Yoga therapy (IAYT standards)

Domain X · Body, movement, breath & physical · 2012

What it is

Yoga therapy, as IAYT defines it, is the professional application of yoga principles and practices to promote health and well-being, inside a therapeutic relationship that includes personalised assessment, goal setting, lifestyle management and yoga practices for individuals or small groups. It is…

Format

• Planning. A plan built on the client's needs, goals, learning style, life circumstances and access to time and equipment; clear goals for each session.
• Format. One-to-one sessions, or small-group yoga therapy. What makes a group yoga therapy rather than a class is an individual intake and assessment for each member, a personalised practice, and reassessment at intervals across the series; for minors, local child-safety law applies. A one-to-one…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Training and credential.
• Standards: IAYT published its Educational Standards for the Training of Yoga Therapists on 1 July 2012, with an accreditation route for training programmes; the Competencies Profile is the core.
• Competency areas: (1) yoga philosophy, the mind, and understanding of health and disease; (2) biomedical and psychological knowledge (anatomy, physiology, mental health, pathology, the healthcare environment, body–mind connection); (3) therapeutic skills (individual and group client education, the therapeutic relationship and duty of care); (4) yoga therapy practice (breadth of practices; intake and assessment,…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status (brief). The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) summarises yoga (not yoga therapy specifically) as follows: a slight benefit for low back pain (Cochrane review, Wieland et al. 2022, found yoga slightly better than no exercise, possibly not meaningful…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• clients learning advanced practices from video without supervision; NCCIH notes higher risk with self-teaching.
• disordered eating framed as 'yogic purity'; supplement questions (refer). Working: small sustainable routine changes.
• joint pain, clicking with pain, hypermobile clients pushing to end range. Working: the client feels looser and more present.
• shoulder pain, breath-holding during movement, dizziness when arms are raised. Working: smooth coordination and reported ease.
• perceived religious pressure; obsessional clients turning repetition into a compulsion. Working: the word becomes a portable cue.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.