Integral Yoga® Therapy Certification

About our program

The Integral Yoga Therapy Certification offers a special path to a career in Yoga therapy. Our program combines the time-honored heritage of a classical Yoga lineage with practices adapted for contemporary times. Drawing from the roots of classical teachings, our therapists receive a balanced and thorough training exemplifying the essence of Yoga, while providing applicable skills for modern-day implementation.

The flexibility and adaptability of our unique modular 800-hour program allows students to work at their own pace and smoothly integrate the training into their current life. With three locations across the country offering courses and a personal mentor guiding the process, students are assured options and support during the program.

Due to the international nature of Integral Yoga and combined with its stature and size, students can feel confident they are joining a global community of Integral Yogis who work together in supporting and uplifting each other.

Integral Yoga Therapy students study with our esteemed faculty in both a traditional Yoga ashram and urban ashrams/city centers. Our faculty has a long history of providing Yoga therapy services, and many Integral Yogis are innovators in the field. Their programs are well established and offer opportunities for comprehensive training, practical experience, and future employment.

As an organization, Integral Yoga is a pioneering force in the field of Yoga therapy. The work of Dean Ornish, M.D. a student of Swami Satchidananda, applied the teachings of Integral Yoga for reversing heart disease. We are committed to training the next generation of Integral Yoga Therapists to continue to build on this powerful, healing legacy.

Who Should Enroll?

Anyone who seeks to enhance their career and share inspired change and growth with others!

The Integral Yoga Therapy Program is open to anyone who seeks to enhance their career and share inspired change and growth with others! If you desire to work with the growing number of individuals and groups searching for holistic therapies and integrative health care, this program is for you.

Today more people are turning to mind-body practices such as Yoga to address chronic and acute conditions negatively affecting millions of Americans and people across the globe. With the increasing cost of healthcare and rates of disease, Yoga therapy stands out as a practical and cost- effective way to promote wellness lifestyles and positive transformation for individuals.

Yoga Therapy Professionals are employed to evaluate clients’ varied needs, design and implement effective wellness programs, and play a crucial role in natural health care. As an Integral Yoga Therapist, you are empowered with the knowledge, skills, and expertise to influence and impact the future of wellness.

Become a confident Yoga Therapist

 

After completing the Integral Yoga Therapy Program, graduates can be confident in their ability to:

  • Integrate Yoga therapy principles effectively for evaluating, creating, implementing, and monitoring Yoga therapy programs for individuals and groups
  • Adapt asana safely for specific conditions and populations with mobility challenges
  • Share stress management techniques tailored to a variety of settings from corporate to under-served populations
  • Establish appropriate personal and professional boundaries
  • Develop effective daily recommendations and lifestyle routines based on Ayurvedic principles
  • Understand conditions and diseases affecting individuals and guide them in therapeutic Yoga practices to facilitate balance and healing
  • Interpret Yoga psychology and philosophy while developing public speaking and teaching skills to share the workings of the mind in various settings
  • Guide students to cultivate inner connection using principles of deep relaxation and postures to passively release tension in the body
  • Modify Yoga practices allowing the teachings of Yoga to be available and accessible for all individuals
  • Incorporate both the Eastern yogic and Western medical perspectives on interaction of body, breath, mind, intellect, and emotions in health and well-being

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis with two closing dates of July 1 and February 1 annually. Applicants learn of acceptance within one month following the nearest closing date to their application submission. Students then enter the program in one of two cohorts each year.

For more information please Review our FAQ or contact your preferred center:

Integral Yoga Therapy FAQ

You may also contact your preffered center below:
IYI New York: [email protected]
IYI San Francisco: [email protected]
Yogaville Virginia: [email protected]

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Program Details

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Prerequisites

  • 200-hour Yoga Alliance-registered certification or equivalent yoga training
  • A minimum of one year teaching experience
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Program curriculum

The 800-hour program is made up of:

  • Nine separate core modules
  • One integration module
  • 150 hours of Practicum independent Yoga therapy work with clients
  • 55 hours of mentoring
  • One Integral Yoga Therapy elective
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Core modules

  • Adaptive Yoga 1
  • Raja Yoga 1
  • Stress Management
  • Healing Relationships 2
  • Restorative | Therapeutic Yoga
  • Foundations of Integral Yoga Therapy 2
  • Basics of Ayurveda 2
  • The Human Body: Ease and Dis-ease 2
  • Psychology and Mental Health
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Elective modules

At least 1 needed for separate IYTh designation beyond the required core modules.

