BALANCE YOGA TEACHER TRAINING

4-MONTH YOGA IMMERSION

Diverse students practicing yoga

Deepen Your Practice and Share What You Love

Do you nurture an intense love for yoga?

Are you astonished how much your life has improved since you stepped into your first yoga class?

You gained strength, flexibility and fitness. You tapped into a deep calmness, and experienced a new sense of peace and inner beauty.

Now, what’s next?

Would you like to share your yoga with your community? Explore the philosophy of yoga? Or have you become fascinated by human anatomy?

Our Teacher Training helps you nourish a deeper understanding of yoga, delve into human anatomy, and gain the confidence to share the magic of yoga with your friends and family and community.

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“I highly recommend this training to anyone interested in learning and experiencing the roots of yoga and Ayurveda in a beautiful and supportive community. Prepare to be overwhelmed by the lifetime of learning opportunities that this training will open up to you.” 


~Michael Bick 

Our Next YTT will start in January 2023, click the button below to apply, once we've reviewed your app, we'll respond with the next steps. 

Passionate Students Become Excellent
Teachers and Yogis

To become a yoga teacher, you need to understand and practice yoga: postures, philosophy, meditation, and pranayama (yogic breathing). True learning includes both information and experience.

For example, you can read books about meditation or healthy eating, but you truly feel the benefits when you practice. When you experience a calmer, less reactive mind, you want to meditate. When your energy skyrockets because you’ve replaced sugary snacks with fruits and nuts, you won’t protest adding a few vegetables to your dinner plate.

As you establish a regular yoga practice, you learn firsthand about it’s benefits: stable energy, better sleep, less stress and calmer, happier mind.

You gain the skills and motivation to be a dedicated student: breathing practices you build upon month-by-month, meditation homework, and yoga sequences.

Over nine weekends of Teacher Training, you immerse yourself into yoga deeper than ever before, and you experience extraordinary growth in your own yoga practice, preparing you to be a skilled teacher. You develop your own authentic teaching voice through creative exercises and practice teaching.

Students have told us over the years that the toughest part of teaching is articulating the language: how to move into and out of postures clearly and succinctly. You’ll practice with us and we’ll give you a set of cues to get you started.

Mikhayla Anderson teaching at Balance Yoga & Wellness

Our Training Goes Beyond the Others

You may think that you aren't cut out to teach yoga. Or that you aren't advanced enough. 

But this is far from the truth.

During our training you develop your own practice. You build skills and grow in self-confidence. 

This training marries dynamic Ashtanga yoga, student-centered, alignment-focused yoga, Ayurveda, and classical pranayama and philosophy:

  • Ashtanga yoga sequences build strength and flexibility. Through repitition, you easily a sequence for home practice. 
  • Student-centered, alignment-focused yoga teaches you clear alignment principles, and approaches to break down challenging postures, and teach to a diversity of students.  
  • Pranayama and philosophy, as classically taught in India, help you to appreciate the importance of a lineage in yoga and where it originates.  You learn about the major schools of Indian philosophy and how they apply to modern life and yoga. 
  • Ayurveda helps you to understand what type of diet and lifestyle best suit your metabolsim.  

This was another reason I chose this studio’s training over others in the area.  I firmly believe in the importance of having an understanding of the historical and purist method of a practice (i.e. ashtanga) in order to best integrate a more eclectic approach (i.e. anusara).  That’s how I was trained as a therapist, so it made sense to me this way.  Having a couple of different foundations from which to practice, teach, and relate to others is I think extremely beneficial.  And the Ayurveda ties in a holistic component. The Ayurveda learning component was one of the main draws for me to choose the training at Balance. 

~Trishia B.

What Will You Learn?

You'll learn the foundations of yoga, plus way more than what's taught in a yoga class. 

