Embodied Ayurveda and Yoga Course

A Certificate Course including Ayurveda, Yoga, Culinary Arts and Sanskrit

September 2023 through May 2024 

Early bird discount of USD 300 by entering the discount code EAY300EARLY valid till August 1st.

Are You Ready to Explore Ayurveda & Yoga?

This year-long online course combines in-depth studies of Ayurveda and Yoga, and an introduction to culinary arts and Sanskrit, with teachers who have decades of experience, and professional practice.

Immersing in these subjects within our interactive online community is a unique opportunity for novices and experienced students alike. Even those who have studied some Ayurveda or Yoga previously will find rich learning here.

Our experientially-grounded curriculum is designed to support your personal journey of discovery, and plant seeds of living wisdom about how bodies and minds are structured, organized, challenged, and nourished. We emphasize integrating deep, authentic knowledge into your daily life.

Weekly live classes combined with the convenience of on-demand video lessons provide in-depth learning while ensuring your questions, ideas and insights are explored as part of a dynamic learning community.

This course provides a foundation to transform our physical and mental health, incorporate Ayurveda concepts into a Yoga practice or an established medical practice, or go on to pursue clinical study in Ayurveda.

Faculty

Dr. Robert
Svoboda

Dr. Claudia
Welch

Scott
Blossom

Emily
Glaser

Kimberly
Kubicke

Dr. Anuradha
Choudry

Early bird discount of USD 300 by entering the discount code EAY300EARLY
valid till August 1st.

Experienced Faculty

While several decades ago, it was hard to find any information on Ayurveda and Haṭha Yoga in the West at all, today we face a different challenge. There are so many educational resources that it can be daunting to find programs one can trust to be accurate, authentic, and well-organized.

It took years for Dr. Robert Svoboda, Dr. Claudia Welch and Scott Blossom L.Ac. to obtain, assimilate, practice, and organize the knowledge they share here for the first time as a unified program. The potency of this course lies in its enlivened, concise delivery of in-depth, authentic information and knowledge within a robust, interactive online learning community.

Dr. Claudia Welch and Dr. Robert Svoboda combined have more than half a century of practicing and teaching Ayurveda. They have taught introductory, advanced, and clinical material. They have taught students with no prior knowledge of Ayurveda as well as advanced students and practitioners and MDs.

Scott Blossom has been teaching about the integration of Haṭha Yoga and Ayurveda for more than twenty years. He presents the teachings on yoga practices in a way that is coherent with the teachings on Ayurveda so students can digest and integrate the material.

Every faculty member in the course has been actively teaching or practicing in the field of Ayurveda or Yoga for at least a decade and brings a wealth of relevant experience to their teaching and facilitation.

Testimonials

Course Components

Foundations of Ayurveda

An in-depth exploration of the language and foundational principles and concepts of Ayurveda, where we explore how our bodies and minds are structured, organized, challenged, and nourished. Weekly interactive classes to support the integration of the Ayurveda material.

~Dr. Robert E. Svoboda and Dr. Claudia Welch 
100+ hours including pre-recorded video, handouts, exercises & quizzes 

~ Emily Glaser RN + Guest teachers
50+ hours of live interactive instruction

In this course, Drs. Robert Svoboda & Claudia Welch present material essential for anyone who chooses to pursue more advanced Ayurvedic studies.
On the Ayurveda page of this website, you would have learned that Ayurveda is one of the 14 sciences (vidyās) . It contains eight branches for humans and 3 dedicated to plants, animals and farming. General medicine (kāyacikitsā) is the branch that contains prerequisite information required for all other branches. It is from this essential branch that the material in this component is taken.
This course provides an in-depth exploration of much prerequisite knowledge.

