At present there are no recognized agencies that oversee the certification and/or accreditation of Ayurvedic practitioners or Ayurvedic institutions in the United States.
Some Ayurvedic training programs in the US have chosen to become recognized by their states as “post-secondary vocational training programs”. This state approval has to do with consumer protection and has nothing to do with curriculum quality or content related to Ayurveda.
Although there are 50 or so Ayurvedic training programs in the US, there is not common nomenclature of the graduates of these programs; there is not standardized education (every program sets its own hour requirements from 200 hours to 2500 hours); and there is not a defined scope of practice for graduates.
There are no states that license Ayurvedic practitioners. (and please note that it is States that license practitioners, not organizations).
Graduates are free to practice Ayurveda based on the laws of the state they reside in and their own conscience.
Most Ayurvedic training programs give their graduates certificates, but these are “certificates of completion” of that particular program. There is no “official” certification.
Credentialing
The following statement was prepared by The Council for Ayurvedic Credentialing (CAC).
Establishing Standards for Ayurvedic Education in the USA
In the past few years, growing demand for Ayurvedic education has stimulated the establishment of more than 50 Ayurvedic training programs in the USA. With no unifying educational standards for content or scope of practice, there is a complete lack of clarity on what new graduates of Ayurveda can and cannot do.
Several groups in the USA and in the growing global Ayurveda community have attempted to address the need for standardization of Ayurvedic education as a necessary step for credentialing, legalizing, and validating the the practice of Ayurveda. However, none have yet disseminated definitive standards that the community of educators and active practitioners have approved.
In November 2011, The Council for Ayurvedic Credentialing (CAC) formed with the goal of setting tangible standards for education, scope of practice and competence, with the perspective of client safety in mind.
The CAC is a completely independent entity, has no affiliations to any Ayurvedic group or organization, and is composed of Ayurvedic educators and practitioners, vaidyas (Ayurvedic physicians), and medical doctors (MDs), who are in the field of teaching as well as practicing Ayurveda in various parts of the United States.
Active 2012 Council members are:
- Bhaswati Bhattacharya, MPH, MD, HHC, AWHC (chair)
- Anupama KizhakkeVeettil, BAMS
- Jairajan Kodikannath, BAMS
- Patricia Layton, MA, CAS, PKT, E-RYT 500
- Jayagopal Parla, BAMS, MD (Ayu)
- Ashlesha Raut, BAMS, MD (Ayu), NC, BCIM
The mission of this council is to create documents of Ayurvedic education standards and well-defined scopes of practice for the various levels of education and educators of Ayurveda in the USA. The task of tangible documents for the community of educators is being met with an upcoming release of curriculum guidelines, scope of practice guidelines, and competency guidelines.