  • Sequence a yoga class: Use creativity and knowledge of yoga postures to develop a balanced yoga class.
  • Use language effectively: Learn effective verbal cues for leading a yoga class.
  • Breakdown key yoga postures: Talk students into and out of yoga postures, what the fundamental alignment cues are for each postures.
  • Develop pranayama and meditation practice: Receive a specific assignment each month so you can practice independently.
  • Live your yoga: Open the doors to yoga philosophy, including Tantra, Samkhya, Hatha Yoga and key texts: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita. Learn to integrate them into your life.
  • Student-centered yoga: Learn the foundations student-centered, alignment-focused yoga, including principals of alignment, therapeutic adjustments and more.
  • Ashtanga yoga: Learn the fundamentals of ashtanga yoga, a strong foundation for teaching ashtanga or vinyasa classes.
  • Teach safely: Appreciate how our anatomy impacts different types of yoga postures, and learn how to modify yoga postures to avoid injury.
  • Teach with confidence: Get personal feedback on a class so you can refine your teaching skills.
  • Ayurveda for yoga teachers: Learn how to distinguish difference in students’ mental, emotional, physical state and adapt this to your teaching so your students benefit more.
  • Balance your body and mind: Learn and apply ayurvedic principles to your diet and lifestyle so you get healthier and happier. Improve your sleep and digestion so your energy invigorates your students and others around you.
  • Spark your creativity: Make your own mala bracelets, visual representations of the yoga sutras, pocket chakras and more. Tapping into your creative center will help to infuse a sense of playfulness into your teaching.
  • Safe and effective hands-on adjustments: Use your hands and body to help students to optimal alignment in their postures.
  • Yoga as therapy: Understand how to modify postures for injuries and physical  limitations.
  • Teach with charisma: Connect and engage with your students.
  • Yoga in the modern world: Learn how to promote your teaching through social media and online marketing and build as simple website.
  • Teaching special populations: Learn the basics of teaching people with trauma and limited mobility using chairs and other props.

“This weekend was so magical and the feeling always lingers into my Mondays. Thank you for having Sudhir come it was truly an eye opener. I truly believe I wouldn't get this kind of training in any other studio. Especially having just moved down here, it's been nothing but a blessing meeting everyone in this yoga community.” 

~Bethany Boots 

Sound Like A Lot?

The 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training is taught over nine weekends spanning four months, so you have plenty of time to get to grips with the material and become a confident yoga teacher.

Each month features two weekends of yoga immersion, so the thread of the training continues in your life during the training. 

Of course, life sometimes intervenes. You may miss an afternoon or a weekend. This is okay because we record all the sessions. So you won’t miss any valuable learning.

What Qualification Does the Training Give Me?

Yoga Alliance 200 Hour Registered School

At the end of the training, after completing six hours of practice teaching, you’ll be eligible for the 200-Hour Yoga Alliance Certification as a Yoga Teacher. This is an internationally recognized certificate.

Photo of Balance Yoga 2018 TT Graduates

About Your Teachers and Guides

Mikhayla Harrell, Anusara© Inspired-ERYT 500, RYT 500, is a lover, mama, creative,  sensory loving, gem hound from New Mexico.  She first came to yoga through ballet and modern dance in her first semester at Sarah Lawrence College. Through 18 years of teaching, Mikhayla has solidified her skills in helping students uncover their optimal alignment. Mikhayla draws from the Anusara© Yoga tradition, which interweaves alignment principles with the Tantric perspective of innate goodness. Her classes infuse detailed workshop-style instruction with humor and a graceful flow. Mikhayla creates a unique yoga experience when she draws from cosmic to mundane themes which continue to inspire her students off the mat. Mikhayla is deeply inspired by her teachers as she continues to learn and grow as a practitioner. Many thanks and blessings to Ammachi, Dalai Lama, Sally Kempton, Christina Sell, Bea Doyle, Darren Rhoades, Noah Maze, Desiree Rumbaugh, Elena Brower, Douglas Brooks, Carlos Pomeda, and John Friend. Mikhayla delights in teaching beginning through advanced asana, meditation, retreats and creativity workshops throughout New Orleans and the Southwest. She has co-taught 200 and 300-hour Teacher Trainings at Balance Yoga and Wellness in New Orleans  and at Bhava Yoga Studio in Albuquerque, NM. 

