Yoga Therapy 200 hours

Intensive residential schedule:

6:00 to 8AM Hatha Yoga (various sets)

8 to 10:00AM Breakfast and Karma Yoga (mindful concepts as part of service)

10:00 to 11:00 AM Yoga Anatomy and Physiology

11:30 to 1:30 PM Therapeutic Hatha Yoga, Pranayama and Yoga Nidras / Yoga therapy Observation

1:30 PM Preparing Naturopathic or Ayurvedic Diet and Discussions, lunch followed by Lunch break

3:00 PM Nada Yoga and Mantra Yoga as therapeutic Tools

4:00 to 5:30 PM Yoga Therapy (assisted work)

6:00PM Supper

7:00 to 8:30 PM Bhajans followed by Satsanga (various therapeutic concepts)

Outline:

Each Module contains:

-Theory

-Hatha Yoga and Therapeutic applications

-Pranayamas

-Postural adjustments

-Relaxation techniques and guided meditations

-Mantra Chanting and Bhajans

-Spiritual Counselling or Applied Yogic Principles and Practices

1. Applied philosophy

2. Discussion on therapeutic applications of practices

3. Applied Hatha Yoga Practices (asanas, kriyas, mudras, pranayama, relaxation techniques, guided meditations)

4. Medical theory

5. Anatomy and physiology

Teachers:

Yogachariya Jnandev (main teacher registered SYT) presenting Practices and yogic theory (all in person classes)

Other teachers will mostly be the preparation before arrival (on line):

Yogacharini Deepika (registered SYT) presenting practices and yogic theory (live or pre recorded)

Dr Catherine Jenkins (GP) presenting medical theory (live stream or pre recorded)

Jyoti Vora (physiotherapist) presenting Anatomy and physiology (live stream or pre recorded)

Special guest teacher sessions with: Yogachariya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani Yoga Therapist worldwide expert (live stream or pre recorded)

Special guest teacher sessions with Yogacharini Anandhi on yogic diet (live stream or pre recorded)

How will the course be presented?

Preparation before meeting in person online:

• Pre recorded videos

• Text to read over from website (private/membership only link)

• Video sessions with several of the teachers (either a presentation or question and answer session, recording will be available if your unable to make the live meetings)

This Yoga therapy course is enable yoga teachers to learn how to adapt and apply classical hatha yoga kriyas, asana, mudra and pranayama for helping in healing, rejuvenation and rehabilitation for yoga seekers at various levels and health issues. Yoga Therapy course also include applied study of yoga sutras, Bhagavat Gita, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita and Yoga Vashistha as a tool for mental, emotional and spiritual counselling.

Objective – To enable Yoga Teachers to advance the yoga teaching skills from beginners to advance level as well as learn how to adapt and modify hatha yoga practices to help or enable yoga students to improve health and well-being.

-developing skills to tailor 1 to 1 lesson plans for people with various health and mobility issues.

-Understanding classical roots and principals of Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga -eight limbs of Yoga, pancha-kosha, and chakras and their applications for health, well-being and evolution.

Outcome – Become a successful Sanatan Yoga  Teacher and Yoga Therapist and be able to design your own yoga sadhana routines and teach hatha yoga and yoga philosophy at various levels.

Is this course for you? – IF you are looking to teach classical or authentic hatha yoga use yoga therapy as a tool to help others and learn the philosophy, ideas and principals behind yogic practices and philosophy, then yes, this yoga therapy teacher training course is for you.

What is Yoga Therapy and what do we practice?

Dr Swami Gitananda Giri, my Guru says that Yoga Chikitsa is virtually as old as Yoga itself, indeed, the return of mind that feels separated from the Universe in which it exists represents the first Yoga therapy. Yoga Chikitsa could be termed “man’s first attempt at unitive understanding of mind-emotions-physical distress and is the oldest wholistic concept and therapy in the world”.

Ancient and Traditional Yoga has wide range of applications as “preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative as well as spiritual evolutionary growth”. Hatha Yoga provides all the tools for our body and mind while Raja Yoga provides holistic tools, concepts and ideas to deal with mental and emotional problems.

Modern medical science describes more than 4,000 diseases and disorders of the body and mind in modern medicine and psychology. Yoga explains that all these disease or health problems are the outcome of stress and strain caused by vasanas (desires), Kaam (desire to seek sensual pleasures), Krodha (anger), Ahamkara (ego) and Asmita (i-ness). Now we also need to add abuse caused to our body-mind-spirit by ‘junk’ food, religion, and modern stressful lifestyle. Holistic health in the Yogic sense means ease with and within ourselves as the term Swasthya means.

