Thai Yoga Therapy Certification

William Hufschmidt - Thai Yoga Therapy

For many centuries, Thai people have practiced Nuad Boran ("Thai massage") as an integral component of their medical and spiritual protocols. Modern Thai therapy draws from the influences of yoga and Ayurvedic medicine, Buddhist philosophical teachings, and the indigenous cultural experience of the Thai people.

Thai therapy recognizes that energy flow through the body can become blocked or diminished as a result of daily life, injuries, and disease. When energy flow is blocked, we lose vitality and health. Thai therapeutic practices use physical techniques to stimulate and clear the energy pathways by manipulating the body's muscles and joints, thus inviting the body’s inherent healing mechanisms to function properly. Because the practitioner creates a flow of movement that guides the client’s body from one position to another, this work has been called both the “Thai healing dance,” as well as "Lazy Man’s Yoga.”

I know you said you like critical feedback, I have to disappoint you. The experience was awesome and really created a "shift" in me personally. As we continued thru the days of the course, I was more and more able to let go and fully recieve. It was great. You have such a clear and engaging teaching style, I look forward to the next series. ~Steve

Pranakriya Yoga focuses on cultivating and enhancing our relationship with prana (life-force energy) to create changes (kriya) in awareness, body, and understanding which move us toward an experience of wholeness. As a social experience, Pranakriya Yoga aims to cultivate a community of yoga practitioners who can access moments of connection and unity that celebrate our unique expressions of the one consciousness of Spirit.

As yoga teachers, we are asked to fill diverse roles for our students and clients, from movement instructor to exercise physiologist, from healer to life coach, from transformational anchor to spiritual facilitator. During their 200- and 500-hour trainings, most teachers gain some skill with hands-on work (in other words, posture assisting), as well as holding nurturing space for their clients during group classes and private-client sessions. Yet, it is our experience that most yoga teachers would like to have more training using their hands and cultivating their interpersonal skills.

The Pranakriya Thai Yoga Therapy certification program combines the modalities of Thai bodywork with yoga science to give yoga teachers and yoga practitioners the skills, confidence and experience necessary to explore healthy and nurturing touch as an extension of physical and spiritual practice. This work proves time and again to be a powerful tool for deepening individual and shared experiences of living a life fully alive.

This certification program teaches the following skills:

Training Calendar

Who can take these programs?

The first course in this program (The Yoga of Touch) is open to any able-bodied person interested in this work.

The certification program's other courses are focused towards yoga teachers specifically, however anyone with a sincere interest, including yoga practitioners and other health/wellness practitioners who want to learn this form of healing and energetic touch, can take all courses in the program. Full participation in all courses will be expected, including physical assessments in the Anatomy course and practice-teach exercises in the Pranakriya Teaching Meditation for Pranakriya Yoga Teachers course.

Training Calendar

Thai Yoga Therapy Certification Requirements

The total Thai Yoga Therapy curriculum training time is more than 400 hours and includes:

Courses

The following programs make up the Thai Yoga Therapy certification program and may be taken in any order unless specific prerequisites are given in program descriptions. Each course is 35+ hours, for a total of 315 hours.

  1. The Yoga of Touch – The Basic form
  2. Thai Yoga Therapy – 1a – Working the Sen Lines
  3. Thai Yoga Therapy – 1b – Feet, Legs, Hips, Back, Belly
  4. Thai Yoga Therapy – 1c – Shoulders, Neck, Face, Chest, Arms, Hands
  5. Thai Yoga Therapy – 2 – Putting it all Together
  6. Medical Issues: Integrating Medical Knowledge and Intuitive Healing*
  7. Functional Anatomy and Therapeutic Yoga**
  8. Teaching Meditation for Pranakriya Yoga Teachers**
  9. Understanding the Bhagavad Gita**

* Required Courses from the Pranakriya Thai Yoga Therapy Training curriculum.
** Required Courses from the Pranakriya 500-Hour Yoga Teacher Training curriculum.

At-Home Study

These requirements total 50-65+ hours of training time.

Assisting in a Program

This requirement totals approximately 40 hours.

After completion of coursework and home-study materials, you will be invited to assist one of the five Thai Therapy modules. During the weekend, you will be expected to trade (give and receive) a 2-hour Thai session with a program director for evaluation. You will not be required to pay for tuition when assisting, however, you will be required to cover your travel and lodging during the program.

Training Calendar

Thai Yoga Therapy Course Descriptions

The Yoga of Touch – The Basic Form

Prerequisite: None

This foundational course teaches the basic principles of Thai bodywork, including practitioner and recipient alignment, proper use of hands and fingers, and how to cultivate rapport with your client. Using your hands, arms, and feet, you'll learn a sequence of techniques to guide the recipient’s entire body through a 60-minute sequence of basic muscle massage and joint movement, moving the client’s body in and out of basic therapeutic yoga postures.

Lecture topics for the course include:

Instructor: William Hufschmidt, E-RYT 500

Training Calendar

Thai Yoga Therapy 1 – Exploring Three Components of a 120-Minute Thai Yoga Therapy Session

Prerequisite: The Yoga of Touch-The Basic Form; Functional Anatomy and Therapeutic Yoga

1a – Working the Sen Lines
1b – Feet, Legs, Hips, and Back
1c – Shoulders, Neck, Face, Chest, Arms, Hands

These courses build on the simple Thai form presented in The Yoga of Touch course by adding additional techniques, focusing on specific areas of the body, as well as introducing the philosophy and techniques for working the body’s energy pathways, called the Sen Lines. At the completion of all three courses, the practitioner will have learned the fundamental techniques to offer a 120-minute Thai Yoga Therapy session to most able-bodied people.

Lecture topics for these courses include:

Instructor: William Hufschmidt, E-RYT 500

Training Calendar

Thai Yoga Therapy 2 – Putting it All Together

Prerequisite: Thai Yoga Therapy 1a, 1b, 1c and Medical Issues: Integrating Medical Knowledge and Intuitive Healing

This course completes the Thai portion of the Pranakriya Thai Yoga Therapy certification program. In addition to putting all of the techniques together into a flowing, healing dance, we will learn to work the body in Side Position, as well as working on the Belly. We will also explore ways to adapt the form to each client’s specific needs, presentation and requests.

Lecture topics for the weekend include:

Instructor: William Hufschmidt, E-RYT 500

Note: To complete the entire certification, you must also complete Teaching Meditation for Pranakriya Yoga Teachers and Understanding the Bhagavad Gita from the Pranakriya 500-hour Professional Level Teacher Training program, as well as the Home-study requirements described above.

Training Calendar