The Ayurveda component of Embodied Ayurveda & Yoga is a multi-media course that includes:

  • About 100 hours of video lessons of Dr. Robert E. Svoboda and Dr. Claudia Welch, exploring the foundational language, principles and concepts of Ayurveda, including perspectives on how our bodies and minds are structured, organized, nourished and operate, and how to cultivate diagnostic ability.
  • Extensive handouts
  • Weekly live discussion groups with Emily Glaser and Kimberly Kubicke, to help more deeply understand, assimilate and integrate the course material, and to support each other to incorporate the material in practical ways in your life.
  • A final exam

If you are able to fully understand and digest the Ayurveda portion of this course, it is comparable to a semester of Ayurvedic in-person training, and prepares students either to support their personal health and that of their families, incorporate Ayurveda concepts and practices into a yoga practice, an established medical practice, or to go on to pursue clinical study in Ayurveda.

During the live components of the course (taught by Emily Glaser, RN and Kimberly Kubicke), you will have the opportunity to digest the course material, connect & build lifelong friendships, and grow together in a healing-inspired community. Together we will engage in learning exercises, breakout groups, interactive discussions and Q & A- all designed to facilitate opportunities for a dynamic understanding and exploration of ways to incorporate the ancient teaching into your modern-day life.

By the end of this course, if you have kept up with the memorization, study, internalization, and practice needed to assimilate what is taught, you will be have incorporated the following learning outcomes:

  • The salient points of the philosophies that pervade Ayurveda, including the four aims and stages of life and sāṃkhya philosophy.
  • The five tattvas or mahābhūtas (elements)
  • The twenty guṇas (qualities)
  • The three doṣas
  • The fifteen subdoṣas
  • Causes of disorder in the doṣas and subdoṣas
  • Possible options to resolve the disorders
  • Understanding and determining prakṛti (your Ayurvedic constitution)
  • Understanding, determining, and resolving vikṛti (your current condition)
  • Agni—the digestive fire
  • Āma—morbid material in the body: how it arises and can be resolved
  • Śamana: Gentle ways to restore balance to health
  • Dinacaryā: Healthy daily routines
  • Khavaiguṇya – Defective spaces in the body
  • The thirteen types of agni (digestive and transformational fires)
  • The seven dhātus (bodily tissues), and their associated upadhātus (secondary tissues) and malas (wastes)
  • The main functions of the seven dhātus
  • The fundamentals of how each dhātu is created, nourished and transformed
  • Symptoms associated with the entry of each doṣa into each dhātu
  • The srotāṃsi (physiological channels) of the body and mind
  • The signs and symptoms of vitiated srotāṃsi and possible causes of vitiation
  • Ayurvedic psychology: understanding various perspectives on how the mind and body affect each other
  • Rasa (taste), vīrya (energetics), vipāka (post-digestive effect), and prabhāva (special effects) of dravya (substances)
  • The six stages of saṃprāpti (pathogenesis)
  • The difference between śamana (gentle doṣa-palliative procedures) and śodhana (forcible expulsion of doṣa from the body) in the resolution of disorders

Studies in Prāṇa

A Haṭha Yoga course offering a somatic approach to sensing, circulating, and cultivating prāṇa through the lens of the Ayurvedic marma system. Gain unique and valuable tools for self-healing, longevity, and developing subtle awareness.

~ Scott Blossom
30 hours of video instruction
+ 9 hours of live interactive instruction

Whether you are new to yoga practice or an experienced practitioner, this course offers unique and accessible ways to establish and deepen your personal yoga practice based on modern physiology, Yoga philosophy, and subtle body anatomy.

24 Haṭha Yoga classes and 12 lectures are presented in three 8-week modules.You will develop a somatic relationship to the life force, prāṇa, on both physical and energetic levels.

There is a special emphasis on the Āyurvedic marma system, the vital points that control the circulation of the life-force or prāṇa throughout our bodies. These points represent a critical link between Yoga and Āyurveda and form the practical and philosophical center of this course.

Learning to work with the marmas during yoga practice reveals ways to reduce the effort required for postures, prevent injury, and develop skills for self-healing, subtle awareness, and meditative insight. This is essential for in-depth practice of Haṭha Yoga.

