The 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training Program at VSBM follows the guidelines set out by the Yoga Alliance, ensuring the highest educational standards of quality, integrity, and professionalism.
Participants will develop a personal yoga practice appropriate for each individual while learning to foster a connection with their own inner wisdom and voice. It is from this deeper connection to Self that the ability to communicate the practice to others in a dynamic and sensitive way blossoms.
VSBM concentrates on exceptional training. We do not operate as a Yoga studio running daily classes, but focus on training great teachers. The philosophy of our training is to make the practice of Yoga accessible, fun, safe, and honor the traditions of Yoga while playing a part in its’ evolution. The foundation of the program is grounded in a non-dualistic Tantric philosophy. In this philosophy, every human is seen as a condensation of Supreme Consciousness. As the artist Michelangelo said, in order to make a sculpture he simply had to “remove all the stone that was not a part of the statue”. Yoga practice is as well, a process of revelation. In our methodology, Yoga practice is not imposed on the individual - Yoga practice is adapted to the individual. Teachers in training develop their innate, sometimes dormant skills of clear communication and leadership along with a personal practice suited to their individual needs and goals.
It is a tradition of ancient teachers to send their students to another teacher, a teacher who may offer a completely different approach. We bring in guest instructors from a variety of Yoga disciplines - Yin, Vijnana, Vinyasa flow, Restorative Yoga and Mantra Yoga. In this way, the students’ faculties of discrimination and inner wisdom are stimulated. A clear understanding of differences in approach allows an honoring of that approach, and even incorporation into one’s teaching of what is helpful.
Participants need only have the desire to embark on what is essentially a life-long discipline, and the energy and time to give full attention to study and practice for the duration of the program. Many students have asked if it is important to have an advanced physical practice in order to teach Yoga. The ability to perform difficult postures is not necessarily a hallmark of advanced practice. Advanced practice is the ability to go deeply into even the most simple postures and exercises.
Graduates will receive a Yoga Alliance recognized certificate and can expect to be employable worldwide in the yoga industry.
Curriculum
- Principles of Practice
The source of great Yoga teaching is personal practice. Personal practice opens the door to the teacher’s innate wisdom, allowing that wisdom to be expressed “from the heart”. Using the Universal Principles of Alignment™ of Anusara Yoga, teachers in training utilize the most elegant and user-friendly bio-mechanical principles available. Rather than adhering to a specific sequence of posture only, daily practice includes creative sequencing techniques. Some Pranayama (breath expansion) techniques and an introduction to meditation are components of daily practice. By the end of the program teachers in training will have a well-rounded personal Yoga practice that informs their teaching.
- Teaching methodology
This 200-hour yoga teacher training program's central focus is on how to lead a safe, effective and joyful yoga class. The methodology of teaching plays an integral role in leading a successful and interesting yoga class. Teachers in training learn to listen to their own voice, their own particular pattern of language, and from there begin to examine and refine communication to become as clear as possible. This approach has far-reaching effects on and off the mat. Beginning by writing and then speaking simple scripts describing the performance of everyday activities - things we take for granted like opening a door - the mechanics and the art of precise direction unfolds. By the time the teachers in training lead their own classes, they are fully aware of nuance of language and how to use it effectively to inspire and deepen the experience of yoga for their students. This skill coupled with an understanding of bio-mechanics, optimal alignment, verbal and physical adjustments and developing a class intention to enrich and add meaning to their class gives V.S.B.M.'s teachers in training a diverse and colorful pallet to draw from. Ultimately, it is our own inner wisdom, humor and unique voice we seek to reveal as a teacher.
- Physical adjustments
A Yoga student absorbs information in three ways – verbally, visually, or through sensation. Touch can be one of the most powerful teaching tools a teacher has. Understanding types of touch – directive, affirming or therapeutic – teachers in training develop appropriate and non-injurious skills to communicate and connect with their students.
- Anatomy
An understanding of the structure of the body and how postures create change within that structure is key to safe instruction. Practical applied anatomy, observing types of body – organic or muscular - is a component of the anatomy training. Compressive and tensile forces and variations in skeletal structure are explored as well as muscle groups, the subtle body, and it’s energies. Students are provided with an excellent text to support their studies in Anatomy.
- History and philosophy of yoga
When teaching this art and science of Yoga, the question “What are we actually teaching?” needs to be answered. Yoga philosophy can be interwoven into the physical practice itself to enrich the experience and give it context. The origins of Yoga and the development of its’ philosophy are fascinating subjects. Yoga philosophy ultimately seeks to answer the question “who are we?” Through lectures, D.V.D. presentations and discussion, a foundation of understanding is developed. Classical Yoga, Tantra Yoga and the dualistic and non-dualistic philosophies are explored. Key texts – The Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are also summarized.
