Description
Ayurvedic Yoga Massage Levels 1-4 is an intensive 67-hour course, which teaches you an extremely effective AYM sequence, and helps you develop your intuition as to how to adjust the method to suit client needs.
We will usually be completing the practical training over two 5-day periods (typically we work 10 am to 1 pm, and 2-5 pm on each day), with 2 days off for the students to rest in-between. The online introduction consists of approximately 7 hours of short videos, which can be accessed and completed in the two weeks before starting the practical element of the course at the students’ convenience.
On completion of the practical part of the training you will also receive videos of the whole training, which you will maintain access to at no additional cost for one year, as well as a one-year student membership of the Ayurvedic Yoga Massage Therapists Association.
In Level 1 students find out what Ayurvedic Yoga Massage is and what it can do. We understand what it is that we are trying to achieve, setting the foundations for students to become exceptional practitioners who will help transform people’s lives. The Level 1 training includes:
1. Body mechanics: how to position your body and adjust the techniques to make sure you are working with ease, using your body weight rather than your strength. This will feel a lot nicer to your clients and protect your own body in the long term. Offering AYM feels wonderful for the therapist’s body, you warm up, breathe, move, and even stretch a little, much like an easy yoga practice (videos, and practical training in classroom)
2. Indications and contra-indications (for AYM treatments generally and for each specific technique), and safe and comfortable prone and supine lying positions for the client. Learning when and how clients’ bodies need to be supported, and what positions are appropriate for which clients will help make your treatments safe, effective and enjoyable (videos and practical training).
3. Learning how to respond to the sensations that we get from our hands/feet/other body parts that we massage with. We need to understand what the quality of the tissues that we are massaging is like, how we adjust the surface area and amount of pressure appropriately depending on the aim of the session, and which body parts we can use to provide the pressure that the client needs with ease, without straining any part of our own bodies (practical training)
4. Similarly, we learn to interpret the feedback that we get from the soft tissues when we are stretching, and the client’s feedback, to understand when and how far is beneficial to stretch (practical).
5. Clear and effective communication with the client, including how to do an effective consultation, decide the objectives of the session, and what the session will include to work towards those objectives together with the client; how to read the client’s body language during the session to assess whether the treatment is safe, comfortable and effective; and building a trusting relationship that can help foster healing (videos and practical application in classroom)
6. The pace of the massage needs to be appropriate to client needs, and we also work on paying attention to our own and the client’s energy and breathing during the session (covered in the online introduction but we mostly work on this in the practical part of the training).
7. Massage ethics (1 hour in classroom)
8. Hygiene (videos and practical application)
9. Business skills (videos, if any questions arise during the classroom hours we answer them, plus ongoing support after your training).
Level 2 includes more techniques, and indications and contra-indications for each technique. The students’ pace of learning is faster by L2, as they already understand how the body needs to be touched/moved, and their own body mechanics. By combining L1&2 techninques you can offer a complete full body massage which will leave your clients feeling like they’re walking on clouds. We continue to work on the therapist’s body dynamics, our energy and pace during the treatment, the breath, appropriate levels and surface areas of pressure, and working out how much to stretch depending on client needs.
Level 3 includes many more techniques, as well as continuous work on the quality of touch, breath, pace, communication with the client, appropriate intensity of stretches. The pace of students’ learning is much faster by L3, so we are able to cover many more techniques, that give therapists the tools to deal with a wide range of client needs.
In Level 4 we practice doing consultations, and designing sessions aimed to address client needs. Students also offer some full sessions, so they get a lot of feedback on how to design sessions, prioritise what to work on and in what way, time management during the session, and communication with the client.
Check our YouTube channel to get an idea of what AYM treatments look like!
