Unlike most programs which have only one final exam at the end of the course, our Yoga Teacher Training program will have at least 5 rounds of teaching practicum, where students will have the opportunity to apply and polish the newly acquired skills and knowledge from lectures and workshops in a live setting. This safe space will allow the group to collectively fine tune the necessary skills to build a strong foundation for their yoga careers and experience and observe the reoccurring tendencies new instructors have and begin to replace them with effective methods for cultivating awareness in their students. 

A variety of situations, time restrictions, and styles of classes will be presented and practiced to create a template for approaching lead studio classes. Drawing from our Structural Alignment workshops, students will learn how to break down postures from the ground up, understanding their actions, weight distributions, goals and priorities, in order to allow you as a teacher to have the ability to fully understand and explain each asana, along with the opportunity to run alignment workshops in the future.

Teaching practicum sessions will be followed by group discussions which we have seen to be invaluable to the growth and development of new instructors. Not only in the development of their own teaching abilities, but in their vision and ability to analyze their peers and provide insightful feedback, a transformation begins to occur throughout the rounds creating a new awareness to detail and opportunity to provide that awareness to their students. 

Our Structural Alignment workshops will breakdown and examine all core asanas from the ground up, deepening our student’s intellectual understanding of each posture, and creating a strong foundation for expanding physical awareness throughout the body. Once the priorities of an asana and its actions, weight distribution, and student’s tendencies in these postures are understood, we can begin to practice more mindfully and as teachers bring this level of awareness to our students to create a safe environment for growth and understanding. With these insights and knowledge, this will not only arm our new teachers with the ability to teach similar styles of alignment workshops, but bring this level awareness into studio class settings, creating a more impactful and safer environment for their students.

Lead Hatha and Vinyasa classes will be held in order to have an energetic space to incorporate the ideas and actions learned in our Structural Alignment workshops. Along with developing our personal practice, these lead group classes will also be used as templates to examine in our Sequencing lectures and will help as live examples for developing student’s sequences for their teaching practicums.

As instructors in group lead classes, one of the most important tools is our ability to use effective and insightful instructions to draw students into proper alignment and guide them safely through transitions. Our extensive verbal cues tutorials will draw and expand on our Structural Alignment workshops from a teacher’s perspective, learning to use general and applied verbal cues as physical adjustments from a non-physical space, drawing physical awareness in our students and allowing them to find the action form the inside out. Especially when dealing with large groups, when physical adjustments on every individual in each posture is simply not possible, being able to use effective verbal cues is imperative to maximizing the positive effects and safety for your class. All core asanas will be examined and an exhaustive amount of verbal cues will be provided along with strategies and approaches on how and when to use these verbal adjustments

A huge focus throughout the course will be examining not only the how’s of what we do, but the why’s. Each yoga teacher must adopt, develop and grow their philosophy of their practice and how they share their experience. The philosophy of asana and how it is taught will be explained and observed from many perspectives, and throughout our teaching practicum sessions, given the space to explore these approaches, styles, and methods.

An examination of the body and actions in postures from a biomechanical view of each postures will help build a deeper understanding of what is happening in each asana. Our main goal being to give an introduction and foundation to the physical practice in order to give useful and accessible tools which can be used in the classroom and lead classes and allow our teacher to instruct intelligently and safely. Lectures and workshops will give an added perspective and knowledge on why certain transitions in dynamic classes should be avoided, and the limitations of the body and proper actions to protect the body from the future injury of your future students.

A practice which draws from several different disciplines including visual meditation, pranayama techniques and Qi Gong forms, this energetic work is designed to heightening energetic sensitivity and reconnecting to the Source. It is practiced to expand the human senses and their vision of material reality, allowing them to become more aware of the energetic current and vibrations around them, and their inherent connection to it. This uplifting and powerful practice helps practitioners to balance their feminine and masculine energy, drawing them back to their natural equilibrium. Students will not only experience this process, but also learn how to guide groups through this energetic practice