If you take the Part-time option, the retreat and weekend intensive sessions will include full 8-10 hour days, although you will have longer periods of time between sessions to integrate the information.
If you take Full-time option, you will have five days on followed by one day off throughout the training. There will be 8 contact hours each day, and on top of that there will be assignment work to complete and personal reading.
You could expect to put in an extra 1 to 2 hours per day to absorb the information and complete all assignments.
Please note the Full-time course is very intensive, but we offer it in a retreat-style immersion so you won’t need to worry about the usual routine of life, preparing meals or travelling to and from the course. You will be away from the distractions of city life so you can focus fully on your training – it will be like being in a “yoga bubble” for a whole month.
Part-time course:
During the 7-9 night residential retreats, days will start at 7am and go through until 6pm, although there will be plenty of down time during the day for resting and exploring the retreat environment.
During the Sydney Weekend Intensives, times are: Friday 5pm – 8pm, Saturday & Sunday 9am – 6pm.
Full time course:
7am – 6pm daily, except on days off.
For all courses, the days will start with a yoga class followed by a break for breakfast or morning tea.
Retreat Daily Rhythm:
7am-9am Yoga practice
9am-10am Breakfast
10am-1pm Teacher Training (Theory session)
1pm-3pm Lunch
3pm-6.30pm Teacher Training (Practical session)
You will receive a Certificate of Training for either 200-hour training or 500-hour training, depending on which course you attended. If you do single modules only, you will receive a Statement of Training.
BodyMindLife Yoga’s Teacher Training combines the experience of Nicole Goodwin, senior BodyMindLife Yoga teaching staff, and several honorary guest teachers. Nicole is the co-founder and owner of BodyMindLife Yoga studio and has been teaching yoga for 10 years. She has studied extensively with well-known yoga teachers including Shiva Rea and Baron Baptiste, and holds a Diploma of Health (Yoga Teaching) from Nature Care College.
Other teaching staff members are considered to be the best in their respective fields, and include:
If you have not completed a Teacher Training course previously, you will need to apply for the 200-hour training at a minimum. Alternatively you may apply for both the 200-hour and 300-hour training programs if you wish to gain the full 500-hour certification, recognised by Yoga Alliance.
The 200-hour is the minimum training required to go out and start teaching yoga classes to the public, and to obtain Association memberships and Public Liability Insurance. It will enable you to teach group classes as well as private classes in many of the locations where yoga is generally available.
The 300-hour is an advanced training, designed to be continuing study for Yoga Teachers. However, if there are modules of the 300-hour course that interest you, you are certainly welcome to attend them, and they may be credited towards the 300-hour course once you are enrolled. You just won’t be able to accrue these hours towards the 200-hour course, because of the specific Yoga Alliance requirements for 200-hour training.
If you have already completed a 200-hour Teacher Training at a school other than BodyMindLife Yoga, you may opt to attend the 300-hour training only, and receive certification for 500-hours in total. You will need to specify this on the application form, email a scanned copy of your Teacher Training Certificate issued by a Yoga Alliance registered school. We may like to set up a personal or phone interview with you to determine whether the course will suit your requirements.
In each Element of the training there will be an assignment to complete. Assignments are usually based on your reflections on how you relate to the subject matter being taught, so there will be no need for excessive research or study hours to complete the assignments.
Students doing the Part-time course will need to hand in all assignments at the beginning of the last retreat (you will be advised of the specific dates). Students doing the Full-time course will have one month from the last day of the course to hand in assignments.
The major part of the assessment requires you to teach a 50-minute yoga class to ensure you have embodied the information taught. The course is competency based, which means there is no pass or fail. You may repeat the assessment if necessary until you are able to demonstrate competency.
There will be one several project-based assignments to complete to receive this certificate. There is a degree of flexibility around when assignments needed to be handed in, and you will be given the assignment sheet at the time that you enrol for the course. Basically any assignments will need to be completed before you can request the certificate.
Although we do not advocate a certain “style” of yoga, BodyMindLife Yoga studios offer primarily Vinyasa yoga, and this style is more widely emphasised throughout the training. You’ll find that our unique philosophy and principles of practice can be applied to all major styles of yoga.
If you are enrolled in the 200-hour course Part-time or Full-time in 2010, you must complete the course in 2010. Of course, if life changes happen and you need to defer your studies for a while, we can certainly accommodate that. We recommend that you don’t take more than two years to complete the 200-hour training. By 2011, individual “elements” of the 200-hour training will be available in stand-alone 5-6 day blocks, allowing more flexible study options. As the 300-hour training is more flexible by nature, you may take between one and three years to complete.
