College of Natural Health Sciences

College of Natural Health Sciences

 

WELCOME TO THE JOYFUL BELLY COLLEGE OF NATURAL HEALTH SCIENCES

Be Transformed by Your Experience at the Joyful Belly College of Natural Health Sciences

Get ready to experience powerful insights and an extraordinary education through interactive learning - focused on comprehensive depth, rooted in wisdom, and practical hands-on application. 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?

β€œThe two most important days in life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain

Occupational Training Certifications

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.
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Fundamentals of Virtue Psychology Certification
1 Year Certification Training Program

Elevate your professional practice with mental health coaching services through this comprehensive 1-year online training
Starts Aug 2026
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Advanced Certifications / Continuing Education

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. This course is required to advance your training to the level of Ayurvedic practitioner.
Starts Aug 2026
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The Art of Detox - Panchakarma
Part Time 1 Year Certification

Includes Panchakarma, Marma Point Therapy, Reading Medical Tests, Nutraceuticals, and direct study from ancient texts. This course is required to advance your training to the level of Ayurvedic practitioner.
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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.
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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.


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

Pioneer
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 statistics on over 1,000 symptoms!

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 (by joining an Ayurveda association) we have embraced it and thus have the legal status of a college in our state.

Unlike associations, state school licensing boards conduct regular audits. State school licensing is a much better measure of school professionalism than provided by associations.


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

An Interactive Online Ayurveda School

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

At the Joyful Belly College of Natural Health Sciences, 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, actively researches Ayurveda, and publishes thousands of articles.
  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 Natural Health Sciences 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 Natural Health Sciences 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 College in the State of North Carolina

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

What Our Students are Saying

Watch Graduate Testimonials

"Everything that I have experienced made so much sense in my body and in my mind."

Pacific grove, CA

"All the instructors are sooo responsive and helpful in this program. They really listen to the students suggestions and very graciously and thoughtfully always find a way to achieve the needs of the students. Thanks so much!"

Other Health / Wellness Professional - Lakeville , PA

"Yes! I throughly enjoyed the Ayurveda Workshop and look forward to more. The material was relevant and comprehensive to my goals. I found the material concrete and practical. I think you are skilled and informative regarding Ayurvedic teachings. I am thankful to have people like yourself commited to helping and teacing this fine medicine. I have already pasted the information to others to come to learn more. Thank you and we will meet again..."

Massage Therapist - Gloucester,

"This was a very well-spoken presentation. I love the thorough, yet simple way that ideas were explained and expounded upon. Going through each of the body channels (srotas) and reviewing the Sanskrit name and connecting each to either excess or deficient slow guna was a very helpful way to make the information meaningful and applicable. "

Pleasant prairie, AL

"As far as the course, it has been an eye opening experience for me , as a pediatric gastroenterologist and also being of Indian origin. There is so much that I have been doing as an allopathic physician for the past 22 years and wished that I had stepped in to Ayurveda sooner. Not too late however

Sometimes I think it is harder for someone like me with an M.D degree to understand some of the concepts because what I have in my head ( western concept) gets in the way . I am working on it.....

On the other hand, once I grasp the Ayurvedic concept , understanding why, how and what should be done is very easy and I am enjoying that very much .

Thank you !!"

Medical Doctor - Goleta, CA

"Before I sleep tonight, I just want to share my gratitude for being a student at Joyful Belly. to be able to learn from you is an opportunity of a lifetime. I never knew one could feel so connected in an online course. Quite an amazing journey, and thank you to all the classmates for sharing each week, i'm sure I will be re listening to our lectures nostalgically in the future so I hope everyone knows how appreciated they are."

Ayurvedic Healer -

"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

"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

"Hi John,

I have loved every minute of the course, and it has truly changed my life. It is exciting to be learning something so completely new, yet intuitive to some degree. My biggest challenge is simply slowing down to pay attention. It’s a big shift, but the time has come...

Thank you so much; I’m thrilled that I found you and Joyful Belly."

Ayurvedic Healer - Breman, ME

"It's like my intuition is being reexplained in depth. It's overwhelming in a good way because I'm so interested in what we're learning! I'm so inspired by the daily routines and rituals that Ayurveda practices. "

Marstons mills, MA

"I've been meaning to e-mail since we graduated to say thank you SO much for all your support on the course, organizing everything, giving us amazing insightful lectures and everything that you've done behind the scenes since I can imagine it must be a mammoth task!"

Yoga Instructor - Shenzhen, HAMPSHIRE

"I have become more aware through Ayurveda and now I eat with my digestion in mind, rather than calories."

Yoga Studio Owner - Saint cloud, FL

"I have a better understanding of my place in the world. Cultural paradigms are illuminated in a new light through Ayurveda. Ayurveda provides the nature that I have always been drawn to. It has always been a truth for me and learning through the framework of this course has laid a new foundation for being."

Other Health / Wellness Professional - San francisco, CA

"Thank you so much, for everything! This course has been one of the best learning experiences I have ever had. I am thankful for the challenge, it makes my success much sweeter! I am excited to continue my learning journey!"

Other Health / Wellness Professional - Shallowater, TX

"I love the joyful belly website and send a lot of people there as well. Did you know that you can become an affiliate and get reimbursed for referrals? The information is amazing. I have my client's create their quizzes and forward them to me, just like we're doing in class. John Joseph Immel and the rest of the gang at JB are GREAT!!!"

Ayurvedic Healer -

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What is Ayurveda?

Founder of Joyful Belly Ayurveda, John Immel, answers the question β€˜What is Ayurveda?’

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ENZYME DEFICIENCIES

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BOOKS BY JOYFUL BELLY

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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.