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Yoga Teacher Training
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Why Teach Yoga?

We practice yoga because it makes our lives better - healthier, happier, more holistic. Knowing yoga's amazing power to change our own lives and open us to our truest and greatest potential, we're inspired to share it with others. And in sharing it with others, we come to learn even more about ourselves, to more clearly see the fullness of our lives, to live more consciously, to give more lovingly. 

I teach yoga because I know from many years experience that it can make everyone's life better, regardless of age or condition. With over a quarter century of steady practice and a strong background in education, I choose to write books on teaching yoga and to train yoga teachers because I believe in intelligently and passionately sharing the practice.

If you share these values - that yoga makes life better, that yoga is for everybody, and that everyone deserves the best possible teacher - then I invite you to explore what I have to offer. Like life itself, yoga is constantly evolving. By stepping onto the path of the teacher, you're opening to more fully participating in the creative evolution of this ancient practice that you know makes a world of difference in millions of people's lives. Keep breathing and become part of making that difference.

 


Yoga Teacher Certification Programs

I offer three Yoga Teacher Trainning Courses:

  • 200-Hour Certification: The beginning of the teaching path. Gives you a Yoga Alliance RYS200 status. 

  • +300-Hour Certification: Requires prior completion of a 200-hour trasimning. Upon completion, this +300-Hour gives you a 500-Hour Yoga Alliance status (RYS500).

  • 500-Hour Certification: If you begin your 200-hour with me and add the +300,  it gives you a 500-Hour Yoga Alliance status (RYS500).

Develop the Skills and Knowledge for a Lifetime of Teaching and Practicing More Deeply:

  • Develop a deeper passion and appreciation for yoga as a transformative practice.
  • Study, refine and deepen your own yoga practice along with other highly motivated yoga teacher training students.
  • Learn to really teach yoga - not a yoga brand or single style, but yoga.
  • Gain a thorough and practical understanding the major asanas, including their alignment principles, energetic actions, variations, modifications, contra-indications, risks and benefits, enabling you to teach with confidence in a variety of approaches, including vinyasa flow, alignment-based practice, yoga therapy, and specialized styles.
  • Learn practical yoga anatomy that's of actual use in teaching yoga - how the body is structured, held together, moves and stabilizes - in a way that makes practical sense in teaching real human beings.
  • Learn the tools and skills needed for effectively and clearly teaching yoga to all levels of students and various student intentions and conditions.
  • Learn how to plan classes based on clear principles of sequencing within and between each family of asanas.
  • Learn the art and science of giving hands–on adjustments and other forms of assistance, one of the essential tools in guiding students in their yoga practices.
  • Develop an appreciation for different styles of yoga and different yoga teaching methodologies.
  • Learn to work with injuries, pregnancy and other specific or unique student needs in your yoga classes.
  • Explore the received wisdom from ancient yoga traditions and develop a well-rounded knowledge of yoga philosophy, ethics, history and lifestyle practices.
  • Learn about teaching in a variety of settings - yoga studios, gyms, businesses, schools, community centers, retreat centers and more - as well as the basics of opening a yoga studio.
  • Have a variety of opportunities to tailor your yoga studies to your specific interests.
  • Gain extensive teaching experience through practice teaching, apprenticeships and mentoring.

Personal Growth & Teaching Yoga

Personal Growth is an essential aspect of Yoga Teacher Training.Yoga is a process for learning about ourselves and opening to our fullest potential. It helps us to expand our awareness and transform our lives in ways that make us happier, healthier and feeling more whole within ourselves and in our relationships with others in the world. Embracing these basic values is the starting point for becoming a good yoga teacher.

Participants in this program invariably experience a deep and lasting sense of personal transformation as all of the elements of yoga become clearer and better integrated as you explore every aspect of yoga in your personal practice. In contrast to teacher training programs that emphasize attainment, competition or mastery, in this program we look to explore, refine, deepen, expand and learn without end. The primary source of this transformative learning is one's personal practice, and it is in the practice of yoga that we gain the most insight into how best to share the practice with others. Because yoga is a process for self-transformation, there is nothing to master, no end to what we can learn and no limit to how much we can grow and share.

Developing Best Practices

Yoga Teachers Learn to Work with Yoga StudentsWhile yoga practice is the key to developing as a teacher, the Yoga Teacher Training & Certification Program methodically prepares you to teach with creativity, confidence, and competence. Rather than focusing narrowly on a single style or lineage, it is designed to give you the skills and knowledge to continuously evolve as a teacher based on your own evolution, interests, and intentions.

This program is designed to ensure that you develop and integrate a comprehensive foundation and set of skills into the fabric of your life so that you flourish as an informed practitioner and creative teacher of yoga for the rest of your life. This takes time, effort and commitment. Starting from wherever you are in your knowledge, skills and experience, this program will give you the opportunity to progressively develop into the best yoga teacher you can be. 

Over 2,000 yoga teachers worldwide have participated in my yoga teacher training workshops over the past 18 years. They have gone on to teach in a variety of styles, including Vinyasa Flow, Anusara, Iyengar, Bikram, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Restorative & Therapeutic Yoga, Power Yoga, Yin, Pre/Post-Natal, Kids Yoga and others.

What color is your yoga parachute?! Come explore.

 

Your Next Steps:

  1. Get more information! Check out the 200-hour and/or +300/500-hour pages, FAQs, and Testimonials.
  2. Choose the Certification Level (200 or +300/500).
  3. Re-read the program details on the 200-Hour Certification and +300/500-Hour Certification pages.
  4. Choose the Format:
      • One Weekend per Month for 9 Months, OR
      • 21-Day Intensive (Winter or Summer)
  5. Read about Fees & Registration.
  6. Apply Online!

Choose Your Certification Level: 

21-Day Intensives in Santa Cruz - Offered Winter and Summer

  • 2020 WINTER SESSION IS JANUARY 13 - FEBRUARY 2

  • Complete the entire 200-hour training and certification in 21 days.

  • +300/500 training and certification is completed in 21 days + 3-to-6 months of independent studies and mentored teaching that can be completed through distance learning directly with Mark from anywhere in the world.

  • Daily Schedule: Mondays-Thursdays 8:30am to 7:00pm, Fridays-Sundays 8:30:am to 5:30pm.

  • SUMMER 2020 SESSION: JULY 13-AUGUST 2

  • Please note that +300/500 students must complete 100 additional hours of Mentored Teaching and Independent Study after the 21-Day Intensive as explained here

9-Month Format Weekends:

  • 2020-21 Session Begins September 19, 2020

  • One weekend per month for nine months, September through May.

  • Saturdays 8:30am to 7:00pm, Sundays 8:30am to 5:30pm.

  • 2020-21 Weekend Dates: Sept. 19-20, Oct. 17-18, Nov. 14-15, Dec. 19-20 Jan. 9-10, Feb. 13-14, Mar. 13-14, Apr. 10-11, May 8-9

  • The entire training is completed in nine months.

Call 888-594-9642 or click here to email us!