Yoga Teacher & Yoga Therapist – What's the Difference?

Chances are that you’re familiar with yoga classes and yoga teachers, but you may not be familiar with yoga therapists and yoga therapy.  Neither yoga teacher nor yoga therapist is a protected name; anyone could probably get away with using them.  There are however formal recognised qualifications in each. Although qualifications don’t guarantee proficiency, they at least give you something to look out for, so let’s start there.

Many organisations offer yoga related qualifications, mostly certificates and diplomas, in yoga teaching. Common and popular ones include the 200 and 500 hour registered yoga teacher (RYT) offered by the Yoga Alliance.  Other qualifications relate to specific lineages and even brands of yoga such as Iyengar and Astanga, as well as many others.  

These qualifications can require specific courses and periods of experience.  All of the yoga teacher qualifications are aimed at teaching basic yoga classes to essentially healthy people.  Some qualifications go beyond this, or even specialise in yoga for a specific group like pregnant women, or children.  Always check your teacher's credentials.

Yoga therapy is different again.  To become a registered yoga therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) requires graduating from an accredited course.  In November 2014, there were 17 courses around the World that met the Educational Standards for the Training of Yoga Therapists.  

These standards require that prior to undertaking further training, yoga therapy students already have a recognised yoga teacher qualification, and that they then be taught yoga therapy over a minimum of 2 years involving a minimum of 800 hours of instruction and supervision.  Realistically though, the requirements of what needs to be learned mean that twice this many hours is a more reasonable estimate.

There is also a distinction between someone who may have extensive training in some other discipline, e.g. pilates, physiotherapy, or manual therapies, and has done some yoga training. These people might have an excellent command of anatomy, and perhaps medical knowledge that make them qualified to work with groups many yoga teachers aren't, but they aren't automatically yoga therapists. That's because central to yoga therapy is the 5000 year-old philosophy that underpins yoga. It is the same philosophy that underpins yoga therapy's sister science – Ayurveda.

Yoga therapists learn to look at health and disease, not just through the modern biomedical model, but also more holistically based on a yogic understanding of life that has come from hundreds of generations of careful observation.  Yoga therapists then apply this knowledge to understand clients as whole person, rather than simply in the context of specific injuries or illness that needs a specific standard treatment.

Although some yoga classes have a more therapeutic bent, most genuine yoga therapy is one-on-one because only this allows for the sessions to be truly customised. Also, much of yoga therapy happens off the mat, often involving the prescription of a regular personal practice that may involve cleansing techniques, specific meditations, and other practices that go beyond the asana (postures), pranayama (breathing and energy moving/expanding techniques), and guided meditations common to many yoga classes.

If you're interested in knowing more about what yoga therapists learn to become formally recognised, here is a list of competencies covered by recognised yoga therapy training:

• Yoga teaching and philosophy
  
• Yoga and the mind
  
• Frameworks for health and disease
  
• Biomedical and Psychological Foundations: 

1. Anatomy and physiology
   
2. Additional biomedical knowledge
   
3. Psychology and mental health
   
4. Additional knowledge such as developmental psychology and social psychology
   
5. Body and mind integration
   

• Teaching and therapeutic skills

1. Basic principles of the therapeutic relationship
   
2. Principles and skills for educating clients/students
   
3. Principles and skills for working with groups
   

• Yoga therapy tools and their application

1. Yoga practices
   
2. Provide yoga therapy (supervised practicum)
   

• Ethical principles
  
• Legal, regulatory, and business issues related to yoga therapy
  

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To learn more about Yoga Wellness Clinic and our yoga therapy service click here.