About

Yoga of Recovery® Certification

This certification is of interest to therapists, social workers, addiction counselors, coaches, sponsors, yoga teachers, Ayurvedic practitioners, Yoga Therapists etc. Anyone interested in a more holistic and complete view of the problem and its solution. Bringing the west (12 Steps) and the East (Yoga and Ayurveda) together offers us a truly empowering approach to counseling those who embark on a program of recovery. It is the evolution of the solution.

Upon completion of the certification requirements you will have the skills to introduce the healing potential of the holistic sciences of Ayurveda and Yoga into your own life and those around you.

For those in counseling roles the course will offer you additional tools and a deeper understanding of the comprehensive approach to wellness, emotional sobriety and sustained spiritual development using Ayurveda and Yoga as extension therapies to any 12 Step work. If you are already a Yoga teacher, this certification will make you uniquely qualified and more confident to teach yoga in rehabs or to people in recovery from any addiction. You will fully understand the root of the problem and the holistic approach, extended from limited understanding of substance abuse/behavioral problems to be treated with asana alone, to a full range of therapies for mind, body and spirit from these powerful healing modalities.

Yoga of Recovery certification has been offered since 2005 – it is the first comprehensive certification to combine Ayurveda and Yoga with traditional recovery tools to offer a more holistic mind, body, spirit approach to addiction and self-destructive behaviors. Now that we have more than a decade of experience, we’ve added to the certification process to better serve the needs of the diverse group of students who come to study with us. 

There are currently two main offerings:

Healing the Habits that Bind (YoR HHB) – The 6 Tenets of YoR: Looking at the Roots of our Addictive/self-destructive behaviors – an invitation to undertake heartfelt self-reflection about the addictive processes that we all experience in life. Become able to correlate and discuss the many similarities between the foundations of Classical Yoga and those of modern recovery pathways and modern evidence-based research on best practicess for long term recovery and emotional sobriety. This course expands your awareness and understanding of the 4 Paths of Yoga and how these spiritual practices can be integrated with the all modern therapy tools and multiple recovery pathways. This article describes the approach of these courses

Between the Mat and the Meeting (YoR BMM): Ayurvedic Healing for All Addictive Tendencies – this offers YoR’s unique perspective on how the ancient healing science of Ayurveda offers an incredible resource for those of us looking to understand and overcome our addictive tendencies and live well, one day at a time.  This article describes the approach of this cour

These courses are open to everyone (We require alcohol/chemically dependent guests to have at least three months of continuous sobriety as we are not a detox or rehab, so if that is what you require go to a primary care provider first). Everyone who attends should have enough stability to embark on this particular work. Those with eating disorders and behavioral addictions (relationships, gambling, spending etc.) must be able to self-initiate showing up for a fairly deep look into reframing the addictive problem and solution from a Vedic perspective

Once you have completed a course with us you’ll be offered membership in our Kinship Circle

The new online courses offer us more time for practice, sharing and discussion, and more in-depth information to study on material that is relevant and current in the field.

Hatha Yoga: Students will practice hatha yoga, the class will be suitable for all levels. These courses do not qualify you as a hatha yoga teacher.  You do not need to be a yoga teacher to share YoR in your community and career. You also do not need to have ever practiced yoga before joining a YoR session – we welcome the newcomer. We’re happy to bring you to the awareness and experience of the benefits of a regular yoga practice that suits your life. The physical aspect of the practice is offered within the context of the wider framework of yogic psychology and philosophy and the healing aspects of Ayurveda.

Yoga Nidra: is part of the YoR offerings

Open 12-step meetings: Many people who work in the field of recovery are themselves in recovery. Here we talk about our experience, strength and hope around any addictive habits that we are recovering from. This helps us develop more openness and compassion around both our own lingering compulsions and the struggle of different ‘drug of choice’ than ours. These meetings will also be a very beneficial experience for those not in recovery, to see what meetings are like, what their clients are involved with.

Testimonials:

This program is life changing for myself and others as I share my new awareness about addiction. Durga’s passion for what she is doing is contagious. The presentation of the material is clear, easy to understand, yet very profound! The way in which Durga has weaved together the causes and therapies for addiction from an Ayurvedic, Yogic and 12 step point of view is mind blowing. TAKE THIS COURSE! Taryn S,

The YoR program helped merge my practice of yoga and my practice of the 12 steps into a beautiful duo of tools for living a life of peace. Ann, Age 49, nurse anesthetist

This course helps anyone to know themselves better. The material is presented in a way that is easy to understand with practical ideas to take home. This course is helpful for anyone living consciously on this planet. 35 years old woman, artist/photographer, yoga teacher since 2003 Integral Yoga.

Life changing! Rachel, AA

I would strongly recommend this course to anyone with any association with people in recovery. Recognizing oneself and loved ones (or even coworkers) in the Doshas is quite liberating. Durga’s guidance and insight are not only inspiring but also practiced and she makes suggestions and lets you find your way into solutions that simply make your life better and more meaningful immediately. The course is practical, entertaining and inspiring, a valuable way to go more deeply in to yoga and recovery. Lynn F, AA Yoga teacher

Most of all I loved Durga’s humor. Namaste, Jennifer

These are just a few new behaviors I’ve picked up, but it has made a huge difference in how I feel. What’s a really cool bonus about the practice is that it has allowed me to tap into my creativity and celebrate the abundance of sweetness available in life. Practicing sweetness is an infinite joy! Holding the intention of sweetening my senses is in itself a sweet practice because it has softened my mind and encouraged the flow of grace.

Today, that underlying unease is, for the most part, gone. But when I do begin to feel off center, I have a whole new delightful bag of tricks to choose from. I feel grounded, joyful, calm and peaceful and a deeper connection to this beautiful thing called life. Winifred.