Yoga Teacher Training

The purpose of the course is twofold:

1. To provide professional, comprehensive and quality training in all aspects of yoga teaching.
2. To enable students to develop their own sadhana (personal yoga practice) in a systematic and guided way.

​The course integrates the profound spiritual practices and development that lie at the heart of yoga. The emphasis is on awakening the faculties of each student, thus developing the capacity to transmit yoga to others on a profound level. It creates high quality teachers who have undergone their own process of self-transformation and who teach from the depth and passion of their own experience of the yoga practices.

The course benefits from being taught by a highly trained team of tutors, each with different areas of expertise and passion. Some teachers live in the Ashram so offer experience of full immersion in a yogic way of life, and others live elsewhere in the UK, bringing experience of the application of a yogic life in our busy world.

The course covers:

• anatomy and physiology

• asana (physical postures) including practicing safely to avoid injury and for different medical conditions

• pranayama (breath control) - practicing a variety of techniques

• bandhas (psycho-physiological locks) and mudras (symbolic body positions and hand gestures)

• shat karmas (cleansing practices)

• meditation - practicing several methods

• yoga nidra, and also basic relaxation practices

• yogic energy centres and pathways (chakras and nadis)

• mantra yoga

• karma yoga

• applied yogic philosophy such as Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and selected Upanishads

• first aid

• specialised areas such as safeguarding and protection of children and vulnerable adults, an introduction to teaching pregnant women, and a trauma sensitive approach to teaching yoga

• the practicalities of setting up a yoga class, working for an organisation or being self-employed

• teaching methods

• lesson and course planning
• class management

• an in-depth project of choice in the 2nd year

Course aims:

• to provide a comprehensive training in many aspects of yoga and meditation so that course graduates will be capable of providing professional, responsible and high quality teaching to their students
• to give students a deep understanding of the essence of traditional yogic techniques and philosophy, their practical application, and how they can be taught in a western yoga class
• to motivate and inspire students to undergo a transformation in their understanding and perception of themselves, others and life in general

Course Objectives 

By the end of this course all students will:

• have expanded and developed their own practice of yoga so that they are fully competent and experienced in all the techniques which they will need to impart to others
• have the knowledge and ability to teach the practices safely according to the needs of their students, and have acquired sufficient knowledge of anatomy and physiology and how to relate this to hatha yoga practice
• have acquired a grounding in the philosophical bases and spiritual aspects of yoga and their application to everyday life in the Western world
• demonstrate their capacity to effectively plan, deliver and evaluate a yoga class

Course Prerequisites

Applicants should have:

• at least three years practice of yoga
• a desire to share the benefits of yoga through teaching
• an openness to profound change on a personal level and an aspiration to deepen the understanding of one’s Innermost Nature
• computer proficiency, including confidence with email, internet, word processing, insertion of images into documents, working with tables, and access to printer and scanner.

Course Commitments

Students will be expected to:

• practise daily following prescribed course material including asana, pranayama, meditation and yoga nidra for a minimum of one hour - throughout the course
• undertake and complete on time the required course work both in the Ashram and at home - throughout the course
• attend a regular and suitable weekly yoga class - throughout the course
• attend all the residential seminars at the Ashram, including the introductory two-days
• teach their own regular weekly yoga class(es) in the second year of the course

Summary

Our YTTC is fully compatible with the needs and dynamics of 21^st century western yoga classes while remaining true to the original spiritual depth of the classical yoga tradition. It offers an authentic training that is rooted in the timeless teachings of yoga and the generation-old ashram tradition that is flourishing in the hills of south-west Wales.