Functional Movement Injury Prevention Somatic & Embodiment Work Trauma-Informed Practices Women’s Wellness

Soma Yoga Institute: Exploring the Pelvic Floor and the Five Diaphragms through Yoga

A 25-hour continuing education course from Soma Yoga Institute exploring the anatomy of the pelvic floor and the five diaphragms of the body. Designed for yoga teachers, therapists, and bodywork professionals, it teaches a therapeutic, trauma-sensitive approach to common pelvic conditions through breath, alignment, and asana.

Duration: 25h
Certification: CE credits
Format: self-paced
Skill level: intermediate, advanced
Career pathway: advanced training

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Course program

Exploring the Pelvic Floor and the Five Diaphragms through Yoga is a 25-hour continuing education course from Soma Yoga Institute. Led by C-IAYT certified yoga therapist Samantha Akers, it examines the anatomy and function of the pelvic floor alongside the five diaphragms of the body, teaching a therapeutic yoga approach to common pelvic conditions including prolapse, incontinence, and pelvic pain.

The course is designed for yoga teachers, yoga therapists, health care professionals, midwives, doulas, fitness trainers, and massage therapists, as well as curious practitioners who want to deepen their own practice. It assumes a foundational understanding of yoga and anatomy, and works well as continuing education for already-credentialed teachers expanding into specialized therapeutic content.

The curriculum centers on the anatomy and integration of the five diaphragms, beginning with the feet as the foundation for diaphragmatic alignment, and on the three layers of pelvic floor muscles and fascia. Students study how the diaphragms relate to one another and how misalignment can produce breathing issues and pain syndromes that yoga can help re-align.

Topics include in-depth anatomy of the pelvis, accessory muscle groups, and fascia; how posture affects the breath, emotional body, and pelvic floor; identifying hypertonic versus hypotonic muscles and locked-long versus locked-short patterns; body reading; trauma-sensitive and gender-neutral language; and creating individualized practices for clients to balance hypertonic or hypotonic muscle groups. The course also covers working with pregnant clients and cis-male clients, and the use of restorative yoga for breath awareness and pelvic floor health. Asana and sequencing are taught for both hypertonic and hypotonic pelvic floor conditions.

The course is taught by Samantha Akers, a C-IAYT Certified Yoga Therapist and E-RYT 500 yoga instructor with a background in structural anatomy and certifications in massage therapy, Hatha, Kundalini, and Kids yoga. She has been teaching yoga since 1999 and is the founder of TheraYoga Studio in Los Angeles and the TheraYoga Method.

The course is fully self-paced and available on demand. Students start anytime and progress at their own pace, working through 20 hours of video lessons supplemented by required reading from Pelvic Liberation by Leslie Howard and short written homework that brings the total to 25 hours of training time.

Meet your teacher

Samantha Akers

Samantha Akers is a C-IAYT Yoga Therapist and E-RYT 500 faculty member of Soma Yoga Institute, teaching on the school's therapeutic yoga teacher training programs.

Host reviews

Ellyn Gaughan

Verified user

I absolutely love the vibe of working one on one and everything learned in this module made it easy for me to put together sequences for my private client volunteer (who's still coming back for more). The benefit of working one on one is you really get to see results. Every time we meet we check in first and I'm just thrilled with the positive feedback from someone who really needed some positivity in her life.
Miriam Marshwood

Verified user

Peggy is a superb excellent teacher. Not only is she highly knowledgable and experienced in teaching and training others, she delivers material very well, easy to follow, and uses training tools such as slides and handouts which promotes the efficacy of her teaching. She is pleasant and gladly responds to questions with clarity and completeness. She is a great asset to the SOMA institute. I much love and enjoy her practices.