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"Om Namo Aryavalokiteshvaraya Bodhisattvaya Mahasattvaya Maha Karunikaya Om Sarva Abhaya!"

Ayurvedic Herbal Education Guidelines

Language below is adapted from the Herbalists Education Guidelines adopted by American Herbalist Guild (AHG) as updated on their webpage on September 8, 2000 (http://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/edguide.htm).  NOTE: The American Herbalist Guild (AHG) has no direct relationship with the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute. 

Introduction to the Education Guidelines

One of the most common questions that both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute office receives are "How do I train to be an herbalist?" and "How do I recognize a well-trained and competent herbalist?". In response to these questions, as well in response to the growing popularity of herbal medicine and the need to maintain and promote the vocation of herbalism in the United States of American, the American Herbalist Guild has established a core curriculum to serve as a common guideline applicable to herbal education and training programs throughout the U.S.   The Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute fully supports and subscribes to these guidelines of the Guild.  

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Our Level IV Master Ayurvedic Herbalist Program corresponds completely with the American Herbalists Guild's educational guidelines.   For complete course-by-course details correlating our distance learning and in-person courses with the educational guidelines of the Guild, click here to download a detailed Excel spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet also provides course prices, descriptions, course codes, units and hours, prerequisites, and textbook book requirements.

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The aim of both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute is to honor, preserve, and encourage the many diverse traditions of herbal medicine, with our Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute focusing primarily on the ancient wisdom of the Indo-Tibetan Ayurvedic tradition.  Both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute are also concerned with the competency of its professional members. The intent of the core curriculum is to foster excellence in herbal medicine and in the training of herbal practitioners. Neither the American Herbalist Guild (AHG), nor the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute intends these standards to be used to advance or impose any degree of licensure or regulation of the practice of herbal medicine or of Ayurveda. The core curriculum is a work-in-progress, therefore subject to revision. It is not intended as a definitive statement but rather a suggestion of minimal competencies that should be achieved by students wishing to become professional practitioners of herbal medicine. The American Herbalist Guild encourages educational institutions and organizations such as ours to go beyond the minimum content guidelines of the Guild specified here.

Although initially the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute is basing the detailed delivery of our academic programs and courses on these American Herbalist Guild (AHG) guidelines, we plan to go beyond these excellent initial standards within the next seven years to offer a full Masters degree program in Ayurvedic Medicine (MSTAM - Masters of Traditional Ayurvedic Medicine). Such a Masters program will be comparable in scope and depth to the MSTCM (Masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine) programs offered in the West since the 1980's by colleges of Traditional Oriental Medicine.

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It is the vision of the founders of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute to offer California's most complete program of Ayurvedic study and the Planet's most complete Ayurvedic Distance Learning Program (Multi-media Ayurvedic Correspondence Course). Our future planned Masters Degree program will be comparable in subject matter to that taught in India's modern-day Ayurvedic colleges (currently referred to in India as B.A.M.S. degree). There is a rapidly growing attraction to Ayurveda in the West; the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute will meet head-on that challenge by anticipating this emergent demand and developing our educational program offerings in ways that rest within the financial resources of the non-profit Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute, yet serve the needs of new students and move the Institute towards the eventual goal of a Masters Degree Program (MSTAM).

Both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute recognize that there are many valid models for study, ranging from individual apprenticeship to attendance at formal academic and clinical training programs. Both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute also recognize that there are many aspects of herbal medicine that contribute to a well-rounded education and practice with a deep understanding of both scientific and traditional wisdom. The core curriculum represents a synthesis of the shared elements of herbal practice by diverse members of the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and its education committee, including council members, professional members, and general members.

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The American Herbalist Guild (AHG) acknowledges that each school will have its own unique identity, with special emphases in coursework, including specific herbal traditions. The American Herbalist Guild (AHG) encourages educational institutions and organizations such as our to develop our courses and programs within the Guild's core curriculum framework, and to justify our approach against the Guild's requirements.  In full support of the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and their in-depth educational guidelines, the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute has based our full three year program on these principles.

The core curriculum necessarily takes into consideration the growing need for modern herbalists to be knowledgeable of scientific gains in the field of herbal medicine, the medical considerations of herbal clients, and the increasing potential for working collaboratively with other health care professionals.

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The American Herbalist Guild (AHG) expects that a basic level of competency in the areas described by the core curriculum will be possessed by applicants for professional membership in the Guild. Admission as a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) additionally requires that the applicant's training be deemed acceptable by the Guild's admissions review board.

