Did you know that your mental health influences your physical body?
Yes! Chronic pain, anxiety, depression, insomnia and all sorts of other mental health concerns affect our physical body. And that is why we need yoga therapy!
Are you ready to experience a new and meaningful career from the comfort of your own home? A career where you can help others and keep yourself in balance at the same time? We can help you find your purpose in life. We can teach you how to develop and run a successful yoga therapy business while you share your love of yoga with others.
Registration window is May 2nd – December 15th, 2022. You can start the “Bridge Program” from your 200/500-hour yoga teacher training to the 865-hour yoga therapy training program anytime. Get a head start and prepare your mind and body for the 2023 cohort.
Amy Wheeler has published a 108-page free eBook that explains the process of Yoga Therapy. The eBook helps you understand the patterns of both your mental and physical health, tracks your habits, and gives you interventions on how to feel better. The philosophy of the App is built on yoga and Ayurveda concepts. Go to www.GoldZoneBook.com to get your copy today!
Another resource for both yoga therapy clients and embodied mental healthcare providers is a mobile App called “Optimal State.” The goal of this App is that the clients would track their embodied mental health state, and then be able to email the healthcare practitioner their data before each session. In this way, the client benefits from tracking and building self-awareness and self-regulation, and the practitioner has accurate data about what has been happening mentally, emotionally and physically for the client. The App is available for both iPhone and Android. See www.OptimalStateApp.com for more details and links to the App stores.
Are You Looking For A Vocation That Gives You Meaning & Purpose?
First, the time and energy and focus it takes to become a yoga therapists is the equivalent of working towards a Master’s Degree. This can take from 2-6 years of your life, and it is life transforming.
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Listen to what our graduates have to say about their journey.
“The Optimal State Yoga Therapy program is life changing. The strength of the program is how all 865+ hours of lectures, practices, assessments, etc come together over the course of the training. The sheer amount of information and resources provided is immensely valuable. And the Optimal State staff is of the highest quality I have encountered in my 18 years of studying Yoga. After completing this program, I feel like I could meet any person with any condition and have a completely organized system in place from which to reference. I went from being unsure and unqualified to completely confident in my ability as a Yoga Therapist.” –Kate B. from East Coast USA
“I am so happy to have taken this training. It was a long and life changing journey. I went through relationships where growth was challenged and had to be dissolved. I managed to survive and be steady during Covid with all its challenges. I have been able to crack open deep past traumas and face them. I am blessed with your teachings and my mentor’s guidance. It has felt at times like going backwards, but truly it has been the strength, courage, and FAITH in this system that has allowed me to dig deep. I know that all the self work I am doing and have done will translate into me being a compassionate, intuitive, and powerful yoga therapist. I already feel so confident working with clients.” –Dan W. from California
“This program has made a profound shift in my personal life as I strive towards my own goals in becoming a certified yoga therapist. Through my own daily practice and working with a mentor I have been able to find balance and even change the way I cope with past traumas as well as every day stressors in my day to day life. I am so grateful for this experience and I highly highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to make positive changes in their life and wish to become a yoga therapist! There is an incredible community behind this program and I know I am deeply supported for the rest of my life and am confident moving forward as a yoga therapist.” -Abrianna R. from NY
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The yoga therapist performs a formal health intake and also a bio-psycho-social-spiritual assessment with the client. This assessment includes discussing the functioning and sensations in the physical body and the breathing patterns. Additionally, it might include improving awareness around if the client is stuck in their sympathetic nervous system, or is able to get into the relaxation response quickly and effectively. The assessment also includes looking at the mental habits that are supportive and life-giving or not so helpful. The yoga therapist and client will explore with mindful attention how mental habits impact the client’s perception, communication style and relationships. In some cases, if the client desires, there might even be an exploration of their spiritual connection or lack there of. The assessment could include the ability or inability of the client to finding meaning and purpose in life.
Next, a daily plan for lifestyle changes and daily practice is developed and agreed upon by yoga therapist and client. The goals are set mutually depending on the time, energy and focus the client can offer to the healing process. These results of the lifestyle changes are tracked and adjusted over time to create optimal results. When the yoga therapist is actually able to help people reach their goals, they will find clients returning again and again for more lessons.
Yoga therapy can also be offered to groups of 6-12 people who are experiencing similar symptoms or disease pathology. The yoga therapist would still do an initial assessment and goal setting, just in a less comprehensive way, with each student.
What is yoga therapy?
PDF of What Optimal State Graduates Are Doing in the World
Why Choose Optimal State Yoga & Yoga Therapy Schools?
The Mission of Optimal State is “To Provide a Container for Exploring & Creating Deep Connection: Inside of Ourself, With Others & to Something Larger than Ourselves.” Our Core Values are: Inspiration-Communication-Belonging. We believe that a vocation should be a way that you can contribute to the world in a way that is bigger than you. We believe great things happen in a supportive community. We believe that you are here for a purpose and we want to help you uncover what you are here to do in the world!
