Dr. Kelli M. Bethel PT, DPT, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, is a practicing physical therapist with over 30 years of experience, a certified yoga therapist, and a registered, experienced 500-hour yoga instructor. Dr. Bethel is a Maryland-licensed physical therapist.  She is the former  

Clinical Director and the Director of Yoga Therapy and Yoga at The University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Integrative Medicine. She has extensive experience treating both adult and pediatric clients, focusing on neurologic injuries and disease, as well as patients with cancer. Dr. Bethel has been working in the field of yoga therapy and integrative medicine since 2007.

         

As the Clinical Director, Dr. Bethel has experience developing, implementing, and managing Integrative Medicine services. She has worked with administration and providers to establish sustainable yoga therapy programs.  Her yoga therapy clinical work with patients is patient-centered and focuses on evidence-informed yoga therapy practices.

 

Dr. Bethel designed the Yoga for Stroke/Brain Injury Survivors Program. This program is a post-rehabilitation program for survivors of stroke and traumatic brain injury.  The program is offered at The University of Maryland - Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, Maryland, and Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, Maryland. In addition to neurologic injuries, she has extensive experience in providing yoga therapy in outpatient cancer centers and sees clients with a variety of chronic medical conditions as well.

       

Dr. Bethel oversees, develops, and implements multiple yoga teacher training programs.  Her current programs include 200- and 300-hour Yoga Alliance Approved Teacher training programs, Healing Pathways program, and various continuing education programs for Yoga Alliance, the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and health care provider organizations. 

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In addition to the many yoga education programs she runs,  Dr. Bethel has strong background and passion for training licensed healthcare providers in mind-body techniques that can be utilized as tools to reduce stress and burnout in their day-to-day work and can be incorporated into patient care.

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Dr. Bethel completed her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy at Ithaca College in 1992. She studied Community Health Care Administration at Towson University, received a graduate certificate in Integrative Health and Wellness from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and her Doctor of Physical Therapy from Arcadia University. She completed her 200-hour Registered Yoga Training (RYT), and her 500-hour RYT. Dr. Bethel received her Yoga Therapy Certification through the International Association of Yoga Therapists and is a registered, experienced yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. Additionally, she has completed level 1 and 2A training of the Warrior at Ease Program for military personnel and is a Reiki Master.

 

Dr. Bethel has lectured on her Yoga for Stroke Program at the International Therapeutic Yoga Annual Conference CIC programming, held roundtable discussions at the Yoga as Medicine Conference, and given numerous lectures, continuing education workshops, and in-services in the health community. She is a registered yoga instructor with Yoga Alliance and a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and the International Association of Yoga Therapists.