About the 2008 IAYT Survey of Yoga Therapist Training Programs
Clare Collins, RN PhD, John Kepner, MA MBA, and Catherine Baker

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.org to 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.