Question - Is there any option to study Ayurveda in India after the E-Learning course?

Yes. The E-Learning course is only the first half of the program. The clinical studies program run by the world famous Dr Sunil V. Joshi in Nagpur, India and is a unique possibility to complete your study of Ayurveda with a practical internship.

Question - Is this course accredited by any Complementary Medical Institutes, or professional associations?

Ayurveda while very old is still quite new in the UK & USA. Therefore, we are looking for an appropriate institute to accredit this course in the UK. Any progress in this field will be posted on this website. In the USA this course exceeds the requirements of NAMA.

Question - Can I do this course if I live in Timbuktu?

Yes, we welcome students from anywhere in the world provided they can speak, read and write English.

Question - When does the course start?

The first E-learning class starts on September the 6th, 2012. After this the classes will be given at the same time on every Thursday & Monday until the 26th of November 2012. See details here.

Question - Does this course include Western Bio Medical Studies like Anatomy and Physiology?

No. This course covers only Ayurvedic Anatomy which is different to Western Bio Medical Studies, this being said there are a number of presentations that give information on Western anatomy.

Question - Is it possible to only complete the first half of the training? Only the E-learning part without going to India?

Yes, it is possible to only do the first part of the program. We encourage all students to go to the second half of the program for study in India. Be aware that we are only giving out diplomas to students who have finished both parts of the program (see here, 2nd to last paragraph) - including the exams and required work. Our school is NOT easy, even if we make it as easy as possible.

Question - Will I be able to get insurance for to practice after doing this course?

If you are already a therapist, please check this before starting the course, with your current insurance company. You can provide them the description of the course as described on this website. If you are not already a therapist then please consult with insurance companies which specialize in complementary therapies. Once you are registered and learning with us we have documents prepared for insurance companies. We do not give out this information to general public.

Question - Does this course qualify me to become a practitioner in Ayurvedic medicine?

No. See this page of definitions (click here). However, this course will allow you to integrate Ayurveda into your current practice if you already are trained as health care practitioner. If you are not already a therapist then this course will allow you to safely apply Ayurvedic therapies as a therapist when the Indian clinical studies are finished in India with Dr Joshi.

Question - I´ve read your FAQ on web page, and I am a little bit confused; this was the question on the web site, "Does this course qualify me to become a practitioner in Ayurvedic medicine?" and the answer was no. But then someone else asked; "Will I be able to do any diagnosis work or therapy?" and the answer was: "Yes and Yes, All the courses we teach at EIVS are practical and based on teaching the student to PRACTICE Ayurveda."

It is confusing because we do actually try to teach students to be a highly qualified Ayurvedic practitioners. We cannot say this for several reasons:

1) Ayurveda is not legally recognized in any Western country at the moment. Even though some countries have educational programs for Ayurveda these schools teach people "about" Ayurveda, not how to practice it.

2) each country has different laws. As we are international we cannot make the claim that any student completing our course will be certified in their location.

Question - Will Atreya teach every year?

Yes, like in other EIVS schools in Europe, Atreya teaches the higher level subjects at the school that demand clinical experience. He is present in all teaching levels for the E-learning course.

Question - Will EIVS also start an Ayurvedic Practitioner training including herbs in the near future?

We have been looking into this in great detail due to the upcoming laws in Europe which will affect any healing tradition including herbal medicine and Ayurveda. We do not anticipate the offering of second level of clinical studies in Dravyaguna (herbs) and its application to disease at this time. We do offer a textbook - with study questions and a therapeutic guide - to all students who wish to continue their study alone. See here for more information. This is a course we have already been offering in France and Switzerland since 2002, it is just a question of time before we offer it on-line - it may be 4 or 5 years from now - much depends of the changes to the laws in Europe. This level two program (when offered at some future date) combined with the level one program we are offering will give enough teacher contact hours to qualify for the European (EU & Swiss) standard of 550 teacher contact hours for Ayurvedic Practitioner training. However, we may be calling the program by a different name, depending on current changes in legislation - both in Europe and North America.

Question - Is this your (and the advisory/teacher group’s) first year doing an e-learning environment?

No we are half way through the second year and everyone is very happy with the course. I can be too direct (Atreya) and Alex can be too funny, but other than this the current group are very happy.

Question - Is there video and audio interaction in the online courses or strictly audio?

there is everything, forums, videos, whistles and bells! As of 2011 we added more bells and whistles :)

Question - You’re probably aware of the rapidly changing health care system in our country (USA). Are you and your staff aware of and have any experience to help assist new practitioners like myself in preparing for providing alternative care in a country that will be providing free traditional health care within four years?

