2018 Year End Message From Brandt To Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy Students

Friends in Yoga,

How humbled I am to be able to write this letter to all of you. This year has been a huge year of growth for all of us. Each week I am amazed at the work that is being done by members of this school. I am seeing students mature so rapidly into Yoga Therapists. I am seeing graduates working in the field and helping their clients find health and contentment. I am seeing students in the Advanced Program putting hundreds of hours of material together for themselves and gaining confidence. On all levels, I am seeing the bar being raised for delivering yoga therapy with quality and integrity. This is because of you, the Breathing Deeply student body. A deep pranam to all of you who are working so diligently to create physical and mental health and peace in the world through the applications of yoga.

The school has had many milestones this year. We completed our first round of the 7 Advanced Program modules and celebrate the first group of students who finished them. We began our mentored practicum component for the Advanced Program. We moved our residential learning into a beautiful retreat center and are so delighted with the space and our collaboration with the Won Buddhist order that runs it. We started a 200-hour teacher training prep course to bring in those interested in being Yoga Therapists who aren’t yoga teachers yet. And after a long process, our 875-hour Advanced Program became accredited by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT).

This year, I have seen our community become much more engaged in learning. Monthly forum discussions are full of thoughtful and often insightful posts. The Q&A sessions are well attended and I am continuously hearing references of students supporting each other directly. The more we help each other as a community, the more we can give to the world. So let’s continue to expand our support for one another in order to create more resiliency as Yoga Therapists and in the work we do!

I want to take a moment to honor our team of people who work very hard to support the school. The beauty we create doesn’t happen without them. Joe and Kerry mentoring students in the Yoga Therapy Foundations Program, Rebecca helping in so many ways behind the scenes, and of course, Anna, who works tirelessly to create this container we are all learning in.

In this coming year, we will expand the school further with a meditation program — focused on personal evolution. This course and Sangha is born out of student requests for a clearer and deeper understanding of yoga’s teachings. It is also to serve the need so many of us have to be supported by a community of like-minded seekers and helping people become a meditation teacher. My hope is that this offering will be a great help to those of you looking for a spiritual home.

I am personally looking forward to seeing the school and you as individuals expand even more throughout this coming year. There is such a great need for yoga therapy and I am confident that together, we will deliver the teachings with integrity, compassion, and vitality.

Blessings to everyone this New Year. May the bliss of the heart find us all and may we share that bliss will those who seek it.

Namaste,

Brandt