  • Yoga for the Special Child
  • Yoga of the Heart
  • Yoga Therapy in Cancer and Chronic Illness
  • Yoga for Arthritis
  • Yoga of Recovery
  • LifeForce Yoga
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Practicum/Internship

  • Integration Module (Capstone coursework) 3
  • Practicum
  • Practicum Cohort Learning Groups

1 The first set of modules to complete
2 The second group of modules to complete (before remaining modules)
3 Final module taken upon completion of all other coursework

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Training Locations

Virginia
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San Francisco
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New York
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Governing Board Members

Swami Ramananda

Swami Ramananda

Governing Board Member

Swami Ramananda, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is the Executive Director and President of the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco and a greatly respected senior teacher in the Integral Yoga tradition, who has been practicing Yoga for over 40 years. Swami Ramananda became a Swami in 1984 and he was directly trained by Sri Swami Satchidananda.

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Swami Sarvaananda

Swami Sarvaananda

Governing Board Member

Swami Sarvaananda, Ph.D., has lived at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville since 1980. She works with the Yogaville Vidyalayam (children’s school) and with community service projects.  She is a Board-certified Chaplain where she serves on national committees, since retiring from local hospital and hospice service. At Yogaville, she serves …

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Lakshmi Sutter

Lakshmi Sutter

Governing Board Member

Lakshmi Sutter, Ph.D., serves as the Program Director of the Integral Yoga Therapy program. Lakshmi previously served in the Integral Yoga Academy at Yogaville as Academy Director, as Integral Yoga Teachers Association Director, and as Teacher Training Planning & Development Director. She is a trainer of Integral Yoga Hatha Yog…

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Chandra/Jo Sgammato

Chandra/Jo Sgammato

Governing Board Member

Chandra/Jo Sgammato, a former book publishing executive and author, serves as the Executive Director of the New York Integral Yoga Institute, where she has worked in a variety of capacities since 1999. In addition to overseeing all operations at the Institute, she directs Integral’s Yoga At Work© program. She is also the founder of IYI’s Yoga At School …

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Ram Wiener

Ram Wiener

Governing Board Member

Ram Wiener is a senior administrator and teacher at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville in Virginia. He is an Integral Yoga certified Meditation, Raja Yoga, Children’s Yoga, Gentle Yoga, and Intermediate Hatha Yoga teacher. Ram is also the Vice President of Programs, overseeing the Integral Yoga Academy, all teachers’ programs at Yogaville.
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Faculty

Swami Karunananda

Swami Karunananda

Raja Yoga

Swami Karunananda has had over 40 years experience teaching all aspects of Yoga. Today, she specializes in programs that focus on the science of meditation, the philosophy of Yoga, yogic breathing techniques for better health and healing, personal transformation, and attuning to divine guidance.
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Swami Priyaananda

Swami Priyaananda

Raja Yoga

Swami Priyaananda is a senior disciple of Swami Satchidananda with thirty years of experience in the practice and teaching of Integral Yoga. She served in Integral Health Services and Integral Yoga Distribution Department at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville in Connecticut.
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Swami Vidyananda

Swami Vidyananda

Stress Management

Swami Vidyananda, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, was trained by Sri Swami Satchidananda to teach Integral Yoga in 1972, and began training Yoga teachers in 1973. She became a Swami in 1983. She has taught and trained Yoga teachers throughout the USA and Canada, as well as Australia, Europe, and India.
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Durga Leela

Durga Leela

Ayurveda

Durga Leela, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, YACEP, is the founder of Yoga of Recovery®. She holds the RYT-500 qualification, having completed both the Sivananda Yoga teachers Training Course and an Advanced Yoga Training. She is also extensively trained in Meditation and Vedanta. She is a Clinical Ayurvedic and Pancha Karma Specialist, trained both in the USA and India and is serving as the Director of the Ayurveda progra…

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Mala Cunningham

Mala Cunningham

Psychology and Mental Health

Mala Cunningham, Ph.D., E-RYT, is a leading speaker, author, and educator in the field of Mind-Body Medicine and Health Psychology. She is the President of Positive Health Solutions and is the Founder and Director of the renowned training program “Cardiac Medical Yoga.” Dr. Cunningham is also a Counseling Psychologist in private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia and has been a business consultant for over 20 years.
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Cheri Clampett

Cheri Clampett

Therapeutic Yoga

Cheri Clampett, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is a certified Yoga therapist with more than 20 years of teaching experience. She is the founder and director of the Therapeutic Yoga Training Program. She has also co-led the Integrative Yoga Therapy teacher training and has presented Therapeutic Yoga at the White Lotus Foundation teacher training, the Beth Israel Medical Center, and the Rusk Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center.
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Arturo Peal

Arturo Peal

Therapeutic Yoga

Arturo Peal is an Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) instructor and a certified Yoga therapist. He co-leads the Therapeutic Yoga Training Program. He holds a Master’s degree in Chinese medicine, practices craniosacral therapy, and has been involved in the alternative health-care field for more than 30 years.

