From Gyandev McCord, yoga trainer at Ananda Village and board member of the Yoga Alliance.
From your perspective, what’s the difference between a yoga teacher and a yoga therapist? Is it one-on-one? Is it dealing with condition x? How is the training different from that of a yoga teacher?
Obvious distinction is that the teacher is teaching a class, and therapist is working one on one. Therapist is tackling the principle of adapting to the individual and designing a program for the individual’s needs. Huge differences of approach and goal here (e.g., Phoenix Rising vs. Structural Yoga Therapy). Is the theme sadhana (i.e., sadhana heals by aligning koshas via second chapter of Patanjali) or psychotherapy or what? My approach is not so much healing (though that is often the client’s goal) as sadhana; adapting the practice to enable one to practice Yoga into the deeper koshas rather than “fixing” particular physical conditions.
Some of my one-time students are between yoga and physical therapy. I?m not looking to provide that, although about half clients are in this category, or have injured themselves doing yoga are want to be fixed.
What is the difference in training for yoga therapists? Functional anatomy and kinesiology is usually missing in YTT’s – the stuff in his book. YT’s know how to present the posture, but don’t know the anatomy that ties it all together – when a student says “my knee hurts in this pose” and teacher doesn’t know what to do with it. To Mukunda, this is remedial work. Certified teachers ought to be taught why the poses are done a particular way and how to adapt for injuries or postural anomalies (knock knees, scoliosis) so that the students are not strained by conforming to standardized postures. The “new material” that he thinks any yoga therapist should know would be the stuff in his book on the kinesiology of Asana.
A large part of what he does is also going beyond Asana: shatkriyas, pranayama and pratyahara – transitional practices taking one toward meditation. His training program is modeled after Krishnamacharya’s approach, going into Ayurveda. lifestyle, and spirituality in later parts of the training.
What should be the standards for yoga therapists?
I hold some similar opinions to Leslie Kaminoff (esutra@aol.com) yet I feel that I am more realistic. There is a stepping over the boundary that needs to be addressed by the Yoga community – Vis a Vis medical issues, and YA needs to come up with standards for people being seen in conjunction with medical treatment. It’s a gray area that would be nice to have more group discussions around. I know a bit about the law and was involved in the massage discussions in California. I know that fed & state governments need to do their regulation thing in the more medical area, but there’s also the reality of yoga as a spiritual practice. Distinctions need to be made – yoga ministry vs. yoga therapist vs. yoga teacher.
For that matter, some yoga schools are run by nonprofit religious organizations, and other are for-profit businesses. I see yoga as both physical healing and spiritual (else it wouldn't be holistic), but I understands that the rest of the world doesn't see it that way. I thinks there's no way around licensing for people who are being referred from medical modalities.
I would be willing to be part of discussions if we move forward in Yoga Alliance with this issue. There is a need to define the client and the work, then move ahead with clarifying additional education for yoga therapists as opposed to what is in a basic YTT -- need to be clear on what is what. And we need to be aware that some yoga teachers/therapists are doing things that many would not consider as being yoga.