Our 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training
Our 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training
We believe in excellence in Yoga teacher training. For us and our students, this is far beyond teaching asana. Contemporary Yoga is a truly holistic programme that offers a transformational experience for students that explores deep into the yoga tradition and modern movement theory to build skills that support and enhance a beautiful life of teaching.
You won’t learn rigid shapes, cues or patterns here. Your highly experienced and respected teachers will take you on an enlightening and experiential journey of movement and yoga that creates stability and ease, and can be applied to every yoga style.
“This training surpassed all expectations - challenging, inspiring, and deeply informative.”
Bridget McNamara, 2017
Contemporary Yoga Teacher Training dives into the foundations of anatomy, alignment and movement in a way that is safe, stable, easeful and empowering.
With every breath and movement, you’ll be supported to find your own feet, resource your strength from within, and give voice to the passion that calls you.
Next 200-hour courses
January Intensive
6th til 26th January 2020
(includes 2 break days: 13th and 20th)
Weekend Mode 2020
25-26 April | 9-10 May | 23-24 May
6-7 June | 20-21 June | 4-5 July
18-19 July | 1-2 August | 15-16 August
2×9 Days 2020
22nd-30th August 2020
3rd-11th October 2020
Investment: $3250 (Early Bird)
Graduates of the 200-hour training are empowered to:
- Understand essential anatomy and physiology hands-on
- Investigate and enrich their understanding and practice of yoga
Embody natural, functional movement - Grow their own sustainable and nourishing practice
- Explore traditional yoga philosophy and history in a relevant way
- Apply principles of biomechanics and developmental movement patterns to healthy, easeful and steady movement in the wider yoga tradition
- Inquire, discuss, challenge, investigate, experience and try all learnings themselves in a safe environment, supported by their tutors and peers
- Develop a full and authentic approach to yoga, asana and meditation
- Deepen their personal journey, transformation and spiritual practice
- Have a clear sense of their own unique offering
- Give voice and confidence to their inner teacher
- Embrace yoga and movement as a lifelong study
- Build personal resilience and wellbeing
- Teach safely, confidently and creatively in their community
- Gain international recognition and accreditation to teach professionally worldwide
Choose Your Format
Our 200 hour yoga teacher training offering comes in different formats.
January Intensive 2020
Location: St Heliers Centre
6th-26th January
(includes 2 break days: 13th and 20th)
Weekend Mode 2020
Autumn and Winter 2020: 9 weekends over five months
Location: St Heliers Centre
25-26 April | 9-10 May | 23-24 May
6-7 June | 20-21 June | 4-5 July
18-19 July | 1-2 August | 15-16 August
2×9-Day Intensives 2020
Spring 2019: Two 9-Day Intensives
Location: St Heliers Centre, Auckland
Curriculum follows the Weekend Mode
Part 1 :: 22nd-30th August 2020
Part 2 :: 3rd-11th October 2020
Let’s Break It Down
Our 200-hour yoga teacher training course content can be broken down into several parts.
Face-to-face and heart-to-heart
170 hours are spent directly with your tutors where you will:
- Fully explore how developmental movement patterns grow into naturally-aligned asana.
- Discuss groundbreaking research into human anatomy & physiology and its relevance to Yoga .
- Get hands-on with bones and muscles and how they work together in asana.
- Investigate yoga biomechanics with a focus on containment and stability.
- Understand postural analysis, using Yoga to restore natural balance and full range of motion.
- Work with the subtle energies of the body (such as Chakras) to purify the nadis and touch the natural mind.
- Learn the fundamentals of Restorative Yoga and how to guide yourself and your students into deep, restful relaxation.
- Discover how the Yoga tradition is about meeting each moment with presence and openness.
- Experience how Yoga philosophy has the power to reshape your daily life.
- Gain confidence in your teaching skills and teaching practice.
Some of the techniques and methodologies:
You will learn valuable techniques to enhance your own Yoga practice and gain the skills to teach Contemporary Yoga principles in a safe and relaxed environment:
- Experiencing and investigating functional yoga
- Spinal awareness and practices for spinal and joint health
- Discover an embodied fluid support
- Breath and Vinyasa flow from the inside out
- Get creative with teaching and practicing Sun Salutations
- Finding your ground and foundations in all the standing postures – yielding, gravity and breath in theory and in practice
- Exploring stability, balance and neutrality in natural and easeful movement and Yoga asana
- Discover a breathing, supportive and balanced core
- Learn to give sensitive and intuitive adjustments that empower your students
- Learn effective and empowering cueing which speaks to each individual in your class
- There will be plenty of time to practice teaching and receive valuable feedback from your peers and from the senior faculty
- and much much more!
Home study
30 hours are home study in the form of an investigational journal about:
- How your personal practice is developing
- Review the public classes you attend
- Workbook homework on philosophy, anatomy and physiology
- Optional teaching apprenticeships with a senior teacher
We encourage you to start your journal as early as possible in the training - even before the training begins!
The journal may take many forms - writing, photos, drawings, blog posts etc. We will review the journal towards the end of the teacher training course to offer some constructive feedback and help answer any questions that may have arisen.
