IAYT is pleased
to announce the results from the 2008 Survey of Yoga Therapist Training Programs
. [i]
The results are published on this website section as a grid in three parts:
·
Programs
that had graduated students as of 12/31/2007
· Programs
that had started as of 12/31/2007 but not yet graduated students
· Anticipated
programs that had not yet started as of 12/31/2007
For this, our second survey, we only included programs from IAYT Member Schools. Indeed, one
of the requirements for membership was for schools to complete the survey so that
we had comparable information about the programs available, since there are no well
accepted standards for the training of Yoga therapists.
Still, this survey covers 46 programs, over twice as many as the
2007 survey.
Our primary purpose is to present objective and quantifiable information to give
students a bird's eye view of the lay of the land so they can follow up with the
specifics of programs they are interested in. A
second purpose is to better understand the development of our field; because today's
training programs both reflect our present and influence our future.
This overview will provide a
foundation for the evolving discussion about what the essential components of a
Yoga therapist training program are.
Criteria for IAYT School Membership
Our first criterion for school membership continues to be schools with programs
that self-identify as a Yoga therapist training, which excludes continuing education
programs for Yoga teachers that teach therapeutic applications of Yoga only as a
part of the curriculum.
Programs that are entirely, or almost entirely, distance learning are not eligible
for membership at this time.
The results of our first survey in 2007 revealed three primary types of programs,
which we have further grouped into three categories. We used this breakdown to be more specific
about the type of programs available as well as those that are eligible for membership:
General Programs
·
Intensive,
multisession training programs that educate and/or certify Yoga therapists to work
with students with a wide range of conditions and concerns
Specialty Programs
·
Multi-week
training programs that offer in-depth training programs focused on a limited number
of health issues or populations
·
Multi-week training programs that offer in-depth training
programs focused on a limited number of techniques used in Yoga therapy
International Programs (Outside
of North America)
·
Yoga
therapy training takes place in a variety of legal, economic, health care, and cultural
environments; hence we present a limited number of programs
outside North America separately.
Listing Anticipated Programs - Programs that had
not yet started by 12/31/2007
We surveyed programs that had not yet started as of year-end 2007.
We wanted these schools to be able to join IAYT's new Member Schools program so
that they could be a part of and support the rather extensive educational and communicative
process we are developing in a collaborative
effort to develop a structure and start a process to establish standards for the
training of yoga therapists. [ii]
This
is known as the Council of Schools Initiative.
Future Plans
Our current survey method is cumbersome and labor intensive. We need to develop a method where schools
can directly input their own information in a standardized fashion before we start
a new survey. We hope this will be
part of opening the Member School Program to new members in the fall of 2009.
If you have a Yoga therapist training program and would like to be aware of when
we reopen the Member School Program, check the IAYT website and IAYT emails. You may also
contact John Kepner at director@iayt.orgto be put on a list.
The program director must be an IAYT
member in order to join the IAYT Member School program, and there will be a school
membership fee.
Suggestions for improving this survey to better serve our field
are welcome.
Training Reports
The information in the grid is supplemented by a growing collection of "training
reports" submitted by recent graduates and published in
Yoga Therapy Today (formerly
Yoga Therapy in Practice.)
The purpose of these reports is
both to inform prospective students and to help our field as a whole to understand
the approaches of the various Yoga therapist training programs.
These reports are also available online in our publications that are electronically
hosted on our MetaPress site (free to IAYT members as long as you log on to IAYT's
website first.)
Recent graduates of any IAYT member school are encouraged to submit a training
report to Julie Deife, editor in chief of Yoga Therapy Today, at
jdeife@iayt.org.
Clare Collins is an IAYT Board member, John Kepner
is the IAYT Executive Director, and Catherine Baker is an IAYT Member in Los Angeles.
[i]
The first IAYT Survey of Yoga Therapist Training Programs was published in the December
2007 issue of Yoga Therapy in Practice, pp 5 - 7.
[ii]
Although membership in the School Program requires a fee and is closed at this time,
the process itself can be followed on IAYT's Digital Resources Library under the
Group entitled "Member Schools and the Educational Standards Committee."
|