Yoga Teacher Training: Connection, Spirituality and Purpose

YOGA TEACHER TRAINING: CONNECTION, SPIRITUALITY AND PURPOSE

Thank you for the honour and privilege
of allowing me to teach yoga for over 5 decades.

Yoga is more than taking an asana class.

To cultivate the healing power of yoga
requires much more than mechanically following a recipe
or a set of instructions.

The Yogic path unfolds with guiding principles and values,
teachings on self-culture, ethics and social action
known as the Yamas and Niyamas,
designed for all of us
to live peacefully, honourably, and with dignity,
in all five layers of a human being:
anatomical, energetic, mental, intellectual and spiritual.

These five basic principles serve as foundations
parallel with and in balance of
the ecosystem and environment of the planet
(earth, water, fire, air and space)…
yoking the body to the cosmos
with nature’s rhythms,
shifting your posture to set the tone towards
cultivating a strong backbone of integrity,
and a soft front of tenderness.

You stand tall, and sit up straight,
with the motivation to stop slouching in life,
and the intention to deliver good therapy, medicine and healing
in the form of helpful service and generous giving.

Aspiring to be noble can sound egotistical…
being puffed up with the identity of a do-gooder,
and perhaps, some people could use this concept in a self-serving way.
However, the most noble teachers
are those who feel empty of ego,
almost as if they are transparent,
and you can see through them.
They appear totally open ’human vehicles’
who receive operating instructions
about generating more love in the world,
and then they follow those instructions,
even when doing so can be extremely uncomfortable and demanding.

The teacher’s noble task is not to keep the class flowing,
and hopefully look good.
To aspire to be on purpose in the world today,
is to be of benefit and to contribute.
Teaching yoga can be an expression of this inspiration.
To maintain the wisdom traditions is an alive, ongoing invitation,
and for some of us, it is a real sense of calling.

There are many ways to be dharmic in the world today.
One of the best foundational steps
is to undertake training to become a teacher of Yoga.

The training enables you to establish a type of inner stability
and open heartedness,
which is what is needed to be skilful and effective,
particularly in these times
when there is an acceleration of collective chaos.
What matters is the transformation of the person,
not just the way.

Becoming a teacher changes your own life
and affects all those around you!

In teaching yoga, you come to terms with
social identity, racism, and other forms of oppression,
as well as how to bridge the divides.

This offers a unique and powerful opportunity
for you to apply your deepening practice
to your own awakening
and to serve others from diverse populations
with true sensitivity, respect, and compassion.
You become a transformative force
for better outcomes and positive social change.

We are facing an existential crisis.
These overwhelming times of widespread conflict, pandemics, climate crisis,
AI advances, conspiracy theories, political polarisation,
have left many of us in a state of spiritual PTSD,
feeling disconnected from one another, from our values and our joy.
The human world is continually speeding up,
while the non-human world of plants, insects and animals,
with its once vast range of ecologically diversity
is rapidly declining,
causing irreversible imbalances throughout the web of life.

With continuing calls for racial and social justice,
people are longing for wise ways
to navigate through life’s journey,
heal traumas, find resilience,
and foster true connection and well-being.
Given the magnitude of our global challenges and suffering,
the need for qualified teachers of yoga
is more compelling than ever.

The sages who engineered Yogic culture
were not ruled by their thoughts and emotions,
but were guided by awareness, perception and insight.

The teaching of yoga offers powerful transformative healing.
It embodies physical wellbeing, psychological wisdom and spiritual depth.
However, a spiritual practice exclusively concerned with
|my health, my wellbeing, my enlightenment, my freedom
is not a spiritual practice tuned in to these times
of ecological, social, physical and psychological imbalance.

Then declining health of our ecosystems
and the call for action in our cities, economies, communities and families
reminds us that we don’t have time to wait.
Instead it’s time to consider action in the world
and inner practice as synchronistic and parallel,
and an expression of interdependence, freedom and awakening.

Yoga offers a blueprint for living a more authentic, connected life,
one that might just save our precious life on this planet.
The world is made up of co-existing opposites.
The principles of yoga help sustain us
with friendliness, compassion and joy,
the ability to bear unpleasant things and uphold truthfulness.

Through the yogic discipline, one learns to balance one’s life
so that it’s in rhythm with the world around us,
interact and express interrelationship
by balancing not only within ourselves
but also our relationships with one another
and to our natural surroundings.

You can then bring your training
into whatever arena best suits your talents and life’s situation:
to your work as an educator, therapist, businessperson,
yoga teacher, parent, helping professional,
or whatever expression your activity beckons you.