Tantric sages articulated the exquisite intricacy of prāṇa’s role in enlivening the human body and activating consciousness. Through yogic practices, they realized that prāṇa acts as a power source; it enables our personal awareness to “turn on” and activate the subtle circuitry that links the body and mind. Experiential inquiry into this linkage between the physical and subtle body defines the path of Haṭha Yoga.

Practice

  • Three different therapeutic yoga sequences are taught and practiced for 8 weeks each.
  • Learn foundational principles of somatic awareness, a systematic practical exploration of the marma system, and breathing practices.
  • Integrative lifestyle practices — Instruction on the integration of Yogic and Ayurvedic daily routines

Study

  • Four lecture classes are included in each of the three eight-week modules. Classical and Haṭha Yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, and physiological perspectives on yoga practices are explored in-depth.
  • Bi-monthly live Q&A sessions with Scott support students’ engagement and understanding of the practice and theory.
  • Course Materials- The course comes with extensive PDF downloads

Module 1: Eight weeks

Yoga Practicum #1

  • Memorize and internalize foundational somatic awareness principles.
  • Develop a sequence of posture practices that includes dynamic and static movement patterns supported by breathing methods performed standing, seated, and lying down.
  • Practice yoga with awareness of marman, vital points that exist on the back body and have a special relationship to the bones and nervous system.

Lectures

  • Understand the role of saṃkalpa in Haṭha Yoga practice
  • Introduce prāṇa and subtle body anatomy
  • Be able to define prāṇa
  • Understand three foundational somatic principles to guide and ground your āsana practice
  • Be introduced to pivotal selections from Patanjali’s Yoga Sūtra And understand them from a multi-dimensional perspective
  • Apply an anatomical understand of bone and fascia to Haṭha Yoga practice
  • Define the concept of marma points
  • Be introduced to marman associated with the bones and nerves
  • Learn how to utilize marman in Haṭha Yoga practice

Module 2: Eight weeks

Yoga Practicum #2

  • Practice eye exercises and self-massage.
  • Learn to circulate our attention internally and externally during practice.
  • Be introduced to marmas, vital points concentrated on the face, upper torso, and limbs
  • Understand how marmas influence the circulation of blood, fluids, and glandular secretions in the body

Lectures

  • Application of Ayurvedic and Yogic daily routines
  • Understand the relationship between the gross and subtle bodies
  • Define the prāṇa vāyus
  • Understand key verse from the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā
  • Be able to identify the marman, vital points, related to blood, fluids, and glandular secretions in the body

Module 3: Eight weeks

Yoga Practicum #3

  • Memorize the yoga sequence
  • Internalize the somatic awareness principles related to differentiating the soft tissues from the hard tissues
  • Practice a restorative class
  • Be introduced to the marman that influence the soft tissues of the body such as muscles and internal organs
  • Apply the soft tissue marman internally in practice

Lectures

  • Define the yamas and niyamas from various source including Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, Śarada Tilaka, and Buddhist sources
  • Understand mitāhāra – moderate eating, moderate consumption
  • Define agni– the digestive fire and its role in Haṭha Yoga practice
  • Understand how we enkindle the dhātu agnis (tissue metabolism) to support whole body health in the practice of Haṭha Yoga
  • Apply a scientific understanding of breath physiology in practice
  • Learn about the role of regulating breathing from the perspective of the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā
  • Define the marman, vital points related to the soft tissues and connective tissue

Kitchen Alchemy

An exploration of Ayurveda’s understanding of Food as Medicine. This hands-on exploration will serve to assist in the cultivation of your own personal kitchen pharmacy – seasonally inspired and full of flavorful delight.

~ Emily Glaser, RN
15 hours of video instruction
+ 15 hours of live interactive instruction

Cooking is a dynamic, creative, and deeply grounding practice that is foundational to good health and longevity. Ayurveda offers a profound, systematic understanding of Food as Medicine – the ability to cultivate true nourishment as you prepare, create and eat delicious Ayurvedic meals to benefit the health of yourself, family, and friends.