You are required to keep up a regular, documented yoga practice while enrolled in a Teacher Training program.
We are not a Registered Training Organization (RTO) and therefore are unable to issue a COE to those wanting to apply to the Australian Immigration Office for a study visa. We happily accept international students into our Teacher Training programs but are unable to assist with visa documentation.
BodyMindLife Yoga is a Registered Yoga School with Yoga Alliance, for 200-hour and 500-hour Teacher Trainings. Yoga Alliance recognizes Yoga Schools who meet certain standards in Teacher Training curriculums.
Upon receipt of your Certificate of Training, you may apply directly to Yoga Alliance to become a “Registered Yoga Teacher”. Forms may be downloaded directly from www.yogaalliance.org.
We are currently in the process of registering our Teacher Training Programs with Yoga Teachers Association of Australia (YTAA). Please stay tuned for further information.
Upon receipt of your Certificate of Training, you may apply for Yoga Teachers Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance through OAMPS Australia, or other Insurance providers.
Taking a Yoga Teacher Training course is a wonderful way to immerse yourself and develop a greater understanding of Yoga and the role it plays in your own life. Many of our students participate with a desire to deepen their own personal practice. Our teacher training offers students an opportunity to look at Yoga not just as a practice, but as a lifestyle, and an effective tool to bringing about greater health, harmony and balance to one’s life. We recommend anyone who is interested in creating lasting good health and wellbeing take this course!
No matter what your fitness level, you will find classes challenging. Each posture combines flexibility, strength and balance to work your whole body from your bones to your skin. With persistence, patience, and dedication, you can lose inches and develop muscle tone and strength that might never come from other forms of exercise.
Most people do not experience dramatic weight loss according to a scale because as you are losing fat, you are building muscle mass. What you will see is a general slimming all over: your clothes fit better, your posture is better, your skin will GLOW!
For good results, we encourage a regular practice of 3 times per week minimum. For life-changing results, 4 or more times per week. Most importantly, it’s about doing what works for you and maintaining your practice over the long term. If that means starting our with one class a week then that’s definitely a great start!
The room is MILDLY heated intentionally to warm muscles, which allows you to work deeper in a shorter amount of time, seeing results faster. Heat takes the trauma out of stretching, heals and helps prevent injuries. Also, your skin is the largest elimination organ in your body. Yoga is not just about working muscles. You are massaging deep tissues, glands, organs as well. As you work deep within your body, you may start to release “poisons” or “toxins” that have been stored there a long time. Sweating helps flush toxins from your body, giving you a wonderful glow from head to toe.
Didn’t know you had a muscle there? Congratulations, you have utilised 100% of your body. You are on the way to regaining your birthright: using your body in the full range of motion that it was designed for. Muscle soreness is a build-up of lactic acid. What’s the best way to get rid of the lactic acid? Stretching. It may seem impossible to imagine that coming back for more will help, but it is THE BEST way to relieve the soreness. If you wait too long to come back, then you will be starting all over again.
Many people use a few minutes after class to completely relax and allow the body to recover from its intense workout.
Drink plenty of water. You can lose up to 1 – 1.5 litres of water weight during a class. This is NOT good weight to lose. It is easy to get dehydrated, so make sure you are drinking plenty of water after class and the entire day before you come to class. You are less likely to feel light headed or dizzy during class if you’ve had enough to drink in the hours preceding class.
How much is enough? This is going to vary on a person-by-person basis. Typically a good formula is to drink 3% of your body weight in water. If you weigh 50kg you would need to be drinking 1.5L of water per day minimum, 75Kg you would need 2.7L per day. Seem like a lot? Remember our bodies are 70% water. Being fully hydrated helps take pressure off organs to do their jobs and helps flush the body and keep it running smoothly.
The most typical excuse for not drinking water is the increased visits to the restroom. Your body will adjust to the increased water intake. You may also find benefits of decreased body odour, smoother skin, and shinier hair.
Ask yourself the following questions:
If you answered “YES” to any of the above, then yoga may be beneficial for you. The best way to find out is by coming along to a few classes and letting the results speak for themselves.
All yoga styles taught are suitable for the beginner through to the advanced practitioner, so feel free to come along to either style for your first class. Whichever one you try first, be aware that it often takes a few classes before you really get the hang of it, but you should be feeling the great effects after your very first class.