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How to Meet Yoga Alliance Requirements for RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) 200 Hour Certification
This 200-hour program is recognized by Yoga Alliance as a REGISTERED 200-HOUR YOGA SCHOOL and offers you a unique opportunity to make a deep commitment to learning more about yourself. We create a safe haven: a nurturing place to engage in open minded self-exploration. Alchemy of Yoga is devoted to offering you an atmosphere in which freedom of expression, fun, creativity, and passion for life are “totally” encouraged! This program covers the foundations of the 8 limbed path of Yoga and believes in yoga as a life-long truthful celebration of ourselves and our world.
SYLLABUS INCLUDES:
• Techniques (100 Contact Hours/15 Non Contact Hours): Includes asanas, pranayamas and meditation. These hours include both training in the techniques and the practice of them.
• Teaching Methodology (25 Contact Hours/6 Non Contact Hours): Principles of demonstration, observation, assisting/correcting, instruction, teaching styles, qualities of a teacher, and the student’s process of learning.
• Anatomy & Physiology (14 Contact Hours/6 Non Contact Hours): We will incorporate awareness of physical and subtle anatomy throughout training.
• Philosophy, Ethics, & Lifestyle (20 Contact Hours/10 Non Contact Hours): Study of Yoga Philosophy (Yamas, Niyamas), Yoga Scriptures (Yoga Sutras), ethics for yoga teachers, and living the life of the yoga.
• Practicum (10 Contact Hours): Includes 5 hours of observing and 5 hours of assisting in classes taught by other teachers.
• Electives & Independent Study (10 Contact Hours/5 Non Contact Hours): These hours will include assigned reading or other homework including a sacred study project, unsupervised study/meditation groups, classes, workshops, and a mandatory community service offering of 5 hours of Karma Yoga Student Teaching.
PRACTICUM:
1. Observations: Complete four hours of observation including: 1) Observe Silvia teaching a one-hour yoga class, 2) Observe a sunrise, 3) Observe a sunset, 4), Observe thoughts that arise during silent breakfast. To receive credit for these observations, please write a brief report detailing your observations and reflections (1-2 paragraphs each).
2. Assistant Teaching: Complete one hour of assistant teaching with Silvia and one hour of assistant teaching with a fellow trainee. To receive credit for assistant teaching, please write a brief report detailing your experience (1-2 paragraphs each).
3. Sacred Study Project: Write a report on the chakra(s) or dosha(s) of your choice. You have complete creative freedom in this self-study. The intention is that you dive deeper into the chakra system or the practices of Ayurveda. At minimum, please submit 2-3 pages of personal reflection, but you are encouraged to take the direction that inspires you most.
4. Asana Sheets: Create a photo diary of the following 10 fundamental poses: Downward Dog, Warrior 1, Warrior 2, Utkatasana, Pyramid, Pigeon, Ardha Matsyendrasana, Plank or Side Plank, Upward Dog or Cobra, Bridge or Wheel. In addition to a personal photo that embodies your personal alchemy, please include a brief list of purposes, benefits, modifications, and cues.
5. Final Exam: The exam is distributed via e-mail part-way through teacher training. It is open-book, open-friend, open-Google, and open-heart.
6. Teaching Video: Please submit a 30-minute video of you teaching an original yoga class. The video can either feature students or you teaching alone.
7. Attendance: 180 contact hours are required.
8. Attitude: As a requirement for certification, each trainee commits to a positive attitude of ahimsa, offering loving kindness and patience to all beings.
9. Alignment: Conscious relationships and ethics in line with Yoga Alliance, please refer to the YA Code of Conduct found here.
How to Submit Your Work: Please create a separate document for each practicum requirement — e.g., all observations are in one document, all assistant teaching reflections are in one document, etc. Please title each document with Your Name: Assignment — e.g., Sarah Erter: Observations.
E-mail all assignments to Silvia (silvia@alchemytours.com) and Sarah (sarah@alchemytours.com).
Submission Guidelines: For each teacher trainee, it takes a different amount of time to complete the program post classroom sessions. Everybody has their own yoga, which Alchemy of Yoga respects and honors. To maximize optimal learning and reinforcement, we recommend that practicum materials are completed within six months of completing teacher training. If you are unable to meet practicum requirements within the suggested timeline, please reach out to sarah@alchemytours.com to design a timeline that best fits your yoga.
WHY THIS PROGRAM CHANGES YOUR LIFE:
Something magical and mystical happens when a group of high-intentioned individuals make the decision to gather together for 200 hours with the purpose of uplifting their lives & expanding their consciousness into radical authenticity. The result is something beyond words. It is, as best as I can explain it, the Alchemy of Yoga at its best. Chapter 2 verse 1 of the Yoga Sutras sets forth how the Alchemy of Yoga actually works. “Tapas svadhyaya ishvara pranidhana kriya yoga.” Translated to mean that yoga helps us transform ourselves on three levels:
1. Physical Alchemy – Tapas helps us ignite the changes we want to make in our lives. It is about the getting fired up and passionate. Literally it means heating the body through moving and breathing in the vinyasa
2. Mental Alchemy – Svadhaya. While we are following the discipline of tapas and engaging in physical practice to help move our stuck energy we are watching ourselves. In yoga we study the self to learn about the self. Here the mental alchemy is through self-observation. We witness what is going on in our thoughts, what are we thinking.
3. Spiritual Alchemy – ishvara pranidahana. As we are doing and watching we let go of the ego of judgment. We move beyond wanting life to be different and begin to feel the surrender that allows what is being offered to mix together. We practice ishvara pranidhana as we trust the universal intelligence that hugs us from all directions to know what it’s doing. And once we find this trust we begin to believe that beauty and goodness are within us flowing nonstop and there is no reason to stop this flow for its natural current is to align with the current of grace that is everywhere outssde us. Beauty becomes our way of life. Happiness becomes our natural alchemy.
