Brilliant teachers integrate two strengths: embodied understanding, and the capacity to communicate with clarity and heart.

The Estuary Yoga Teacher Training in North Melbourne grows both of these facets with its blend of instructional and interactive lectures, sequencing design labs, Open Mat teaching events, and our signature Precedent Study programme.

This is a pragmatic teacher training for those who aspire to share the transformative potential of yoga, while expanding their own life-long journey.

Build confidence, steadiness and ease in how you hold yourself in a classroom, and in the world. Explore beyond what you thought yourself capable of, and discover connections and friendships which nurture and enliven far beyond this 6 month adventure.

The teacher training is delivered in a sequence which enables students to build their theoretical understanding and practical skills from the ground up. The comprehensive curriculum is informed by International Yoga Alliance guidelines, with an extra emphasis on Practicum to enhance student’s confidence in teaching. Electives are also available to expand and tailor the course to broaden your interests.

ThE Estuary Yoga Teacher Training runs over 6 months, from July - Dec 2024.

This is a 200-hour immersive experience, designed to enrich your understanding of yoga, empower your teaching skills, and guide you towards becoming a certified and confident yoga teacher.

The program unfolds over two 10-week semesters, with a 2-week break in between. Each week’s Teaching Module is a weaving together of yogic wisdom with modern techniques, structured into a clear and logical learning journey informed by proven educational methods.

The training is delivered in a sequence which enables you to build your theoretical understanding and practical skills from the ground up.

The comprehensive curriculum is informed by the International Yoga Alliance guidelines, with an extra emphasis on Practicum to enhance your confidence and versatility in teaching.

Electives (similar to at university) are also available to expand and tailor the course to broaden individual interests.

Our intention is that you emerge from this journey as a competent guide for yoga practice, a curious student of life, and most importantly, an increasingly wholehearted embodiment of your truest potential.

SEMESTER 1

July 13, 20, 27
Aug 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
Sept 7, 14

SEMESTER 2

Oct 5, 12, 19, 26
Nov 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Dec 7

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

TECHNIQUES (90 HOURS)

Asana lectures and labs for unpacking poses, transitions, alignment, progressions, cueing, modifications and adjustments. Pranayama lab. Foundations of Yin Yoga.

TEACHING METHODOLOGY (35 HOURS)

Study of Precedent Classes (great example classes by established teachers) for analysing class structure, language and style. Sequencing frameworks.. Weekly sequencing labs to practise putting each Teaching Module’s content into context. Specific lectures on Cueing, Refining and Adjusting; Voice, Language and Presence; Creativity and Inspiration.

ANATOMY AND BIOMECHANICS (25 HOURS)

Learn functional movements and ranges of the skeleton, muscles and joints and their connections within asana. Understand the respiratory system via pranayama, and their link to the greater ecosystem of the body. Learn the biomechanics of balance and stability with transitions.

PHILOSOPHY, ETHICS AND LIFESTYLE (30 HOURS)

Explore Patanjali’s Sutras, with special focus on the yamas and niyamas. Connect traditional thought from the Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita with modern ideas. Learn to use these philosophical and ethical considerations to inform one’s teaching and to create strong sankalpa. Unpack the business of yoga and how to get started teaching.

PRACTICUM (38 HOURS)

Each weekly workshop includes time to practise teaching and sequencing with the content straight away. Additionally, the weekly Open Mat events are a more formal session where students can present their sequencing for the week in a realistic environment and receive feedback and mentoring.

ELECTIVES (20 HOURS: strongly recommended)

A wide-ranging selection of additional interest workshops, ranging from multi-week series for deepening asana or meditation, additional teaching and mentoring practise with real-class opportunities, to one-off workshops to deepen understanding of the physical body and myofascial release, meditation, nervous system regulation, the energetic body, stories and mythology of yoga and more.

TO BUILD COURAGE, CONFIDENCE & CARE

EDUCATION PRINCIPLES

EMBODIED INTEGRATION

The theoretical comes alive through direct experience. Our focus in this training is on practical, applied learning. We approach the yoga practice through observing, integrating, and continually engaging in relationship with the practice in all its physical and beyond physical forms. The transformative capacity of our practice is revealed not just through the shapes we make on a mat; it is embodied and lived in the shape of our lives.

PLAYFUL EXPERIMENTATION

One of the best ways to check one’s understanding of a topic is to try and teach it to someone. This requires a distillation of the information, reorganising it in a way that can be communicated clearly and authentically. Each week’s module has time set aside to start sequencing, cueing and teaching with the focus content straight away. This simultaneously helps students cement their understanding and develop their confidence in teaching.

FEEDBACK

Students have opportunities each week to develop their teaching skills and confidence, and to receive individualised feedback on their progress and next steps. They also learn to offer suggestions to others with encouragement and discernment, furthering their capacity to support their own growing teaching practice.

RECIPROCITY

Students are encouraged to practise, experiment and teach together, bringing their own unique interests and flavours into the shala and be inspired and supported in community. Learning thrives in an ecosystem of support.

course faq’s