Self-Paced 100-Hour Online Yoga and Ayurveda Counseling Course

Pre-application requirements

For admission in the course, it is suggested or desired that the candidate should be graduate in any stream from a recognized university or equivalent. For example, level one Ministry of AYUSH, 200 hours yoga teacher training course, or one-year experience in yoga.

Certifications

Certificate of completion is given by Swasti Yoga, an ISO-certified yoga center.

How the course works

There will be 16 live sessions throughout the course. The live sessions are held over Zoom. It resources to help you complete the training in two months and enable you to teach with confidence. There will also be a Questions and answers session with the instructor Dr. Vikas Chothe. All live sessions will be recorded daily and will be shared with you the next day.

If you cannot attend all online classes, you can complete the course in your free time through recorded videos, and all teachers will be connected with you throughout this course and guide you in this beautiful journey of yoga. The self-paced training is ongoing every two months. You can start at any time and work at your own pace in your free time and complete the course in two to six months. Please note that special batches with student-friendly time can be started for a group of five students.

Timing of sessions (GMT+5:30)

Live sessions will be held on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Course information

Introduction to psychology and human behavior in yoga

• Understanding the human mind, thoughts, and personality according to yoga
• Mental health and hygiene in yoga
• Factors affecting mental health in yoga

Fundamentals of yogic counseling

• Definition and concept of counseling
• Role of yogic counselor
• New understanding of client ‘problems’, ‘causes’, and ‘process of change’
• Benefits to the counselor
• Being aware of potential pitfalls
• Counseling myths
• How to find a good counselor?
• Active listening and communication skills: non-verbal and verbal
• Qualities, skills, and knowledge for listening
• Yogic barriers to listening
• Observation skills through case study examples and role play
• Establishing a helping relationship with chittaprasadana
• Yogic obstacles - antarayas in counseling
• Being prepared for common personal problems
• Evaluating Zanskar - using the BEST-I BEST-R model
• Various theories of counseling and psychotherapy (psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and family counseling approaches)
• Novel Ayurvedic Sattvavajaya Chikitsa approach
• Yama Niyamas in counseling (ethical principles)
• Types of counseling: Samvad and Manthan - a yogic approach

Key counseling skills

• Principles and techniques - tools of counseling
• Bhakti, Dynan, and Karma: phases of counseling
• Stage one: beginning the discussion
• Stage two: deepening understanding
• Stage three: working with action and endings
• Structuring
• Clarification
• Paraphrasing
• Reflection of feeling
• Summarization
• Probing
• Confrontation
• Information-giving
• Self-disclosure
• Immediacy
• Identifying goals - yogic purusharthas

Counseling in psycho-social disorders I

Disturbed emotions - Stress and anxiety

• Stress and its effects on body and mind
• Difference between stress and anxiety
• Interventions with individual and family

Mood disorders

• Symptoms, types, causes
• Impact on individual and family
• Social work intervention with patient and family

Post-trauma symptoms

• Panic attack versus heart attack

Difficulties related to life stages

• Change types
• Strategies for managing change

Drug and alcohol addiction

• Symptoms, types of drinkers, effects on the body and mind
• Myths and misconceptions about drinking
• Stages of addiction
• Treatment for addiction and social work intervention
• Use of behavioral modification techniques and family therapy

Suicide and deliberate self-harm (DSH)

• Attempted vs committed suicide
• Do’s and dont’s while dealing with a suicide victim
• Assessment of suicidal risk
• Prevention strategies
• Workaholism
• Employee assistance program (EAP) and workplace counseling

Psycho-social disorders II

Child health

• Classification of child mental health disorders
• Understanding autism, mental retardation, epilepsy, down’s syndrome, child sexual abuse
• How to identify child, child protection
• Coping skills for children
• Parenting - different styles and their impact on children
• School counselor
• Teen counseling

Relationship problems and sexual issues

• Premarital counseling
• Couple counseling
• Spendaholism

Women and violence

• Verbal abuse
• Communal violence on women, management, and counseling

Grief

• 10 steps in breaking bad news
• Phases of grief
• Kubler Ross’s model of stages of grief
• Roberts seven-stage model of crisis intervention
• Use of teamwork approach in terminal illness
• Working with crisis and risk
• Counseling in crisis

Practical

Analytical ability

Analyze the profile of the client system and the causes and the effects of the problem.

Problem-solving skills

• To reflect skills of active listening, observing, questioning, case recording
• Developing rapport with the client system
• Establishing a working relationship with the client

Professional development

• Discipline
• Punctuality
• Professional distance from the client

Tasks

i. Observation of cases or doing casework

ii. Understanding client’s profile, problem, situation

iii. Diagnosis formulation and planning of sessions

iv. Conducting therapy sessions

v. Recording of intake sheet and session recordings

vi. Discussion with course coordinator regarding session input and recordings

vii. Further therapy session with the client

The job requires an individual to have good communication skills, time management skills, and the ability to understand the body language of the trainees. The job requires an individual to possess key qualities such as self-discipline, confidence, maturity, patience, compassion, active listening, time management, empathy, language proficiency, engaging with students, dedication to teaching, ability to build caring relationships with students, friendliness and approachability, independence, credibility, analytical skills, etc.

Course level

Please note this is a Master’s or graduate-level course. An estimated 10 hours of study time per week though the exact amount of time will depend on your background and proficiency with yoga.

Suggested readings

Swasti Yoga Center recommends going through the online reading material provided to you during the course. Enjoy and wishing you all a wonderful learning journey.

This yoga and Ayurveda counseling course is held online. Swasti Yoga Center is based in Pune, India (GMT+5:30) and they will live-stream the classes via Zoom which you can participate in from the comfort of your home by just using your phone or computer.

+−

• 16 live interactive sessions via Zoom
• Step-by-step tutorials
• Certification from Swasti Yoga associated with Indian Yoga Association (IYA)
• Bonus courses and e-books
• Q&A session with Dr. Vikas Chothe
• Downloadable course material, videos, and mp3
• All online material shared on Vimeo or We Transfer
• Recorded sessions
• Pre and post-course support from the team
• Ayurvedic consultation by MD doctors based on your Ayurvedic body type (prakruti)

• Accommodation
• Food

• A reservation requires a deposit of 100% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.