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Iris Savernik

Iris Savernik

The Human Body: Ease and Dis-ease

Born in Slovenija, Iris was first introduced to Yoga by her father who admired its principles and used them to guide his life. However her first and second loves were figure skating and dance. She studied modern dance at London School of Contemporary dance in London, then transferred to the North Carolina School of the Art…

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Steffany Moonaz

Steffany Moonaz

Foundations of Integral Yoga Therapy

Steffany Moonaz, PhD, C-IAYT, began studying Yoga as a teenage dance student and was first trained as an Integral Yoga teacher in 2003. After eight years at Johns Hopkins University, where she studied the effects of Yoga for people living with arthritis and underwent training as a Yoga therapist, Steffany founded “Yoga for Arthritis.”
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Diana Meltsner

Diana Meltsner

Center Manager, SF

Diana Meltsner, C-IAYT, e-RYT500, started to offer individual Yoga therapy sessions while working at Kaiser Permanente in 2005. She currently teaches various group classes and health education workshops in the Bay Area and is an Integral Yoga Teacher Trainer. She also offers Yoga therapy privately and at the Integral Yoga Therapy Clinic in San Francisco.
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Nancy O’Brien

Nancy O’Brien

Mentor

Nancy O’Brien, is a registered Yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance, a certified Integral Yoga Hatha I, Hatha II, and Restorative Yoga teacher and graduate of Therapeutic Yoga Training and Yoga4Arthritis. She is an advisor for the Arthritis Foundation on the Arthritis-friendly Yoga video and trains certified Yoga teachers in “Yoga for Arthritis.” She helped the Integral Yoga Institute…

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Brahmi Romero

Brahmi Romero

Mentor

Brahmi Romero, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, sees clients for individual and group Yoga Therapy and instructs private and group Yoga classes. She is the Director of St. Mark’s Yoga Center on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, and an adjunct instructor for Prince George’s Community College teaching Therapeutic Yoga to seniors. For seven years, she was the Yoga therapist at the …

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Raama Das

Raama Das

Center Manager, Yogaville

Raama Das is a former director of the Integral Yoga Teachers Association and has been an instructor of Integral Yoga since 2009. He is a lead trainer for the Integral Yoga 200-hour Teacher Training Program at Yogaville and co-presents both the 200 and 500-hour Yoga Alliance programs at Heal Me Institute in Fredericksburg.
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Claudia Bartsch

Claudia Bartsch

Mentor

After moving from Berlin to San Francisco in 1996, Claudia Bartsch, C-IAYT became certified as a Shiatsu Massage Practitioner which deepened her understanding of the energetic structure of the body and the way it relates to health and well-being. Yoga became a journey to healing because it supported her on all levels.
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Kali Morse

Kali Morse

Center Manager, NY

Kali Morse, E-RYT 500, RPYT, C-IAYT, is director of the Teacher Training programs at the New York Integral Yoga Institute. Kali’s dedication and service to the art and science of Yoga spans four decades. She has taught Yoga in many settings including schools, colleges, hospitals, businesses, etc. She is certified to teach Integral yog…

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Satya Greenstone

Satya Greenstone

Restorative Yoga

Satya Greenstone, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, has been a student of Sri Swami Satchidananda for over 40 years, sharing the teachings of Integral Yoga in many diverse settings with students of all ages and backgrounds. Since 1999 she has been a primary teacher for the Basic Yoga Teacher Training program. While serving as Teacher Training Coordinator, she helped to develop and teach the Integral Yoga Gentle Yoga Teacher Training program.

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Hamsa Spagnola

Hamsa Spagnola

Adaptive Yoga

Judi Hamsa Spagnola, C-IAYT, RYT/TRM, is an Integral Yoga certified teacher and has been teaching various styles of Yoga for more than 30 years. She created and developed the Gentle/Chair Yoga Teacher Training Program & Manual for Integral Yoga International and teaches for the MS Society. She teaches stress management, meditation, and offers Reiki Healing Circles throughout New York and New Jersey.
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Nischala Joy Devi

Nischala Joy Devi

Healing Relationships

Nischala Joy Devi is a masterful and compassionate teacher. She is highly respected as an international advocate for her innovative way of expressing Yoga and its subtle uses for spiritual growth and complete healing. She was a monastic disciple of Sri Swami Satchidanandaji for over 20 years and has studied with other masters in India and worldwide. She developed the Yoga portion of the landmark research in pioneering Yoga for life threatening diseases…

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