Our IAYT Accredited Therapist Training

Foundations of Yoga Therapy: Part I of The EYT Accredited Yoga Therapy Training and 300 hr. Advanced Teacher Training

Foundations of Yoga Therapy Online Launch begins Fall of 2025! Scroll down to watch an interactive video with Robin, past Foundations mentors and graduates discussing the program to learn more. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to study with Robin and the EYT team!

We believe strongly in the importance of creating a sangha, a sense of community, when embarking on an intensive training such as this. For this reason Robin combines the convenience of online learning with in-person residencies. This has proved to be the perfect mixture to develop a strong communal spirit and while also making the program more economically viable. To have a sense of the program schedule, click here to download a sample syllabus.

 During Foundations we’ll meet for two 5-7day in-person residencies on beautiful Whidbey Island. This will be a time to build connection through daily practice, integration of the teachings, and play. We’ll also take a deep-dive into the world of Vedic Chanting and the power of group resonance, sound and the beauty of the Sanskrit, the language of yoga. Our chef for the residencies will be Aria Peterman, an EYT Faculty member who is a highly competent Ayurvedic chef. She will teach us the true healing power of food as medicine with every meal she prepares for us.

The first residency will happen early in the training Fall 2025, and the second will mark the culmination of Foundations in Fall 2026. There will be a brief respite in class before we resume our learning process with Applications of Yoga Therapy (Part 2 of the EYT Therapist Training).

Watch the Foundations of Yoga Therapy Q&A from January 23rd, 2022!

 
 

Online lectures, practice classes, and sutra discussions will be recorded to accommodate those who might need to miss class occasionally due to health concerns or family/work obligations. Homework sequences and reading will be assigned with requisite due-dates. All homework assignments need to be completed in order for students to graduate from Foundations. A reading list of required and recommended texts will accompany your letter of acceptance. Texts are not included in tuition. Mentors stay in close contact with students throughout the program monitoring their progress and offering emotional support as needed. Students will be expected to meet virtually with their mentors for an hour approximately every 4-6 weeks.

The EYT Therapist Training utilizes Canvas Instructure, an online school platform along with Google Drive. Canvas is the primary means for students to upload assignments, interact with their mentors (outside of monthly phone or Zoom check-ins), and track their work. In the orientation, which will precede the start of the program in Spring, Robin will provide an online tutorial to initiate students into the world of Canvas.


Foundations of Yoga Therapy covers the following topics in-depth over the course of 18 months:

  • Historical overview of yoga therapy to contemporary application

  • Deep study of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, chapters 1 & 2

  • The pancamaya model in a therapeutic context

  • The pancavayu model in a therapeutic context

  • The chakra system in a therapeutic context

  • Functional breathing and pranayama in a therapeutic context

  • Vedic chanting

  • The use of mantra and mudra in a therapeutic context

  • Anatomy Trains and the exploration of asana through the fascial lines

  • Structural anatomy of the spine in relationship to asana

  • The Science of Sequencing

  • Energetics of practice

  • Adaptive asana in a therapeutic context

  • Observation and body reading

  • Introduction to Ayurveda

  • Adapting group practice for specific considerations

  • Meditation techniques and cultivation of ritual in a therapeutic context.

Tuition for Foundations of Yoga Therapy: $5,950


Our Team

Robin Rothenberg will be your primary teacher for Foundations with support from mentors who have previously graduated from the EYT Foundations program. Portions of the Anatomy and Physiology will be taught by Dr. Jill Massengill, D.C. Mentors for the Foundations program are Llewellyne Arden, Margo Peña and Gayle Miyake.

To learn more about the EYT faculty, click here.

 

Robin Rothenberg, C-IAYT

Dr. Jill Massengill, D.C.

Dr. Jill Massengill, D.C.

Aria Peterman

Aria Peterman

Taran Collis, C--IAYT, AWC

Taran Collis, C--IAYT, AWC

 
 
Gayle Miyake, RYT500

Gayle Miyake, RYT500

Llewellyne Arden, RYT500

Llewellyne Arden, RYT500

Margo Pena,  E-RYT500, YACEP

Margo Pena, E-RYT500, YACEP

 

Foundations provides the initial 300 hrs. of competencies that apply directly to the full EYT Accredited Therapist Training. All graduates of Foundations will receive a Yoga Alliance RYT300 which in conjunction with their RYT200 and 100 hrs. of teaching experience will qualify them to apply for their RYT500.

Note: Participation in Foundations does not guarantee placement in Part II: Applications of Yoga Therapy, the second half of the EYT Therapist Training. This will be based on objective assessment of teaching skills, capacity to interweave and work on a multi-dimensional (kosha) level, and dedication to personal practice and transformation.

The yoga therapy component of Essential Yoga Therapy's courses, classes, instructions, and materials is derived from accreditation by the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and is not derived from any status granted by the Yoga Alliance Registry.