The current status of herbal education in the United States of America means that opportunities for study vary and may for some be limited. The American Herbalist Guild (AHG) Education Guidelines provide some direction for herbal students and schools. The Guild also recognizes the difficulty for students in finding clinical apprenticeships, internships, or preceptorship situations for the clinical hours requirements. Therefore the Guild will make every effort to assist students in identifying mentors, and has developed a formal mentorship program for this purpose.  The Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute has already instituted a formal clinical preceptorship / apprenticeship program that follows the Guild's Mentorship Guidelines (http://www.AmericanHerbalistsGuild.com/mentors.htm).

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Herbal Education Guidelines Core Curriculum 7 Modules

The American Herbalist Guild's recommended hours accompanying subjects is provided not as a requirement, but as a general guide for the student or school seeking to use these guidelines in the development of a course of herbal studies, or in the formation of curriculum material. It provides a sense of the "weight" each subject should carry for the student. The Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute entirely agrees with these hours below and has developed our academic programs around these recommended allotment of didactic and clinical hours.  The Guild acknowledges that each student will have their own pace of study, each school its own emphasis on coursework, and that with the current status of herbal education in the United States, opportunities for study will vary and may for some be limited. The Guild and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute does, however, expect that a basic level of core competency in the following areas be possessed by applicants for the Guild's professional membership and for certificate-level graduates of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute's programs. 

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Toward this goal of supporting the diversity of learning styles of students studying from a wide variety of competent teachers with differing teaching styles, the Guild and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute will make every effort to direct students toward study programs and materials that enable them to obtain this knowledge. Hence, the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute frequently recommends that our students consider attending Dr. Vasant Lad's full one year program at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Although the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute's program is very complete, we wish to nourish our "root" and support our past teachers and preceptors.  The majority of the faculty members of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute have graduated from Dr. Lad's comprehensive one year Ayurvedic Studies Program (ASP) at the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico.  Several of our faculty have studied with Dr. Lad in Gurukula (advanced clinical apprenticeship) for several years in both New Mexico and at Dr. Lad's clinic in Pune, India.  First year graduates of the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute are likely to be qualified to bypass the first year of the Ayurvedic Institute (Ayurvedic Studies Program Level I) and directly attend Dr. Lad's 430 hour Ayurvedic Studies Level II Program.  To quote from the Ayurvedic Institute's 2002-2003 Academic Catalog (http://www.ayurveda.com/acadcat-2002-3.doc):

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"2002-2003 Ayurvedic Studies Level II Program: Participating students may include graduates of the Ayurvedic Studies Level I program, Ayurvedic students from other institutions, licensed health care professionals with previous Ayurvedic training, and licensed health care professionals with no Ayurvedic training."  "Depending on your student category, the academic year begins with the Intensives in October for the first quarter or in January for the second and third quarters." 

Both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute in honoring the diverse models of herbal medicine and methods of learning, deem that the knowledge and skills necessary to be an herbalist can be accomplished through a combination of the following: in-person instructor-led learning, accepted correspondence courses (distance learning), residential schools, and academic centers of learning, self-study, audio-visual aids, and practical experience. Admission as a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) additionally requires that such training be deemed acceptable by the admissions review board. To verify which programs will help you meet these requirements, feel free to contact the AHG Education or Admissions Committee.

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Both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute judge that clinical requirements may be met through multiple routes as well, including apprenticeship, clinical work with a qualified practitioner, or attendance at a formal training program with a clinical component. Both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute recognize the difficulty in finding apprenticeships and therefore the both the Guild and the Institute will make every effort to place students with mentors, to that end, both the Guild and the Institute has developed a formal mentorship program.

Recommended Hours of Training

Hours of Didactic Study..............1200

Clinical Hours...............................400

Total Hours of Study..................1,800

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This equates to approximately 40 weeks (or 10 months) of full-time work. The American Herbalist Guild (AHG) insists that this education should be accomplished within ten (10) years of applying for professional membership.  A student may elect to engage in part-time studies. In this case, we at the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute insist that a study plan will be designed to ensure that the program can be completed within the desired time period. The Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute wishes to begin to move the academic quality of its 1,800 hour program in line with similar programs at Chinese Medicine schools, where the 2900 hour Master of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine degree (MSTCM) is awarded; students in these schools are required to complete all TCM studies within eight years of initial matriculation.  Hence, the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute also insists that the 1,800 hours of Ayurvedic training be completed within eight years of initial matriculation.

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Documentation

Both the American Herbalist Guild (AHG) and the Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute maintain that if you are planning a course of self-study, it is essential that you thoroughly document and keep records of all your work.  The Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute does indeed offer comprehensive Distance Learning (correspondence course) programs in order to complete the Guild's recommendation of 1200 of didactic study.

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Source: http://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/edguide.htm