Looking for community? Interested in grounding yourself in a regular yoga practice?

The Ohana Teacher Training program offers a nature-based approach to teaching yoga that emphasizes sensitization to nature and natural cycles, self study, economic sustainability, spirituality, and yoga as an agent of personal and societal change.  The Ohana Yoga curriculum includes the disciplined study of the physical asanas, alignment, pranayama, sacred anatomy, meditation, storytelling, planetary cycles/astrology, music/chanting, 
and focused community service.  This is yoga in the aloha spirit s we move into a heart centered, and healthy world.
YTT Program Format
Integrating knowledge, developing your authentic voice, overcoming fears, and fine-tuning your teaching skills takes time. Our six month program provides a personalized experience attentive and supportive faculty.

Sessions will take place two weekends a month. The program includes a four-day retreat to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia where we will immerse ourselves in holisitic living and complete our yoga training in the heart of nature.


Twice Monthly Weekend Session Times
Saturdays: 12:30 – 6:30 pm
Sundays: 12:30 – 6:30 pm
*Early Morning Sadhana will be scheduled on certain days. YTT Retreat (4 days)

Retreat Includes:
     Accommodations & Meals
     Cooking Lessons
     Herbal Foraging & Preparations
     Daily Yoga Practice
     Hiking

YTT Program Topics 
Yoga Philosophy
The History of Yoga
Yoga and A Nature-Based Spirituality
Ethics and Yoga in the Global Economy
Myths, Stories, and the Asanas 
Astrology: Solar and Lunar Cycles in Practice
The Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, & Comparative Philosophy 

Practice, Teaching, and Methodology
Finding Your Guidance: Yoga as a Physical & Mental Practice
Teaching Gentle, Beginner, and Intermediate Students 
Asana Families, Alignment, and Modifications 
Sequencing and Class Planning
Breath Work and Breath Therapy 
Meditation 


Anatomy and Physiology..... Natural Movement
Structural Anatomy
Energetic Anatomy & Divine Alignment
The Subtle Bodies 
Prana and Energetic Flow
Intro to Ayurveda*
Special Topics
Introduction to Sanskrit
Body Sensing, Restorative, Yin & Yoga Nidra, Hands-On Assisting in Postures
Herbal Medicine Making and Ayurvedic Meal Preparation
Sacred Sound: Mantra and Chanting 
Into to Prenatal Yoga
Intro to Yoga and Mindfulness Training for Kids and Teens
Intro to Trauma Informed Yoga 
What style of yoga will I be teaching?
The Ohana Rising Yoga Teacher Training will train you to be an integrated hatha yoga teacher with an emphasis on natural movement, alignment, intelligent sequencing and sensory awareness. You will learn how to teach a beginner yoga class and make modifications for students with special needs. You will also learn how to practice and teach more advanced postures like inversions and arm balances. Emphasis is placed on learning how to create meaningful themes for your classes and weave these into your class sequencing and presentation.

How much teaching will I do?
Over the course of six months you will be immersed in yoga philosophy and will begin teaching yoga beginning in the first weekend. We believe that becoming a skilled yoga teacher requires regular practice teaching. Every session students will teach yoga postures and familiarize themselves with proper alignment, energy lines and breath. Within the course of the program, students are required to teach a beginner and mixed level sequence in a free community class at Ohana Rising Yoga School. Afterwards students will receive feedback from their peers and their instructors. At the end of the program students will teach a 45 minute class, prepared entirely on their own, to their classmates and faculty. This final teaching module will help students apply everything they've learned in the course.

Seva as part of training.
Students will teach a 6-session community service series to a community of their choice. This can be geared toward a population students wish to serve or a personal community including friends and family. Some ideas include working with teen girls, breast cancer survivors, public school teachers, or develop an outdoor program. We will work with all students to help find the right group to work with and create a structure for the seva project.

What happens after graduation?
There are many different paths one can take as a yoga teacher. We recommend that graduates continue their community service projects to gain more experience teaching and work slowly to broaden their teaching base. Many students will go on to teach at yoga studios however we encourage students to broaden their base by seeking out places where yoga is needed but not offered. This includes yoga in the workplace, retirement communities, apartment communities, garden/outdoor centers, schools, recovery centers, and in schools.

Program Requirements
To receive a certificate from Ohana Rising Yoga School and to be eligible for 200  Hour registration with Yoga Alliance, students must:

- Attend all required classes and events. In case of emergency, class absence is on a case basis.
- Complete a community service "Seva" project.
- Submit a practice log & observation log (given at first day)
- Teach a feedback class to a primary faculty member
- Completion of a final practicum.

Our goal is to offer a comprehensive course of study into the 8 limbs & the four main paths of yoga: Karma, Bhakti, Jnana & Raja. We will look into yoga for the modern world and social & environmental connection and responsibility as teachers in the Aquarian age. This training will place an emphasis on personal growth, development and will provide you with a thorough understanding of yoga asana, philosophy, meditation, & pranayama. This is yoga as a technology & science for living.

"It is very good to see thousands of new teachers, so that with our thoughts, we can gradually change the world... send peace to the world. That's the best contribution to world peace. First the students should find their peace, and then they share with the other students."
- Sri Dharma Mittra