Sorry I've been out of touch for a few days. I am in the beginning days of a long-anticipated teacher training. It's the Intermediate Intensive & Therapeutic Teacher Training, with my teacher, Aadil Palkhivala. I've been signed up since August. This is my first teacher training since finishing the College of Purna Yoga (last August). A lot of my friends from school are back for this training, too, so it's really fun to get so much time with such good, fun friends. :-)
So, what do we do in a training such as this? Well, grasshopper, many many things arise in such trainings. The set-up this year is different than other trainings: we're doing a practice & review session first thing in the morning, during which time we go over therapeutic techniques learned the previous afternoon. Then we have a short break, followed by the intermediate asana intensive portion - basically 2 - 3 hours of intermediate level asana class. (Side note: When I speak of intermediate asana in the context of a teacher training, I'm not talking about a "level 2" kind of class at your local studio. I'm talking about a practice for people who have the practice deep in their bodies already. As in, we practice, explore, and work the asana regularly...daily...and have been for years. Just as in the far eastern arts, yoga practitioners are considered "beginners" for a very long time, and every tradition has a slightly different take on what it means to be a beginner/intermediate/advanced student.) We get an hour for lunch, then we re-group for the therapeutics training portion. We started on Wednesday, with only a half day. Today was 8 - 5, tomorrow we get a late start, but go late (11:30 - 8pm) and then Saturday, Sunday and Monday we go from 9 - 7. We really pack it in, but it's necessary if we hope to cover even a portion of the material we'd like to learn.
I've been looking forward to this training specifically because of the therapeutics portion. In the college, we learned a great deal about the therapeutic application of asana (yoga poses/sequences), pranayama (breath work), meditation, lifestyle choices, nutrition and more. I want to do more private/therapeutic instruction in my studio, and continuing education is a very high priority for me, so this workshop was an easy choice. Many of my colleagues have noted that once they make the conscious effort to develop a specific aspect of their teaching, students who need that aspect start popping up. That was certainly the case for me during and after Doula training - pregnant ladies are popping up all over the place, asking me about prenatal yoga! Hopefully this trend will continue as I work to develop the private instruction aspect of my teaching.
So, what is Yoga Therapy? There is no single, easy answer, but essentially it is the application of yoga asanas as a tool to help clients recover from injury, chronic pain, disease, etc. Some therapists focus on psychological health, while others focus on physical health. Like yoga teaching, there is currently no national or statewide standard for training or certification. This means that clients must do their research in order to determine if the yoga therapist they've chosen has enough training and experience to be of service to them. Many people with chronic pain, recent injury and those seeking to avoid surgery (i.e. fusions of the spine, hip replacement, shoulder or knee surgery) can benefit a great deal from private yoga instruction/yoga therapy with a well-trained, experienced teacher.
As a Certified Purna Yoga Instructor, I use the same underlying principle in yoga therapy sessions that I use in my classes: humans are more than bodies, and our health is affected by many things. We must take into account the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual "bodies" if we want to achieve balance and harmony in our lives. Through this harmony, we find better health and increased vitality. So I teach what the student/client is ready to learn, and when they open to that, I offer more. When someone is in pain, for example, what helps them the most is learning ways to ease that symptom...they want out of pain. I teach them gentle, basic asana sequences to ease the pain of their specific condition, and once out of pain they will (hopefully) want to learn how to heal the actual root cause of that pain. That's when the juicy work begins!
The NY Times recently ran an article about Yoga Therapy in which one client points out that in [the average] class setting, the instructor may not know that you have a particular ailment or injury and/or may not be trained in how to individualize their teaching so that everyone can practice safely and effectively. This is why understanding the difference between teacher training programs, and what constitutes the bare minimum in training, can really help yoga students and yoga therapy clients make informed decisions about their teachers. I posted tips on choosing a yoga teacher here, but you may also find this chart helpful - especially if you're looking for help with a specific condition (narrow your search to teachers of a style that requires more training). I am sure that as the Yoga Therapy profession grows, we will develop specific standards and scopes of practice to help clients navigate their options with confidence. Until then, use the same care in choosing your yoga therapist as you use in choosing your yoga teacher, massage therapist, MD or any other healthcare provider.
Please remember that yoga teachers and yoga therapists use our expertise as a tool for healing, not for diagnosis of disease or injury (physical or mental). For a diagnosis, seek medical attention. Then, if you'd like to explore a yogic treatment plan, find a yoga therapist near you!
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