Yoga students take note - California Fitness is partnering with a top US yoga school, Yoga Works to offer a premier teacher training program.

A 200-hour course for aspiring teachers and serious students of yoga will be conducted from Oct 31 - Dec 16, 2007, and is accredited by the Yoga Alliance and will be taught by renowned yoga teacher, Catherine Munor.  

Ms Munor began practicing yoga since 1998 and has explored many different yoga traditions with various yoga masters, including the study of the Iyengar yoga tradition with Lisa Walford, and practicing Ashtanga yoga under the guidance of senior teachers Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty. 

Yoga Works was founded in 1988 by Ashtanga yoga teacher, Maty Ezraty, and Tantric yoga master, Alan Finger. It was the first school to bring together the various styles of yoga under one roof. The centre offers one of the most comprehensive teacher training programs in the world. This well established US-based yoga school now has 14 studios around California and New York. Many of the most respected yoga teachers in the US today including Shiva Rea, Baron Baptiste, Seane Corn and Natasha Rizopoulos all trained with Yoga Works.

The course is comprised of three main sections: 

1) Theory and Practice of Yoga

Emphasizes on deepening a student’s personal practice, as the source for their creative teaching.  It will also include a comprehensive study of the techniques and mechanics of fundamental yoga postures. To facilitate a more scientific understanding of the body, the training includes the study of functional anatomy-including units devoted to the feet, legs, pelvis, spine and shoulder girdle and the physiology of inversions, breathing and the nervous system. This includes the study of meditation, pranayama, Ayurveda and the chakra system.

2) Yoga Philosophy

Over 2,000 years ago the sage Patanjali described the process of Yogic movement toward higher consciousness and peace in his treatise “The Yoga Sutras.” His teachings are a living, practical model that, once understood, can be applied to all aspects of life today.  They serve to deepen the awareness of our relationship to ourselves, to others, and to our environment. 

3) The Theory and Practice of Teaching

Teaching yoga is an art in itself.  A teacher must encourage and inspire, being sensitive to both the needs of individuals as well as those of the group.  The aspects involved in teaching, to be addressed in this course, include:

            -How to be an effective teacher

            -Use of voice, body language, touch

            -The art and science of sequencing

            -Learning how to see and understand bodies

            -The purpose and use of props: in personal practice and class setting

            -Hands on adjustments

            -Practice Teaching