How to become an Ayurvedic  Practitioner?

In the United States and Canada, there are no national educational or legislative standards to become an Ayurveda Practitioner.

However, professional aspirants ordinarily are expected to complete a formal training and certification program.

There are a variety of programs for becoming an Ayurveda Doctor and routes to certification administered by a variety of professional organizations: the Association of Ayurvedic Professionals in North America (AAPNA), the American Association of Ayurvedic Practitioners (AAAP) and the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) are the most notable. These offer various types of certification in Ayurveda, that vary with the type and extent of education achieved.

Professional education programs for Ayurvedic Doctor vary in length and may be of one, two or three years duration and may take on a variety of instructional formats: they may be delivered by correspondence (which must be supplemented with practical clinical training), or they may involve classroom instruction delivered either by classroom attendance or by webcast lectures. These are all augmented by practical experiential, with students attending to actual clients under practitioner supervision. Most programs are offered in the form of intensive weekend lectures offered on a monthly basis, with extensive study required between classes.

Ayurveda Practitioners use ancient Indian techniques to promote wellness and maintain or restore health by keeping the individual’s body, mind and spirit in equilibrium with nature. They adopt holistic approaches to maintain and prolong healthy life, increase spiritual awareness, reduce stress, prevent diseases and restore health when it is lacking. Ayurveda Practitioners help their clients utilize different approaches, such as practicing yoga, meditation, exercise, counseling for proper diet, healthy lifestyle or providing massage, herbal supplementation, specialized physio-mechanical therapies, and so on. Ayurveda Practitioners work in a hospital or rehabilitation center, home healthcare centers, or can open a private practice.

Aspiring practitioners study anatomy and physiology, nutrition, pathology, ayurvedic diagnostic techniques, detoxification methods and herbal medicine among much else. Usually, practitioners who have completed a one-year program of instruction are termed ayurvedic health consultants, or ayurvedic lifestyle and wellness counselors, while those who have completed two- and three-year programs of study are termed, respectively, ayurvedic practitioners and ayurvedic doctors.