Is Alignment Yoga suitable as Yoga Therapy

Therapeutic approaches from the beginning

Those who take a yoga teacher training course in Alignment Yoga learn therapeutic elements right from the start. This is a natural part of our training and is, so to speak, in the nature of this style of yoga. Those who enter the yoga class with a physical history and cannot do a yoga exercise are automatically offered an effective alternative or a form of the classical posture modified by yoga props. We were taught this by our teachers and the more experienced you become, the more possible variations you see for people with personal weaknesses. This becomes second nature to you and is characteristic of the style of Alignment Yoga - and this is exactly how our participants learn it in our yoga trainings. In this style there is also room for detailed guidance and instructions, because you stay longer in the individual postures - which is not possible in classical yoga flow classes, because you change from posture to posture much more quickly.

The tools for therapeutic use

In the first 200h block of our three Alignment Yoga trainings in Zurich, we break down the yoga postures into the individual parts, at the same time the future yoga teachers acquire a first or more knowledge of anatomy and learn how to use yoga aids correctly and purposefully. These are all elements that are important tools for the therapeutic use of yoga.

Only those who have understood something can pass it on

It goes without saying that the whole depth of this subject cannot be taught in a 200h training - that would simply be a lie. But these elements belong to Alignment Yoga and so the participants learn right from the start how to adapt the individual yoga exercises or for whom they are appropriate and for whom not. The 200h yoga training is primarily about building understanding, because only what we have really understood can we pass on competently and authentically. This part is also very suitable as further training if someone has learned another style of yoga and would like to know more about alignment.

The knowledge about benefits and contraindications is central.

Those who wish can later build on this training with the 300h Alignment Yoga Teacher Training with us. In this part, we deepen and complement the knowledge from the 200h training and we focus even more on the benefits and contraindications of the individual yoga exercises and thus also on possible alternatives or modifications of the yoga exercises with suitable yoga aids. In this training/continuing education, anatomy also takes on an even more prominent role. All this is knowledge that is central for yoga therapists.  

The Alignmetn Yoga Toolbox is a valuable treasure for future yoga therapists.

In the last block of our Alignment Yoga journey, the 250h training, participants gain expertise. The knowledge from the previous trainings is internalised and practised in a much deeper way. Those who take this journey with us to the end will have a toolbox full of practical tips and knowledge about yoga, and will be able to offer competent solutions and ideas as a yoga teacher if a participant approaches them with a problem during a class - because the Alignment Yoga Teacher Toolbox is well filled with therapeutic approaches. Because that's what yoga is all about, isn't it? We want to help people improve something in their lives. Whether it's stress and they just want to "come down" or whether it's their back that's bothering them or whether they're looking for more meaning in their life. Alignment Yoga offers the perfect HOW to solve these problems. 

Hereyou can find more information about our Alignment Yoga teacher trainings.

(Text: Tanja Lenger Mascarenhas, Expert in Alignment based Hatha Yoga)