300 hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Europe

In this 300 hour Yoga Teacher Training you will practice dynamic, powerful Vinyasa Flow classes so you can deepen your practice. These classes are intended to build strength in the body and to utilize this existing flexibility for deeper posture variations. Emphasis is placed on incorporating topics from workshops.

Rachel Berryman is the lead teacher of the course in August and you can practice with her online before coming to the course.

​Students will also be acquainted with creative, intelligent sequencing and with decoding anatomical principles across asana families in order to arrive at deeper, more advanced posture variations.

Above all, proper practice and spotting techniques of advanced inversions will be applied in the morning classes when necessary.

Your morning classes include deep backbends, lotus, and hip openers, arm balances and transitions, handstand and forearmstand. Put out your mat and practice a class with Rachel.

You will integrate knowledge and principles discussed in Alignment classes in order to adapt your manner, body language, tone, words, and public speaking to fit your audience’s needs and requests. Define and refine your teaching voice. We are not into creating a cookie-cutter monologue of how and what teachers should say in their classes.

You will teach in small groups every day and observing, analyzing, and assisting in other students’ classes. You will receive constructive feedback from the other students and your teachers.

Topics include:

• Identifying your dominant learning style and how to teach based on other learning styles.

• Communication skills such as group dynamics, time management, and the establishment of priorities and boundaries.

• How to address the specific needs of individuals and cultures, to the degree possible in a group setting.

• Speech patterns - active vs. passive language and the effective use of each; positive and conscious communication; habitual speech and communication patterns.

• Principles of demonstration, demonstration techniques, observation, assisting, and correcting.

Learning how to organize the body to allow safety in the deepest expressions of asanas. The deepest expression is not the ‘most advanced’ shape of a pose, but the breath and concentration required to practice it. Therefore, we explore this "deeper" expression through a dual approach of understanding safe and effective alignment for different bodies and basic biomechanics for functional movement, as well as how to adjust postures for healing as well as for depth.

Much of your time will be spent on expanding your existing knowledge of asanas while paying attention to key alignment and anatomical structures in order to firstly deepen your own practice and secondly to guide others safely into poses - verbally, visually, and physically.

Topics include: 

• Alignment principles for postures grouped by the foundation so that you can create yoga sequences that flow easily from one pose to another (standing, seated, all 4's, hands, etc) 

• Learning the five categories of Asanas (standing poses, forward bends, backbends, twists, and inversions) and the key poses & alignment principles in each category

• Developing alignment maps for each of the five categories of asanas to find resemblance in the foundation, and how to build upon this foundation and create ideal transitions.

• Physical benefits and cautions for yoga postures

• The Art of Touch & Adjustment Theory, clarifying when to adjust, how to adjust, and mainly when not to adjust. Advanced assisting – Hands-on and Verbal.

• Safe Spotting Techniques for deeper inversions so that you can assist your own students with confidence.

• Creating Sequences and developing mini-flows based on alignment principles and through correct transitions between asanas. Anatomical sequencing and working towards a Peak Pose / Pathway Sequencing.

Advanced Posture workshops (lotus variations and deep hip openers; arm balances and transitions; headstand variations and transitions; pincha mayurasana; handstand and scorpion; deep backbends—dropbacks and deeper variations of urdhva dhanurasana, pigeon, dancer pose, etc).

You will learn how to recognize when the body is ready to attempt them, how to progress in practicing, and, if you choose, how to teach them to others.

We focus on an experiential, engaging breakdown of the human body as it relates to the practice of yoga. You won’t just sit there and take notes; you will learn how to directly apply this essential information to your practice and your teaching.

We explore a deeper understanding of anatomy and physiology modalities from Eastern and Western medicine and their applications to traditional yoga philosophy. We strive to understand the body and the practice so that we can understand how to apply the practice to each individual with any style or level of understanding to create personalized, functional, and safe classes to bring students to their deepest mind-body edge.

Topics include:​

• Practical applications of anatomy in specific yoga postures with a major emphasis on muscular and skeletal structures and in-depth study of anatomical and skeletal differences (i.e. compression, tension, proportion, and orientation theory) Comparative anatomy and understanding different body types

• Focus on the 4 systems that allow and restrict movement: Skeletal, Muscular, Nervous System & Connective Tissues. Sectional study of specific joints of the body – Hip, Knee, Foot, Spine, Shoulder, etc.

• Scapular Stability and strength in deeper arm balances and inversions

• Role of Fascia in Flexibility. Yin Yoga Theory and basic Meridian Theory. Basics of Thai Massage and relationship to Meridian Theory

• Breathing and respiratory system and the role of breath in asana

• Therapeutic applications of postures and working with injuries in asana class

This Advanced TTC will allow you to move from understanding yogic philosophy to living it by giving you practical tools from ancient yoga scriptures.

Branches of yoga

You will dive deep into the 6 branches of yoga, understanding the roots and different limbs and aims of Hatha, Raja, Kriya, Bhakti, Karma, and Jnana Yoga. Emphasis will be placed on Raja Yoga - the king of all yogas - and its treasure-house of mind-management techniques.

Chakras and Koshas

The Koshas, chakras, and nadis will finally make sense to you, as they will all be linked to the branches and to pranayama and meditation practices.

Yogic lifestyle will no longer be restricted to certain hours of self-practice, the food you eat, and the clothes you wear - it will be integrated into every moment of your life.

You will leave the course with a whole new knowledge, spiritual and mental practices, and a lot of inspiration.

The teacher will be transmitting all the knowledge she received from the 1500+ hours she spent at the ashram.

This course is not a yoga retreat. That is to say, you will be asked to actively participate, study, do your homework and prepare for all classes. You must meet all course requirements to graduate successfully. At the end of the course, there will be a written exam and a practical exam in the form of peer teaching.

​Upon successful completion of the course, you will be certified with a 300-hour yoga certificate and be eligible to register with Yoga Alliance USA and Yoga Alliance UK.