500-HOUR YOGA TEACHER CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
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200-Hour Foundations of Yoga Teacher Certification Program
Yoga Alliance-Registered 200-Hour Level 1 Teacher Training
Download our catalog. Meet the faculty and get more info on our programs.
Contact us if you’d like to talk about the program.
YogaPoser’s Level One Teacher Training is unique to most other trainings in four important ways:
- You won’t get lost in the crowd. We have a maximum of 11 students in the teacher training, although there tends to be closer to 5-7 trainees in each.
- We won’t teach you a specific, limited technique of teaching and sequencing asana classes like most trainings do … our experience teaching in those trainings showed us that that’s not very practical at all in the real world. To fully prepare you in a useful way, we instead teach you the foundations of all great asana practice so you can teach in the way that works for you and your future students. We do it by ushering you through your own intense practice; by teaching you the fundamentals of human anatomy and the philosophy of yoga practice; and by filling your teaching toolbox with tried and true teaching tools that you can use to communicate what you learn about practice in all of the many unpredictable teaching circumstances in which you’ll find yourself.
- Instead of only teaching the other trainees in the program, you get real-life teaching experience by teaching a public beginner’s class with your peers- followed by rich and dynamic feedback from our highly experienced faculty, beginning about 1/4 of the way into your training. We prepare you for the real world by bringing it into the training.
- Our entire teaching faculty is involved in every training. Currently there are seven highly-experienced faculty members who will each focus on a different aspect of your training. That way, you get a well-rounded experience, which better enables you to be yourself. Although each faculty member has their own unique qualities, we all learned through a similar approach to teaching and practicing- so, although you get diversity from many points of view, you’ll also be able to see the common elements in us all which you’ll then be able to integrate into your own unique approach. You’ll know which qualities are essential to an authentic practice and which ones can be modified from situation to situation.
When you complete the YogaPoser Teacher Training, you will already have found your own teaching voice and you’ll have already had experience using it, enabling you to branch out into a more specialized focus. Instead of being ready to teach your first class when you graduate our program, you will have already done that and much more- you’ll be ready to get a job.
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Download our catalog. Meet the faculty and get more info on our programs.
Curriculum Summary: All Roads Lead to Asana
We love asana! Although there are five areas of study in our training and many, many ways to practice yoga, all of the lessons in this training lead to asana practice in some way or another. We believe asana, when practiced well, is an accessible, practical, and deeply effective and completely authentic way to practice yoga in the most traditional sense of the word.
YogaPoser Teacher Training Programs are based on Yoga Alliance standards. The 200-Hour program is comprised of 180 hours of studio and classroom time and 20 hours of homework.
Techniques of Training and Practice: 95 hours
The majority of the training (95 hours) occurs through asana practice. Over the course of the training students will engage in a combination of three types of asana practice:
Tightly-focused workshop-style practices where the details of each type of asana are studied. We divide these workshops into about a dozen major types of body position so you get a deep and practical understanding of the challenges, benefits and risks of each. Each of these is followed by another lecture-type class in which we discuss in even greater detail the many parts that put asana together, including: how to sequence asana; how to adjust students with different abilities and histories; and how to articulate the important steps to practicing asana in its fullest available expression.
Teaching Methodology: 25 hours
No matter how deep your own practice is or how much you know about asana, it doesn’t do your students much good if you can’t communicate what they need to hear in an effective way. That’s what these classes are for. You’ll explore the theory and practice of pedagogy and andragogy: the art of teaching people. Through a combination of lecture, discussion and role-playing, students explore issues and tools common to all fundamental teaching precepts, as well as those that apply specifically to teaching yoga.
Philosophy and Ethics of Yoga: 30 Hours
Yoga practice was developed centuries ago by people who saw the human condition and how to perfect the human experience in a way that is still universally applicable as a science of self-improvement. One way we can ensure that your teaching, no matter what form it takes, is actually about good yoga, is to make sure you see how the physical practice connects to the system that is so clearly laid out in the ancient philosophical texts. Using the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as our primary guide, you’ll explore and learn about the history and philosophy of yoga in a way that is immediately usable to you. We teach you how to apply the simple but indispensable guidelines that are listed in the Sutras. Our belief is that if you can’t use it, its a waste of time. So, we deliver what you need when you need it in lectures with an emphasis on student reflection, discussion and analysis.
Anatomy for Yoga: 20 hours
Before you start asking people to do things with their bodies, you need to know how the body works (and how it doesn’t). Our anatomy course has two objectives: that you know exactly what you are asking people to do in any asana; and how to sequence asana so it makes sense. The 20-hour anatomy module is a comprehensive, stand-alone course designed to teach students the anatomy fundamentals essential for any teacher of body movement, particularly yoga teachers. Again, we teach you what you’ll be able to use right away in our practice and teaching. When you understand the practical anatomy of asana, you can develop your own style of sequencing and teaching in a way that works.
Practicum: 10 hours
Our experience has demonstrated that students learn significantly more in a real teaching environment and are able to gain more applicable teaching experience that better prepares them for job opportunities after graduation. So, you’ll co-teach actual public classes, observed by our faculty and followed with lots of feedback, to gain actual teaching experience by employing the teaching tools learned during the training.
Independent Study: 20 hours
The remainder of the 200 hour program is focused on homework and outside study in all areas of study.
Schedule Overview
The course is offered in two ways. Generally one is better for people with full-time jobs and the other is better for people with an open schedule who want to complete the training quickly.
Weekend Format
For those of you that work something like a 9-5 job, our weekend format will probably work better. Training takes place on Saturdays and Sundays for 5 1/2 hours a day, from noon until 5:30 PM. We will meet for twelve weekends and you’ll have all major holiday weekends completely off.
