Advanced Diploma of Therapeutic Yoga Teaching

The Advanced Diploma of Therapeutic Yoga Teaching provides continuing and integrative approaches to wellbeing education, connecting the dots between the healing powers of Classical Yoga (which has always been an integral part of healing), Meditation, Ayurveda, Mindfulness and Wellness to every health care provider. The wisdom of these timeless, ancient, sister-healing systems cross-reference and cross-pollinate an intimate relationship between body, mind and consciousness. Seeing life in the human body as the flow of cosmic intelligence, these complementary practices act as functional medicine (as they change the vector of the doshas) and can turn many lives around.

This course specifically addresses the weakness and inadequacy of modern Western medicine, (a statistical science with imperfect knowledge of life and health) which has largely become disease management rather than true health management. The theory behind Yoga Therapy is based on improving mental health. It describes the condition of the mind as the root cause of all the chronic lifestyle related diseases. The mind-body is the content of information received through the senses, conditioning and memories. Control and care of the five senses and sense organs, understanding yogic anatomy and physiology which is grossly different from Western A&P, in that it describes the pathology of 3 bodies (physical, subtle and causal) and their treatment, the five layers, seven chakras

The practice of yoga asanas, pranayama, and meditation as therapy, cleansing practices, sound healing and more all contribute to Yoga Chikitsa or Yoga Therapy.

Through integrating specialised knowledge and extended practices, and their application in a range of contexts, the yoga teacher can undertake to help clients find mental and physical balance in life, together with paraprofessional and therapeutic yoga practices to suit the individual and group needs and abilities of their clients. More than yogic practices applied prescriptively, solely according to medical diagnosis, with the yoga profession moving towards being a sub-discipline of medicine and physical therapy, Yoga Therapy is an approach for the whole person, to addressing the root courses of an individual disease, aimed at addressing the root causes of an individual's dis-ease.

It takes into account yoga practices (which include asana, pranayama, meditation, chanting, kirtan, mudra, yoga nidra, chanting, ethics, philosophy, yama, niyama, diet and lifestyle) and the healing process. Given the prevalence of chronic (habit-based) lifestyle illnesses today, the preventative focus promotes long-term changes and improvements in the quality of people's wellbeing and lives, particularly in the cultivation of a resilient and joyful mind.