Yoga Therapy Courses

TSYP 700-hour Yoga Therapy Diploma and CPD short courses

Our in-depth yoga therapy training is now available in two different formats: a full diploma course leading to registration as a yoga therapist, and individual short courses that can be selected for continued professional development.

Yoga Therapy Diploma

We are delighted to offer this comprehensive British Council of Yoga Therapy accredited qualification, leading to registration as a Yoga Therapist with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council

Based on principles developed by Professor Krishnamacharya and his son, TKV Desikachar, the course teaches a systematic approach to yoga therapy and how to adapt therapeutic strategies to the needs of each individual person. Students learn to integrate traditional and contemporary perspectives on health and healing in order to work holistically with body, mind and spirit in the modern context.

Full details about the diploma course, admission criteria, cost and duration can be found in the prospectus, application form and schedule. For further questions please contact Annemarie Visser, TSYP Head of Yoga Therapy and Course Leader, at yogatherapy@tsyp.yoga or Michelle Tarling, TSYP Head of Education and Training at training@tsyp.yoga. 

Standalone CPD short courses

Yoga teachers and therapists who do not wish to embark on the full diploma course can attend any number and combination of modules from the diploma syllabus as short courses, to supplement and enhance their therapeutic knowledge and skills and earn CPD credits. Students who attend short courses will not be required to pass assessments or submit assignments. Online courses are open to TSYP teachers, practitioner members and non-members. In-person four-day courses are open to TSYP teachers and practitioner members only.

Modules can be selected from the following:

Online short courses: weekly 2-hour lectures

In-person short courses on yoga therapy: four-day (Friday to Monday) weekends

Full details about the dates of the short courses can be found on the schedule and costs for each short course can be found on short course costs.

Our Yoga Therapy Faculty

Andy Curtis-Payne (Yoga Traditions: online; Therapeutic Skills: in person)

Andy is a yoga teacher, therapist and teacher-trainer with over twenty-five years’ experience in group work, master classes and one-to-one consultations. He was personally appointed as a teacher-trainer by TKV Desikachar himself in 2008 and has studied many times at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in India. As well as teaching classes, training and mentoring yoga teachers he has particularly focused on working therapeutically with individuals with a range of physical, mental and emotional conditions and is keen to promote the highest standards in this area.

He was Chair of TSYP for seven years and stood down this year as Chair of the British Council for Yoga Therapy.

Dr Annemarie Visser (Mental Health/Psychiatry: online; Therapeutic Skills: in person)

Annemarie dipped in and out of yoga classes for several years, until she came upon a class taught according to the principles developed by TKV Desikachar. This experience prompted her to pursue yoga teacher training and further yoga therapist training in the tradition the tradition of T. Krishnamacharya and TKV Desikachar in the UK and India. She has also studied Vedic chanting for many years.

Annemarie is the current TSYP Head of Yoga Therapy and the course leader for the yoga therapy diploma. In the field of mental health Annemarie is a chartered psychologist (BPS, HCPC), registered psychotherapist (UKCP) and clinical supervisor. She is also a qualified teacher experienced in developing and delivering professional training for adults in higher education.

Felicia Pavlovic (Yoga Therapy for different conditions: online)

Felicia (she /her) has been practising as a yoga teacher and therapist for over two decades. She received her Yoga Therapy education over many years of direct studies (in the lineage of Professor Krishnamacharya and TKV Desikachar) in Chennai, India since 2004.

She has a University degree (UofT), has received a Degree in Psychology, and is a Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO) and Yoga Therapist (IAYT) as well as Yoga Therapist Trainer and Supervisor (IAYT).

Felicia co-founded Yoga Therapy Toronto in 2005, a centre for healing, education and research. As co-director of Yoga studies, she continues to educate and supervise yoga teachers and yoga therapists.

Karin Worthy (Professional and Business Skills: online; Cases and Scenarios: in person)

Karin has practised yoga for many years and established a yoga studio in 2005 with a friend who was a yoga teacher. She later trained as a yoga teacher and advanced yoga therapist in the tradition of Professor Krishnamacharya and TKV Desikachar. As a yoga teacher and yoga therapist she enjoys working with students in both group and 1-2-1 sessions and is now doing the TSYP Vedic Chant teacher training course.

Her professional background is as a business process analyst and project manager, leading business and IT-enabled change projects, and in 2019 took over the role of IT director and Membership Secretary for TSYP. Last November (2022) she was honoured to become chair of TSYP, building on the wonderful work of Bea Teuten.

Sonja Lange (Mental Health/Psychiatry: online)

Sonja Lange Bangs is a yoga therapist and psychologist with many years of professional experience in various settings. This includes psychiatry, psychotherapy and the rehabilitation of patients with neurological conditions. Sonja trained in the lineage of Professor Krishnamacharya and his son, TKV Desikachar. She continues her yoga journey with her teacher and yoga therapy trainer Dr. N Chandrasekaran in Chennai, India.

Sue Chudley (Therapeutic Skills: in person)

After one-to-one teacher training (Yoga Journey) Sue continued with a four year course in yoga therapy, completing with Dr N Chandrasekaran (Yoga Vaidya Sala) who worked with Śrī TKV Desikachar at the KYM in Chennai for over 20 years. The final part of this course was an internship at his clinic in Chennai where she sat in on over 70 consultations in ten days. This experience has informed Sue’s practice as a therapist and Dr NC is the inspiration. Later Sue studied Ayurveda with Ann Johnston (Sādhana Mālā). In February 2020, just before COVID lockdown, she was fortunate to make a trip to the Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine in Bangalore with Nrithya Jagannathan from KYM. Sue’s inspiring mentor is Chandra Klee, a long-term student of TKV

Desikachar.

Susan Dick (Cases and Scenarios: in person)

Susan completed her first teacher training with Colin Dunsmuir in 2013 and has been on a journey of discovery with him ever since.

She is blessed to have been taught in the tradition of Professor Krishnamacharya, which has enabled her to have attained a rounded knowledge of Yoga. Although, she is certain she will never stop learning.

She has had the pleasure to teach residents in a care home for seven years and presently teach Out and In Patients of a Hospice and a Ladies Only Refugee group.

Bea Teuten (Cases and Scenarios: in person)

Bea Teuten has learned yoga since she was a child. She teaches in the tradition of Professor Krishnamacharya and his son, TKV Desikachar and is a Yoga Teacher and Teacher Trainer, Yoga Therapist and Vedic Chant Teacher.

She teaches in many settings, with individuals and groups and with students at all stages of their life, and from the physically very active to those less able. She has taught at various yoga studios and health clubs, as well as at The Mulberry Centre for those affected by cancer and also works with NHS staff to use yoga in building resilience for those working on the front line. Her focus is on the individual, recognising that each and everyone is wonderful and unique.

Bea was Chair of TSYP from 2019 – 2022. 

Michael Hutchinson (Cases and Scenarios: in person)

Michael Hutchinson is a yoga therapist who trained with TKV Desikachar’s student Paul Harvey in the 1980s when yoga therapy was just beginning to be recognised in the West. For the following 25 years, before retiring from a successful career in physics, Michael taught or helped clients, and taught classes and day seminars, progressing to tutoring on yoga foundation and teacher-training courses. At the same time, he kept up his own daily yoga practice and continuing training, studying with TKV Desikachar whenever he could, both in India and nearer to home. Retirement from science and teacher-training provided an opportunity to write ‘Breath for Health’, based on over 30 years of training and practice, added to which are the insights to be expected of a scientifically trained researcher. Michael has taught breathing several times at the annual World Yoga Festival and was recently elected Chair of the British Council for Yoga Therapy.