Earn A Yoga Therapy Certification
Choose Between 3 Levels of Certificates
Our world class yoga therapy certification is created for people who are serious about becoming a yoga therapist or integrating yoga therapy into their current professional practice.
In this yoga therapy training, you’ll learn to bridge the gap between yoga, mindfulness, and therapy for a totally unique approach known as the Phoenix Rising Method. The PRYT process teaches you how to guide clients/students to be present and listen to their bodies as a tool for learning and healing. Become an expert in skillfully guiding others to align the wisdom of their bodies and mind in individualized and group experiences.
With three certificate levels, this yoga therapy training is designed to meet a variety of student needs including:
- preparation for professional practice
- upgrading skills needed in one’s current profession
- making a career change
- acquiring specialized knowledge for bringing yoga therapy techniques to a variety of specialized areas
You may become a Yoga Therapist or, if you already have a degree in another field, you may use one or all of these certificate(s) as an addition to your current credentials:
PRYT Certified Yoga Therapist:
IAYT Accredited 2-Year Yoga Therapy Certification (complete 4 semesters)
online program that includes four 11 day, in-person retreats in Estes Park, Colorado
PRYT Certified Level 1 (complete semester 1)
online program includes one 11 day, in-person retreat in Estes Park, Colorado
PRYT Certified Level 2 (complete semesters 1&2)
online program includes two 11 day, in-person retreats in Estes Park, Colorado
AREAS OF STUDY
The Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Method helps clients safely embrace deep physical sensation in order to gain profound embodied insight and wisdom. It does not replace psychotherapy (talk therapy) but rather provides a somatic pathway to a deeper understanding of the self. Clients are supported to transform how their thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and habits profoundly influence their life.
This form of yoga therapy is like embodied mindfulness on steroids. Using a combination of breath work, assisted asana suited to the client, hands-on support, meditation, and guided facilitation you will guide clients to drop-in. Once there, clients are able to tap into their body as a source of awareness and body wisdom. Neuroscience explains it as experience-based attentional plasticity. In other words, when we practice focusing our attention on breath and internal bodily sensations, it changes our brain, strengthening the experiential attention neural pathway. Perceptual experiences are heightened. And, it gets easier to access these pathways and we integrate attention to internal experience into daily life.
Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy can be delivered as Individual or Private Yoga Therapy Sessions, Couple or Partner Yoga Therapy Sessions. Therapeutic Yoga Classes, 8 Week Themed Workshop Series, Therapeutic Life Mentoring,
Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Method follows two intersecting and woven processes.
Six Phases: Breath and Movement, Playing the Edge, Dropping-in, Meditation, Insight, Insight into Action
Eight Themes: Embodiment, Awareness, Acceptance, Choice, Discernment, Truth, Truth in Action, Flow
Hands-on work including safe supportive touch is an important aspect of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. We define hands-on as therapist-client contact from a handshake or hug to assisted/supported asana & pranayama, and to be always practiced with informed consent. Students will gain basic comfort and ease of various forms of touch; practice gaining ongoing informed consent; being clear on the intention for each type of touch; discerning what is ethical and within scope of practice regarding touch.
Some key benefits of touch are:
- Building a client’s inner self awareness
- Through being gently coached to accept safe supportive touch, clients may come to accept other forms of support
- Providing support for a client’s body so they do not have to work to engage it while they focus on the edge. Clients become free to engage deeper inward focus with less physical effort.
Reference this dissertation by Dr. Jenilee Sneed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RcuJngIASMDt9uWcbb27_BRqnpxksZ_X/view
Listening and being present with empathy and without judgement - unconditional positive regard - is a cornerstone of this work. Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy engages a variety of verbal skills including something we call dual process. One focus is upon providing safe, verbal, direction and instruction, while, at the same time delivering a second focus on embodied, introspective, self-inquiry. This is one of the distinguishing features of the Phoenix Rising approach to yoga therapy.
Yoga is associated with, and much research has proven, a reduction in anxiety, depression and overall stress levels as well as improving strength, balance flexibility, pain relief and more.
While that is the experience many people have while engaging yoga, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is principled on transformational wellness vs. symptom management. You will learn a pro-symptom approach to wellness inspired by the Buddhist teaching: What’s in the way - IS the way. As opposed to delivering prescriptive answers, you will learn how to create for your clients an environment from which the highest potential outcome can occur. This may include whole being transformation and/or relief from specific pain points, symptoms, or underlying conditions.
