C-IAYT Yoga Therapy Training
Join our All Online IAYT Accredited Yoga Therapist Program Beginning September 2026.
Join our all online Foundational to Advanced Level trainings.
More information and application below!
As a Spanda® Yoga Movement Therapist you’ll be able to elegantly design and sensitively implement therapeutic strategies that meet the challenges of being human. Focus on integrating knowledge, principles and somatic experiences that develop your expertise in how to best facilitate progress through creatively tailoring support for each unique client’s needs.
Tuition & Program Schedule
Tuition:
Foundational Level Tuition
- Regular tuition is $4550, early bird if registered by October 1 2025, is $3750.
- Deposit amount for all tuition offerings is $1750 for each level.
Advanced Level Tuition
- Early registration offer: $8750 if registered by November 15, 2027.
- Regular registration: $9750 until full.
- Deposit amount for all tuition offerings is $1750 for each level.
Total regular tuition for the entire program is $14,300. Total early tuition for the whole program is $12500.
Reasonable payment plans are available. Email symt@spandayoga.com. A limited number of work-study for partial tuition credit opportunities may be available for students accepted into the program.
Program Dates & Times:
Foundational Level
Monthly weekends: Saturday and Sundays 8:30 am-6 pm. (all eastern US time via Zoom.) Provisions are in place to accommodate select non-eastern US time zones.
2026 - Sept. 5 & 6, Oct. 3 & 4, Nov. 7 & 8, Dec. 5 & 6.
2027 - Jan. 9 & 10, Feb. 5 & 6, March 6 & 7, Apr. 3 & 4, May 1 & 2, June 5 & 6, July 10 & 11, Aug. 14 & 15, Sept. 11 & 12, Oct. 2 & 3, Nov. 6 & 7.
There is asynchronous distance learning, practicum and homework between all sessions.
Advanced Level
Monthly weekends. Times: Sat & Sun 9-12:30, 1:30-6. (all eastern US time via Zoom. Provisions are in place to accommodate select non-eastern US time zones).
2028 - Jan. 8 & 9, Feb. 5 & 6, March 4 & 5, Apr. 1 & 2, May 6 & 7, June 3 & 4, July 8 & 9, Aug. 12 & 13, Sept. 9 & 10, Oct. 6 & 7, Nov. 4 & 5, Dec. 2 & 3.
2029 - Jan. 6 & 7, Feb. 3 & 4.
There is asynchronous distance learning, practicum and homework between all sessions.
SYMT's program in total is 800 hours in length and runs over 2 years’ time, which is the minimum time requirement; usually it is @29 month's long depending upon holiday scheduling.
Questions? Please email us for more information at: symt@spandayoga.com.
Program Admissions Requirements
A prospective student must:
1. be at least 18 years of age
2. have a high school diploma or have completed a high school equivalency certificate
3. have at least two years of yoga teaching and yoga practice experience
4. have completed any 200-hour Yoga Alliance registered program or present evidence of equivalent background. This would include an integration of yoga techniques, western & eastern anatomy & physiology, foundational yoga philosophy, teaching methods and practice teaching.
The C-IAYT Credential
Completion of all course content earns enrollees certification as a professional Spanda® Yoga Movement Therapist from our International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) Accredited School, making graduates eligible for application to the C-IAYT certified yoga therapist credential. Our program has been accredited since 2015.
Why You’ll Be Glad You Trained With Us
We offer a distinctive integration of:
- Expert faculty with decades of clinical know-how
- The roots of an authentic yoga lineage, the branches of western scientific process, and the flowering of wholistic practice
- Integrated spiraled curriculum lovingly designed by a doctor of education
- Spanda® Functional Movement RehabilitationTM, a systematic method for addressing physical concerns
- Spanda® Self-Reflective Inquiry that includes somatic svadhaya through both Spanda® Myofascial ActivationTM and Spanda® Somatic AccessingTM
- Your best interest at heart!
Transformative Yoga Movement Training
At Spanda® Yoga Movement Therapy, we are dedicated to nurturing your growth as a transformative yoga therapist. Our training equips you to craft and implement tailored therapeutic strategies that address the complexities of the human experience. By integrating profound knowledge and somatic practices, we empower you to facilitate meaningful progress for each unique client. Upon completing the yoga therapy training course, you will earn certification as a professional Spanda® Yoga Movement Therapist from our IAYT Accredited School, paving the way to the C-IAYT credential, the gold standard in yoga training worldwide.
A Vision for Whole-Person Wellness
Our goal is to equip practitioners with unparalleled integrity, knowledge, and the sensitivity needed to apply their multilevel skills effectively. Our approach to yoga therapy, rooted in the Himalayan Tradition of Samaya Sri Vidya and Traditional Kundalini Vidya, was developed by Dr. Jaime Stover Schmitt. Through yoga therapy, we strive to offer preventive, palliative, restorative, and at times curative care, ensuring our graduates are equipped to meet diverse client needs with compassion and expertise. Join us on this enriching journey toward whole-person wellness!
What our customers are saying
"life-changing"
"Dr. Schmitt is a pinnacle teacher. She humbly brings decades of deep committed practice to the classroom. The faculty has a wealth of knowledge and long experience. A combination of deep-dive study, experiential work, co-partnering projects and group activities, is well-paced, well thought-out and beautifully executed. It first addresses the person with well-assembled holistic tools, then teaches how to apply them to others. This program is life-changing; I’m still integrating it and benefiting."