YOGA TEACHERS ARE WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW

If you feel called to become a teacher of yoga,
I wholeheartedly encourage you to apply
to join one of our upcoming cohort of courses..

We have drawn on decades of our best teachings
to make this an extraordinary learning experience.

The courses are both a living testament
and an articulate educator for individuals
seeking to use Yoga Therapy for their personal use,
as well as helping others.

In this program we lovingly support and challenge you
to do your own internal work to strengthen your practices,
while honing in on your skills to bring this greater awareness to others.

This program combines a truly comprehensive, in-depth curriculum
providing training, practicum experience
and opportunities for one-to-one connections,
meeting fellow students, peer groups and mentors in affinity,
from around the world.
To help support your practice and refine your skills.
To apply the life-changing tools of classical yoga in your own life,
and with your family, clients, team members, patients, or the general public.

CERTIFICATE IV IN YOGA is yoga for Life. This 600 hour, base layer of training facilitates self-directed, and nature based life education in the deeper service of self-mastery and holistic (body-mind-spirit) health education.

THE DIPLOMA OF YOGA TEACHING, by its Course Title defines its purpose, principles and practices. It also provides an in depth exposition of the theory, philosophy, psychology, physiology and science that is Yoga.

THE ADVANCED DIPLOMA OF THERAPEUTIC YOGA TEACHING provides continuing and integrative approaches to wellbeing education, connecting the dots between the healing powers of Classical Yoga (which has always been an integral part of healing), Meditation, Ayurveda, Mindfulness and Wellness to every health care provider.

The wisdom of these timeless, ancient, sister-healing systems cross-reference and cross-pollinate an intimate relationship between body, mind and consciousness. Seeing life in the human body as the flow of cosmic intelligence, these complementary practices act as functional medicine (as they change the vector of the doshas) and can turn many lives around.

This course specifically addresses the weakness and inadequacy of modern Western medicine, (a statistical science with imperfect knowledge of life and health) which has largely become disease management rather than true health management.

Learners and community members seeking health and healing of chronic dis-eases attend to prevent and ultimately reverse many aspects of dis-ease (I use the hyphen in dis-ease to emphasise the absence of ease, and continue to use this spelling of dis-ease throughout my work). Many of these people have experienced amazing recovery through Shanti Yoga practices. Yoga Therapy is strong, albeit slow medicine. Strong medicine, no matter how slow, is good medicine.

The theory behind Yoga Therapy is based on improving mental health. It describes the condition of the mind as the root cause of all the lifestyle related chronic diseases. The mind-body is the content of information received through the senses, conditioning and memories. Control and care of the five senses and sense organs, understanding yogic anatomy and physiology which is grossly different to Western natomy and physiology, in that it describes the pathology of 3 bodies (physical, subtle and causal) and their treatment, five layers, seven chakras, and the practice of yoga asanas, pranayama, and meditation as therapy, cleansing practices, sound healing and more, all of which contribute to Yoga Chikitsa or Yoga Therapy.

I am in no doubt about the sustainability of yogic wisdom for living that our courses provide, from the Indian concept of advaita being the root of all scientific wisdom. Our alumni buzzes with our course graduates and undergraduates, in their respective locations and vocational fields, around the world. In this regard alone, our program of courses is a complete success, with many of course graduates sharing their involvement in the wisdom path and its practices at many levels, through brainstorming ideas, editing, and by providing crucial electronic support.

Upon graduation, you will receive a qualification that is internationally recognised.
And most importantly, you commit to a time-tested path of training
that enables you to embody your deepest and most noble aspirations,
becoming part of a wisdom stream that is dearly needed in the world today.

I invite you into a transformational journey
where you will learn to bring your own heart’s wisdom
to foster the healing, connection, and compassion
so needed in our world.

There is power in each person
to transform themselves and their communities.

We hope that you can join us.

WHAT MAKES THIS YOGA TEACHER CERTIFICATION PROGRAM UNIQUE?

What You Will Learn And Experience

The teacher training curriculum aims to imbue learners with the transformational principles underlying yoga and guide them in skilfully offering these powerful practices to others. The teaching of mindful yoga moves us from individual growth to collective change.

Trainees will learn the application of yoga i.e. unity, to relationships and societal change, explore the interface of meditation with Western psychology and cutting-edge science, and develop teaching skills and receive guidance on how to establish classes and workshops.

Specific Content Includes:

Core Practices

Develop your practice of yoga with mindfulness, movement, concentration, inquiry, open awareness, and breathwork that awaken a compassionate heart.

