“ If you are considering whether you should go the Virya yoga teacher training or not, my advice is: don’t hesitate, just do it ! It’s a great training with heart and mind, with body and soul! I can’t think of a better yoga teacher training or Community “- Klaus
In our yoga teacher training, we focus on five parts in order to become an inspiring and safe yoga teacher:
– asana practice & biomechanics
– anatomy
– philosophy & yoga lifestyle
– pedagogics
– communication
The training is 200 hours and between every course session the participant will have home studies. (In the intensive courses you will be expected to work at home in the evenings).
We believe in learning for life, so when you have started the teacher training you have the possibility to repeat or re take parts of the teacher training with other groups at no extra charge during a period of three years from your first course date.
In the first part of the teacher training we focus on asana practice, biomechanics and anatomy. In the second part of the training, we focus more on philosophy, pedagogy and communication.
Asana practice & biomechanics
A big part of the training is about how we work with the Asanas in a safe way. During these lectures and workshops your teachers will go through, experiment with and discuss the asanas. We present the biomechanical structure that we have developed in the Virya yoga system first theoretically and the applying the biomechanics in the asanas.
Meditation is part of the education, where you will be presented with different meditation and breathing techniques.
During the training you will have an individual meeting with the naprapath Malin Flinck or the physiotherapist Robin Tåg to do a “body-screening” . Together you map out how your body works and what is the safest way for you to approach your asana practice during your teacher training.
Your head-teacher is Josephine Selander together with Robin Tåg, Britt Fjellstad, Maria Rommel, Helena Wintre and/or Alexander Borovik.
Anatomy
Since we put a great emphasis on safe movement patterns in Virya Yoga, we believe that the anatomy part in the 200-hour teacher training is essential. Here we go through the functions of the moving body in yoga. You will get an understanding of the skeleton and learn the names, origin, insertion and function of the muscles. You will get an idea of how the different joints of the body work and a picture of injuries that can occur in the yoga class and of the basic physiology. This section ends with an anatomy test.
Your teacher in anatomy will be Charlotte Löfvenmart, Robin Tåg, Britt Fjellstad and/or Megan Davies.
Philosophy & yoga lifestyle
When we are at ease with the asanas, the biomechanics and the anatomy, we put more emphasis into yoga philosophy and history. We go through the history of yoga, look at the differences of the various philosophy forms (Samkhya, Vedanta and Tantra) and discuss about the Yoga Sutra and Bhagvad Gita.
We believe though that the philosophy section of the training should not only consist of reading classical yoga texts and discuss historical perspectives on yoga. We also think it is important to have time to reflect on your own personal understanding and experience of yoga. For some of our students it may lead to expressing new and different approaches to yoga, while for others it may be about how to get a clearer idea of how they want to relate to various yoga traditions. Another important part is to go through discussions and critical thinking about how yoga is presented in the media, film and the internet, in order to create a greater awareness of the many different values in yoga.
Our hope is to create a non-dogmatic approach to the yogic philosophy. We discuss, for example, what it can mean to emphasize a life-affirming approach to yoga that draws inspiration from many different sources like mindfulness, non-violent communication or various forms of art.
Besides philosophy, we discuss the Eastern view of the body and mind and you will get an orientation in Ayurvedic views. Yoga Ethics is a central part of the teaching role and we discuss how to try to live and work from it. Marian Papp lectures on the latest scientific research on yoga (only on courses in Sweden).
Your teachers in philosophy, Ayurveda, yogic life style and ethics will be Klas Nevrin, Peter Ljungsberg, Josephine Selander and/or Megan Davies.
Pedagogics
Here we go through verbal verses visual instruction and investigate various correction techniques. During the training, we observe and assist classes. We review class organization and how you as a teacher can give your yoga practitioners individual help.
You will learn the Virya yoga series level one and two, which will give you logical and safe sequences for your students ranging from beginner to intermediate levels. Read more about the Virya yoga system here.
Communication
How do we communicate when we teach? We work with the voice, rhetoric, body language and the choice of words. Josephine will share her experiences from ten years as an actor and a consultant in presentation skills and give you tools in how to get your communication as clear as possible. We investigate our idea of the teacher’s role and how we can teach from our own personalities and from the heart!
During the training we work with filming when we teach. All in all we have three filming sessions with feedback. And we are very aware that nobody really love this part, but we also know that everybody learns a lot after filming days!
Your teachers in pedagogics and communication will be Josephine Selander, Robin Tåg, Britt Fjellstad, Maria Rommel, Fredrik Redelius and/or Helena Wintre.
Examinations
You have three parts that has to be authorized in order to get your diploma:
1) Approved anatomy test (80% correct answers).
2) Accepted examination filming with correct teaching of the asanas, biomechanics and a philosophical theme. (That is the last filming session that we do together, so don’t worry about getting a camera or students ;-)
3) Fulfilled open book exam (about 70 questions that you have about three month to do).
You have the possibility to re-do the examinations either together with an other group or individually.