Yoga Therapy at Yoga Australia
Yoga Australia holds the largest community of yoga therapy qualified professionals in the country, and over the past three years that community has been doing some of the most compelling work anywhere in Australian yoga. The Yoga Therapy Committee, a group of experienced practitioners who volunteer their time and expertise, has built an annual summit series that brings world-class presenters into conversation with working yoga therapists on subjects of contemporary importance. The result is a body of professional development that stands on its own merits and demonstrates what becomes possible when a peak body takes a specialty stream seriously.
Three Summits in Three Years
The summit series began in 2024 with a focus on menopause, moved into mental health in 2025, and turned to the science and philosophy of breath in 2026 with Just Breathe. Each summit has been curated by the Yoga Therapy Committee and hosted by Fiona Donohoe-Bales and Rebel Tucker, with Liz Bennett driving community engagement. Together the three events have drawn presenters from Australia and abroad, produced more than eighteen hours of recorded professional development content, and earned consistently strong feedback from participants.
Menopause Summit (2024)
The inaugural summit arrived at precisely the right moment. There is a new enthusiasm in the public sphere for assistance with perimenopause and menopause, especially with workforce demographics changing and a rapidly improving base of scientific studies informing treatment plans. Yoga teachers and yoga therapists are perfectly placed to help, and Yoga Australia members have consistently been at the forefront.
The program brought together perspectives from Āyurveda, physiotherapy, psychology and beyond, covering menopause as a transformational rite of passage, essential considerations for teaching āsana during menopause, EFT for menopause, hormonal changes demystified, and topics that rarely get airtime in professional settings, such as sex and menopause.
Presenters included Jane Hardwicke Collings, Dr Wendy Sweet, Judy Mort, Fiona Donahoe-Bales, Angela Counsel, Janet McGeever, Petra Coveney, and Margot Porter with Laura Healey, alongside a podcast series featuring audio conversations with Sulin Sze, Nicole Walsh, Annie Looby, Craig Tunnell, Amy Landry and Sofia da Silva.
The summit is available as a CPD course worth 6 CPD points.
Yoga for Mental Health Summit (2025)
The second summit expanded the ambition considerably, with more than six hours of interactive presentations from Australian and international leaders in yoga therapy and mental health. The program ranged from EMDR integration with Āyurveda and yoga psychology, to mantra for mental health, to the scientific and clinical rationale for yoga in prevention and treatment of mental health conditions.
Gary Kraftsow presented on duḥkha paramparā, the wheel of action and consequence. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa brought the latest clinical evidence. Dr Lauren Tober explored what depression, anxiety and trauma look like in a yoga class. Tess Graham made the case that less is more when it comes to reclaiming the breath from anxiety. Deb Munson offered Aboriginal practices for grief. Denis Juelicher took up the challenge of death, loss and grief with yogic tools. The full presenter list also included Kathryn Templeton, Dr Gemma Perry, Celia Roberts, Katie de Araujo, Liz Albanis, Rebel Tucker and Heather Mason.
The summit is available as a CPD course worth 6 CPD points.
Just Breathe Summit (2026)
The third summit turned the lens on breath itself, and it may have been the most provocative yet. Robin Rothenberg opened with a challenge, asking the audience to interrogate what they truly knew, as distinct from what they believed, about what is happening physiologically when they breathe. Her argument, grounded in Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā and respiratory science, is that the original teachings on prāṇāyāma are accurate but that modern yoga interpretations lost something essential in translation.
Drs Patricia Gerbarg and Richard Brown presented the science behind the Breath Body Mind program, including the first study to show a mind-body practice increasing GABA levels in the thalamus, and described their work with 9/11 survivors, Australian Vietnam veterans with treatment-resistant PTSD, freed slaves in South Sudan, and Ukrainian mental health workers. Brooke Elliston proposed a four-dimensional framework for understanding a person’s breathing baseline before introducing any technique. Sarah Ball argued for curiosity over certainty in a field saturated with wellness promises. Tess Graham drew a clear line between breathing retraining and breathwork, defining retraining as a discipline aimed at restoring the breathing pattern to physiological norm.
In a highlight of the series, Yoga Australia CEO Josh Pryor sat down with Sri Shubha, daughter of Krishnamacharya, who spoke about her father’s approach to individualised teaching and the deep connection between chanting and prāṇāyāma through the breath calculations built into Vedic chanting. A closing panel discussed unregulated breathwork practices in Australia and the consensus that basic functional breathing through the nose using the diaphragm remains the safest starting point.
The summit is available as a CPD course worth 6 CPD points.
“If we’d gotten this when we came back from Vietnam, we wouldn’t have lost 30 years of our lives” — Australian Vietnam veteran, quoted by Dr Brown
Educational Standards
The Committee is putting the finishing touches on the comprehensive framework for yoga therapy training in Australia. This work reflects Yoga Australia’s commitment to rigour in yoga therapy training. Grounded in evidence and classical wisdom, the syllabus addresses all twelve competency areas established in the national curriculum Becoming a Yoga Professional.
Starting with essential structure from the Upaniṣads through Sāṃkhya, Tantra, and Āyurveda, progressing through subtle anatomy in detail. Extending the work of Australian and international biomedical and psychological science, units include biomechanics, common pathologies, trauma-informed approaches, and yogic counselling frameworks. The practicum alone accounts for 150 supervised hours of intake, assessment, session delivery, and therapeutic relationship management. This is a clear and enduring reference point for training providers and prospective students alike.
Private Health Eligibility for Yoga Therapy
Yoga therapy qualified members with five years of teaching experience are eligible for the private health insurance rebate pathway through Yoga Australia. Yoga has been placed on par with physiotherapy as a therapeutic treatment modality under private health, with two line items covering one-on-one and small group sessions of up to eight participants. This is a significant milestone for the profession, recognising the clinical value of yoga therapy and giving qualified practitioners a clear route to inclusion in the private health system. For members who have invested years in advanced training and supervised practice, the pathway offers both professional recognition and a practical benefit that supports their work with clients. Members holding yoga therapy qualifications and the requisite teaching experience are encouraged to apply through Yoga Australia.
Thriving Ecosystem
What we have built over the past three years is appreciable, and it’s just the start of the post-pandemic flourishing of this sector. With ongoing summits and educational material of varying types, the return of private health eligibility, and an engaged community of practitioners who contribute and hold themselves to a high standard.
This is what it looks like when a specialty stream thrives inside a peak body, and it reflects the broader commitment of Yoga Australia to supporting the full depth and range of the profession.