This live component offers 9 Ayurveda cooking classes and 7 lectures. Following each hands-on class, you will have cooking assignments to facilitate your integration of the concepts taught.

  • Ayurveda’s definition of health and healthy eating practices
  • Understand the relationship between food and prana according to Ayurveda (3 doshas, 5 elements, 7 tissues)
  • Cultivate a sacred kitchen and a conscious relationship with food
  • Know the energy-balancing properties of foods and spices based on their taste, qualities, metabolic effect/potency, post-digestive effect, and unique healing benefits
  • Understand the digestive fire and know the ingredients that support the balance of the 4 types
  • Be able to identify and select seasonal appropriate ingredients; know what to use for daily consumption
  • Learn Ayurvedic food compatibility guidelines
  • Be able to select high-quality spices and implement appropriate storage methods
  • Understand the healing benefit of spices, dosha effects, and Ayurvedic cooking methods
  • Practice basic knife skills
  • Acquire skills and techniques to prepare basic Ayurvedic recipes

Sanskrit Alphabet

An introduction to Sanskrit, including the original devanāgarī script and modern transliteration. Emphasis on proper pronunciation and the ability to recognize letters and sound out written words.

~ Dr. Anuradha Choudry
10 hours live interactive instruction

The ancient language of Sanskrit (or saṃskṛtam) is the original language of Ayurveda and Yoga. There are many terms in both subjects that do not have an adequate translation into modern languages, so it is common practice to use many Sanskrit terms in study today.

For the dedicated student, a grasp of proper Sanskrit pronunciation offers a deeper understanding of the concepts of Ayurveda and Yoga, while bestowing credibility and authenticity. The study of Sanskrit also fosters focus and precision. It is said that proper spoken Sanskrit contains healing properties in itself.

In a Western context, the original devanāgarī script (the curvilinear letters connected by a horizontal line across the top) is often rendered into the latin/roman alphabet by means of a transliteration scheme – a combination of dots, lines and bars to indicate certain sounds. In this course, you will learn both the devanāgarī script and the common IAST transliteration scheme.

This program will not include a study of Sanskrit grammar, rules of syntax, or vocabulary.

This component spans 8 weeks in the autumn. We will meet for live weekly classes with homework assignments to practice and refine your pronunciation and understanding.

Upon completion, you will:

  • Be able to accurately pronounce Sanskrit words, such as common terms in Ayurveda and Yoga
  • Be able to recite the Sanskrit alphabet
  • Recognize the letters in devanagarī script and begin writing them in freehand
  • Understand how to pronounce transliterated text – the sounds indicated by the dots, dashes and bars used to render Sanskrit into the modern latin alphabet
  • Be introduced to the concepts of mātrā (meter), mahāprāṇa or balam (aspirated sounds), and svara (intonation).
  • Be able to verify proper pronunciation of Sanskrit verses by referencing the verse written in devanagarī
  • Be introduced to several significant Sanskrit verses from primary Ayurveda and Yoga texts.

Testimonials

Early bird discount of USD 300 by entering the discount code EAY300EARLY
valid till August 1st.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The Embodied Ayurveda and Yoga course begins every fall. In 2023 it begins September, you can register here.

9 months from the start date of the program.

You will have additional access to the recordings of the course materials for six months beyond the end date of the course.

Yes. Payment plans available. We offer the flexibility of a 9 month payment plan.
There are a limited number of scholarships available for Embodied Ayurveda & Yoga, based on financial need. If you need assistance, kindly contact us with a paragraph describing your need, and what you could afford. Kindly submit your scholarship request by August 1st for review. We plan to be in touch with you about scholarship decisions by August 15th.

Yes. If you take and pass the quizzes.

