This training is due to start in the fall of 2024, but you can join anytime after the start date. If you would like to benefit from a reduced price, it will be available until September 2024.

At Spanda Institute, we have always been committed to teaching Yoga as a healing discipline. We have already taught many workshops and Teacher Training modules with a therapeutic focus, like Somatic Awareness, Trauma Sensitive Yoga and Senior Yoga, to name a few. We are excited that now we can offer a complete, 800-hour Yoga Therapy Teacher Training. It is fair to say that this program has been years in the making, almost a decade. We are excited to share all of our knowledge and experience in the field of Yoga Therapy with you.

What is Yoga Therapy?

Yoga Therapy is a specialisation for certified Yoga Teachers (under any association) aspiring to become Yoga Therapists or simply learn more about different challenges within the body/mind and how to address them. Yoga Therapy offers preventive and healing Yogic practices adapted to individuals with specific injuries and health challenges, lending a helping hand and empowering them. Yoga Therapy is, thus, designed to work one-on-one with individuals, but the knowledge gained can be used in a group setting as well, of course. Below are a few of our favourite definitions of Yoga Therapy:

Yoga therapy is of modern coinage and represents a first effort to integrate traditional yogic concepts and techniques with Western medical and psychological knowledge. Whereas traditional Yoga is primarily concerned with personal transcendence on the part of a "normal" or healthy individual, Yoga therapy aims at the holistic treatment of various kinds of psychological or somatic dysfunctions ranging from back problems to emotional distress. Both approaches, however, share an understanding of the human being as an integrated body-mind system, which can function optimally only when there is a state of dynamic balance. - Georg Feuerstein Ph.D

Yoga therapy is a self-empowering process, where the care-seeker, with the help of the Yoga therapist, implements a personalized and evolving Yoga practice, that not only addresses the illness in a multi-dimensional manner, but also aims to alleviate his/her suffering in a progressive, non-invasive and complementary manner.  Depending upon the nature of the illness, Yoga therapy can not only be preventative or curative, but also serve a means to manage the illness, or facilitate healing in the person at all levels. 
- TKV Desikachar 

Course Overview

This course will be entirely online, but you can also choose to attend some modules that will be offered in person and tuition-free for those enrolled in this program. The online content will be delivered via recorded materials, so you can join any time after the official start date (October 2024) and study at your own pace and time. Our monthly group zoom mentoring sessions will provide a space to check in with mentors and peers, ask questions and discuss case studies, and our Facebook group will be a space to connect to other students and share ideas and resources. During the training, you will already start working with clients one-on-one as a part of many case studies that need to be submitted. By the end of the training, you will have the knowledge and confidence to start working as a Yoga therapist. However, your first client will be - yoursef, and we hope you will learn a lot about your body/mind and apply some tools towards more balance and wellness in your life.

In this 800-hour Training, we intend to teach you how to work with people with a wide range of health issues and, together with other forms of therapy they might be already doing, support them on their journey to health and balance. To accomplish this, we will start by looking at all Yogic techniques in detail, learning how each affects human Anatomy and Physiology both in a positive, healing way and when they might be contraindicated. You will also learn about other non-yogic tools such as Ayurveda, Myofascial release, and Aromatherapy, and how we can use them to help individual’s journey to wellbeing. The next step is Trauma Sensitive Yoga in which you will learn how to hold a safe space for your students and clients, how to avoid and recognise triggers and deal with someone in dysregulated state. You will learn how to teach Prenatal Yoga and Senior Yoga classes taking into consideration general condition (pregnancy and conditions associated with old age). Once we know what each tool in our toolbox does, we will dive deep into almost all organ systems, learning about different injuries, imbalances and diseases, and how to support someone to manage symptoms, slow progression, or improve. Most of the modules are progressive - they need to be completed in a specific order.

