Many people seek a health or wellness professional when they know they need a change. While this could be asking a doctor for a particular medical treatment or procedure, many of us are looking for strategies that improve our day-to-day lifestyles, such as changing our eating habits, movement, or sleep. Lifestyle shifts benefit from not coming with the intense side effects known to accompany some medicines while improving our perceived quality of life, with outcomes like lower stress and the ability to focus on the present as significant benefits.

One of the ways that health and wellness professionals expand their horizons while also becoming teachers of strategies for lifestyle change is through learning more about the benefits of Ayurveda and Yoga. When you study how to be a yoga instructor at Portland Community College in our program that focuses on ayurvedic yoga, you learn a host of strategies for personal improvement to your eating, movement, and breathing. You also gain the perspective to share those lessons with your clients.

One of the main reasons people practice yoga is that it feels better than not practicing yoga. That may seem obvious, but as more and more people try incorporating an Ayurvedic yoga practice into their daily lives, they discover that yoga's benefits are well-documented in scientific studies. Whether you're interested in the benefits of Ayurveda more broadly or are curious about how to learn ayurvedic yoga, Portland Community College's Ayurvedic Yoga health program can provide valuable insights for a variety of healthcare practitioners,  yoga instructors, or other fitness professionals.

Learning the benefits of yoga for health can help you incorporate yoga more intentionally in your own life or recommend yoga more thoughtfully as a healthcare or fitness professional. Here are six of the benefits you might not have known before.

Think about your own life and some of the big questions you ask yourself: 

Yoga has grown to become one of the biggest sectors within sports clubs and other physical fitness services. In total, yoga is a more than $9 Billion industry. While this industry is incredibly influential, it's also a steady career for many yoga instructors, as well as a source of rewarding work that provides interpersonal connections and a feeling of making the world a better place for the people you teach. 

Pharmaceuticals is a growing field, and the demand for pharmacy techs is high. It is a field that never has a shortage of work. However, just like in other industries, current events have made working in the pharmacy even more difficult than it was before. 

As quality of life continues to improve here in the Portland area, the importance of high-quality pharmacies providing life-sustaining medicine grows with it. One of the key careers within pharmacies is pharmacy technicians, the staff who support the pharmacist and complete key tasks within the pharmacy. This career takes much less training than becoming a pharmacist, while still offering excellent pay and opportunities. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that pharmacy techs make on average $35,100 per year. However, since this profession is in very high demand, pay may come closer to $20 per hour. 

Medical coders, also known as Medical Records and Health Information Specialists, are in high demand around the Portland area and beyond. With Oregon Health & Science University Hospital, as well as Adventist, Providence, and Legacy Good Samaritan, Portland is in many ways the healthcare hub of the state. Given the complexity of the healthcare and insurance world, these high-demand professionals have a relatively quick educational pathway to a job that makes on average $44,090 per year. 

Portland’s population is constantly expanding and with it, there is a steady rise in the need for excellent dental care in our community. While any given practice may have one or a few dentists, each practice has excellent paying jobs like Dental Hygienists or Dental Assistants that require less extensive training periods than going through a full dental program.