1. 40 YogaTherapyToday | Winter 2015 www.iayt.org
Perspective
Yoga Teachers and Yoga Therapists
Critical Distinctions for Inside and Outside of the Field
By Susi Hately
A
wareness of yoga therapy as a pro-
fession is increasing in many areas
of society. From healthcare to edu-
cation to the field of yoga itself, one ques-
tion commonly asked is, “What is the dif-
ference between a yoga teacher and a
yoga therapist?” It is an important ques-
tion to answer, because if we aren't clear
it will be very difficult for us to inform the
general public about what it is that we do
and who and how we can help.
In this article I am not attempting to
provide definitive answers. I was inspired
by the discussion at the SYTAR 2014
Meeting of Schools, and this launched me
into further conversations of my own with
other yoga therapists, yoga teachers,
school teachers and principals, therapists,
coaches, and university professors about
what defines a teacher, what defines a
coach, and what defines a therapist.
My hope is to inspire you to consider
your own view and to continue these
conversations.
Definitions
As I followed my curiosity to define
teacher and therapist, I came across a
variety of thoughts and opinions held by
educators and health professionals, as
well as an assortment of definitions online
and in printed books. Despite that diversi-
ty, there were common themes:
• A teacher enables the student to learn
knowledge or a skill, and as a result of
being taught the components of that
skill, the student experiences, knows,
and demonstrates greater competency
with that skill and knowledge.
• A therapist has a significantly different
purpose in that he or she enables the
receiver of the therapy to resolve a
problem. The receiver of the therapy
has different names or titles, such as
patient or client.
If we relate this to teaching yoga,
yoga teachers transmit information about
yoga—the history; philosophy; and the
various methods of movement, such as
asana, pranayama, meditation, and so
on—so that students are able to experi-
ence and demonstrate competency with
those skills and knowledge. As teachers,
we have many formats available to us:
group classes, private sessions, work-
shops, retreats, books, videos, and audio
lessons. There are also many ways of
actually teaching, for example, through
demonstration, lecture, hands-on adjust-
ments, and even online.
Yoga therapists have adjunct skill
sets. With a focus on resolving problems,
yoga therapists first need to develop a
therapeutic relationship with their clients.
Next, therapists use their understanding of
causal and correlative factors related to
the conditions being presented by the indi-
vidual clients or groups. Therapists also
have the ability to assess the condition of
their clients, to apply yoga therapy tech-
niques or tools, and then to assess the
results of applying these techniques or
tools. Yoga therapists are skilled at
observing whether the healing process is
following an appropriate trajectory: are the
interventions—that is, the use of specific
yoga therapy techniques or tools—
working or not? Has progress been made
or not?
To this end, yoga therapists need to
have an understanding of not only how
bodies move but also of how biomechani-
cal limitations reduce or impact healing
and recovery. They then need to tie this
knowledge into their patients' states of
mind and constitutions and then assess
how all of this information relates to the
environments, seasonal changes, and
overall lifestyles of their clients.
An important point to understand is
that while there is a different skill set
required to be a yoga therapist, to be a
really good yoga therapist, one needs to
be an effective yoga teacher first—a
teacher who demonstrates an ability to
transmit information about yoga to a stu-
dent so that the student learns and is able
to demonstrate greater competency with
those skills and tools. Without this core
competency, the yoga therapist and the
client will simply flounder.
Yoga Teacher or Yoga Therapist?—
Case Examples
To look at some real-life examples where
the distinctions come into play, consider
the following scenarios:
1. A yoga teacher has a student with back
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3. 42 YogaTherapyToday | Winter 2015 www.iayt.org
Perspective continued
pain who comes to multi-level group
hatha classes weekly. The student has
found that his back pain has reduced
with the practice. Is this teacher a thera-
pist? No. The reduction of pain this stu-
dent has experienced happened not as
a result of intentional assessment and
application of yoga therapy techniques
but because the teacher is intelligently
putting together sequences and offering
modifications to support the student in
his practice.
2. A yoga student attends a mantra work-
shop on breaking habits, in particular
recovering from smoking, drug and/or
alcohol addiction. The student learns
information about the history and philos-
ophy of mantra, hears examples how
mantra has influenced other students,
and learns applications on how to apply
mantra in his or her practice. The work-
shop includes many hours of practice.
