faculty supervision. Documentation skills are learned and practiced. This module is the foundation for the entire yoga therapy training.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, students will:
- Demonstrate practical client assessment skills (including structural and functional assessment, chakra assessment, basic Ayurvedic constitution and imbalances assessment)
- Demonstrate ability to take a client history, create, document, and evaluate individualized therapeutic plans
- Demonstrate a deeper understanding of anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology
- Learn how to design individualized yoga therapy regimes
- Demonstrate understanding of how chakra energy affects client's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing and how this knowledge can inform the choice of techniques used in yoga therapy routines.
- Know how Yoga and Ayurveda work together to promote wellbeing of body, mind, and spirit.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the breadth of Yoga teachings (asanas, meditation, pranayama, diet, yoga philosophy, and more), and how they can be used to help a client therapeutically.
- Know the principles Energy Healing and demonstrate how to send healing energy to others; the roles of prayer and intention;
- Demonstrate understanding of the importance of the power of the mind; the use of affirmations, visualizations, and mantra.
- Be familiar with important issues in conducting the business of yoga therapy, how to communicate with health care professionals and how to generate and interpret referral information.
- Understand how to establish therapeutic relationships with clients, how to set clear boundaries; what are professional and ethical boundaries; listening and communication skills.
Adaptive Gentle Yoga Training
Course Hours: Total: 30 (including 12 hours practicum)
Teaching Format
This is a 6-day online course, over two weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) which includes a combination of lecture, discussion, experiential, practice teaching of restorative yoga asanas for individuals and small groups, and student teaching practicum. Students also complete a home practicum assignment.
Adapting Yoga Techniques to the Needs of the Individual
- Adaptive gentle Yoga will provide you with the necessary training and skills to adapt and modify asanas as needed—due to age, weight, illness, injury or limited flexibility. Workshops will include discussions on the philosophy and psychology of Adaptive Yoga and aging, combined with practical hands-on instruction in the application of Yoga techniques to address the special needs of the individual; the philosophy and psychology of Adaptive Yoga; experiences of Adaptive Yoga; how to work with varied populations, and common ailments associated with back pain, joint pain, bone strength, balance and more.
Restorative Yoga Teacher Training
Course Hours: Total: 30 (including 12 hours practicum)
Teaching Format
This is a 6-day online course, spread over two weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) which includes a combination of lecture, discussion, experiential, practice teaching of restorative yoga asanas for individuals and small groups, and student teaching practicum. Students also complete a home practicum assignment.
Course Description
Common cautions and contraindications and/or injuries are covered as related to each restorative asana. Students will participate in and be assigned one or more student/clients to work with for two 2-hour sessions under supervision of senior faculty. Students will prepare and give a presentation of two different asanas and how to modify props to meet individual needs, and then practice assisting and adjusting with their client.
Learning Objectives
At the completion of the course, students will know:
- How to be a safe, supportive, and conscientious Restorative Yoga Teacher
- How to sequence a Restorative Yoga Routine in a therapeutic way that enhances the well-being of the practitioner on all levels
- How to teach 2 coherent Restorative Routines (with appropriate modifications as needed by individuals) including the guidance and instruction of: Breathing, Posture, Proper Alignment, Safety mechanics for asanas and the common cautions and contraindications
- How to demonstrate restorative yoga asanas and their common modifications and variations needed for students with or without special conditions
- How to use the breath to invoke the Relaxation Response
- How to practice with a variety of props you will actually be using in real-life situations
- How to experience and student-teach restorative poses that focus on releasing specific physical and mental tensions
- How to use affirmations, visualizations, meditation, and music to deepen your own and your students’ practice of Restorative Yoga
- How to work one-on-one with 2 or more yoga clients who need individual assistance and modifications
Yoga Nidra Training
Course Hours: Total: 15
Teaching Format
This is a 3-day online course, over one weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) which includes a combination of lecture, discussion, experiential and practice teaching of yoga nidra.
Course Description
Here the yoga therapy student learns advanced techniques of Yoga Nidra specifically designed to work with emotional integration. You will receive training on:
- The stages of emotional resolution
- Developing protocols for stages of emotional healing.
- Yoga Nidra for the Inner Child
- Yogic Studies of Ancient Scriptures
Includes:
- Deeper Understanding of Energy Anatomy, Koshas and 4 parts of the mind including the ego.
- Advanced therapeutic Yoga Nidra techniques.
- Assessment and delivery of Yoga Nidra protocols for grief, trauma, inner child and other forms of emotional integration.
- Guidance on leading trauma sensitive classes & sessions
Practicum: 1 case study (4 Advanced Yoga Nidra sessions with one client), 1 report & recording of Yoga Nidra created for designated clinical condition.
Yoga, Chakras and the Mind, Psychology and Mental Health
Course Hours: Total: 55 (29 hours plus 26 hours of practicum)
Teaching Format
This is a 6-day online course, spread over 2 weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), which includes a combination of lecture, discussion, case studies, and practicum.
Understanding the Mind and Emotional Health
Knowledge of yoga perspectives on distracted/disturbed conditions of mind and their expressions as interpreted in texts such as the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, and other texts, including but not limited to:
- klesha (affliction) and aklesha (relief)
- lobha, krodha, and moha (greed, anger, attachment);
duhkha and daurmanasya (suffering/discomfort and negative attitude/thinking), sarupyam (identification with the contents of the mind or seer taking the same form as the mind) - antaraya (obstacles to progress in yoga)
- Chakras and Cittavrtti – in-depth study of the propensities of the mind
- Application of the yamas and niyamas
- Patanjali’s 8-limbed yoga
This module presents an integrated approach to health and healing that is based upon the Yoga philosophy and Yoga psychology, combined with techniques from the Four Paths of Yoga to form the foundation of the yoga therapist’s work. Knowledge of western medical and psychological approaches to health and healing prepares the yoga therapist for future collaboration with health care providers.