- Ethics and lifestyle
What is ethical behavior? How does a lifestyle aligned with our highest good affect our ability to teach? Considering these questions and the approaches Yogic texts have taken, as well as how our modern world deals with these questions is the starting point for a discussion of Ethics. Teachers in training also play-act practical situations to embody an understanding of the importance of Ethics.
- Meditation and chanting
Stillness can allow our innate nature to become visible. Invoking energy through the vibration of sound can harmonize us with our environment. Students learn the role these approaches play in creating sacred space, and learn several Sanskrit invocations and their meaning.
- Sanskrit basics
If you can say “Extra-hot, non-fat, triple-tall no-foam half-caf Grande Capuccino”, you can pronounce posture names in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is understood to be a “revealed” language. Though it is not necessary to teach a Yoga class entirely in Sanskrit, the language itself holds a certain power and beauty. Often it is easier to teach a class a posture name in Sanskrit than try to find an appropriate English equivalent. Posture names and the basic root components of those names are studied.
- Ayurveda
Ayurveda means “The Science of Life”. Determining one’s constitution through an understanding of this ancient wisdom helps to determine the focus of one’s own Yoga practice, and how to address the needs of students who will have a variety of constitutions. The five elements that Ayurvedic “doshas” are derived from and their relation to cosmology – the order of the universe – are connected and explored.
Yoga’s popularity is often equated with its’ health and fitness benefits, and its’ ability to reduce stress. The practice we are most familiar with primarily is asana, or the practice of performing postures. Even taken on its own as simply a physical practice, it has enormous benefits – re-aligning the body, increasing strength and flexibility, stimulating organ function and aiding insomnia. But if we dig a little deeper into this profound practice, it is possible to understand why Yoga does what it does so well.
One definition of Yoga is to unite. To unite means to bring at least two things together. The root of the word Yoga is “Yug” – to yoke. A yoke attached to an ox brings the power of the animal and the skill of the ploughman (or woman!) together to open the soil in order to plant a seed. Yoga practice serves to unite our individual nature to its source – Supreme Consciousness. When we lay in Savasana, or relaxation, after a Yoga practice we can get a glimpse of this union. The body is still and quiet, subtle energy pathways have been opened through asana practice and our energy is less scattered. In this setting, we intuitively sense a deep peace. Deep peace is always available - it is in fact our true nature as part of Supreme Consciousness, simply revealed by the science and art of Yoga practice.
Now, when we rise from relaxation, to leave behind this experience of re-connection would be a colossal waste. If we view our life circumstances, whatever they may be – ageing, relationship troubles, loved ones departing – in the context that the essential part of us is in fact immortal, everything changes. All relationships, jobs, lines on the face and troubles are transitory. Embodying this wisdom through Yoga practice is where the true “stress reduction” takes place. Yoga is able to turn the tables, affording us the opportunity to see this life in its true context. Embodying this understanding to greater and greater degrees, we can then effectively allow Consciousness to permeate our own lives, and our interactions with others.
Excerpt from Teaching Hatha Yoga
The materials presented in this manual represent a personal composition and interpretation of universal truths. Yoga is both a science and an art of a deeper understanding of the human condition. In my inquiry into this subject, I have had the good fortune to meet great teachers, whose wisdom has shed light on my own search for greater understanding. Such an approach will, in turn, benefit students and teachers alike. Whatever the style of your practice, Yoga is a practice of revelation. What is revealed is our true nature as an aspect of Supreme Consciousness. Consciousness, like the sea, underlies all of our individual qualities. One of the qualities of the individual ego is the notion of ownership. In my philosophy, ownership is always based on fear. Ownership is manifested in the form of deeds to land that has been here millennia before we put a fence around it, or a desire to accumulate goods in our name, or the branding of ideas that are simply an aspect of Supreme Consciousness. Ultimately, we leave everything behind but our understanding, and it is our privilege as teachers to share that understanding. Swami Mutkananda once said “It is good to be born in a church… very, very bad to die in one.” In this simple yet poignant statement he implies that whatever beliefs we are given, or handed, we must eventually put them aside in the process of our own spiritual growth. Yoga cannot be owned because it is in all of us. Every time you have taken a deep, conscious breath you have experienced Yoga.
Namaste,
Dan Clement