Our approach to yoga philosophy is broad and experiential. We recognize that different paths of yoga draw from many and varied traditions. We will dive into our traditional Yogic roots in Vedanta but will also draw from other Eastern philosophies including the Buddha Dharma and the other paths. We will also cross reference the connection between traditional philosophies and the paradigms underlying those elements of contemporary psychology that inform our practices.
Students will explore the relationship to yoga asana, movement, meditation, breathing, and the essence of the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy approach with the intention of encouraging a multi-dimensional sense of wonder and curiosity about the miracle of the human body. Through auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning methods students will have the opportunity to experience physical, emotional and spiritual bodies through lecture, play, creativity, touch, demonstration and questioning.
Understanding the structure of the human body increases a student’s ability to protect clients from injury and helps increase their ability to give sound instruction. Deeper knowledge of the body-mind connection, the neural pathways and neural plasticity helps students understand the potential impact of the work they are doing. It also helps build literacy for conversation and referrals with other health care professionals. These studies will be delivered as a concentrated learning block during the first semester and then built on in other semesters.
Any and all semesters of this training will equip you to work with clients within your scope of practice to fulfill a variety of needs in a variety of specialized settings. For example, working with a focus on clients with specific conditions. Or you may choose to generalize your practice and help clients seeking greater overall health and wellness.
The International Association of Yoga Therapists provides a wealth of resources and information in the field of yoga therapy for both clients and practitioners: yogatherapy.health
“Yoga therapy can complement physical, occupational, and massage therapy; psychotherapy; and more. Although they do not diagnose or treat diseases unless they are otherwise licensed to do so, IAYT-certified yoga therapists are trained in anatomy, physiology, and mental health; this allows them to interact with clients’ other healthcare professionals effectively and to competently suggest referrals when needed. A growing number of clinic systems, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities integrate yoga therapy in a variety of ways.” - yogatherapy.health
Students are supported throughout the program in becoming effective, ethical, successful, professionals; We ask students to work on themselves, their role as a teacher or therapist and what that means in terms of their personal as well as professional practice and ability to be present to others. Through self, peer, and faculty mentoring students expand their capacity to deliver a valuable service. Students will learn professional smart practices including record keeping, marketing, referring, and ethical boundaries and practices.
CHOOSE BETWEEN 3 DISTINCT LEVELS OF
YOGA THERAPY CERTIFICATIONS
Our online yoga therapy training consists of (4) six month semesters blended with in-person retreats to deepen your growth. Commit to a 6 month, one year, or two year program depending on your readiness and professional goals.
By the end of all four semesters students will have gained proficiency to facilitate the following:
- Individual or private yoga therapy sessions
- Therapeutic yoga classes
- Themed group workshop series
- Couple or partner yoga therapy sessions
- Therapeutic life mentoring
Foundations in the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Method
PRYT Certified Level 1 : Semester 1
Students will learn and practice the Six Phase flow of a Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy experience for groups and individuals: an integrative process for helping clients open to transformational opportunities through attunement to their own inner guidance. They will also learn how to use yoga therapy as a vehicle for working with the transformation process. Semester 1 will be focused on building a foundation for deeper understanding, experience and delivery of the work - beginning with an 11 day in-person immersion retreat in which students will spend days in hands-on experiential learning as well as cognitive learning. Following the onsite Residential Retreat in Colorado, the learning continues with 5 ½ months of weekly webinars including in-depth learning blocks in Anatomy, Physiology and Transformational Philosophies. Included in this time will be at home practicum and in which students will be expected to lead 14 hours of therapeutic group experiences and share video, self evaluation, and written reflections with their mentor.
Those who successfully complete Semester 1 will receive the certificate PRYT Yoga Therapy Certified Level 1 and be eligible to present as CEUs to many professional associations.
$6,000 includes tuition for all webinars and in-person retreat
*Save $600 if you pay in full by February 15, 2022; Payment plans available
Additional Fees: travel expenses, room/board, books and required materials
PRYT Level 1 Certificate includes Semester 1.
Semester 1 is a six month course and may be taken without commitment to continue to the next Semesters.
Semester 1 is made up of weekly webinars and begins with an 11 day in-person Residential Retreat (attendance required) in Estes Park, Colorado.
Semester Start Date: April 21, 2022
Semester End Date: October, 2022
Residential Retreat in Colorado: April 21, 2022 - May 1, 2022
Completion of PRYT Essentials Workshop and one of the following: 200 hour Yoga Teacher Certification with 1 year of yoga teaching experience OR Relevant Professional Health Care License (ie: psychotherapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, massage, etc.)
