College of Ayurvedic Diet & Digestion

College of Ayurvedic Diet & Digestion

 

WELCOME TO THE JOYFUL BELLY COLLEGE OF AYURVEDA

Be Transformed by Your Experience at the Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda

Get ready to experience powerful insights and an extraordinary education through interactive learning under the guidance of our distinguished teachers, hand-picked from around the globe, to provide you with an education that excels in the world of Ayurveda. We value the acquisition of Knowledge, but at Joyful Belly we believe that the application of this knowledge is most important in bringing health to yourself, your community, and your clients. Discover the innovative approach that makes Joyful Belly a torchbearer in bringing ancient healing into the modern era.

See why we are a leader in Ayurveda innovation.

What Will You Become? “The two most important days in life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain

Fundamentals of Ayurvedic Medicine
2 Year Counselor Training Program

A 890-hour certification course covering all Ayurvedic fundamentals so you can begin meeting with clients and educating your community as an Ayurvedic Health Counselor.
Starts Aug 2025.
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Ayurvedic Herbalist - Clinical Strategies
1 Year Certification Training Program

The most advanced clinical training course in Ayurvedic herbs - with training in clinical herbal strategies, formulas and pharmacology from Ayurveda, Chinese, and Greek Medicine.
Starts Aug 2025.
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Panchakarma, Marma, & Ayurveda Spa
Part Time 2 Year Ayurveda Practitioner Level Certification

A 387-hour advanced certification course to advance your training to the level of Ayurvedic practitioner. Includes Panchakarma, Ayurvedic Spa, Marma Point Therapry, Nutraceuticals, Sanskrit, and direct study from ancient texts.
Starts Aug 2025.
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Master Ayurvedic Digestion & Nutrition
1 Year Certification Training Program

A 500-hour advanced certification course for Ayurvedic practitioners, other health & wellness professionals, and those wishing to specialize in digestion and nutrition.
Starts Oct 2025.
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Compare Courses & Certification Levels

Education Highlights

Joyful Belly Ayurveda creates high quality practitioners by prioritizing academic depth and clinical excellence. Medicine making, client care, and outcomes are the forefront of our approach. See how we do this through our educational philosophy that focuses on traditional and experiential learning as well as student and alumni support.

Teaching Philosophy

Experiential Learning
Engage in weekly body awareness, food, and herb experiments so you experience Ayurveda's impact directly and in discussions with the class.

Assignments are designed using active learning methods so students engage with and apply the knowledge to heal themselves and others. Practical exercises will help you discern the subtle cues your body uses to communicate imbalance.

Experiential learning will be accompanied by weekly case studies on advanced disease for a complete, in depth natural approach to health.

Use of multimedia makes online learning more effective than traditional in-person classroom settings, where the teacher may be more than 50 feet away from the students.


Comprehensive
Titles and certifications mean nothing if you are an ineffective clinician. There are no shortcuts to quality education.

Our inspiring courses do not rush education. 2 years is the minimum to understand the full scope of Ayurveda. An additional 2 years is required for advanced level practice.

Our courses are more challenging, but build more confidence and results in your personal healing journey, and those of your clients.

Avoid comparing schools based on price. Instead compare clinical outcomes. Don't skimp on education. Focus on your lifetime career, not on 'geting a deal' today.

Harvard is not the cheapest school, but you can actually have a successful career and your lifetime earning potential makes it worth it.

When you graduate from Joyful Belly, you are investing in a high-quality, in-depth education, your future clinical confidence, and a lifetime of achieving your goals.


Teacher Training
Your teachers are hand selected not only for mastery of Ayurveda, but also their effective teaching and communication skills.

All of our teachers receive ongoing pedagogy training (teacher training) customized to medical education.

We train our teachers in active learning methods and mutliple intelligences and learning styles. We've organized exercises using these pedagogy tools.

Study after study proves great teaching is essential to learning outcomes and competency.

The founder of our school graduated from Harvard, and his academic qualities infuse the whole school to a higher quality education.


Clarity & Depth
The mark of a truly great teacher is the ability to explain complex topics simply, without alot of jargon or mysticism.

Joyful Belly takes a natural, common sense approach to Ayurveda education so that people in your community can relate to your future clinical practice and engage in your services.

Patient centered care focuses on the culture of the client, not the medicine, ensuring your practice will be accessible in a cross-cultural context.

Your journey will not only be profound, it will also make sense.


Clinical Mentoring & Support

Clinical Tools
Receive extensive clinical tools and apps that 1) enhance learning, and 2) provide accurate remedies at your fingertips during your clinical appointments.

