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CULTIVATE INSIGHT
This program is for students who have already completed a 200 hour teacher training program or for devoted practitioners who wish to deepen their practice and study . . . to “cultivate insight” or “prajna.” We find that many of the 200 hour training programs available today offer only a small window into the depth of yoga teachings. Our 500 Hour program is an in-depth yogic studies course and offers comprehensive continuing education in the areas of yoga therapeutics, nutrition, the emotional body, the organ system, the chakras, the vayus, sutra study (from both Patanjali and the Buddhist canon), lymphatic yoga, sequencing, manual adjustments and more.
By getting to know each student individually, we are able to serve each of you in your yogic aspirations. Small and intimate, our class size is limited to 26 people. While offering a professional program designed for teachers to further their studies, it is also a program for students to deepen their own practice. We offer a great reservoir of teachings that students from all traditions can tap into for years and years to come. We believe that the best teachers are the ones who themselves have as it is said in the Zen tradition, “seen clear down to the bottom of their being”.
“The 500 Hour Teacher Training reinforces and expands upon the skills learned from the 200 Hour Program. Tias challenges his students physically, mentally and spiritually by taking a thoughtful, holistic approach to his practice and teaching.”
Prerequisites, Hours & Accreditation
Effective: January 1, 2011
Prerequisites
- 200 Hour Prajna Yoga Certification. If you have a 200 Hour Certification from another Yoga Alliance-approved school, you are still required to take Sessions I, II and III from our 200 hour program (135 hrs).
- 120 hours of teaching experience
- Completion of the 500 Hour Certification application
- One 2 X 2 color photo in digital format
- Resume of yoga-related experience – 1 paragraph
Requirements
• Completion of Sessions IV, V and VI. Completion of the three required sessions will give the student approximately 135 hours.
• The remaining 165 hours needed to complete the 300 hour requirement can be accomplished by a combination of the following:
o Attend any Prajna Yoga sponsored workshop (up to 10 hours can be applied for workshops given by Prajna teachers outside of our Summer Program) teacher training, class, and retreat offered in USA, Europe & Asia.
o Repeat any of the six sessions for additional credit hours.
o Take a Prajna Yoga 2012 Continuing Education course:
“The Art of Self-Practice” on May 1-6, 2012
o Participate in the Apprenticeship Program.
o Take private sessions with Tias or Surya Little.
• Video Assessment. DVD format. 1 one-hour class and photos of you demonstrating knowledge of alignment in various yoga poses. See Video requirements.
• Prajna Yoga (take-home) exam on Sessions I through VI. Hardcopies of the test may be purchased and shipped to you for a fee of $35 once all of your other requirements are met.
• Have a dedicated practice at least 1 hour, 3 times per week for a minimum of one year.
Additional assignments to be completed:
o Design 4 written lesson plans for sequencing a yoga class (opening, closing, sequencing, etc.) according to Prajna guidelines
o Teach 25 hours of Karma yoga classes in the community – log all hours.
o Attend silent meditation retreats in Vipassana, Zen or Dzogchen traditions. Total time for the retreats is a minimum of 9 days.
o Design, teach and market a specific workshop or intensive (minimum 12 hours in length). Submit to Prajna Yoga the outline of your event, a flyer or advertisement of the event and a follow up to the event in the form of a feedback form summary.
Log of Requirements
Please log compliance to the requirements using the certification log below.
Download “Prajna Certification Log for 300 or 500 Hour” – Excel Version
Download “Prajna Certification Log for 300 or 500 Hour” – PDF Version
Please send the completed form along with any other supporting documentation indicated above before requesting the Final Test.
Course Requirements
In order to fulfill the requirements for the Prajna Yoga 500 Hour certification, students must take six required courses: Session I: From the Ground Up; Session II: The Fluid Body, Session III: The Subtle Body; from the 200 Hour Program and Session IV: The Art of Sequencing and Hands-On Adjustments; Session V: The Art of Teaching; and Session VI: The Art of Healing.
SESSION IV: THE ART OF SEQUENCING AND HANDS-ON ADJUSTMENT
This training features the combination of therapeutic yoga postures and manual therapy. Our overview investigates how to build sensitivity and a quality of “listening” in one’s hands. We will then review the key points and principles behind making adjustments in order to help position students further into a pose. Using restorative poses such as supta baddha konasana, viparita karani and balasana we will look at ways to increase range of motion and release stress via hands on contact. We also utilize release techniques on acupressure points from Chinese Medicine and marma points from Ayurveda. Included is a guided practice of learning to use tuning forks to conduct therapeutic resonance into bone.?The art of teaching is in offering smart sequencing. We investigate pacing, length of holds, how to sequence using props, and combinations of postures in sequence. We cover “faux-pas” in sequencing and how to structure a class from a theme using continuity, preparatory sequencing and posture combinations. We review the importance of the opening and closing of a class. In our Principles of Sequencing we cover vinyasa, sequencing on and off the mid-line, combining symmetrical and asymmetrical postures, combining compressive and de-compressive movements and more. Morning classes review active sequencing and afternoon classes review how to sequence restorative postures, sequences for beginners and somatic awareness sequences.
SESSION V: THE ART OF TEACHING
What makes Prajna Yoga unique is its weave of asana with the study of living anatomy with wisdom. The aim of this intensive is to provide the student with the practical skills and creativity to teach a Prajna Yoga class. We emphasize how to teach asana in such a way that it is physically rewarding, mindful, and spiritually uplifting. For teaching guided classes, we detail what it takes to command a class both through intensity and gentleness. Considerable time is spent on teacher practicum and for trainees to receive feedback on how to use clear language and how to teach through tone of voice. We provide the foundation for how to integrate anatomical study into the classroom setting, including how to use anatomical images and how to teach living anatomy. In addition, we cover the ways a teacher can integrate sutras, poetry, koans and key teachings from the yoga tradition and buddha dharma into the classroom experience.
SESSION VI: THE ART OF HEALING:
This course is an in-depth training on how to modify the poses to address the limitations of your students. In the first half of the course, we cover principles of how to adapt poses for beginners. We will address how to work with inflexible students, elderly students and beginning students with structural limitations. The second part of this course covers how to use the poses therapeutically.
Our aim is to review the most common afflictions that a teacher will be confronted with in the classroom namely lower back pain, knee pain, sciatic pain, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, GI tract dysfunction, migraines, insomnia, cancer and surgery.
As every case is different, we will emphasize the principles of healing through yoga and SATYA movements–using traction, compression, inversion, “rinsing” tissue etc. Throughout the course we will be using actual case-studies (beginners and individuals with special needs) in order to authenticate the application of the work.
The emphasis in this training is to show that correct
positioning of the body– for a duration of time, and within a specific sequence of related poses– can result in profound physiological changes. Students will learn how to use props effectively to boost parts of the body in order to effect the flow of blood, lymph and nerve impulse. Included in this course on yoga chikitsa (yoga remedy) is the practice of specific meditations to help heal the emotional body and purify negative emotion.
Please visit our full schedule for details.