For completion and certification, students are required to be active participants in all webinars, the 11 day on-site Residential Retreat in Colorado, reading/writing/home study assignments, and satisfactory practicum delivery.
Attendance and active participation is required in all live webinars and at the onsite Residential Retreat in Colorado. Make-up options are available (additional fee may apply).
PRYT Certified Level 2: Semesters 1 & 2
During Semester 1, students will have assimilated and practiced the fundamentals of the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Method and laid the groundwork for building on that foundation. Work will be concentrated in delivering complete PRYT sessions. This will include the use of assisted postures and supportive touch intended to heighten a client’s experience and create a deeper state of dropping-in.
Another focus of Semester 2 will be on the delivery of therapeutic yoga therapy experiences for a variety of populations and clients in varied professional settings. While therapeutic yoga class teaching skills will continue to be developed, more emphasis will be placed on individual session delivery. Mentored practicum will intensify and students will be required to deliver an increased amount of individual and group session work. Included is a learning block on Subtle Body offering students the opportunity to explore western anatomical and allopathic views of the body as they intersect with yogic views of energy and consciousness.
Those who successfully complete Semester 2 will become PRYT Certified L2.
Yoga Teachers who have an RYT200 certificate will be eligible to add RYT300 (becoming RYT500).
$11,000 includes tuition for Semesters 1 & 2, all webinars, and two in-person retreats
*Save $1,100 if you pay in full by February 15, 2022; Payment plans available
Additional Fees: travel expenses, room/board, books and required materials
PRYT Level 2 Certificate includes Semesters 1 and 2.
Each Semester is a six month course offered annually and may be taken without commitment to continue to Semesters 3 & 4.
Each Semester is made up of weekly webinars and begins with an 11 day in-person Residential Retreat (attendance required at both) in Estes Park, Colorado.
Start Date: April 21, 2022
End Date: April, 2023
Residential Retreats in Colorado:
April 21, 2022 - May 1, 2022
October 20-30, 2022
Completion of Semester 1
For completion and certification, students are required to be active participants in all webinars, both 11 day on-site Residential Retreats in Colorado, reading/writing/home study assignments, and satisfactory practicum delivery.
Attendance and active participation is required in all live webinars and at both onsite Residential Retreats in Colorado. Make-up options are available (additional fee may apply).
Professionalizing/Taking Your Work to the World
PRYT Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT Eligible): Semesters 1-4
In Semesters 1 & 2, students will have learned and taught extensively in the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Method: an integrative process for helping clients open to transformational opportunities through attunement to their own inner guidance. The intention of Semesters 3 & 4 is to build confidence in and professionalize the work and to deepen the student's ability to create and recognize value for a client who is facing significant life challenges and/or has a desire for change in moving toward greater health and well-being.
Students will work to establish professional practice and to expand services. Learning will deepen into developing skills such as Group Facilitation, Life Mentoring, and using embodied partner work with Couples or others in close relationship.
Those who successfully complete all four semesters will become PRYT Yoga Therapist Certified and also be eligible to submit to International Associations of Yoga Therapists for C-IAYT.
$17,000 includes tuition for 4 Semesters, all webinars, and four in-person retreats
*Save 10% if you pay in full by February 15, 2022; Payment plans available
Additional Fees: travel expenses, room/board, books and required materials
PRYT Yoga Therapist Certificate includes all 4 semesters. Semester 3 & 4 must be taken together. Each semester is made up of weekly webinars and begins with an 11 day in-person Residential Retreat (attendance required at all four) in Estes Park, Colorado.
Start Date: April 21, 2022
End Date: April 2024
Residential Retreats in Colorado:
April 21, 2022 - May 1, 2022
October 20-30, 2022
April 2023
October 2023
Completion of Semester 1 & 2
For completion and certification, students are required to be active participants in all webinars, all four 11 day on-site Residential Retreats in Colorado, reading/writing/home study assignments, and satisfactory practicum delivery.
Attendance and active participation is required in all live webinars and at all four onsite Residential Retreat in Colorado. Make-up options are available (additional fee may apply).
Learning delivery methods used:
Blended in-person and virtual, synchronous and asynchronous, experiential, didactic, inductive, group discussion, mentored practicum, assignments in reading/writing/watching/listening, DEI community building (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), special guest speakers, and emphasis given to introspective personal daily practice (Sadhana).
The certificates may also be used to apply for registration with:
- IAYT for CEs or C-IAYT Certification
- Yoga Alliance CEs or 300RYT
- CEUs for other teaching or health care professions