Clinical Mentorship
Receive mentoring throughout your clinical practicum from experienced senior teachers that stay with you throughout the program. Grow with each appointment.

Student Clinic
Receive your own customized fully functional clinic that you can use to promote your practice, unique products and services.

Business Support

Business Training
Receive extensive business and career training.

Gain experience running your clinic and business while in the course.

Once you graduate, you are already setup for practice.


Marketing & Promotion
Receive, develop and execute your marketing plan step by step.

Receive expert 1-1 guidance from business advisors at Joyful Belly.


Homework Support

Homework Assistance
Homework assistance calls and student support ensures you are on track and confidently moving forward, while increasing your competency during each step of the course.

Accuracy Checks & Grading
Improve performance as you receive evaluations on every assignment from our team of graders.

Assignments include both multiple choice questions and written work that graders analyze and offer corrective feedback.

Your accuracy is ensured and developed every step of the way. Gaps in your understanding are identified and remedied.

This feedback will give you confidence in yourself and your knowledge.


Community

Buddy Assignments
Frequent buddy assignments and assessment greatly enhance learning and create strong bonds in the program.

Student Chat
Student chat groups are lively, insightful, and rich with ideas. Our support staff monitors these groups so you can ask questions anytime throughout your learning process.

Together Not Self-Paced
Self-paced courses improve sales but are scientifically shown to produce poor quality clinicians and to undermine educational quality.

You can't become a clinician just by studying on your own. Self-paced and open enrollment 'by modules' don't work.

All students start at the same time and grow together as a class, while combined synchronous & asynchronous learning maximizes flexbility.

You are joining a community and you will learn from each other. Expect to make lifelong friends and colleagues.

Our students are leaders with busy lives. We DO offer flexiblity for any life events or plans you have during the school-year. Contact us for details.


Teachers Know You
Our dedicated teachers are committed to your success and will know your name. Teachers stay with you thoughout the program.

Alumni Support

Alumni Community
Our active alumni community will invite you to clinical and business reviews so students benefit from long term membership in a community.

Alumni Business Advisors
Alumni have lifetime access to business support so they remain effective as practitioners in the years after they graduate.

Leadership

Pioneering Research
Your education goes far beyond the textbook. Joyful Belly is a pioneer in the Ayurveda profession.

Our leadership, expertise, and commitment to Ayurveda is best demonstrated through our many accomplishments incuding our pioneering research studies involving over 75,000 participants.

The quality of a school is measured by what it does, not what it says. We don't just teach Ayurveda, we study and develop it.


Public Service
It is essential you learn from a school with comprehensive mastery of Ayurveda and leadership in the field.

The scope of knowledge you will receive is demonstrated by the thousands of free, down to earth, practical articles we provide on the website and the many free tools we offer to the public.

Ayurveda is a grass roots health movement that is more accessible to the public because of the free content we offer.

Great schools of Ayurveda publish content and have a strong public service mission.


Innovative & Experiential
Authentic Ayurveda is not found in ancient texts, but in client health outcomes. Health is not found in theories, but lived experiences.

You will come to understand Ayurveda they way the ancient pioneers did, from the ground up, using your body as the guide.

At Joyful Belly, you will not only study what Ayurveda was, but what it will be. You have a chance to be a part of Ayurveda's development and growth.


State Licensed
State licensing is a demanding process that requires schools to operate according to best practices and stable financials. While many schools seek exemption from this process we have embraced it and thus have the legal status of a college in our state.

Food & Digestion
Joyful Belly is a renowned resource and pioneer for all subjects regarding Ayurvedic food and digestion.

Competitive Price

Association Independence
Under the guise of protecting Ayurveda, associations frequently make Ayurveda exclusive to certain religious groups, limit innovation, and prevent the advancement of Ayurveda as an integrative, cross-cultural medicine.

They exist to protect their donor schools, increase the cost of education, and do not represent clinicicians. They offer little to no benefits to our graduates.

Unlike associations, state school licensing boards conduct regular audits. State school licensing is a much better measure of quality.

Despite this, associations frequently scare students by convincing them they have authority. They have no legal authority with the government, and no impact on your ability to practice.

Employers largely ignore association membership when hiring. Instead they look at years of clinical practice and education level.


No hidden costs / travel
The cost of tuition and materials are the only costs in the program. There are no hidden costs to receiving your certification.

There is no travel required in the program.


An Interactive Online Ayurveda School

Where students all over the world come to join our community and find a seat at our table.

At Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda, you will discover your purpose through an advanced, clinically-focused Ayurvedic education. Joyful Belly is a North Carolina, State Licensed college nestled in the mountains of Southern Appalachia (Note: The North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges is not an accrediting agency). As a state-licensed college, we take academia seriously and offer a rigorous curriculum that includes: Ayurvedic medicine, herbal formulation, digestive tract pathology, pulse and tongue diagnosis, tailored diet and lifestyle planning, and so much more! Our courses provide you with the solid foundation of both Ayurvedic knowledge and clinical training to legally practice Ayurveda and see clients in the United States. Our many international students are able to work within their local laws to practice Ayurveda as well. Here are just some of the reasons students choose Joyful Belly Ayurveda:

  1. Joyful Belly is renowned as the premier Ayurveda School for food and digestion, the focal point of health in Ayurveda.
  2. Our distinguished educational strategy boasts a dynamic balance of down-to-earth, practical teaching styles and an innovative, experiential learning approach that focuses on training students for clinical excellence.
  3. At Joyful Belly, we value academic rigor, student support, and wellbeing with equal magnitude. We believe in a high quality education and the high quality experience of our students.
  4. Operating since 2008, we have diligently worked to develop a strategy of student and alumni support to ensure high success rates in personal clinical practices. Students receive business training and a completely functional online clinic, hosted on JoyfulBelly.com, upon graduation - giving you the credibility of our brand while you build your practice.
  5. Joyful Belly offers the most in-depth clinical training of any program in the West in addition to being a research institution that has published over 175 novel research studies in food and digestion (over 50 studies a year).
  6. John Immel, founder of Joyful Belly Ayurveda is a Harvard graduate and passionate teacher that brings the rigor and excellence of an Ivy League experience into the realm of Ayurvedic education, teaching students to become convergent thinkers in a clinical setting.
  7. In the passion we have to bring the practice of Ayurveda into the modern world, Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda emphasizes a professional integrative medicinal approach to appeal to a broad range of individuals and ensure maximum receptivity in both local communities and metropolitan areas alike.

How Does Joyful Belly Stack Up in Ayurvedic Higher Education?

Learn what to consider and how to be discerning when choosing an Ayurveda School in the guide below, and see for yourself how Joyful Belly strives to check all the boxes.

Why Joyful Belly?

The Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda builds a student body, not only proficient in the knowledge of Ayurvedic healing, but also proficient in the real-life application of this knowledge. We excel at giving students the clinical training and tools needed to build a successful clinical practice.

We teach the rich foundations of traditional Ayurvedic medicine while also teaching our students to be critical, convergent thinkers in a clinical setting to bring about high quality client outcomes. We are innovative: We conduct research in the field of Ayurvedic food and herbs and are pioneers in the development of Ayurvedic diagnostic strategies and clinical programs and tools to put forth the strongest practitioners in the field.

We provide an exceptional education that also delivers an accessible and convenient online platform so students can succeed from anywhere in the world and in any walk of life. We teach in a step-by-step approach that makes the learning of even the most complex Ayurvedic concepts feel natural.

Weekly live classes give students access to distinguished teachers and practitioners in the field, bringing experience, perspective, and clarification to the curriculum in real time. Exercises outside of the classroom will supplement presentations, ensuring a firm grasp of Ayurveda's concepts and methods.

Personal mentoring sessions will fine-tune assessment & recommendation skills while building confidence as a clinical practitioner.

Licensed to teach Ayurveda by the State of North Carolina

The North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges is not an accrediting agency.


North Carolina School License

AADP Accredited

What Our Students are Saying

Watch Graduate Testimonials

"thanks so much for the wonderful class last night! Learned a lot and it's good right now for me to hear some things again and again, it's sinking in. You have a very light and playful way of presenting and you're funny! Makes the material, especially in an evening class, very easy to digest (hey, nice pun, eh?)!"

Asheville, NC

"I have a success story that I just had to share. Last week a man came to see me ready to change his diet. He has a history of excess alcohol/liver heat, excess weight (not a lot but more than he would like), a lot of cold in the GI tract, dry colon with inflammation, lincoln log stools which sometimes purge yellow stools after doing yoga. He also has a history of indigestion with acid reflux which the doctor gave him Nexim for.

The Nexium did not help at all which he told his doctor, but the doctor insisted he keep taking it.

I gave him a vata/kapha diet with no solid foods after 2pm. Lemon/honey/ginger drink in the morning plus CCF tea during the day, I asked him to use certain spices in his cooking and practice mula bhanda to help with the stress he has been feeling. That's all, no herbs.

