Dr. Andrew Garland-Forshee is an instructor for the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification – Ayurvedic Yoga Health Program at PCC. 

The Ayurvedic science of Ritucharya (seasonal behavior) deals with how to conduct your life during the changing weather patterns of the seasons. The stresses of seasonal changes can bring about health challenges, but may be prevented by adopting seasonal regimens, prescribed by Ayurveda. 

PCC's 200-hour yoga teacher class certifies people for yoga teaching. The course also lays a solid legal and foundational basis to take the 300-hour yoga teacher certification course and become a 500-hour RYT. Taking PCC's 200-hour yoga teacher class also equips you with pertinent knowledge to make your students reach their wellness potential.  

Wellness is a growing focus in the healthcare industry, and Portland Community College's 200-hour yoga program is a great way to become certified as a yoga teacher. Holistic wellness connects body, mind, and spirit through yoga's physical postures, meditation, and breathwork. It provides the additional focus of Ayurvedic yoga, qualifying people to teach a full-body wellness lifestyle.  

PCC's 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification prepares individuals to teach both Yoga and (Ayurveda), providing benefits beyond yoga alone. Our Registered Yoga Teacher training program is approved by Yoga Alliance and gives you the practical and theoretical knowledge required for personal and professional transformation. Yoga teacher certification requires you to complete four 50-hour modules.  

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.

Updated March 18, 2022.

The average yoga class at a fitness center can bring quite many benefits. Even a one-hour intervention can help you develop flexibility, build strength, feel more relaxed, and even sleep better. However, many people who enjoy and benefit from a standard Asana-based yoga class may want to deepen their understanding, digging into the philosophies and body understandings that underpin the movements and guidance provided in a yoga class.

At Portland Community College, you can pursue a health program in Ayurvedic Yoga, which marries the ancient science of health and healing with the peace of mind and wellness that yoga can bring. If you want to learn how yoga and Ayurveda work together, this course might be right for you.

by Instructor, Ann Wagoner

According to the ancients, there are many ways to boost immunity. By looking to the timeless wisdom of India in Ayurveda, the science of life, as well as to Yoga, we can find many simple practices to put in place. Yoga is much more than stretching, it is the union of the polarities of mind, body and consciousness that we can observe in the breath. In Ayurveda, the three pillars of health are: Food, Sleep and Self-Control. The food choices we make influence our health. We can let food to be our medicine. A healthy sleep routine promotes rest, rejuvenation and the removal of wastes from the body. Self-Control (Brahmacharya) is an aspect of health that is often overlooked.