On the first day of the training we will orientate you with more details as to what is expected of your journal.
We also have a library of many of our favourite Yoga books - resources that you can take home with you during the training to enhance your extra study.
PLUS, we offer an extensive Yoga Training Manual - an amazing resource that will serve and support you for many future years in your life as a Yoga practitioner and teacher.
A day in the life of a yoga student
An example of our daily schedule:
9:00-9:30am Breakfast
9:30-11:30am Yoga philosophy & applied yoga
11:30-1:30pm Methodologies & technologies
2:30-4:30pm Anatomy & physiology
4:30-6:30pm Practical applications & teaching skills
Plus regular opportunities for tea and discussion with your teachers and fellow students.
Next 200-hour courses
January Intensive
6th til 26th January 2020
(includes 2 break days: 13th and 20th)
Weekend Mode 2020
25-26 April | 9-10 May | 23-24 May
6-7 June | 20-21 June | 4-5 July
18-19 July | 1-2 August | 15-16 August
2×9 Days 2020
22nd-30th August 2020
3rd-11th October 2020
Investment: $3250 (Early Bird)
You’re In Good Hands
Your senior teachers have over 80 years of yoga experience and teaching between them. We’ve practiced it all, and offer you an investigative and transformational approach to movement, teaching and self-development that you’ll carry far beyond the course.
Each of us teach with love and care, and our passion is to strengthen and shine light on your inner resources as a confident, skilled and soulful human, practitioner and teacher.
Karla and Neal are senior teachers with Donna Farhi on her internationally acclaimed yoga training programs. They are recognised within the New Zealand Yoga community as leaders in Restorative Yoga and in innovative, safe movement practices.
Haidee brings her passion, knowledge and experience of teaching Yoga and movement to all her classes and training sessions.
Sam travels up from her home base in Nelson to share her expertise and experience gained over many years of teaching. Like Karla and Neal her primary teacher is Donna Farhi. She is also a certified iRest teacher.
Sandra brings her wisdom and experience as a psychologist to share how to teach sensitively and be trauma aware.
Vanessa, with her nearly 20 years experience in cutting edge marketing, will share how to grow your Yoga business.
Each are experts in their field and have the common goal of delivering excellence in every class, course and workshop.
New initiatives run alongside the trainings, including professional development workshops, private tuition and year-long mentoring. We are here to support you through your whole yoga journey.
Karla Brodie
Core Faculty
Intuitive, honest, attentive, creative, joyful and full of expression — there’s something about Karla that speaks directly to your insides, and suddenly you realise you have a newfound conversation with your inner world as well as you gain a deeper understanding of balanced posture and integrated movement.
Read more >>
Neal Ghoshal
Core Faculty
When someone loves what they do with all of their heart, it emanates to everyone they work with. Neal is one of these people.
His teaching focuses on exploring and refining natural movement and alignment principles, and to embody these in a way that takes our spiritual practice into our everyday lives.
Read more >>
Haidee Stairmand
Core Faculty
Haidee brings a pragmatic approach to her teaching and offers students a clear, approachable and understandable way to develop their Yoga through self-sensing, and awareness.
She is passionate about making yoga accessible for all, enabling an individualistic approach.
She has a unique ability to connect to others in a simple but profound way and sees Yoga as a holistic therapeutic modality that encompasses traditional and contemporary approaches to the Practice.
Read more >>
Sam Loe
Guest Faculty
Sam’s Yoga practice and teaching come from a somatic place of listening deeply within. She is passionate about sharing Yoga in a way that empowers and gives agency to her students through creating safe learning environments, invitational and choice based practices and ultimately supporting people to develop their own self-practice.
Sam is a certified iRest Teacher and in addition shares functional, therapeutic and restorative practices in her community, via classes, workshops and retreats.
Read more >>
Sandra Palmer
Core Faculty
As a certified psychologist I have always been interested in the relationship between the body and the mind and my masters thesis was in the field of psychoneuroimmunology.
I have a particular interest in the way Yoga can be used to provide balance and stillness (and consequently energy) in this fast-paced world we live in.
Read more >>
Vanessa Bailey
Core Faculty
Vanessa Bailey has worked in marketing and communications for 18 years and held senior roles in New Zealand, Australia and England.
Vanessa has accrued wide experience and in-depth knowledge of customer-driven marketing communications and branding with specialist knowledge of how to bring brands and communications to life in the physical space.
Yoga Teacher Registration Pathway
We are delighted and proud to be registered with two major Yoga organisations – Yoga New Zealand and Yoga Alliance.
You’ll also get our own Contemporary Yoga certificate!
Full details on Yoga New Zealand and Yoga Alliance Registration >>
Be inspired where you learn
Our 200-hour teacher training campus is in beautiful St Heliers, one of Auckland’s picturesque seaside suburbs.
With upmarket shops and cafes, a perfect swimming beach and an easy walk to the training venue, it’s a haven that’s the perfect place to immerse yourself into a Yoga training.
What Our Graduates Say (read more here)
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