- Doreen Corwith Eckert, C-IAYT
"a game changer"
"As an Occupational Therapist and yoga teacher, I spent years contemplating the best way to further my yoga teacher skills to include the therapeutic side of yoga, to provide depth to my practice, both personally and professionally. I am beyond grateful that I found Spanda Yoga Movement Therapy, or as I like to say, did it find me? I have felt supported every step of the way, not only from the experienced and devoted faculty, but from all of my cohorts who were alongside me in a program that values and encourages camaraderie. Having experienced an extremely challenging time of life during this program, I can say with conviction that I would not have been able to continue without the grace and understanding I received. If you want to find a program that will meet you where you are yet provide you with the encouragement to move beyond circumstances we all face, please consider this inspiring program.
-Sally Liner, O.T.R./L., C-IAYT
"learning felt fun"
"I'm so happy I found the Spanda yoga Movement Therapy training. Dr. Jaime creates such a wonderful and safe learning environment- even when exploring challenging concepts, I always felt supported and welcome. The breadth and scope of this training is large, while also going into significant depth. I found the training to be rigorous and challenging, while also making room for play and laughter, so that learning felt fun. I emerged from this training with confidence as a yoga therapist and greater understanding of myself."
-Mikayla Morley B.F.A., C-IAYT
Start The Application Process Here To See If You Qualify. There Is No Application Fee
- Submit the application
- Send an email to symt@spandayoga.com with:
- a. a copy of your RYT 200 and RYT 300 certificates or RTY500 certificate
- b. your availability for a phone conversation with Dr. Schmitt the program director and creator of this course. This is a great time to have all your questions answered!
Please email: symt@spandayoga.com with any questions or fill out the contact form below!
About Spanda® Yoga Movement Therapy
The mission of Spanda® Yoga Movement Therapy (SYMT) is to propagate its natural, holistic approach to yogic healing-as-transformation through the formal education of yoga therapists. The main teachings and yogic framework of this work was received by Dr. Jaime Stover Schmitt through training with masters of the Himalayan Tradition of Samaya Sri Vidya and the related specialization of Traditional Kundalini Vidya.
SYMT’s vision is to graduate practitioners with the highest possible level of integrity, knowledge, insight, and sensitive application of skill so they may employ yogic means to provide preventative, restorative, palliative and even at times, curative care to individuals through yoga therapy.
SYMT’s professional yoga therapist training arose out of Dr. Schmitt’s private yoga therapy practice of over 30 years and the training of yoga therapists individually over most of that time. Her Teacher, H.H. Sri Swami Rama gave her resources and guidance as well as direction to other teachers within and outside the Tradition for more specialized study. Dr. Schmitt’s work developed under the individual mentorship of H.H. Sri Swami Rama, H.H. Swami Veda Bharati, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Psy.D, and H.H. Sri Swami Chandrasekharanand Sarasvati. As is customary in this Tradition, Dr. Schmitt was sent to study with others outside the Tradition with the expectation that each perspective to which she was exposed was to be woven back into the matrical fabric of the Samaya Sri Vidya Tradition and therapeutic framework.
About the Transfer Portion of the Spanda® Yoga Movement Therapist Training Program
In this program, Radical Healing: Integrating the World’s Great Therapeutic Traditions to Create a New Transformative Medicine, is the foundational text. Its author, Rudolph Ballentine, a yogi M.D., (now Swami Ravi Rudra) was the president of the Himalayan Institute for several decades, and director of its Combined Therapy Program that brought together eastern and western methods of health and healing long before IAYT came into being.
Similar to taking wholesome raw ingredients, prepping and cooking them in a particular way so an invalid can digest readily, we focus on understanding the essential values of each element of practice. We do this in order to develop a high level of understanding, awareness and ability to modifying (prep and cook) each “raw” practice ingredient, so it can be appropriately useful to individuals with specific needs.
In this the continuing part of the program classwork centers on:
- A yogic view of health, disease and healing, and how people find their own agency in this process
- Orchestrating and tailoring functional and formal adaptations of yoga movements and practices to specific needs
- Designing Immediate and Eventual Therapeutic Programs that are practical, doable and effective
- Movement analysis and functional repatterning for rehabilitative bodily use
- Self-reflective work to address the nexus of deeper patterns of behavior for fundamental positive change
- Polyvagal theory as it relates to trauma, samsara and vasana imprinting and revisioning
- Western allopathic pathophysiology and methods of treatment
- Topics in western psychology for the yoga therapist
- Social and developmental influences on the individual in the context of healing
- Interaction and guidance skills in the therapeutic encounter
- Somatically-oriented body-mind approaches to positive change
- Marketing and other professional issues of the yoga therapist
More About Our Unique and Student-Centric Program
Because SYMT arises from the foundation of the Himalayan Tradition as brought to the US by Swami Rama, and is rooted in Samaya Sri Vidya Tantra its teachings are integral. This is not a "shopping cart" mishmash of pop culture or new age items about or related to yoga.
Students progress through the program in cohorts taking courses whose content progresses gradually becoming more complex enriched and integrated with other material, so that the practice of yoga therapy by the end of the program may rely on the melding of all aspects, which arise from a singular vision, that of Dr. Schmitt's, the program creator and director.
SYMT originally had been training yoga therapists in a one-on-one format prior to knowledge of IAYT. Once it learned of IAYT it took what it was doing and compared it to the existing standards at that time and found that with only minor adjustments, it was doing pretty much the same thing with no international recognition.
The course tracks of this 800-hour program are delivered through real-time synchronous distance learning and asynchronous distance learning over Zoom and through our Learning Management System, called Thinkific. Since COVID our program exists entirely online with both synchronous and asynchronous portions throughout. Courses meet syncrhonously in real time over Zoom and then have designated timeframes in which to complete asynchronous class time and accompanying work. Asynchronous work is assessed both through quizzes taken at the end of viewing class sessions and also as part of comprehensive testing and overall feedback marking progression through the course material.
We’d love to hear from you!
For more details or to speak to someone about this exceptional program please email us at: symt@spandayoga.com or fill out the fields below.