Published October 21, 2026 11:50AM
Calin Van Paris is a YJ editor. Here, she talks to Chair of Naropa’s Yoga Studies programs Nataraja Kallio, founding Director of the M.A. in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University Christoper Chapple, alumna, and more about what it means to major in yoga.
When you think about earning a certificate in yoga, your mind likely goes straight to yoga teacher training (YTT). These trainings range from 200 to 500 hours of instruction, combining elements of the physical practice, teaching tactics, yogic principles, and more. But those interested in taking an even deeper dive into the cerebral facets of yoga—philosophy, history, Sanskrit, ancient texts, and therapeutic benefits—would do well to consider a college degree in yoga studies.
Yes, you read that correctly. You can get a degree in yoga.
“During my undergraduate studies, I took a few courses in Eastern religions and began practicing regularly at a local yoga studio,” says Cassandra Smith, director of marketing and communications at Naropa University and graduate of the school’s Master of Arts in Yoga Studies program. “I experienced firsthand how transformative yoga could be, but I also realized I had only scratched the surface of the traditions.”
Majoring in Yoga
There are currently two universities offering degrees in Yoga Studies: Naropa University in Colorado, which offers both a B.A. and an M.A., and Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles, which offers an M.A. Both university programs approach yoga through the lens of academia, focusing on classical texts, translations, and opportunities for students to observe how yoga has been—and is still being—unpacked and understood around the world.
Naropa University was founded in the 1970s with an East-meets-West ethos. Naropa’s first yoga degree, a Bachelor’s in Yoga Studies, was launched in 2008, making it the first undergrad degree of its kind in the U.S.
“Yoga was exploding in popularity globally, but much of the public conversation centered on postures, fitness, and teacher certifications,” says professor and Chair of Naropa’s Yoga Studies programs Nataraja Kallio. “Important as these are, they offer only a glimpse into yoga’s extraordinary breadth as one of the world’s great contemplative traditions.”
In 2020, Naropa added a low-residency master’s degree in Yoga Studies to its offerings. Kallio says that Naropa, with its contemplative roots, has always felt like a natural home for the exploration of yoga’s big questions. “What does it mean to be embodied?” he asks. “How do we work with suffering? What is consciousness? What are the possibilities of human flourishing?”
“We took classes in theory, religion, meditation, spiritual traditions, and philosophy, which are the aspects of yoga that I’m most interested and connected to,” says M.A. alumna Matthew Kopp. “In my 200-hour YTT, I was fortunate enough to have a teacher who taught us plenty of yoga philosophy, but I know that is not the norm for most programs—and I frequently found myself wanting to know more.”
Meanwhile, LMU’s M.A. program has been going strong since 2013, when Christoper Chapple, professor and founding Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies, introduced the degree after more than a decade of facilitating in-depth yoga teachings around L.A.
An example of the M.A. track at LMU involves three semesters of Sanskrit; a few courses on anatomy, physiology, and modern expressions of yoga; a handful of courses on philosophy and spirituality (which includes careful study of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Samkhyakarika, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutra, and the Yoga Vasiṣṭha); courses on Buddhism and Jainism; a class on comparative mysticism and religion; and a final research project or thesis.
For those interested in teaching yoga, LMU’s M.A. acts as a 300-hour training, pushing an existing 200-hour to an RYT 500-hour. The university also recently added a 200-hour training to its continued education offerings, along with a “Yoga Philosophy Certificate” and a “Yoga, Mindfulness, and Social Change Certificate.” “That ends in a yoga meditation training that allows teachers to go into prisons to teach yoga,” explains Erin Rusler, LMU administrative coordinator and graduate of the Yoga Studies program, of the social change training.
LMU’s Yoga Studies staff cites yoga teachers, studio owners, and ex-lawyers among their most typical M.A. students. “People come in with such different backgrounds, and it really lends to the community,” says Chapple. “Most of our students are scholars and practitioners.”
Both universities’ M.A. programs are hybrid and flexible, meaning you can participate from pretty much anywhere in the world, save for a select number in-person intensives and retreats.
Areas of Focus in Yoga Studies
If you’re wondering what a master’s project looks like in a Yoga Studies program, the answer is niche—in the best way possible.
“We had a student who translated the Yogatārāvalī a couple years ago,” says Zoë Slatoff, program director and clinical professor of Yoga Studies at LMU. “We had another student who translated different bits of the Mahabharata and the Yoga Vasiṣṭha. She was really interested in how compassion sort of comes into play in yoga texts.” Another language-focused student from China translated the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra from Chinese and Sanskrit and compared the two.
But theses aren’t limited to translations alone. Slatoff mentions one student who became fascinated with the deity image called Narasimha, an incarnation of Vishnu. He spent a semester in India learning everything he could about the half-lion, half-human god, interviewing locals and visiting temples that featured Narasimha.
Others have done deep doves on processing grief, yoga and social media, social justice, the divine feminine and women of color, teachers and unionization, and much, much more. Both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in yoga provide a unique container to consider the intersection between yogic teachings and lives. “Students don’t simply learn about yoga, they live with it,” says Kallio. “There is a constant dialogue between scholarship and practice, head and heart, text and lived experience.”
What You Learn When You Learn About Yoga
Many yogis are also self-described seekers, and not surprisingly, those who pursue higher education in yoga often end up learning a lot about themselves in the process.
“Yoga refuses to remain abstract,” says Kallio. “Students often come in thinking they’re studying a subject and discover that the teachings begin asking something of them in return.” Kallio notes that this self-inquiry can be deeply transformative, but that transformation isn’t always comfortable.
All of the experts interviewed say that the more one studies yoga, the clearer it becomes that the learning is a lifelong practice. For Kallio, a good yoga teacher is much more than a skilled technician. “They are thoughtful practitioners, lifelong students, and people willing to remain in conversation with mystery,” he says.
Basically, if you’re curious about majoring in yoga, plan on fostering that curiosity for the rest of your life.
“I entered the program wanting to find the answers to my questions,” says Kopp. “Now that I’ve graduated, I find that I still have many questions and so much more to learn.” Kopp believes that this is the beauty of yoga. “Just when you think it’s one thing, something else comes along to contradict what you just read and gives you an entirely new understanding of what yoga is.”