- Yoga philosophy on consciousness and the Self
- Yoga psychology, vrttis and meditation
- The mind and its mechanics
- Five modes of mind and concentration
- Four levels of mind and evolution of consciousness
- Inborn karmic tendencies and the subconscious
- Karma, dharma and relationships
- Emotional healing: anger, fear, anxiety, depression, desire, addiction, grief, attachment, stress resilience
- Guidelines for mental health
- Positive thinking techniques according to the four classical paths of Yoga
- Purification: going to the root cause of suffering
- Yoga effects on specific conditions
Course Description
Yoga therapy has proved helpful for many chronic mental health conditions, and we explore these with an overall orientation to the reality of body-mind integration. This course covers a multi-dimensional view of psychology and mental health, from Western, Ayurvedic, Yogic and Subtle Energy perspectives, which are addressed to guide the therapist's choice of interventions. Therapeutic skills for communicating with and teaching clients are taught and practiced in case study sessions.
Students will gain practical understanding of the body-mind relationship through the application of specific yogic techniques. Students learn how to train others to recognize the mind’s karmic tendencies and negative behaviors; and further learn how to apply Yoga practices and techniques in response to those tendencies and behaviors to reduce stress and anxiety.
Conventional and Alternative Interventions
Students learn to apply the classical teachings of the Yoga Sutras in the context of daily life, gain understanding of the workings of the mind, and learn techniques to systematically identify the causes of suffering, design methods and techniques to alleviate suffering; learn methods to help reduce distractions and increase concentration and peace of mind; learn methods to overcome bad habits and addictions by changing existing mental patterns.
Psychological and Health Benefits
Students delve deeper into the health benefits of practicing yoga poses—physical, psychological, and energetic—learning to apply asana techniques to improve specific systems of the body.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this course, students will:
- Know basic pathophysiology, symptoms, treatments (including medications) and medical terminology of a variety of common mental health conditions, ranging from psychological distress to psychiatric conditions, including how they impact a person’s life physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
- Know how developmental models of human development and influences of familial, social, cultural, and religious conditioning influence mental health conditions and healing.
- Know how Yogic and Ayurvedic views of the mind and personality can help the yoga therapist to create appropriate yoga therapy plans for those with a variety of psychological and mental health conditions.
- Know and be able to demonstrate good communication skills, including listening, presence, directive and non-directive dialogue; how to set appropriate therapeutic boundaries.
- Know how to do a basic evaluation of a person’s mental and emotional dimensions of well-being, and when it is appropriate to refer to a mental health professional.
- Know how to and be able to demonstrate (via case studies) the ability to apply appropriate yoga therapy to those with common mental health conditions
Tantric Rajadhiraja Yoga Therapy Training: Seniors and Bone Strength
Course Hours: Total: 32 plus 10 hours of practicum
Teaching Format
This is a 6–day course, spread over two weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), which includes a combination of lecture, discussion, and case studies. There is also a Home Practicum Assignment.
Course Description
This course gives an overview of the physiological and psychological changes that commonly occur in seniors (65 years and older), and how the yoga therapist can help clients to optimize function and emphasize the positive aspects of gracefully moving into this stage of life.
Since more and more people over age 50 are being diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia, these conditions are also addressed in this course.
Students learn cautions that need to be observed for seniors and for those who are at risk for or who have low bone density, so that they can practice yoga safely, with a special emphasis on posture, yoga asanas, pranayama and general lifestyle factors. Students will also learn and practice a variety of yoga interventions that therapeutically address the need for increased bone density for all who may be at risk for this condition, regardless of their age.
This course covers how to help older people:
- Practice yoga postures and pranayama safely
- Use yoga asana practice to optimize bone strength
- Maintain muscle strength, flexibility, and balance
- Embrace a positive attitude about aging
Learning Objectives
At the completion of the course, students will:
- Gain in depth knowledge about the normal aging process including both physiological and psychological changes, as they relate to addressing these needs in their yoga therapy practice.
- Gain knowledge of Osteoarthritis and the implications for safe practice of yoga postures and daily life activities.
- Develop knowledge about recent research related to aging and the brain, and apply this knowledge to assist seniors to maximize their brain health.
- Develop an appreciation for and apply therapies to encourage a dynamic approach to Inspired Aging.
- Explain how a mature brain has an advantage over a younger brain.
- Describe environmental considerations in setting up spaces for the practice of yoga postures for seniors.
- Gain knowledge about Osteoporosis and Osteopenia, Fracture Risk considerations, and Bone Density measurement tests; and be able to apply this knowledge in guiding clients who have or are at risk for low bone density in safe yoga practice and activities of daily living.
- List the major cautions for those with low bone density in the practice of yoga postures.
- Explain how posture impacts the density of bones.
- Demonstrate the ability to teach yoga postures gently and safely to help seniors and those with low bone density to maintain full and active lives.
- Demonstrate how to help people, even as they age, to build strength, flexibility and balance.
- Demonstrate the ability to enhance bone density for the otherwise healthy yoga practitioner and for those with low bone density.
- Gain in depth knowledge and demonstrate the ability to modify asanas for those with osteopenia and osteoporosis, including those who already experience postural and structural changes.
- Demonstrate the ability to choose appropriate pranayama techniques with modifications for seniors.
- Create a therapeutic yoga routine for an otherwise healthy student with osteopenia and another for the same kind of client with osteoporosis.
- Create a therapeutic yoga routine for a frail senior with osteoporosis.