YOGA THERAPY vS YOGA CLASSES

  1. In yoga classes, yoga teachers create a generic yoga practice for everyone to promote general wellbeing rather than a specific issue. Whereas in a yoga therapy session, the therapist works on a specific physical or emotional problem that an individual has, such as trauma, depression, PTSD, chronic pain, diabetes, obesity, breathing issues, skin problems, sleep deprivation, etc.

  2. In a yoga class “one size fits all” but in a yoga therapy session “one size DOESN’T fit all”. If you would like to join a yoga class, you can just book and join the class (walk in). On the other hand, before any yoga therapy session, a yoga therapist will use an intake form, personal assessments, dosha/element test, goal setting, and design a unique personalised practice based on this information.

  3. People go to a yoga classes to practice yoga as a form of exercise and general wellbeing where as they go to a yoga therapy to heal a specific health issue.

  4. To join a yoga class, you need to be fairly good in physical health. Yoga therapy on the other hand you are having the therapy because you are not in good physical or emotional health.

    It is very easy to get confused by the term yoga teacher and yoga therapist. But a yoga teacher and a yoga therapist are two different professions. Even though these two people use yoga as a main tool, the way they practice and the way they apply yoga is totally different.

  5. A yoga teacher study will be around a total of 200 hrs and a yoga therapist study 1000 hrs, plus complete an academic research on a chosen subject and practice many additional hours of clinical study.

  6. Yoga teachers usually teach in a group setting, gym classes or yoga studios, whereas yoga therapy is traditionally practiced on a one to one setting, or very small group of people with the same health problems.



Whether in a group class or on a one to one therapy session yoga helps us to get into the body and work on the unresolved inherited and childhood trauma stored and gently release it in a beautiful somatic way. Yoga heal us as a whole person by bringing balance into our mind, body and emotions.

So, we need both yoga teachers and yoga therapists to bring more health and consciousness and more importantly balance into our world.