Curriculum for Fall 300 hour Hatha yoga teacher training program
A 300-hour hour Yoga Teacher Training Program offered by the Ajna Yoga Centre - focusing on hands-on learning.
Sept 2010 course open for registration
The course is designed to exceed the requirements from the Yoga Alliance.
We believe that adults learn most effectively through personal experience. Each session of the 12 week courses are designed to maximize your understanding of how yoga can transform people’s lives. The program includes:
1. Asana classes to deepen your understanding of your own yoga practice.
Teaching is ultimately about sharing your knowledge with others. Each time we meet (4 times a week for 12 weeks), you will be a student in a yoga class with a Ajna Yoga faculty member. Each yoga class is based on a different aspect of yoga practice – themes range from increasing core strength to incorporating yoga philosophy in your physical practice. We support your development of a regular yoga practice, so you can share your authentic experience as a yoga practitioner with your students. Personal attention is given in each class so that you can better understand your own body in the context of yoga practice.
2. Adjustment and Alignment workshops
Each body has its own unique challenges and tendencies. Ajna Yoga Centre teaches you how to teach to each individual student that comes into your class. In our Adjustment and Alignment workshops, held twice a week, we examine the ‘ins and outs’ of each of the 52 yoga postures covered in the course curriculum. We look at the common tendencies and limitations you will see in your classes and techniques you can employ to offer the most ease and enjoyment for your students.
3. Applied Anatomy
Yoga teachers need to know the basics of how the body works. You will learn anatomy while you learn the postures and breathing techniques – the major muscle groups, the skeleton, the respiratory system, the nervous system – and how yoga can bring greater health to you and your students. We will integrate yogic anatomy in the lessons each week – the chakras, the nadis, the koshas and the vayus – and look at how both systems of anatomy can included in your teaching.
4. Therapeutic Applications
Ajna Yoga Centre takes a special interest in teaching how yoga can benefit people with health issues. The curriculum teaches you about certain health issues and how you can put together classes for people with special issues. We will look at back pain, heart issues, arthritis and pregnancy, among others.
5. Meditation, Pranayama and Kriyas
The ancient yogis used different mind-calming and body-cleansing techniques to maintain optimum health. In this experiential learning course, you will learn different methods of meditation, breathing techniques (pranayama), and yogic cleansing techniques (kriyas).
6. Yogic Philosophy
Yoga comes from an ancient tradition. In order to truly understand the benefits and the practice of yoga in our lives today, we need to look at yoga in the context from where it evolved. Using the Yoga Sutras and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika as our main texts, we will examine how the pearls of wisdom from the yogic tradition can be applied in our daily lives. Through reading, discussion and writing assignments, you will begin to integrate the wisdom of yoga into your wider life - your work, your relationships and how want to live your life.
7. Practicum and Practice Teaching
In our philosophy of ‘learning through doing’, you will begin the process of teaching from the first few weeks of the course. There is a team of people to support you during this process. You will mentor with a member of the Ajna Yoga Center faculty throughout the course – and that mentor will be there for you to answer one-on-one personal questions and advice. You will practice your teaching first by teaching small sections of a class, to build your confidence as a teacher and to gradually assimilate your growing knowledge of yoga. The final exam is a one-hour yoga class.
8. Sequencing
Sequencing is the art of science of a yoga class. We will investigate the elements of a seamless yoga sequence and we’ll workshop how to develop sequences for both hatha and flow styles of yoga. Once you are competent with the basics of sequencing, we will then look at sequencing for special groups. You will leave the course with a ‘toolkit’ of a variety of sequences to meet the needs of different classes.
9. Boundaries, ethics and emotions in teaching
Yoga teaching is a profession with its own guiding principles. We will look at common issues that come up in the student/ teacher relationship and discuss what is and what is not within the realm of yoga teaching. The course will also cover the emotional aspect of yoga as we study yoga as a transformational practice.
10. The Business of Yoga
Yoga is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of exercise in North America. When we look at the business aspect of yoga, we will cover teaching opportunities in different settings (studios, gyms, private lessons), marketing your skills and building professional networks.