Swamiji Dr Gitananda Giriji further states that All diseases, maladies, tensions, are manifestations of divisions of what should be man’s complete nature, the Atman or Self. This Self is “Ease”. A loss of “Ease” creates “Dis-ease”. Duality is the first insanity, the first disease, the unreasonable thought that “I am different from the whole.... I am unique. I am me.” The ego is a manifestation of disease. Only a distorted ego could feel alone, suffer from “the lonely disease”, in a Universe, a Cosmos totally filled with the Self. It is of some interest to note that one of the oldest words for man in an Indian language is “Insana”. Man is “insane”. A return to sanity, “going sane,” is the subject of real Yoga Sadhana and Yoga Abyasa. Yoga Chikitsa is one of the methods to help insane man back to the path of sanity. A healthy man or woman is known by the term-Yogi.”

Human Anatomy and Yoga - While modern science deals with only one body, yoga science enumerate the Pancha-Koshas or five body system. Yogic perspective anatomy also includes pancha-pranas and Chakras and Bindus and energy points.

Human Physiology and Yoga - Likewise Anatomy in Yoga also goes further into subtle aspects of our physiology with concepts of Doshas, Tri-Gunas,  Loma-Viloma, Swaras and Vasaanas are underlying forces in the way our body and all its functions are governed.

Yoga Philosophy - Yoga Darshan provides us insight into life, mind and their conflicts causing distress, pain and diseases. Yoga Philosophy also provides all the tools, kriyas and prakriyas to free ourselves from all these conflicts and become one with higher-self.

Yoga Psychology - Where we begin to bring all yoga philosophy ideas and principles in practice it becomes Yoga Psychology. Yoga Darshan is one of the most advanced holistic and applied psychology and psychotherapy.

Asana or Posture - Hatha Yoga provides details many Asanas with their therapeutic and spiritual benefits. All the static postures can help us healing all the past traumas, injuries, improve flexibility, endurance and strength of our body and remove accumulated toxins causing distress in our body.

Pranayama - Gitananda Yoga teaches around 130 Pranayamas. These breath control practices are to enhance Prana and some of the best Yoga Therapy tools. Even the classical pranayama’s can be modified for their therapeutic applications for respiratory problems. Pranayama or modified breathing techniques are proving to be significantly beneficial in mental, emotional and nervous disorders.

Mudras - Mudras means seals or energy gestures. Various Yoga Mudras can help channelling our vital forces to desired parts of body, Bindus or Chakras for healing and rejuvenation. Mudras work directly at glandular and endocrine level to bring health and well-being.

Vyayama Yoga - There is also a wide range of yoga-based exercises in forms of Vinyasa or movements from one to other positions. Gitananda Yoga offers wide range of Jattis (loosening up movements to release and remove stress and toxins from joints), Kriyas (set of simple movements from one to other posture for bringing mobility and enhance prana and blood circulation), Hatha-Yoga Kriyas (set of asanas and kriyas to work on subtle energy flows and body parts and chakras), and Suriya-Namaskar (sun-salutations for strength, flexibility, endurance, weight loss, enhanced body immunity and vitality).

Ahara-Vihara - Next step is healthy diet and life style to enjoy health and well-being. Ahara is what we eat, and drink for our body, then what we watch, see, hear, read and engage is food for our mind. Remember we become what feed into our body-mind system. Vihara means lifestyle or the habits we follow. It includes our sleeping, waking, working, exercise, eating and leisure activities. Yoga therapy includes a healthy nutritional diet rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, sprouted grains, dry nuts, lentils, etc. Vihara includes moderate life style with balanced exercise, sleep, work, leisure time, etc.

Fasting and Mauna - We can give physiological rest to our constantly working digestive system and vocal cord by fasting from food and speech. Fasting from food can be whole day without food, or one day week with only fruits. Mauna can be a for 30 minutes to hour every day or if possible few hours a week if not a whole day. This gives us a time to reflect listen our inner body and mind.

Shavasana and Yoga Nidra - Many stress related problems can be healed by using various relaxation and yoga nidra techniques. These practices help our body systems to experience and regain the state of ease which they tend to forget we live under chronic distress.

Jnana Yoga Therapy - Jnana Yoga provides us a strong foundation of moral and ethical principles in forms of yamas, and niyamas which can help healing our mental, emotional, karmic and spiritual problems. Remedies offered by Patanjali in form of mudita (cheerfulness), karuna (kindness, compassion), maitri (friendliness, harmony) and upeksha (equanimity and letting go) are some of typical Jnana Yoga therapy practices.

Postural Manipulation or Assistance - Many Postures or Kriyas can assisted by yoga therapist or yoga teacher to help people with limited mobility or strength to improve their physical and mental well-being.

Naris and Muscle Manipulations - By use of our hands, feet and fingers a yoga therapist can manipulate naris, muscles and even chakras to heal or rejuvenate parts of points.

Yoga Cleansing or Purification - Hatha Yoga details six cleansing practices to remove all the toxins from our body. Three types of doshas (the bodies constitutional imbalances) - vata, pita, and kapha are removed by these cleansing practices. The six kinds of purifying practices are: Dhauti, Basti, Neti, Trataka, Nauti and Kapala Bhati.

Mantras and Bhajans - Various Mantras and Bhajans can help us enhance our manomaya kosha or mind body and heal many karmic and spiritual causes of health problems.