In the end, and in the continuing weeks,
the yoga student takes what he or she
has learned and effectively quits smok-
ing or using drugs. Is the workshop
leader a yoga therapist? No. Rather,
that person is an excellent yoga teacher
who transmitted information related to
mantra and the student has demonstrat-
ed competency with using the skills and
tools learned.
3. A yoga student has anxiety and back
pain, and her husband has just passed
away. She meets one-on-one with the
teacher and has a conversation about
these issues and how they impact her
ability to live her life. The conversation
includes an intake interview that
includes general questions about the
student's present situation and goals for
yoga practice. With the data gathered,
the teacher begins to work with the stu-
dent, specifically using and teaching
yoga techniques to support the student
and her goals. The teacher follows this
process for twenty to forty minutes and
completes it with a final assessment,
the creation of a home program, and
the booking of a follow-up visit to track
progress and refine the program. Is this
teacher a yoga therapist? Yes. There is
more going on here than intelligent
sequencing and teaching of a set of
skills. There is an application of yoga
tools and techniques relative to the indi-
vidual, who she is, how she is, and the
condition she has been experiencing.
This third example describes a pri-
vate one-on-one scenario. It is important
to note that the same process might occur
in a small group session provided the
yoga therapist is able to follow the
process outlined above and give individual
attention to each student/client and his or
her specific conditions.
Is an Advanced Yoga Teacher a
Yoga Therapist?
Simply knowing more about anatomy, bio-
mechanics, pranayama, and subtle ener-
gy and then teaching that information to
your students can make you a better yoga
teacher, and even a more advanced yoga
teacher. It will also deepen your skills as a
yoga therapist. However, that knowledge
in and of itself doesn't make you a yoga
therapist. Likewise, having someone in
your group class with back pain who has
benefited from the class sequences so
this his/her back pain went away or is
managed does not make you a yoga ther-
apist. There must be that individual
assessment and a personalized treatment
program based on the principles of yoga
therapy.
Yoga Teachers and Yoga Thera-
pists—What are their Complemen-
tary Roles?
To best start the exploration of this ques-
tion, I suggest that yoga teachers need to
understand their valuable role as purvey-
ors of skills and knowledge about yoga
and their profound role in the wellbeing of
their students. This is, in itself, a uniquely
honorable contribution to society. Howev-
er, yoga teachers should be careful not to
extend too far into the realm of therapy
without proper training, especially in set-
tings that aren't conducive to individual
attention and helping solve specific prob-
lems or conditions. If some students expe-
rience difficulties in classes, the teachers
should be confident enough in their own
skills and abilities to recommend their stu-
dents to skilled yoga therapists who can
address those concerns.
On the flip side, people with health
conditions—whether they be back pain,
rheumatoid arthritis, or a cancer diagno-
sis—and who don't have the stability,
mobility, strength, or stamina to attend a
regular yoga class could benefit from
working with yoga therapists so that they
can follow a personalized approach to
resolving their issues. Then, as they gain
awareness, as they improve their motor
control and their movement kinematics,
and as they improve their capacity and
capability, they can then take their new
skill set into more “regular” yoga classes,
if they so choose. The key is that these
people have integrated their awareness
and are able to apply their knowledge in
whatever environment they practice in, so
that they continue to progress, grow, and
challenge themselves within the bound-
aries of their thresholds.
One of the keys for this sort of com-
plementarity to work is for yoga teachers
and yoga therapists to be confident in
their different skill sets and to be both
knowledgeable about and comfortable
with what their abilities and their limits are
and how and to what extent they can help.
They can then work together or alongside
each other to help many students transi-
tion from a place of pain, illness, and dis-
satisfaction to somewhere entirely differ-
ent and life-enhancing.
In closing, I want to emphasize this
point: yoga therapists aren't better than
yoga teachers and advanced yoga teach-
ers aren't better than yoga therapists—
they just focus on different applications of
yoga and on achieving different results. It
really is that simple. YTT
Since 1999, Susi
Hately has combined
her BSc in kinesiology
with her yoga training
to help people get out
of pain and to train
yoga teachers how to
be great yoga therapists.
functionalsynergy.com
An important point to understand is that while there is a different skill
set required to be a yoga therapist, to be a really good yoga therapist,
one needs to be an effective yoga teacher first.
