Teacher Training Overview

Apply 2012

Winter Session Starts Jan. 7th

Saturdays & Sundays, 12:30–6:30pm
January 7 – February 19, 2012

The Yoga Teacher Training & In-Depth Studies Program with Mark Stephens at Santa Cruz Yoga provides a solid foundation in the art and science of teaching yoga, leading to 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification and 500-hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Certification and registration with Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT 200 and RYT 500).

Along the way you will:

  • Study, refine and deepen your own yoga practice.
  • Learn to really teach yoga - not a yoga brand or single style, but yoga.
  • Gain a thorough understanding of over 75 asanas, including their alignment principles, energetic actions, variations, modifications, contra-indications, risks and benefits.
  • Learn the tools and skills needed for effectively and clearly teaching yoga to all levels of students.
  • Learn how to plan classes based on clear principles of sequencing.
  • Learn the art of giving hands–on adjustments, one of the essential tools in guiding students.
  • Develop an appreciation for different styles of yoga and different teaching methodologies, with an emphasis on Vinyasa Flow.
  • Learn to work with injuries, pregnancy and other specific or unique student needs.
  • Develop well-rounded knowledge of yoga philosophy, ethics, history and lifestyle practices.
  • Learn about teaching in varied settings as well as the basics of opening a yoga studio.
  • Have a variety of opportunities to tailor your studies to your specific interests.
  • Gain extensive teaching experience through practice teaching, apprenticeships and mentoring.

Teaching Yoga: Essential Foundations and Techniques (2010) is the most popular comprehensive yoga teacher text in yoga teacher training programs today. It is the foundational text for this program’s curriculum, which is brought more fully alive through a rich array of practical, hands-on, experiential activities designed to give you the skills and knowledge for a lifetime of deeper practice and excellence in teaching.

Participants in this program invariably experience a deep and lasting sense of personal transformation as all of the elements of yoga become clearer and better integrated as you explore every aspect of yoga in your personal practice.

While yoga practice is the key to developing as a teacher, the Yoga Teacher Training & In-Depth Studies Program methodically prepares you to teach with creativity, confidence, and competence. Rather than focusing narrowly on a single style or lineage, it is designed to give you the skills and knowledge to continuously evolve as a teacher based on your own evolution, interests, and intentions.

Over 1,000 yoga teachers have participated in Mark Stephens' yoga teacher training workshops over the past 15 years, including scores of teachers in the Santa Cruz area. They have gone on to teach in a variety of styles, including Vinyasa Flow, Anusara, Iyengar, Bikram, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Restorative & Therapeutic Yoga, Power Yoga, Yin, Pre/Post-Natal, Kids Yoga and others.

Call or email today with any questions!

Program Values

Yoga is a process for learning about ourselves and opening to our fullest potential. It helps us to expand our awareness and transform our lives in ways that make us happier, healthier and feeling more whole within ourselves and in our relationships with others in the world. Embracing these basic values is the starting point for becoming a good yoga teacher.

Because yoga is a process for self-transformation, there is nothing to master, no end to what we can learn and no limit to how much we can grow and share. In contrast to teacher training programs that emphasize attainment, competition or mastery, in this program we look to explore, refine, deepen, expand and learn without end. The primary source of this transformative learning is one's personal practice, and it is in the practice of yoga that we gain the most insight into how best to share the practice with others.

In contrast to quick immersion trainings and “mastery” programs, this program is designed to ensure that you develop and integrate a comprehensive foundation and set of skills into the fabric of your life so that you flourish as an informed practitioner and creative teacher of yoga for the rest of your life. This takes time, effort and commitment. Starting from wherever you are in your knowledge, skills and experience, this program will give you the opprtunity to progessively develop into the best yoga teacher you can be.  

Who Can Apply?

The program is open to serious students interested in taking their practice to the next level, those wanting to teach in the future, as well as to current teachers seeking to expand and deepen their practical knowledge of yoga.

Download an application and apply today.

Program Options

200-Hour Yoga Teacher Certification

This path is fulfilled by completing the Phase I Foundational Course (100 hours), Phase II Completion Component (100 hours), and passing the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Certification Exam. The tuition fee is $2,500.

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500-Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Certification

This path is fulfilled by completing the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Certification and an additional 300 hours of advanced studies. You must have a minimum of two years of yoga teaching experience. The tuition fee is $2,500.

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In-Depth Studies Program

This is for serious, devoted students interested in deepening their personal practice and learning more about the broad scope of yoga in the seven-week Phase I Foundational Course (100 hours). The tuition fee is $1,500.

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