I spoke with him today and he is feeling fabulous. He said that he is feeling a warm heat throughout his body that he hasn't felt in a very long time. His bowels started to regulate very quickly and his body is starting to sweat during yoga which doesn't usually happen. He has lost a lot of weight, is feeling much lighter, more energetic, and his ankle is starting to heal itself.

If I had not taken the joyful belly course I would not have known that acid reflux can be caused by indigestion/lack of fire. I would have assumed that with his liver being hot that his stomach was too acidic as well and I would not have understood why his bowel movements were alternating.

I would have been nervous to treat him and likely would have treated him similar to the doctor instead of treating his case as having too much cold.

I am in tears at having helped someone and hearing the excitement in this man's voice from how good he feels. He's coming back next week for another consultation"

Ayurvedic Healer -

"So i just watched John's business class and am feeling really so much clearer on my business plan."

Cundletown, NEW SOUTH WALES

"I just want to show my thanks for John Joseph Immel and the time he has taken to share his experience, and expertise. His sharing is supplying us with all that we need to take our personal life experience to a new level of understanding."

Ayurvedic Healer -

"I am on week seven and just listened to the review you facilitated on Cow Milk. I just really want to express how much I appreciate the wisdom you bring to each lesson you teach. From the examples you use down to the pauses you take between questions or topics, to your real world experiences in every day life, I am really able to absorb a lot of your teaching. In recent weeks we haven't heard from you as often as we did the first few module's. In the future will we resume hearing more of your lecture's?"

Midwife / Doula - Lakewood , OH

"JoyFul Belly has been instrumental in choosing Ayurveda as a means to address my digestive issues."

Docklands,

"Thank you, John, for another fabulous class!!! I'm learning so much right now and love how these changes are impacting my body, my experience. I very much appreciate all that you are sharing with us and look forward to learning more. The food was awesome and I feel great today!"

Asheville, NC

"I found the anatomy and physiology parts and the self-study about digestion to be absolutely invaluable!"

Herbalist - Levant, ME

"Your experience shines so brightly in this class and I so appreciate it/you!"

Pittsburgh, PA

"These were so helpful. Even as a practitioner this was not something that I had a lot of experience coming into the class and the things I discovered during these exercises were amazing."

Sanford, FL

"John did a wonderful job in presenting completely new concepts to a varied group of students, answering questions patiently and clearly. I felt like a whole new world opened up for me, one in which my body can and will be healthy. It is attainable more easily than I initially believed. It brought back the knowledge of wholeness which can so easily slip further and further into the background with our busy lives and non-supportive patterns we find ourselves in. John's teachings about balance also reminded me that the responsibility to heal myself is in my own lap, no excuses!"

Asheville, NC

"I have been "self-studying" ayurveda for about 7 years now, and my very first introduction to it (I had never heard of it before!) was when my yoga teacher told me to "go to joyfulbelly.com" Since then I have been reading as much as I can, subscribe to your mailing list, and browse through the many recipes. I would like to now go a step further in my journey, and begin to help OTHERS find wellness through ayurveda. The Joyful Belly site has been so helpful in my own journey, that I am interested in furthering my education through the school."

Boscobel, IL

"As I continue to work on my paper, I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude for what I Ave learned this past nine months. Honestly, it is just amazing. John Joseph Immel, how can I even create a thesis that is more or better than the lecture you gave us regarding constipation? How?? When I read your words, I can visualize what is happening in the gut, I can feel the anguish and the straining of the intestines, and I can vision the alarm of the heart and nerves as they frantically call out forcrelief. I do not mean to be dramatic, but I truly just want to have a half-page Thesis that says, \"What John said.\""

Ayurvedic Healer -

"I just met with my 88 year old client who is having trouble with nausea. I explained the Ayurvedic perspective you discussed in the free call and how unexpressed anger, guilt or shame could be a possible cause. A light bulb went off in her head and she revealed childhood traumas that had cause the same feeling of nausea in her stomach. This new perspective gave her insight into her current condition."

Other Health / Wellness Professional - Milan,

"Anyway, all of this to say that I had big dreams at the outset of this program that still hold true. I cannot fathom the brain power and team power to get this quality of program up and running so successfully. I thank you all for everything that you do- I am inspired."

Yoga Instructor - Philadelphia, PA

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What is Ayurveda?

Founder of Joyful Belly Ayurveda, John Immel, answers the question ‘What is Ayurveda?’

Improve Enzyme output & Master your Digestion

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BOOKS BY JOYFUL BELLY

Master Ayurvedic Digestion & Nutrition

Master Ayurvedic Digestion & Nutrition

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* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
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