Discontinue IAYT-Q Pathway

End the IAYT-Q pathway. This petition clearly describes the challenges and problems with this program and undermines the work of trained yoga therapy professionals.

As an IAYT designated Yoga Therapist, I would not, and should not, be allowed a quicker pathway toward my MD. The idea that a specific medical training allows for a shorter and less studied equivalent to the Yoga Therapist designation from IAYT seems problematic. I would like to hear the arguement that supports the 300 hour IAYT-Q validity.

This petition will move IAYT away from it's core principles to train its members to practice yoga therapy from the anatomies and physiologies out of which the tools of yoga are based. The result will be a misapplication of the tools of yoga, poor results for the students/clients, and a diminution of standing.

I wholeheartedly agree

The IAYT-Q designation is a disaster but so is the existing IAYT profession. We need health benefits coverage for yoga therapy and we also need higher standards of professionalism within the yoga therapy profession (similar to that of the medical profession). If yoga therapists can not talk the talk and walk the walk of professionalism, they will always be seen as a joke in the medical world.

This is an important topic

“All you see is the outside, all the good stuff happens on the inside.”

Please keep the process as it is. Thank you.

This path discredits the professionalism and legitimacy of the field and also, in my opinion, borders along unethical.

Please consider the 1000 plus hours we yoga therapists have studied and do not dilute our efforts with easy access to the certification of yoga therapist

its important to maintain the theroghness and high degree of training for the Yoga Therapist certification.

PLEASE do not discredit yoga therapy in this way!! I will discontinue our school affiliation if you do this.

As a current IAYT member I strongly agree with this petition. Please maintain the integrity of our important work. Sharon Gordon, RYT, C-IAYT and Yoga Studio Owner

The questions is simple: Is Yoga education more important or is Allopathic Medical education more important? For an organization that purports to be a Yoga Association the answer should be obvious!

As a relatively new member, yet 10+ years as a yoga therapist, this decision disappoints me and has made me question my participation in the organization. Please reconsider this intermediary qualification. It will hurt the industry and the people who work so hard to serve.

IAYT is supposed to be a member-focused organization. The membership largely opposes the Q designation because it essentially provides a shortcut for healthcare professionals to incorporate yoga into their scope of practice. It requires far more than 300 hours of study to understand how to assess a person through the yogic lens and provide appropriate yogic practices in a clinical setting. The Q designation would not prepare a healthcare practitioner to offer yoga therapy professionally and may in fact result in harm to the patient. The Q designation completely undercuts the years of study and integration of yoga that C-IAYTs have worked hard to achieve.

The full application of Yogas subtle tools cannot be reasonably attained in a 300 hr. Certification.

The shortcut pathway for medical professionals is something I absolutely cannot stand ! This is an insult to the amount of effort it took to be a clinical yoga therapist all the time, energy, effort, money, and blood, sweat and heartfelt tears to then find out a medical professional can jump the line/have a waiver to get less hours because they are a medical professional??? How do we maintain the integrity of the depth of wisdom that the ancient traditions provide 300 hours is similar to a dime a dozen yoga teacher (only 100 hours more)… How much authentic/traditional yoga does a medical professional learn in med school??? Would I be allowed to jump the line if I wanted to practice in the medical field?? None of it makes sense. It seems I AYT yoga therapy isn’t even understood by many medical professionals. It’s a great idea to teach them and maybe maintain the integrity of art yoga therapy is all about. Is this a ploy to make money rather than maintain high standards in the profession of yoga Therapy???

I am a current IAYT member and support this petition. Please maintain the integrity of true yoga therapy.

The intention of this pathway is suspect, It neither serves the profession nor the patient/client. Considering its absolute unpopularity with the IAYT membership, its motivation must be questioned especially in view of no acceptable justification. Respectfully, the leadership must consider its true motivation for undermining the very heart of this noble profession. There is no way to see the IAYT-Q pathway as anything else.