Yes we have been helping our students since 1998 integrate into a professional practice, this of course needs to be reviewed as laws change. This is an unknown for the USA right now - of course we are in it for the long haul so we will help if possible. Some schools in the USA do not "permit" or "encourage" students to practice after graduation. Thus the question of helping students integrate into the new health system is a mute point for many schools are not doing that now. We have been doing this since 15 years. In France, where I live, there is "free" medical that people pay 1 to 5 euros to have a consultation with a doctor. This does not stop people from booking appointments for Ayurveda with me (Atreya) at 80 to 90 euros an hour as they are not the same service.

Question - I would like the actually break down of the 550 class hours. So far I can account for 3 hours per week via live sessions as you mentioned multiplied by the number of weeks in the course. I’d like to know the length of time of the videos, and just the most accurate break down of the time of the course.

This page shows you the breakdown - http://ayurvedicnutrition.com/cours... - there are 160 hours of e-learning with teacher - this is typically like 20 full days of 8 hours of study in a classroom. This is divided up between four forms of media sharing :
 video live - forum live - meetings taught live - plus all recorded material including text (PDF), audio and video
 This means that 3 hours per week are live with Alex or Atreya and 2.5 hours are recorded video or audio, this gives you 5.5 "contact" hours with the teachers.
 Look at page: http://ayurvedicnutrition.com/cours... - it tells you that there is a session from Sept to Nov - 12 weeks and a session from Feb to June 17 weeks = 29 weeks of study time total / 5.5 hours X 29 weeks = 159.5 hours

Question - How can I decide what course to choose based on contact teacher hours, or course curriculum?

The real question is that we all use the same names to mean different things. For example, EIVS teaches Ayurvedic Medicine. I have not seen any school in the USA that is teaching more than Ayurvedic Wellness. This is not to say that there is not a school that I am not aware of that is teaching Ayurvedic Medicine. The real question is not even the hours, it is a question of what you are getting for the time you have with the teachers? If you want to learn dosha pathology, or mental pathology just buy books from Dr Lad etc. IT IS THE CLINICAL APPLICATION OF THIS INFORMATION THAT NO-ONE IS TEACHING BECAUSE THEY DO NOT KNOW IT OR THEY DO NOT WANT TO TEACH IT FOR VARIOUS REASONS. I have stated this several times on my website. It is hard for students to know the difference because the terms are the same in all courses. However, medicine is the clinical application of intellectual concepts relating to anatomy, physiology, pathology that result in an intelligent application of treatment. I encourage any student to study with someone else. When you desire that which we offer - clinical application - do our course. Every study you do will only help you go deeper into Ayurveda and it is the subtle concepts that take years to understand.

Question - I want to make sure the E-learning platform works on a Mac as well as PC before I sign up.

Yes, we use both Mac and PC in our office for different tasks. Any computer with DSL connection will work. In the e-learning environment everything is hosted on servers that the students access and that we control. The servers are provided by the companies that offer the e-learning platforms - for example Adobe. This is really a good method because it allows the students to access the information from anywhere, at anytime so long as they have a DSL connection. This offers the most flexibility for the students and allows them to structure their time in a better manner and to use the computer and OS of their choice.

Question - I live in a nice place and am interested in your course, however I am unclear as to what I will be able to do with it once it is completed. Will I be able to do any diagnosis work or therapy?

Yes and Yes, All the courses we teach at EIVS are practical and based on teaching the student to PRACTICE Ayurveda. This course gives the basic knowledge of Ayurveda with the therapeutic application of diet and lifestyle. The 2nd part gives you more knowledge of Ayurveda plus clinical practice for external therapies shown HERE.

Question - Does your institution accept credit from other institutions. I have completed 550 credit hours in distance learning from another school.

Yes of course all the work you have done is of great value. I will just explain a bit the logic of the course we are organizing with Dr Joshi: Basically, Dr Joshi does not want beginners or people who have only done correspondence course study to come to his clinic for practical studies. The Part One of the course trains people who want to go to Nagpur in a more medical manner than is generally taught in the West. Of course there is repetition of the common points of Ayurveda and you have been introduced to the basic concepts of Ayurveda through the courses you have done already. However, our e-learning course is intensive and takes you to a deeper level of of Ayurveda; i.e., the medical side. We have several students this year who have done the same course as you and they are very happy with the course we offer as it goes deeper. Also the e-learning course is live with teachers most of the time and there is a weekly interaction through several different mediums. It is more difficult and intensive than a distance learning course.

You should also be aware that the study you have done is considered "self study" and what we offer is "teacher contact hours" or classroom study hours, plus some "self-study" hours. This is very important because if you have a misunderstanding about something we, your teachers, will catch it and correct it. You cannot go through our course and come out with the misunderstandings most people have through distance learning. There is weekly homework and a weekly quiz that makes it impossible for you to continue on with misunderstandings. And if by some chance you arrive in Nagpur with a wrong concept Dr Joshi will hammer you with Sanskrit until it is pushed out!!!

If you have any other questions, please go to our contact page and send us a message. We will try to respond as soon as we are in the office.

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Copyright © 2012 EIVS GmbH

updated 4 January 2012