At this time we are not pre-approved CEU providers for health care professions. However, you will have your certificate of completion, which will provide the title of the course, your name, and course hours. This may or may not be sufficient for the organization requiring your CEUs. We encourage you to contact your organization to determine what we could do to support you in getting CEU credits. If there is additional documentation that you need, we’d be happy to support you with this for a nominal fee. What that nominal fee would be, depends on the documentation you would need. Please contact our office if you have any questions about this.

If you’ve already paid for Foundations of Ayurveda Parts I or II though DrClaudiaWelch.com, we wholeheartedly welcome you to take them again with the live support and community that Embodied Ayurveda & Yoga include. We’ll give you a hefty discount–just subtracting an administration fee, so you are not paying again for what you’ve already paid for. Here’s info on the discounts you would receive:

If you have paid for both Foundations of Ayurveda (“FOA”), Parts I & II through DrClaudiaWelch.com, you would pay Satsangam only 108 USD for each part, giving you a discount of 1201 USD. Total tuition for Embodied Ayurveda would be 2549 USD.

If you have paid for either Foundations of Ayurveda (“FOA”), Part I or II through DrClaudiaWelch.com, you would pay the full tuition for the part you have not taken (755 USD), but would only pay $108 for the part you already took, giving you a discount of 643 USD. Tuition for Embodied Ayurveda & Yoga would be 3107 USD.

If you have paid for FOA I and/or II through DrClaudiaWelch.com, please contact us, let us know your name and which part/s you paid for through DrClaudiaWelch.com and we will provide you a coupon to use when you register.

If you’ve already taken Studies in Prāṇa though doctorblossom.com, we wholeheartedly welcome you to take it again with the live support and community that Embodied Ayurveda & Yoga includes. We’ll give you a hefty discount–just subtracting an administration fee, so you are not paying again for what you’ve already taken. Here’s info on the discounts you would receive:

You would pay Satsangam only 108 USD, giving you a discount of 650 USD. Total tuition for Embodied Ayurveda would be 3,100 USD.

If you have taken Studies in Prāṇa though doctorblossom.com, please contact us, let us know your name and that you would like the coupon provided for those that have already taken it, and we will provide you a coupon to use when you register.

Risk free 30-day money back guarantee
We want you to be completely satisfied with the Course! We know that this is a big investment of your time and money so we provide a 30-day money back guarantee to give you time to get into the coursework and to make sure that this feels like the right fit for you.

This course is eligible for PACE continuing education credits and can be applied to our partner organizations

Laws differ, not only from country to country, but often between states, provinces, or other localities. We are unable to provide information about the laws where you reside. Laws and regulations change or are updated frequently, and we are unable to keep current on that information. Each of us needs to educate ourselves about the laws that apply in our own location, and determine if and how our chosen subject or field can be practiced legally and safely there.

Just because an organization, school or online program or course may issue a diploma, certificate of completion, or a degree in a particular subject, it may not come with legal recognition. 

If you are a citizen of the United States, for example, there are currently no recognized governmental legal requirements for being an Ayurvedic practitioner or provider. However the practice, or indeed even the advertising to practice of any type of healthcare is regulated in every state no matter whether it is conventional healthcare or one of the many complementary and alternative disciplines, like Ayurveda. The regulations vary widely from state to state and penalties for illegal practice can be grave. There are only a few states where the individual practice of Ayurveda is allowed under certain conditions. Please take the time to educate yourself as to the regulations for healthcare practice in the state you intend to practice in.

While not legally recognized, one of the current standard-setting organizations in the US is the National Āyurvedic Medical Association (NAMA). They have designated and set educational requirements for three levels of Āyurvedic professionals, in order of increasing educational requirements and scope of practice: Āyurvedic Health Counselor (AHC), Āyurvedic Practitioner (AP), and Āyurvedic Doctor (AD). 