You see when you get together in a Teacher Training Tribe (aka Alchemy of Yoga) we are all like the Alchemist in his/her laboratory mixing ingredients. For us as yogis our laboratory is our mat and the ingredients are our bodies, our poses, our breath, our thoughts and the mixing it all together creates a different result every time. A Teacher Training Program changes your life. You wake up to the power you have to go into the laboratory of your life experience and mix the potions you want to create your best life going forward!
We believe that the Alchemy of Yoga Teacher Training Program sparks the fire of transformation in everyone. Apply today! Namaskaram!
“The art of living an ordinary life in an extraordinary way.” -Tibetan proverb
REQUIRED BOOKS:
- Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness by Erich Schiffmann
- The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies by Vasant Lad
- The Secret Power of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi or The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
- Wheels of Light by Anodea Judith
- Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life by Judith Lasater
- Yoga for Wellness by Gary Kraftsow
- Teaching Yoga: Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship by Donna Farhi
- The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga by Dr. Ray Long
- How We Choose To Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People by Rick Foster + Greg Hicks
- The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice by Deborah Adele
- The Four Desires by Rod Stryker
- The Heart of Yoga: Developing A Personal Practice by T.K.V. Desikachar
RECOMMENDED BOOKS:
Yogi Bare by Philip Self
The Language of Yoga by Nicolai Bachman
Yoga from the Inside Out by Christina Sell
A Path With Heart: A Guide through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life &
Wherever You Go There You Are by Jack Kornfield
Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain
The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace by Jack Kornfield
Healing Mantras by Thomas Ashley-Ferrand
Women who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa PInkola Estes
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
Yoga & the Path of the Urban Mystic by Darren Main
Breathing Book by Donna Farhi
Its Easier than you Think by Sylvia Boorstein
Women code by Alisa Vitti
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
The Way of the Happy Woman by Sara Stover
The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell
The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock
Be Happy by William Holden
Sweat Your Prayers by Gabrielle Roth
Light on Life by B.K.S. Iyengar
AND FOR OTHER RECOMMENDED ALL TIME FAVORITE YOGA BOOKS:
Meditation:
Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and Faith by Sharon Salzberg
A Path With Heart: A Guide through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life by Jack Kornfield
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Hatha Yoga Practice
Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness by Erich Schiffmann
Jivamukti by Shannon Gannon and David Life
Yoga for Wellness by Gary Kraftsow
Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life by Judith Lasater
The Heart of Yoga: Developing A Personal Practice by T.K.V. Desikachar
The Language of Yoga by Nicolai Bachman
Pranayama and Breath:
Light on Pranayama by B.K.S. Iyengar
Refining the Breath: Pranayama in the Anusara Style of Yoga, Doug Keller
Ayurveda:
Ayurveda: A Life of Balance by Maya Tiwari
What’s Your Dosha Baby? by Lisa Marie Coffey
Yoga and Ayurveda by Dr. David Frawley
Prakriti: Your Ayuredic Constitution (2nd Edition), by Dr. Robert Svoboda
Ayurveda Revolutionized: Integrating by Edward Tarabilda
Yoga & Ayurveda: Self-Healing and Self-Realization by Dr. David Frawley
The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies by Vasant Lad
Yoga for your Type: An Ayurvedic Approach by Dr. David Frawley
Ayurveda for Women by Maya Tiwari
Teaching Skills:
Teaching Yoga: Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship by Donna Farhi
Anusara Yoga Teacher Training Manual by John Friend
Yoga History:
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchitananda
The Secret Power of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi
Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Swami Swatmarama
Mantra
Chakra Mantras: Liberate your Spiritual Genius Through Chanting by Thomas Ashley-Farrand
Healing Mantras: Using Sound Affirmations for Personal Power, Creativity and Healing by Thomas Ashley-Farrand
Tantra
Tantra: Path of Ecstasy by Georg Feuernstein
Inner Tantric Yoga by David Frawley
Spirituality and Healing Arts
When the Drummers Were Women by Layne Redmond
Shaman, Healer, Sage by Alberto Villoldo
Awakening to The Spirit World by Sandra Ingerman & Hank Wesselman
The Medicine Way by Kenneth Meadows
Animal Speak by Ted Andrews
Astrology
The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Need by Joanna Martime Woolfolke
Anatomy/Physiology:
Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain
The Anatomy Coloring Book by Kapit & Elson
Testimonials:
Yogi Bare:Naked Truth by Philip Self
Yoga from the Inside Out by Christina Sell
Yogini: the Power of Women in Yoga by Janice Gates
Inspirational
My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor
Go In and In: Poems From the Heart of Yoga by Danna Faulds
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra
Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections by Rolf Gates
Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das
Shantaram: A Novel by Gregory David Roberts
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Poetry
The Soul of Rumi by Coleman Barks
The Gift by Hafiz
Sweat Your Prayers by Gabrielle Roth
The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition by Jalal al-Din Rumi
Nutrition
Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Polland, (Food history, politics, and local food movement)
Staying Healthy with Nutrition by Elson Haas (Major nutrition resource book)
Radical Healing by Rudolph Ballentine (Wide view of nutrition as a path for transformation)
Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford (Best blend of oriental traditions and modern nutrition)
Food and Healing by Annemarie Colbin (Great food and lifestyle book)
If the Buddha Came to Dinner by Sofia Hale Schatz (Nourish body and spirit)
Feeding the Body Nourishing the Soul by Deborah Kesten (Just as the title promises)
Creating Health by Deepak Chopra (Mind/body medicine)
Food & You by Sari Harrar and Barbara Loecher (Emotional eating related)
Alchemy Tours 