The Teaching Yoga Academy

Online Mentoring
with Mark Stephens

Monthly Engagement + Resources
for Teaching Yoga with Confidence & Creativity

Teach Yoga with Greater Confidence and Creativity

As yoga teachers, we want our students to have the most inspiring, uplifting, and beneficial experience. Everything from our vibe and voice to sequencing and techniques in guiding our students matters. Yet even after completing teacher training programs, taking workshops, and even years of experience, most teachers often struggle to be the very best they can be for their students.

We do our best as teachers when we truly listen to our students and engage with them in kind and informed ways, when we offer them thoughtful, patient, and  insightful guidance that empowers our students in their practices.

Yet many teachers lack confidence and clarity in teaching – and all of us can do better! From the detailed elements of asanas to the most effective ways of exploring breathing and meditation, there is always more to learn and refine.

Whether you are new to teaching or have years of experience, we often forget important knowledge from our past training, or we don't stay current with new and more insightful ways of guiding our students, or we tend getting stuck in habits that are so habitual we don't even seem them as such.

The deeper we go in our training and experience as a yoga teacher, the more we realize that there’s an infinite universe of knowledge and wisdom to bring to the practice. This becomes more abundantly clear as we come to better appreciate and understand our unique students.

All of this is why I’m here for you as a mentor, guide, and supporter.

Inside The Teaching Yoga Academy, I provide teachers with an in-depth learning experience to help you build on your prior experience and teach yoga with creativity, clarity and confidence.

Whether you are a new or an experienced teacher, or even a teacher trainer, The Teaching Yoga Academy will help you develop the knowledge and skills you need to:

• Teach in the most inspiring and uplifting ways.
• Guide your students with the most informed and effective methods and techniques.
• Provide your unique students with individualized guidance for their conditions and intentions.
• Explain alignment and intentional actions in the asanas from a clearer foundation in practical yoga anatomy.
• Make all the postures, breathing practices, and meditation techniques more accessible, sustainable, and transformational.
• Design and teach class sequences – from the vast menu of asanas, pranayama, and meditation – that are creative, safe and sustainable.
• Give guidance that addresses individual needs in a way that makes also sense for an entire class.
• Work with special conditions and injuries.
• Seamlessly integrate breathing and meditation into classes and workshops.
• Bring uplifting themes and narrative overlays to your classes, including by spicing up what you say with kernels of wisdom from yoga vast literary resources.

EXPERIENCE YOU CAN TRUST

I've been training yoga teachers since 1998 and I'm here to help you bridge the learning gaps between teacher training, weekend workshops, and the practical art of teaching yoga.

I draw from decades of experience and a diverse background in education that started as a teenager assisting in a special education classroom. Besides teaching yoga and training teachers in studios around the world, before getting into yoga I enjoyed many years of teaching academic subjects at L.A. City College, UCLA, and in inner city public schools and juvenile institutions. I love teaching and learning.

With a deep study of yoga history and philosophy, human anatomy and physiology, social and interpersonal dynamics, and Eastern and Western theories of being and consciousness, I bring a non-dogmatic, accessible, and integrated perspective to teaching and mentoring.

The Teaching Yoga Academy taps into all of this, offering you with directly practical monthly content and live online mentoring to help you to continue developing as the best teacher you can be in the moment.

Here's What You Get in the Academy

Every teaching topic in covered: Yes, we give a lot of attention to eery aspect of teaching yoga postural practices – working with injuries and limitations, offering modifications, use of props, hands-on adjustments, sequencing, common misconceptions and much more. We also focus on teaching pranayama, meditation, explorations of "humanities" (history, philosophy, ethics, lifestyle), pre-natal yoga, kids yoga, chair yoga and whatever else you ask about.

Convenient learning: Learn more about teaching yoga at your own pace, according to your own schedule, and from the convenience of your own home. It's also affordable mentoring without the need for travel or a lengthy time commitment.

World-class training: Described over a decade ago by Yoga Journal as "the teacher’s teacher,” my highly-acclaimed teacher training program is distinguished by its track record of producing outstanding graduates for over 25 years, many of whom are among the leading yoga teachers worldwide.

Time-saving resources: Along with monthly training videos (average 1-hour length), live Q&A mentoring sessions on Zoom, and ready-to-use sequences, you’ll have access to a growing library of online resources for yoga teachers.

Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Credits: All of your hours in The Teaching Yoga Academy count for Continuing Education hours required b-annually by Yoga Alliance

Each month you’ll have access to:

• The On-Demand Library of Videos on Teaching Yoga:A new video is posted 
   every month. I patiently produced and carefully curated these high-quality videos to cover every topic in the most detailed and comprehensive way I could. 
• 3-hour Live Q&A Mentor Sessions via Zoom with me (which are recorded and available to watch whenever you wish) to address all your burning questions about everything from what I'm offering you here to whatever arises in your experience as a teacher. 
   
• Direct Access to My On-Demand Streaming Classes. Here you will see me teaching All Levels classes to a diverse array of students, modeling best teaching practices.  These classes are recorded and posted on our Kajabi course platform for you to view whenever you like, as often as you like.
   
• A Library of Class Sequences incorporating the asanas and techniques covered in the on-demand videos, so you can practice what you’re learning and save time constructing your classes.
   
• A Growing Library of Time-Saving Resources for self-study and planning classes, including: templates, worksheets and teaching scripts.

Testimonials

Sample Video: Teaching Warrior II

All videos in the Teaching Yoga Academy are recorded in 4k. They will play on a mobile device, pad, computer, or large screen TV. You can slow or increase the speed, pause, and rewatch them as often as you wish.