We intend to use the tools of Yoga that are scientifically proven to help specific conditions, so learning how to find and read scientific research is part of the skill set you will acquire during the training, together with other ones you might find helpful. For example, we will help you develop the skill of writing an academic essay based on evidence, teach you to create a coherent and beautiful presentation for your final assignment and future workshops, and more…

This program will start in the fall of 2024, possibly in October. We are currently taking steps to be fully certified by IAYT, the most recognised International organisation for Yoga Therapists and Yoga Therapy schools, and we hope we will get there by the end of the year or the beginning of the next one. You will have a minimum of two years and maximum of four to complete the program.

Program Overview

Our Yoga Therapy course is divided into two main parts:

  • Part 1 - Foundational Modules

  • Part 2 - Yoga Therapy modules

The foundational modules aim to give you a good knowledge and understanding of anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, different yogic and other tools and techniques, etc. You will need to complete part one to move on to part two of the training, which will cover various organ systems and Yoga Therapy considerations and applications when addressing different imbalances, injuries and disorders.

Please click the link below to complete a short form and access a PDF with a complete program.

In-person modules

We offer three modules that can be attended in-person in November 2024.

These are: “Temple of The Soul”, “Trauma-Sensitive Yoga” and “Yoga for Mental Health and Well-being”.

As a participant in Yoga Therapy Training, you can take up to three in-person modules throughout your training free of tuition charge (but not accommodation and meals).

We plan to offer two or three in-person modules every year. These are great opportunities to meet other students as well as your teachers and practice with your peers. We offer these modules as our 300-hour YTT, and spots will be limited, so please ensure you book on time.

Program Director, Teachers and Mentors

Nina Vukas, Spanda Institute founder, Nina Vukas, is the Program Director and the lead trainer on this course. On her life-long quest to learn more about the body/mind, Nina has been a student of Yoga for over two decades, teaching full-time since 2005 and educating Yoga Teachers since 2009. She has extensively studied other disciplines as well - from Ayurveda to modern science. In addition to many different courses, Nina holds a University-level specialisation diploma in Anatomy and Physiology and is a certified body-oriented Psychotherapist currently studying Psychology. 

In one way or another, through studying, working with clients or teaching therapy-based 300-hour Teacher Training modules, Yoga Therapy has been a large part of Nina's journey for over a decade. Consequently, she decided to get a formal Yoga Therapy education as well. She has put together all the knowledge gathered in the last two decades to create this program. Nina will be supported by other members of Spanda Educational team, such as:

  • Daria Vidovic, a certified Spanda Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT)

  • Teresa Wohlmannstetter certified Spanda Yoga Teacher, Manual Therapist and Physiotherapist

  • Marina Moric 500-hour certified Spanda Yoga Teacher and Prenatal Yoga teacher with Ph.D in Neuroscience

  • Gea Krajcar 500-hour certified Spanda Yoga Teacher, Teacher Trainer and the Director of Spanda Institute's Prenatal Teacher Training Program

  • Siegmar Gerken PhD, ECP, HP (Psychotherapy), a pioneer in the field of Body-Oriented Mindfulness-Centered Therapy, Somatic, Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology

And many other guest teachers and lecturers - full list will be disclosed soon.

Investment

Please note that the prices below will change as soon as we get the program certified, as they will need to reflect the same standard of all Yoga Therapy certified schools.

We offer a discount to all current and former students who have completed one of our Teacher Training Programs since 2009.

Options:

  • Full Training Special Price (join before September 1st, 2024): 5000 euros

  • Full Training after the above date: 8000 euros

  • Three Instalments: 8400 euros (3 x 2800 euros)

  • 20 monthly Instalments: 9000 euros (20 x 450 euros)

Three instalments: The 1st instalment is paid a few days before your desired start date, the 2nd six months after the 1st, and the 3rd a year after the 1st.
20 instalments: The 1st instalment is paid a few days before your desired start date, followed by one paid instalment in the next 20 months.

Spanda Students - 20% off (except on the special price already discounted)