If you are a US citizen  interested in an educational path that meets NAMA’s professional requirements, it is important to first know what each level signifies. In particular, you should be aware of the difference in scope of practice for each level. It is neither practical nor effective for us to stay up to date with changing policies and requirements for NAMA.  For more information about NAMA defined professional levels, educational requirements, or requirements, please consult NAMA.

Ayurvedic Certification: What do you want & need?

Each of our online courses provides you with a Certificate of Completion, indicating the date you took the course and passed the final examination. If you are considering the study of Ayurveda, you may be thinking about what you want to do with this Ayurvedic education or certificate. For example: incorporate it into your life for personal reasons, incorporate it into a yoga practice, counsel people on lifestyle and diet issues or work towards full clinical training. Each one of these goals would be best served by varying courses of action. 

Applying our courses towards certification in one of NAMA’s Levels of Ayurveda Professionals:

No matter where you live or what your goals, our Embodied Ayurveda and Yoga online course provides a solid foundation. While it is natural to incorporate what we learn into our lives, and to want to share it with others, it is important to have sufficient knowledge, education and training– through at least the National Āyurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) “Āyurvedic Health Counselor” (AHC) level, before providing Ayurvedic health counseling to others. While our Embodied Ayurveda & Yoga course is an intensive, in-depth course on the fundamental principles of Ayurveda and Yoga, if you are interested in working clinically or offering consultations or teaching yoga, it is important to study Ayurveda and Yoga in greater depth.

If you would like to use this course, or our other classes as part of your education towards one of  NAMA’s three levels of certification, here’s how that could work:

  • If you are looking for AHC level certification, you can take our online courses and then go on to complete your requirements through an institution we’ve partnered with that not only will accept our credits as transfer credits, but that provides further education within a program that is NAMA-recognized for providing education up to at least the AHC level. If you would like a list of our partner institutions, kindly contact us. Some of those institutions are NAMA recognized. If you find a school or institution to which you would like to transfer our credits but that school is not on our list of partner institutions, you could provide them a list of objectives covered in our classes (you can find these on the landing pages for those courses on this website, and inquire from them if they would transfer our credits in. If we don’t have any partner schools for the AP or AD levels, or don’t have any you are interested in, you could check NAMA’s website for lists of schools that do offer that level of education and approach those schools to see if they would be willing to transfer in our courses. (Please check with the school you are interested in transferring into to make sure they are NAMA-recognized if that is important to you, and that they will accept the credits of the course you wish to take with us.)

NAMA PACE continuing education: If you are already a NAMACB board certified professional, you may be interested in taking courses that count towards your PACE (Professional Ayurvedic Continuing Education) requirements to maintain your board certification. To see if one of our courses may qualify for PACE credits, kindly check with NAMA regarding how to determine that. Some of our courses may be more than 28 hours long but NAMA may only provide 28 PACE credits for them. This is because, at the time of this writing, for any given course in a 2-year cycle, 28 credits is the maximum amount awarded by NAMA.

It might be worth noting that many students and practitioners of Ayurveda that have previously covered the objectives taught in our Embodied Ayurveda & Yoga course have found it very useful to review or be introduced to the perspective on these objectives that this course offers. 

We are aware it can be daunting to figure out what you need to study, how you might be able to do it in a way that works for you within your local regulations, and that inspires you. You can join programs or institutions that already have all the programs, credits and classes required for NAMACB or some other board certification (we are not one of those programs) or you can choose some courses and credits from one source (like ours) and some from another (like from our partner institutions). Whichever way you choose, you are a pioneer charting a course for your life and education. Maybe it entails picking up your life and moving somewhere, or maybe you do part of it from your living room. It can be courageous and fun (and, yes, possibly sometimes tedious) to figure out what combination of online or in-person programs, which country (countries) you may want to study in and what direction appeals to you. Once you have a solid theoretical background, we highly recommend in-person clinical training under the supervision of experienced physicians of Ayurveda. Vaidyagrama, one of our partner institutions, can provide that. Just contact them if you would like to know more about that.

We wish you all success.