What do you actually learn in your VaYU program?

What do you actually learn in your VaYU program? (And why that matters in real life)

That question came up this morning from Stefanie Veenhuizen, a physician-researcher involved in the UMC COBRA study. And honestly, I loved it.

Because the answer touches everything I do day to day: in my classes, in yoga therapy, and in the Yoga Teacher Training at my studio in Breda Central Station.

Maybe this is also why yoga has become so widely embraced. People are not only looking for flexibility or fitness, they are looking for steadiness. Something that helps the nervous system exhale. Something that makes life feel a little more manageable, and a little more meaningful. And when yoga is used for stress, recovery, and health challenges, a bigger question follows naturally: how do we teach it responsibly, without turning it into vague wellness or overselling what it can do?

SYR 2023 at Kripalu was where I first discovered VaYU, and where I met Sat Bir Singh Khalsa. His clarity stayed with me: Eastern wisdom expressed in Western language, without losing the essence.

So, what is VaYU?

VaYU stands for Vivekananda Yoga University. VaYU describes itself as a private, non-profit university focused on graduate education and research, offering academic programs at Master’s and PhD level, where yoga is approached as a full field of study with philosophy, therapy, and research integrated into one coherent curriculum.

I’m currently completing the Master of Science in Yoga (Yoga Therapy). This is not a short course or a surface-level certification. It is a multi-year program with depth and structure, including subjects such as:

• yogic philosophy and classical texts

• anatomy, physiology, and pathology

• research methodology and statistics

• yoga as therapy for a range of health conditions

A practical detail: what does this look like in real life?

During the week I study at my own pace with video lectures, reading, and assignments. On weekends, I join live online Q&A sessions in the afternoon, in small groups of around five students. That detail matters more than you might think. The small group format keeps the learning personal, interactive, and precise. There is room for real questions, real discussion, and real case-based thinking.

A peek behind the scenes: weekday study with Dr. Nagarathna, weekend live Q&A in a small group, and then taking those insights straight back to the mat in Breda.

A practical detail: what does this look like in real life?

During the week I learn at my own pace through video lectures, reading, and assignments. On weekends I have live online sessions in the afternoon, in small groups of around five students. That small group format matters. It keeps the learning personal, interactive, and precise. There is room for real questions, real discussion, and real case-based thinking.

And it’s not only theory. We also receive practical yoga classes. We practice the techniques in our own bodies, and we continuously translate theory back to the mat. For me, that is essential. Yoga should make sense in the mind, and it should land in the body.

Why I chose VaYU: authentic yoga, with a direct line to the source (East meets West)

One of my main reasons for choosing VaYU is simple: I want to learn authentic yoga, with a direct line to the source in India.

At the same time, I wanted a program that does not romanticise yoga, but holds it to a high standard when it comes to safety, evidence, and application in real-world health contexts. That blend is often described as “East meets West”, and for me it is exactly that: tradition with roots, and translation with responsibility.

The “East meets West” bridge is visible in who teaches us. What I value at VaYU is the calibre and diversity. A few examples that have shaped me:

• Dr. R. Nagarathna (MD, DSc) represents the clinical integration of yoga. Her work reminds me that yoga therapy can be rigorous, medically informed, and still deeply yogic.

• Padmashree Gudapadi (MSc) brings an applied-science research background (including work within India’s defence research ecosystem). I love that kind of mind: precise, practical, and evidence-aware.

• Dr. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa (PhD) is widely known in yoga research circles and is associated with Harvard Medical School. His work helps translate yoga into language that the scientific world recognises, without stripping yoga of its essence.

• Richard Fletcher (PhD), connected with institutions such as MIT-related work and UMass Medical contexts, reflects another part of the bridge: research, technology, and health meeting embodied practice.

This mix matters to me because it supports the two things I care about most: authenticity and accountability.

What I learn at VaYU (three layers)

1. Understanding yoga from the sourceA significant part of the curriculum focuses on classical texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Upanishads.

Not as abstract philosophy, but as a living framework for attention, inner stability, meaning, and human behaviour. In practice, this teaches me how to guide yoga as more than “doing postures”. It becomes a method for training the mind and regulating the nervous system, with ethics and clarity at the centre.

Concretely, I learn for example:

• how asana, breath, meditation, and deep rest relate to attention and emotional regulation

• how to translate deep concepts into accessible language without losing the essence

• how to teach in a way that supports genuine inner process, not performance

2. Learning to think like a researcher

   The MSc trains critical thinking. Research methodology and statistics are not just “academic requirements”. They teach me how to read evidence carefully, understand limitations, and avoid exaggerated claims.

This is important because yoga is popular partly for stress relief and self-regulation. When people come to yoga because life feels like too much, they deserve teaching that is both compassionate and accurate. Not fear-based, not magical thinking, and not overpromising.

This slide made me smile: a simple breath practice like Bhramari, and suddenly you see the biology behind it. This is the kind of learning I love at VaYU.

3. Yoga as therapy

   Yoga therapy is much more than offering a gentle class.

It includes learning:

• how health complaints develop and persist, through both Western physiology and yogic models

• how to take a thorough intake and build an individualised plan

• how to work with safety, contraindications, dosage, progression, and realistic goals

• how yoga can complement conventional care without replacing it

This directly supports what I do in Breda: yoga therapy for Long COVID, stress-related complaints, post-illness recovery, and chronic pain. It also changes how I teach regular group classes, with more precision, more pacing, and more respect for different nervous systems in the room.

What students and clients notice in practice

If your teacher studies at VaYU, what changes for you?

In my experience, it shows up as:

• more safety and thoughtful progression, especially when symptoms or health limitations are present

• language that connects mind and body, so you learn to recognise signals and patterns

• practical tools for self-regulation at home, so therapy supports independence

• a stronger bridge to healthcare and research, without diluting yoga into generic wellness

Back to Stefanie’s question

What do you actually learn in your VaYU program?

Here is my honest one-sentence answer, as Marlies: I’m learning to understand, research, and apply yoga as an authentic and responsible therapeutic discipline, rooted in the source tradition from India and refined through a Western scientific lens, so it can meet the need that made yoga so popular in the first place: helping busy minds and tired nervous systems find steadiness again, in a way that is safe, embodied, and real.

If you are curious what this approach could mean for you, you are very welcome at my studio in Breda Central Station, for regular classes, yoga therapy, or the Yoga Teacher Training. If you’d like, we can plan a short kennismaking with a cup of tea, so you can feel whether it fits.

This blog was written by Marlies Tobias, an MSc Yoga Therapy student at Vivekananda Yoga University (VaYU) and founder of Yoga Academy You are the Buddha, located at Breda Central Station.

VaYU (for anyone who wants to explore)

Website: https://vayuusa.org,

Email: apply@vayuusa.org

My studio in Breda https://www.youarethebuddha.com