Training In The Domains Of Yoga

Practice awareness as it relates to your body and your feelings, emotions, mind states, social identity, and awareness itself. Learn how to expand the field of yoga to include wise relationships with others and the entire living world.

Skill-Building Lessons

Become skilled and confident in speaking in public, conducting individual and small group sessions, guiding classes, and responding to questions in diverse, multicultural settings.

Transformational Applications

Use the holistic applications that yoga provides to address physical pain, emotional challenges, addictive behaviour, trauma, relational difficulties, interpersonal conflict, and domains of collective, societal suffering.

The Ethics Of Teaching And Applying Yoga Mindfulness

Understand and learn to handle ethical issues that arise in teaching and in the student-teacher relationship, including awareness of, and taking responsibility for, the teacher’s impact on students from diverse backgrounds.

Mindful Movement Practicum

Group practice sessions, with opportunities to connect with your peers for feedback and support. Complement sitting, standing, lying and kneeling practices by learning mindful movement, teaching embodied awareness in movement, and engaging students with a rich, grounded, somatic experience of meditation.

Cultural Sensitivity

Build the core understanding, skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour about the conditioning that shapes social identity and creates racism, sexism, and the many other expressions of separation, hierarchy, and violence. Deep introspection, understanding, and skill building is supported through facilitated peer group discussions. These teachings are woven throughout the curriculum to serve your own awakening in this domain and to enhance your capacity to teach a wide range of students across culture, race, gender, ability, and other societally conditioned divides, with clarity and respect, attunement, and care.

Engaged Spirituality

Transform consciousness by actively engaging mindfulness and compassion to end social injustice, racism, violence, ecological harm, and other expressions of suffering.

Cultivating Community

Learn to design and promote classes and workshops with inclusive facilitation skills in order to create a nurturing and caring community of dedicated learners who learn with and from one another.

WHO SHOULD APPLY FOR THE YOGA TEACHER CERTIFICATION PROGRAM?

Yoga Teachers and Wellness Practitioners committed to diversifying services to attract more students by offering holistic yoga courses as well as group and private sessions.

Health Care and Mental Health Professionals focused on integrating holistic and evidence-based techniques to enhance client/patient outcomes.

Social Workers and Academic Advisors seeking to integrate the depth that yoga offers into their work to manage stress and burnout and to better support the children/students they serve.

Social Activists and Nonprofit Leaders determined to make a positive impact by sharpening their communication skills, garnering support for their cause, and influencing policy changes more effectively.

Holistic Business and Life Coaches dedicated to improving client outcomes by seamlessly integrating evidence-based yoga training into their work with clients.

Executives, Leaders, and HR Directors committed to leading with a more mindful approach to foster a work environment that prioritises employee well-being, productivity, creativity, and collaboration.

BENEFITS OF BECOMING A CERTIFIED YOGA TEACHER

Teaching as a Gateway to Inner-Realisation and Freedom

Learning to share these practices and teachings with others profoundly deepens and enhances your understanding, awareness, compassion, emotional healing, spiritual awakening and well-being.

Supporting Others in Healing, Awakening, and Transforming

You will support others in their healing, personal growth, spiritual awakening, and transformation. By participating in this program, you will become trained in a wide variety of skills and feel the joy of teaching these benefits to others wherever you are.

Serving the Healing of Our World and Becoming a Force for Social Good

Teaching yoga mindfully and moving into meditation with compassion directly contributes to the evolution of global consciousness and the healing of our world. Your deepened understanding of systemic racism and other divisive societal conditioning that causes suffering, inspires justice and compassion in our communities and a heightened caring for our earth.

Right Livelihood

The demand for certified yoga teachers is increasing for those who work in educational institutions, non profit organisations, health care, therapy, counselling, coaching, and executive-level leaders in business. Teaching yoga mindfulness with compassion has the potential to contribute in a wholesome way to your own livelihood.

The Blessings of Community

Learn and grow spiritually in a global community of practitioners dedicated to breaking down the barriers to connection. Your small mentoring group allows for a safe and gratifying depth in relationships, providing enormous support to your personal and professional growth.

Distinguished Certification

With completion of this teacher training program, you’ll receive a certificate from Health Institute Australasia. This credential will support you in establishing classes, workshops, and training events in communities, organisations, and institutions throughout the world. You will also have access to HIA’s Alumni Association to continue a rich, nourishing engagement with our global community.

Health Institute Australasia (HIA) studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being, and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society. Based on the Gold Coast in Australia, HIA is unique in its commitment to both science and practice. It not only sponsors groundbreaking research in the field of yoga, but also helps people apply this research to their personal and professional lives.