IAYT Scope of Practice for Yoga Therapy: 
the Result of Extensive Collaboration and Review

by Leigh Blashki¹

The work of developing the IAYT Scope of Practice (Scope) commenced in the Summer of 2015, led by a small task-force drawn from the Accreditation and Certification Committees. In the Fall of 2015, the first draft was reviewed by the Certification Committee, who made a number of useful edits and then forwarded the new draft to the Accreditation Committee for their further review and input. Following a number of further iterations and small edits, the Certification Committee uploaded the final draft and invited members to review and provide their feedback via a survey.

We were pleased that nearly 400 members reviewed the Scope and provided their feedback, which as can be seen from response summaries below, showed a high level of support.

To the question: How important do you believe a Scope is for our profession?
96% of respondents believed a Scope is extremely important or important.

A. Extremely important (266 out of 394) B. Important (113 out of 394) C. Somewhat important (11 out of 394) D. Not important (4 out of 394)

To the question: How supportive are you of this Scope document?
90% of respondents were extremely supportive or supportive of this Scope document

Over 100 IAYT members who responded to the survey provided a range of useful comments, many of which the Certification Committee incorporated into the final edit. These included: clarifications relating to nutrition (as a part of Mitahara) and adjusting; better recognition of psychological conditions; and greater inclusivity in the example list of practices that may form part of yoga therapy.

We are grateful for the input from so many people who have helped bring about this important milestone that will help the wider community have confidence in IAYT certified yoga therapists (C-IAYT) to make a professional contribution to health, healing and integrative healthcare environments.

¹Leigh Blashki, from Australia, currently serves on the IAYT Certification Committee.  Previously he served on the Standards Committee and then the Accreditation Committee. 

                 Updated 9/1/2016