Yoga Credentialing
"The movement toward national teaching standards in yoga (“Wag the Down Dog”, May/June 00, p. 80) is part of a larger spiral toward greater standardization, uniformity, and professional coherence in complementary and alternative medical (“CAM”) modalities generally," Michael wrote in Yoga Journal letters to the editor (July 2000).
"The CAM therapies with the most widely accepted credentialing standards are chiropractic, naturopathy, acupuncture/traditional oriental medicine, and massage therapy. Each evolved from discovery and evolution by charismatic teachers, sages, and extraordinary individuals who were committed to self-observation, passionate about health and human healing, and receptive to personal revelation, into modern modalities for professional delivery of health care--replete with professional accrediting bodies, educational and research institutions, and independent professional regulatory boards.
"As 'Wag the Down Dog' suggests, the increased emphasis on credentialing and practice standards in yoga (as in the other CAM professions) is a double-edged sword. The concern for diminishing the heart and soul of a healing modality or practice is valid. On the other hand, establishing minimum educational and clinical/practical requirements can help ensure commonly agreed levels of basic competence, increase professional status, and furnish a recognized basis for entree into the organized health care system, including insurance reimbursement, participation in hospital programs, and other professional opportunities for yoga instructors. Moreover, if the profession fails to self-regulate, doubtless insurance will set standards for the profession-indeed, it already has. Legislatures and courts, goaded by imagined or real, worst-case scenarios, will, in the absence of professional self-regulation, create legal rules which may be less friendly to the ultimate purposes of yoga.
"One aspect of the credentialing debate that remains to be explored is harmonizing yoga with conventional medicine. The medical licensing laws in each state prohibit individuals other than licensed medical doctors from diagnosing, treating, or prescribing for disease. Yet, many yoga postures may be helpful in this regard, and there is a fine line between the broad concept of addressing disease and the more holistic notion of treating imbalance. Yoga definitely has physical (and medical) as well as emotional and spiritual components. There is a critical need to address the legal and ethical implications of yoga as a therapeutic modality-and, at the same time, for legal and regulatory structures to evolve, as late-nineteenth century dichotomies between biomedicine and its economic and philosophical competitors begin to break down.
"The debate over credentialing, practice standards, scope of practice, malpractice liability, insurance reimbursement, and other legal and ethical issues, is not only barely begun, but also a prelude to deeper discussion about the integration of yoga and other 'CAM modalities' with conventional clinical care...in which the blending of modern and ancient technologies creates the possibility for new awareness of the relationships between mind, body, environment, Earth, Spirit, and health."
Written By:Jackie MD On September 29, 2004 10:07 AM
Michael, I read with interest your 2000 article for Yoga Journal regarding therapeutic yoga practitioner credentialing and certification. I'm going to ask you a question, and if it falls in the realm of consulting, please let me know and you can invoice us. We have a wonderful Ashtanga yoga instructor in our integrative medicine clinic - but she is a purist, taught by people who trained in India - and she has not done a 'conventional' yoga teaching certification. In fact, she downright refuses to do it. I work with her one-on-one and she is absolutely a brilliant intuitive yoga therapist. My body and my ability have changed markedly in just one year with her. I want to develop a medical yoga therapy program with her. Is there anything in terms of yoga therapist training and credentialing that might appeal? I would like to have her in our organization, but it's difficult because she doesn't have a piece of paper to hang on the wall. Any thoughts appreciated.
Michael: There are lots of yogis sympathetic to her position. (Yoga Journal wrote about the counterarguments to the requirement for yoga credentialing in the “Wag the Down Dog” article to which I'd replied.) Still, the 200-hour yoga teaching certificate for a "Registered Yoga Teacher" (RYT) is now widely recognized as a standard credential in the field of yoga teaching. Obtaining this certification would have several benefits: it would give both her and your program enhanced credibility and some minimally acceptable level of credentialing and quality assurance; and, having your practitioner appropriately credentialed potentially could protect your clinic against any later claim of negligent credentialing, should a yoga injury unexpectedly occur.
Yoga Alliance (www.yogaalliance.org) registers yoga teachers who demonstrate qualifications that meet minimum teaching standards established by the organization’s founding members. Yoga Alliance also registers yoga schools whose teacher training programs address those standards, ensuring that graduates are well-qualified to teach the practicing public. YA offers two options for becoming a registered yoga teacher (RYT): (1) graduating from a registered school with the 200-hour certificate, or (2) documenting equivalent training through a school not on the YA Registry list, or through independent study and/or teaching. The latter may be a more palatable for someone experienced and independent-minded like the person you're describing. YA also works with at least three insurance companies to offer liability insurance coverage to regsitered yoga teachers; obtaining such insurance would help protect your practitioner and also the clinic from being a "deep pocket" should any injuries and claims unexpectedly arise.