Yoga is an ancient path which was intended to lead the sincere practitioner to enlightenment by transcending human suffering. Healing of the body, mind and heart were essential stages on the path to that enlightenment, and the Yogic healing techniques are most effective when practiced with a thorough understanding of modern healing modalities.

The Pranakriya Yoga Therapy Certification program is designed for yoga practitioners, teachers and health care providers who want to specialize in yoga's therapeutic aspects. The program provides an understanding of yoga's healing methods seen in the light of modern medical and psychological therapies. This combination brings out the best of both.

The Pranakriya Yoga Therapy School is a charter member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists and works closely with IAYT in developing standards for Yoga Therapy schools.

In the program you will develop the following skills:

• Learn about diseases and dysfunction from a western model and from a Tantric Hatha yoga model.
• Integrate the Tantra Hatha Yoga tools of asana, pranayama and meditation into the treatment of musculoskeletal, medical and psychological conditions.
• Become a trained yoga therapist capable of working in private or group settings.
• Learn to evaluate a person for musculoskeletal and psychological conditions and apply yoga techniques as treatment for a variety of medical conditions.
• Develop care plans based on evaluations

This program is for yoga teachers, practitioners and health care providers and is intended to build upon the approach to Hatha Yoga taught in the Pranakriya 200 hour Basic Yoga Teacher Training program and Pranakriya 500 hour Professional Level Teacher Training program. Health Care practitioners with a yoga practice or background may enter the program.

The following modules make up the program and may be taken in any order unless specific prerequisites are given in program descriptions. Individual modules may be taken for educational purposes.

The total curriculum training time is 300 hours and includes courses from the Pranakriya 500 hour Professional Level YTT, Courses specific to the Pranakriya Yoga Therapy program and a mentoring process.

Courses from the Pranakriya 500 hour Yoga Teacher Training program:

• Teaching Meditation for Pranakriya Yoga Teachers
• Advanced Pranayama for Pranakriya Yoga Teachers
• Functional Anatomy and Therapeutic Yoga

• Musculoskeletal Assessment
• Medical Issues: Integrating Medical Knowledge and Intuitive Healing
• The Yoga Way : Toward  Psychological Health and Emotional Well-being
• Functional Integration

Mentoring Process:
This will be a two step process. Step one will consist of a research paper on a topic of interest in the field of yoga therapy. Step two will require 2 client evaluations with 2 follow up visits for these clients. This can be done in your hometown. A write up of these cases will be submitted and a phone meeting will be scheduled to discuss the paper and case studies.

Yoga Therapy course descriptions:

Teaching Meditation for Yoga Teachers
In ancient times yoga schools had a rich meditation practice that has been lost in many modern traditions. Some yoga schools today turn to Buddhism for meditation if they teach it at all. This program will explore the many stages and techniques of yoga meditation. We will start with the most ancient forms from which Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain meditation have sprung. After learning these techniques we will explore how they can be incorporated into a modern practice and taught to our students. This program is for yoga teachers only.

Musculoskeletal Assessment
Prerequisite: Functional anatomy and therapeutic yoga.
This course will deepen your understanding and knowledge of the function and location of the muscles and joints of the body. You will learn evaluation techniques for the strength and length of each muscle and joint. This evaluation will be taught in two ways. First you will learn to evaluate each part separately. Then you will learn a more functional, integrated approach to evaluation. Through learning to "read" the student's body you will learn the tools to find imbalances as you watch their ability to move through asana practice. This ability to "read" the practice will give you a more functional understanding of what is going on in their body and how certain imbalances may lead to pain and dysfunction. The development of a personalized plan of care and personalized asana practice for your student based on this evaluation will be taught. After this course, you will be able to help students with musculoskeletal dysfunctions (for example: back pain, neck pain, arthritis, tendonitis) by finding their imbalances and help ing them to find a yoga practice to restore balance as well as modify asanas as needed. This course is taught by Marlysa Sullivan MPT, RYT.

Medical Issues: Integrating Medical Knowledge and Intuitive Healing
This program is designed to integrate medical knowledge with traditional yoga practices of asana, pranayama and meditation. Common medical conditions including: neurological, endocrine, cardiovascular, pulmonary, autoimmune, inflammatory, cancer, and gastrointestinal will be discussed. The physiology behind the condition as well as common treatments and the application of yoga practices to the disease will be discussed. Current research on Yoga for these conditions will be presented. The relationship of the mind to the healing process will be explored. There will be opportunity for students to inquire about any medical topics of interest. This course is taught by Louis P. Fuerstman, MD.

The Yoga Way: Emotional Well-being
This course will give a concentrated overview of psychology and the human condition from the ancient Yogic perspective. We will review Yogic concepts related to understanding the mind, including kosas, kleshas, samskaras, gunas. We will explore how these concepts fit into the modern psychological models of the mind and how they may be useful in understanding and treating dysfunction. Students will learn Yoga Therapy methods for managing or assisting in healing psychological difficulties, including depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress responses. This course is taught by Stacie Smith, MA.

Functional Integration:
This is the last class taken in the program. Using all of the information from the seven courses you will have the opportunity to work with case studies. You will practice evaluation techniques from the medical, musculoskeletal and psychology modules. You will then develop an assessment and plan of care using what you learned in the meditation, pranayama and Hatha Yoga Pradipika courses. This will be an experiential course focused on bringing all of the information together and will include a competency check off to ensure you have developed these skills. This course is taught by Marlysa Sullivan MPT, RYT.

Refund Policy:
There is a $30 non-refundable administration fee. If you cancel 3 weeks prior to the training you will receive 75% of your money back; if you cancel 2 weeks prior to the training you will receive 50% of your money back.