For anyone who wishes to become a yoga therapist, it is necessary to complete extensive and accredited training in order to pursue a career as a qualified practitioner. The personal and academic work required to successfully complete yoga therapy training is substantial, and simply enrolling on a yoga therapy course requires a foundational base of knowledge and experience – but the results are well worth the effort.
To understand more about creating a career in yoga therapy, and the training needed to set out on this exciting path, please read more below.
How Long Does it Take to Become a Yoga Therapist?
The length of training you will need to complete to become an accredited yoga therapist varies by location, but within Europe you must complete at least 500 hours of learning to earn a Diploma in Yoga Therapy. In the USA, this is increased to 800 hours, but in both cases embarking on yoga therapy training is a significant commitment of time and effort, and takes up to two years to complete.
Upon earning your diploma, you can then register as a yoga therapist, for example through the International Association of Yoga Therapists (if your course was accredited by this organisation). These standards ensure that clients can be reassured of a yoga therapist’s breadth of expertise and abilities as a complementary health professional, and maintain trust and integrity in the profession as a whole.
High standards and comprehensive training are vital to those aiming to become a yoga therapist. As an emerging therapeutic practice, anyone graduating into the field must undertake extensive education to apply yogic techniques with safety and efficacy.
What Accreditation Should A Yoga Therapy Training Course Have?
In order to obtain the certification needed to practice as a fully qualified yoga therapist, the training course you enrol in should be accredited by one or more recognised bodies, which may include:
- British Council for Yoga Therapy (BCYT)
- International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT)
- The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC)
- The Federation of Holistic Therapists
What Skills and Attributes do Yoga Therapists Need?
Yoga therapists require a combination of both “soft” and “hard” skills, including an ongoing enthusiasm for helping others and engaging in continuous learning.
The soft skills that are key in the yoga therapy profession include:
- Enjoyment in working with other people.
- Compassion and empathy.
- Excellent verbal communication.
- Skills in active listening.
- A willingness to adapt.
- The ability to lead group sessions.
Yoga therapists must also work to acquire:
- A deep and comprehensive understanding of yoga.
- Extensive personal yoga practice.
- Familiarity with a range of physical and mental health conditions.
- Knowledge of psychology and other therapeutic practices used to treat psychiatric disorders.
- A broad understanding of the evidence base behind the rationale in using yoga to treat a variety of health conditions.
- Knowledge of neuroscience and physiology.
- The ability to read and understand a medical diagnosis.
- Confident knowledge of what yoga practices to prescribe, relevant to that diagnosis.
- An expansive knowledge of the wider health services and the role of yoga therapy within that context.
- A base of other health professionals the yoga therapist can refer patients to where necessary.
What Does Yoga Therapy Training Involve?
Yoga therapy training involves a combination of academic and practical work, which explores yogic practices such as mindfulness, asanas and breathwork in scholastic depth, alongside extensive education in modern medicinal understanding of the cognitive and physiological mechanisms underpinning human health. Trainees will also work with volunteers in a supervised setting, in order to gain confidence in taking this learning and applying it in real-world scenarios.
However, it is also necessary to have conducted prior training in order to enrol on a yoga therapy course. At The Minded Institute, to be eligible to take part in our Professional Diploma in Yoga Therapy course, potential students must be one of the following:
- A registered yoga teacher from a registered school.
- A registered yoga Therapist.
- An accredited healthcare professional.
- An accredited mental health professional.
We also require that any students have a minimum of three years of consistent yoga practice, and conduct an interview to ensure suitability for the academic content of the course. However, every organisation that offers yoga therapy training will vary in the requirements needed to enrol.
What are the Career Options for Yoga Therapists?
Yoga therapy as a profession is a growing field. This gives graduates a fantastic opportunity to create the career they most want, and join a community of people working together to forge yoga therapy’s place in society.
If you choose to pursue yoga therapy training, you will have a variety of options for the direction in which you can take your career. This can include:
- Working in a NHS setting, such as an inpatient facility.
- Providing services to charities, such as those who support children with special needs.
- Conducting research into yoga therapy and it’s integration into clinical practice.
- Working in care, sheltered housing or retirement homes.
- Setting up your own practice and assisting private clients.
- Teaching other yoga therapists in your particular specialism.
How Much Does a Yoga Therapist Make?
The earning potential of yoga therapists differs on a case-by-case basis and will be dictated by a variety of factors, such as whether graduates choose to work privately with individual clients or become employed by a wider healthcare or therapeutic institution. One of the advantages of becoming a yoga therapist is the opportunity to carve out a career that suits you in a burgeoning field, whether you choose to focus working with a particular health population (for instance, those in the perinatal period) or focus primarily on teaching.
At The Minded Institute, you have the option of completing a 580hr or 815hr yoga therapy training course. We are also the only yoga therapy training organisation in the world to have diploma courses accredited by both the British Council for Yoga Therapy (BCYT) and International Association of Yoga Therapists ( IAYT).