4-Week Intensive Format
For those of you with a lot of schedule flexibility, we’ve created a 4-Week Intensive format where you attend training for about nine hours a day Monday through Friday for four weeks. Your training day will start at 10:00 AM and go until about 6:00 PM.
Tuition
The tuition for the 200-Hour Foundations of Yoga Teacher Certification Program is $3,000, but there are a couple ways to pay less than that. If you sign up eight weeks prior to the start date, you can apply a $500 Very Early Bird discount. If you sign up 4 weeks prior to the course start date, you can apply a discount of $250.
Payment Plans
Payment plans are available. Payment plans allow you to divide the full course tuition plus a $250 finance charge, over four equal and evenly spaced payments, with the first payment due before you start the course and the last payment due before you complete it.
Free Classes Until 30 Days After Graduation!
Nothing teaches better than practice! During your participation in either format of our teacher training programs, you may enjoy unlimited classes at our studio for no additional cost. This privilege begins when you have paid your tuition in full and extends until 30 days after the end of your course. See you there!
See our training calendar, get more info, or register for a training here.
300-Hour Master Yoga Teacher Certification Program
Yoga Alliance-Registered 300-Hour Level 2 Teacher Training
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Contact us if you’d like to talk about the program.
After graduating from a 200-Hour Level 1 Teacher Training, many new teachers choose to continue their studies with us so they can continue on the path with us or to give a jumpstart to their careers. Upon completion of this program, they may register with Yoga Alliance at the E-RYT 500 Level: Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher 500.
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Curriculum Summary: Go deeper.
We still love asana! All of the 270 hours of contact you’ll have will help you hone your practice and teaching of asana as a means to find your way to your authentic self as a practitioner, a teacher and as a person.
The YogaPoser Teacher Training Program is based on Yoga Alliance standards. The certification program is comprised of 270 contact hours with 30 hours of independent study. You can take any of the classes on weekends and/or during the week and you needn’t take them in order. Take as long as you need to complete the course or finish it in as little as 4-6 months.
Techniques of Training and Practice: 100 hours
There are 24 two-hour asana workshops and five one-hour pranayama workshops in the 300-Hour course, each focusing on something a little different from the others, but always based on the common elements of good and effective practice. You can attend these at your pace either on Sundays or during the week, or you can mix it up. You needn’t attend all of them in order but to receive your certification, you must attend them all. You’ll also meet four times throughout the course of your study with an assigned faculty member so we can track your progress and see how things are going.
During your training, you’ll also attend at least 44 hours of ashtanga practice because we believe it’s one of the very best ways to learn how to sequence and teach classes that are based on vinyasa.
Teaching Methodology: 50 hours
Comprised of 16 3-hour lessons and a 2-hour panel discussion, the Teaching Methodology module’s hours are spent predominantly on further developing your skills in sequencing asana, giving effective and safe hands-on adjustments, and learning to give better verb cues in class. In addition, you’ll learn more about teaching restoratives and teaching beginners; and you’ll take part in a 3-part Career Plan-of-Action Workshop that’ll get you positioned to take your new skills to the people that need them most.
Philosophy and Ethics of Yoga: 30 Hours
A combination of 2- and 3-hour long lecture/discussions, the philosophy module takes a deeper look at the Yoga Sutras, which we have found takes on a deeper and more personal meaning after you’ve had some time to digest what you learned in your 200-hour training. You’ll also be guided into a practical look at the Bhagavad Gita, which is introduced after a lesson on the effectiveness and use (and misuse) of myth and metaphor in general.
Just like in the 200-hour course, if you can’t use the philosophy, it’s a waste of everybody’s time, so we keep it all practical and easy to grasp for maximum effectiveness.
Anatomy for Yoga: 30 hours
The 30-Hour Anatomy Module has 11 2- or 3-hour long workshops. There are special workshops on core stability, the shoulder and the knees; along with several that deal with particular anatomical challenges in different areas of asana. We also study the anatomy of ujjayi pranayama and the bandhas so you can teach and practice these often elusive concepts in an accessible and practical way.
Practicum: 60 hours
Towards the end of your program you’ll put all of your new skills into action in the Practicum portion of the training. We’ve included far more than the minimum number of hours required by Yoga Alliance in this category because our students asked for it! You’ll spend 30 hours assisting with a mentor from our senior faculty chosen especially for you. You’ll also take part in 10 asana classes followed by a 90-minute peer and faculty review of the teacher. You will teach the class yourself a minimum of 2 times and you’ll give peer feedback up to 8 times.
Schedule
We offer all of the modules of the 300-Hour course in two different schedule formats … you can mix them up or take all of one or all of another. We have formatted the program more like a university program- you have a required list of modules you’ll need to complete but you can complete them at your pace and usually in any order, although we recommend that you take the Teaching Methodology and Practicum modules last to get the most benefit.
All classes are offered on Sundays from 10 AM until 3 PM and about every five to seven weeks, we offer 2-week clusters of intensives and clinics during the week every day from 8:30 Am until 6:00 PM. You can schedule your entire training in advance or do it as it comes … whatever works for you.
Tuition
The tuition for the 300-Hour Foundations of Yoga Teacher Certification Program is $3,000.
Payment Plans
Payment plans are available. Payment plans allow you to divide the full course tuition plus a $250 finance charge (Total of $3250) over four equal and evenly spaced payments, with the first payment due before you start the course and the last payment due within one year or course completion, whichever comes first.
Free Classes
During your participation in our teacher training programs, you may enjoy unlimited classes at our studio for no additional cost. This privilege begins when you have paid your tuition in full and continues for one year or for 30 days after your course completion, whichever comes first.
Contact us if you’d like to talk about the program.300-hour Modules Complete List
