Teacher Training Program - Beginning 2013

The Program

The Yoga Foundation will be offering a 500 hour Teacher Training Program in the teaching tradition of great yoga teacher Krishnamacharya. The comprehensive curriculum designed by his son TKV Desikachar, and his grandson, Kausthub Desikachar, has no equal. It ensures that the theories and practices of authentic, appropriate, and transformative yoga will be learned and taught with integrity and depth of understanding. Topics include Yoga Philosophy, Classical Asana, Pranayama, and Meditation techniques, Course Planning, Modifications, Observation, Chanting, and Anatomy and Physiology.

The pivotal aspect of our program is mentorship and the teacher-student relationship. All students will be assigned a suitable mentor who will guide them, through a series of 25 mentor classes over the two-and-a-half year period, in their personal practice, through their individual queries, and in their development as a competent teacher.

Observation serves as a bridge between learning and teaching. Through 25 hours of observing KHYF certified teachers, our students gain the advantage of experiencing how one tradition can be creatively applied, with discretion, by different teachers with the common goal of enhancing the well-being of many different populations. 25 hours of observed teaching, which happens later in the program, enables Teacher Training Students to feel comfortable transitioning to a teacher in a lineage with a reputation for integrity and a high quality of teaching.

The logic behind the two-and-a-half year period of the training program is that teachers of yoga should undergo transformation in order to help others as competent teachers in this lineage. As future teachers, you will have time and support to cultivate stability, peace of mind, and clarity through the process. The education is holistic – influencing all dimensions of our trainees through incorporating both tools of yoga and encouraging them to think out of their box. Graduates will feel confident to teach group classes to all types of students and one-on-one classes tailored to general physical/mental/emotional well-being.

The Teachings

Accredited by the Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation to run 500 hour teacher trainings, The Yoga Foundation takes yoga seriously. We align ourselves with the teachings of Mr. TVK Desikachar and his son Kausthub Desikachar, founders of The Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation, as learned through their eminent family member, T. Krishnamacharya.

T Krishnamacharya

Tirumalai Krishnamacharya - yogi, healer, linguist, Vedic scholar, expert in the Indian Schools of thought, researcher, author... in other words, a legend. Born in 1888 in a remote Indian village, T Krishnamacharya who lived to be over hundred years old was one of the greatest yogis of the modern era. If today, yoga is an inherent part of the everyday lives of millions of people across the world, it is due in large measure to the pioneering efforts of T Krishnamacharya who revived yoga in the early twentieth century. While preserving ancient wisdom and reviving lost teachings, Krishnamacharya was also a revolutionary innovator who developed and adapted yoga practices that were as would offer health, mental clarity and spiritual growth to any individual in the modern-day world.

Krishnamacharya's knowledge of yoga was so vast that he taught each student differently. In refusing to standardize the practice and teaching methodology, Krishnamacharya created an understanding of yoga relevant for a broad spectrum of students. By integrating the ancient teachings of Yoga and Indian philosophy with modern-day requirements, Krishnamacharya created yoga practices that are as accurate and powerful as they are practical and relevant.

TKV Desikachar

TKV Desikachar, son and student of the legendary yoga master, T Krishnamacharya, is one of the most respected yoga teachers and healers of our time. Over the course of his thirty years of study with his teacher, Desikachar learned the complete practice and application of the tools of yoga, as well as the classical yoga texts, including Yoga Sutra-s of Patanjali and Yoga Rahasya of Nathamuni. In 1976, Desikachar founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM), a non-profit public charitable trust in Chennai, India, to honor his father and share his teachings. Today, the KYM is one of the most respected yoga centers in the world, attracting thousands of local and international students each year, who come for healing and to participate in the KYM’s numerous educational programs. Desikachar is the author of several chanting CDs, as well as books on yoga and allied subjects, including The Heart of Yoga, Health Healing and Beyond, and Reflections on the Yoga Sutra-s of Patanjali.

Kausthub Desikachar

Kausthub Desikachar, son and student of TKV Desikachar, began studying yoga when he was nine years old. In addition to co-authoring two books, Vedic Chant Companion and Viniyoga of Yoga, with his father, he has also authored a book on teaching yoga to children that has been published in French. His most recent publication, The Yoga of the Yogi is a loving tribute to his grandfather, the great Yogi, T. Krishnamacharya. Kausthub is the Chief Executive of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM), where he is a senior teacher and yoga therapy consultant. He is also a Patron of the British Wheel of Yoga and an advisor to the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Kausthub is currently working on his Ph.D at the Psychology Department, University of Madras, on the role of yoga in enhancing quality of life. Kausthub lives with his wife and daughter in India, where he works to bring yoga to the socially and economically under-privileged.

The Faculty:

The main teaching faculty is Danielle Tarantola, a long-term student of Kausthub Desikachar as well as a certified Teacher Trainer and Therapist in training. Senior Teacher in the Healing Yoga Foundation’s 500 hour teacher training, she is joined by her colleagues Chase Bossart and Dolphi Wertenbaker, both long-time students of TKV Desikachar.

The Schedule:

The program will consist of 25 15-hour modules plus a monthly two hour skype class. The next program begins in January 2013

Testimonial

"My experience as a student has been truly extraordinary. The HYF Teacher Trainers convey their genuine excitement about, and commitment to, yoga's purposes, the care and tending of the body and spirit. The staff has available at a moment's notice, to shepherd me through difficult parts of my training. I've benefited in both observable, and subconscious ways, from their expertise and kindness - my questions are always genuinely welcomed - and having teachers who accept my strengths and weaknesses has been paramount in my enjoyment of my study and learning. The hallmark of the yoga of Krishnamacharya and Desikachar - special care to the individual, as a whole person - has also affected the mood of the student community. We have become warmer and more understanding toward each other, because the Teacher Training staff has been an unfailing model of creative, dynamic and, yes, fun ways to work with the concepts of yoga and their practical applications, to help each of us achieve steadiness and comfort in our lives. This will help to make us better teachers, and better able to bring these goals to our students."
- Bill Wertheim

More Information

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