Dhyana or Meditation - Meditation is to rest our body and mind consciously. Regular meditation can help us release stress, anxieties and worries causing many health problems. Meditation also helps improving sleep and brain functions.

Key Models of Yoga Therapy:-

1. Adhi-Vyadhi – In this model we study about the psycho-somatic and somato-psychic theory of yoga therapy, along with various therapeutic tools.

2. Doshas – In this model we study the Ayurvedic Concept of Tri-Doshas, yogic diet, exercise, mudra, asana, pranayama and relaxation for balancing doshas to enhance health and wellness.

3. Gunas – Gunas play an important role in our mental health and lifestyle disorders. In this chapter we will be studying the Gunas as in Bhagavad Gita and yoga practices to gradually move from Tamas to Rajas.

4. Pancha Kosha – Yoga and Upanishads reveal our existence in five sheaths of bodies. This is one of the important yoga therapy models which brings hatha yoga, diet, yogic life style, yoga darshan, mantra, mudra, pranayama and samayama (dharna, dhyana and samadhi) as holistic yoga therapy tool.

5. Kundalini and Chakras – This amazing aspect of yoga from Tantra provides subtlest understanding of neuro-psycho-biology and provides us tools for healing our body, mind and emotions.

6. Swara and Nadis -Swara and Nadis opens new doors for yoga therapists to understand the polarity and right-left, ida-pingala, sun-moon anergy and their therapeutic applications in physical and mental health.

7. Samskaras and Vasanas – This model of yoga therapy gives us understanding of role of our life choices, desires, behaviour patterns from our individual, family, social and spiritual existence.

8. Karma and Dharma -

9. Hatha Yoga

10.  Pancha Mahabhutas

11.  Prana Vayus

12.  Yoga Sutras and Mental Health

13.  Shaucha or Cleansing

14.  Pranayama

15.  Yoga Nidra

16.  Dharana and Dhyana

17.  Yoga Darshana

18.  Ahara Vihara

19.  Mantra and Bhajans

20.  Satsanga or Spiritual Counselling

21.  Sankalpa and Contemplations

22.  Samkhya Model

23.  Abhyasa Vairajna

24.  Obstacles and Remedies

Key Scriptures for Yoga Therapy:

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Bhagavad Gita

Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Yoga Vasishtha

Upanishads

Shiva Samhita

Gheranda Samhita

Yoga Chudamani Upanishad

Key Yoga Anatomy and Physiology :-

1. Anatomical and Postural Terms :- Yogic Creation of Life

2. Key Body Systems and Homeostasis (Spanda-Nispanda and Swasthya)

3. Digestive System (Yoga and Digestive System)

4. Respiratory System (Yoga and Breathing)

5. Cardiovascular System (Yoga and Cardiovascular System)

6. Excretory Systems (Yoga and Excretory Systems)

7. Nervous System (Yoga and Nervous System)

8. Endocrine System (Yoga and Endocrine System)

9. Muscular System (Yoga and Muscles)

10. Skeleton System (Yoga and Skeleton System)

11. Sleep (Yoga Nidra)

12. Traumas and Yoga

13. Mental Health and Yoga

14. Chronic Health Disorders and Yoga

15. Stress and Yoga

16. Arthritis and Yoga

17. Back and Yoga

18. Hypertension and Yoga

19. Neck and Yoga

20. Sinusitis and Yoga

21. Eyes and Yoga

22. Shoulders and Yoga

23. Hips and Yoga

24. Knees and Yoga

25. Sexual Health and Yoga

26. Anxiety Disorders and Yoga

27. Depression and Yoga

28. Diabetes and Yoga

29. Dreams and Yoga Therapy

30. Bereavement and Yogic Counselling

31. Sports and Yoga

32. Learning disabilities and Yoga

The Application of Yoga Therapy

Assessment skills

Confidentiality

Data Protection and GDPR

The Therapeutic relationship

Active and reflective listening

Anti-discriminatory practice

Knowing when and where to sign post

Using the Assessment tool

Swami Gitananda’s 12 points of yoga therapy

Choosing a model

Researching the care seekers conditions

Identifying appropriate Practices

Considerations

Modifying practices

Making a plan with the care seeker

Reviewing

Key Hatha Yoga Therapy Tools

1. Jattis

2. Kriyas

3. Asana

4. Assisted Asana

5. Chair Yoga

6. Pranayama

7. Mudra

8. Guided Meditations

9. Sankalpa

10. Yoga Nidra and Relaxation

11. Cleansing practices

12. Yoga Darshana

13. Yogic diet and life style

14. Imagery or visualisations

15. Partner Yoga

16. Nada Yoga

17. Surya Namaskars

18. Yoga Vyayama

19. Hands on Yoga Therapy

20. Mantra Yoga

21. Bhajans and Kirtan

22. Seva and Karma Yoga

23. Satsanga

24. Yogic Counselling

Cost: Basic accomodation at off-grid Ashram in Portugal, food and course materials included: £2,350