Meredith Murphy has been a teacher and student of Yoga since 2004. She has over a decade of teaching experience and loves to share the knowledge she's developed through her personal practices . She's a direct student of R. Sharath Jois, the grandson of Pattabhi Jois. She's also studied with the top teachers in the world, including Manju Jois, David Swenson, Richard Freeman, and Tim Miller. Meredith is currently the official yoga teacher for New Orleans NBA Basketball team, the Pelicans. RYT 200

Mikhayla and Meredith are your personal guides throughout the training (and potentially for longer….) They answer all your questions about yoga practice, postures, philosophy, and ayurveda. They give you personal feedback on your first yoga class.

With more than thirty years of yoga study, Mikhayla and Meredith help you learn more than you would have thought possible in nine months. They present diverse backgrounds of yoga study and different teaching styles.

Jessica Blanchard is a yoga teacher, ayurvedic practitioner and Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist (RD, LDN). Founder of Balance Yoga & Wellness, Jessica has taught yoga since 2003. She has taken a step back from direct involvement in the YTT as she is atending medical school at LSU. Jessica will be involved in overall curriculum development, administration and program strategy. 

Online Anatomy Instruction

david keil yoga anatomy workshop

David Keil brings his unique style to teaching human anatomy. Because of his passion, he makes this complex and sometimes frustrating topic easy to understand. So we can all advise our students confidently.

David recently published the comprehensive manual Functional Anatomy of Yoga, the most accessible book about anatomy on the market today.

You'll have access to the anatomy videos and instruction for life -- so even after the training finishes, if you need to refresh your understanding of the spine or the hips, you'll have a wealth of information at your fingertips. 

What's Included In the Training

  • Nine Weekend Immersions from January 19th to May 14th 2023
  • 160-page Teacher Training Manual
  • Tuition for online Anatomy Course with David Keil
  • Four guest teacher modules: Hands-on adjustments, Teaching Special Populations and Larger Bodies, How to Diversify Your Teaching Stype, Trauma-Informed Yoga, Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga
  • Practice teaching in small groups so introverts feel at ease
  • Personal written feedback on your first class
  • Art projects
  • Closing Party and Celebration 
  • Yoga Alliance Certificate upon completion of program

Important Details

  • Training cost: Early bird prices is $3099 if deposit paid by November 30th full price $3399.  
  • The training starts the weekend of January 19th 2022
  • January: 19th open ceremony 6-7:30pm, 19-20th, February: 4th-5th, March: 4-5th, 18-19th, April: 1-2nd, 15-16th, 29-30th, May 6-7th, 13-14th, Graduation Ceremony May 14th at 4pm 
  • Weekend schedule
    Saturdays 10:30am - 5pm
    Sundays 10:30am- 5pm
  • The early bird price is valid until November 30th. You must deposit $500 towards the training to be eligible for the Early Bird price. Trainees must be paid in full by April 1st 2023. 
  • Only 20 seats are available.
  • We offer a flexible payment plan of five installments of $540 after the initial deposit of $500. All students my be paid in full by April 1, 2023. 
  • Trainees will receive a discounted monthly rate of $60/month for unlimited yoga during the training. We have options for trading your time for monthly yoga. 
  • A $500 deposit is due upon enrollment to hold your spot. If you cancel 30 days or more before the start of the program you will forfeit $250 of your deposit and the remaining balance will be refunded. If you cancel 14-30 days before of the start of the program, you will forfeit your entire deposit and any remaining balance will be refunded. These fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. If you cancel within 14 days before the start of the program or do not attend the program, the entire deposit and program tuition is non-refundable and non-transferable. Once the program begins the program tuition is non-refundable and non-transferable.

Take the First Step 

Or Click This Link to apply.  

Once we've reviewed your application we'll respond with more details.

Questions?

Email info [at] balanceyogawellness.com or meredith [at] balanceyogawellness.com

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