The Optimal State Yoga Therapy School is one of the only IAYT accredited schools that specialize in the area of mental health and yoga therapy. We have a mental health crisis that is coming like an ocean wave on the heels of Covid 19 global pandemic. The Optimal State is ready and willing to supply yoga therapists worldwide to those in need. In addition, we have found that many clients with mental health difficulties actually prefer working online with their yoga therapist. The Optimal State Yoga Therapist is able to assess the client, build a daily practice and lifestyle guidelines and give the support the client needs. The best part is that the client does not even have to leave their home to receive care. Tele-health is the next big thing that is emerging in healthcare and medicine, and we want to help you catch this train.
The Optimal State Yoga Therapy Program is unique in that it incorporates business development, helping to create job security for our graduates. We spend over 11 months taking you step-by-step and teaching you how to design a sustainable telehealth and in-person business that includes at least 9 different streams of income. We want you to be recession proof. We want you to be able to serve a global audience so that you can thrive as a yoga therapist. The fact is that there are not thousands of jobs available at hospitals and in healthcare at this time. The ones that are available often pay about $17-27 per hour (in alignment with medical massage therapy). It is so important that you learn how to run a business for yourself so that you can work less hours and make enough money to be sustainable.
You will receive certificates of completion for every level of our training program. These correspond with the hours set by Yoga Alliance for 200/ 300/ 500 hour certifications. Ask us for more details.
We also offer a 200-hour yoga teacher training program. If you take this program with us, and then continue onward to yoga therapy, we give you the 200-hour for FREE!
Our program is over 800 hours of curriculum plus the highly recommended 200-hour yoga teacher training course. We believe in providing extensive curriculum so that you are well prepared to be a yoga therapist when you graduate!
Optimal State Faculty & Mentor Bios
Wondering if you can afford to join us?
First, we understand that the pandemic has hurt people financially in the past 2 years. So we have made a decision to stay 100% online if you start the program in 2023. That means you can save money by not traveling, not buying airplane tickets, and not paying for room and board. This just might be the year you jump in and do it because you know that you can stay online if you keep up with your 2023 cohort. We may be offering certain modules in-person also. So if you prefer in-person and it is safe to travel, it is highly likely that you will have that option also. More details to be announced as we work with the pandemic challenges.
We are one of the only yoga therapy programs that has a built in monthly payment system to help you pay for the program over time. The summary of costs for the yoga therapy program is about $335 per month if you decide to take advantage of the payment plan.
Scholarships: MyCAA Approved for military spouses! You can receive up to $4,000. You can qualify if you have a spouse on active-duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine or National Guard/ARG service members in pay grades E1-E5, O1-O2 & W1-W2.
If you take our 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training online, we take these fees off the total Yoga Therapy Training. It is like getting two programs for the price of one!
We welcome all people! Men, women, non-binary gendered, elders, young people, black and brown bodies, white bodies, larger bodies, more slender bodies, people of color, indigenous wisdom holders, people from every race and ethnicity in the world, all accents, neurodivergent people, those with trauma, all religions or spiritual traditions, agnostics, atheists and anyone else who has a heart for learning more about yoga therapy. We have a strong Anti-discrimination Policy complete with grievance procedures should a situation arise that needs attention and reparations.
The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT)
Definition of Yoga Therapy “Yoga therapy is the professional application of the principles and practices of yoga to promote health and well-being within a therapeutic relationship that includes personalized assessment, goal setting, lifestyle management, and yoga practices for individuals or small groups.”
Scope of Practice for IAYT Certified Yoga Therapists “While yoga therapists want to do all they can to assist their clients’ return to good health, it is important for all yoga therapists to understand the limit or boundary (scope) of their expertise, as defined by their education, experience, and competency (qualification). The SoP gives clear guidelines to yoga therapists in relation to what they are qualified to do and what they are not qualified to do. Applicants for IAYT Certification (C-IAYT) must affirm that they have read and understand the IAYT Scope of Practice.”
The values we hold close to our heart at the Optimal State Yoga Therapy Program are:
- Welcome and include people of all ages, gender orientations, ethnicities, races, religious or secular belief structures and socioeconomic statuses
- Training excellent yoga therapists that will be able to attract and retain clients because they get results
- Teaching our yoga therapists how to create and market a profitable business
- Maintain long-term relationships with our students so that we can support them for years to come.
“The Business Development Course, which is a part of the Optimal State Yoga Therapy Training has blown my mind. I’ve been working to build my business and worked briefly with a business coach. But this training has helped me to put all the pieces together. Amy is in your corner and will mentor you through the process of building your business. We also have the support of the group and other students going through the same challenges. You won’t regret the decision to sign up for this course!” Jennifer D. from Virginia
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I have been studying with Amy Wheeler for the past 10 years and, with her eloquent guidance and deep knowledge of the T Krishnamacharya lineage, I was able to dive deeper into the well of wisdom these teachings provide. Step-by-step I could see all the pieces coming together to create a cohesive foundation to all the teachings her program has to offer including both the mental and physical health models. It has helped me get to know myself on a deeper level making me a better teacher and yoga therapist. This course is a must for anyone seeking to go to the next level of yoga and yoga therapy knowledge. And, one of the best parts for me; the course can be taken from the comfort of your home!
-Katlen E., Thousand Oaks, CA