Soma Yoga & Medicine School

Welcome

Aims of the Programme

• The aim of the Soma Yoga School is to develop and grow teachers, like seeds, that can share and evolve the work. The work to be done is the conscious unfolding of ourselves towards Truth. We will make real the concept of Guru as a process of enlightenment and the realisation of Truth.

• The Teacher Training mentorship programme is an invitation to impeccability. As the light of one candle can light thousands of candles, you must first illuminate your own consciousness. We will help you shine.

• Woven throughout the science, the emergent spiritual dimensions of yoga practice will awaken you to the symbolic nature of the cosmos, the patterns reflected in nature, and the essential unity of life. As we tune into natural law on the mat we can begin to experience them off the mat in our lives. As we align ourselves through our practice we purify ourselves and become effective guides to others. All wisdom traditions speak the same truths. You will meet them.

• And it is all about love, laughter, wildness,freedom and self-realisation. Ultimately this is your journey and we look forward to walking some of this sacred journey with you. We gather to share a training that is deep and meaningful. We give gratitude for this opportunity.

Soma Mission

• We aim to share the understanding and experience of Yoga in all its depth, beauty and diversity. Yoga is universal in its essence and as such belongs to everyone. We aspire to teach you to live through integrity and authenticity and to help you serve life. All Soma trainings are grounded in Satya (Truth).

• We balance the practical, the theoretical and the experiential aspects of the journey of Yoga. We believe in leading from the heart.

• We will tune into your natural gifts and support you in fully expressing your creative potential in life and in your teaching.

Structure of the programme The Soma Yoga Teacher Training programme is delivered over a minimum of three years, each part deepening your understanding and developing your skills. Together they represent over 1000 hrs of training. All the programmes are certified by the Independent Yoga Network, providing internationally recognised yoga teaching qualifications.

Level 1: Soma Yoga Teacher, 200 hrs (IYN 200hrs)

This foundation training will give you an understanding of the context and power of yoga. You will develop a strong Integral Practice to support your life, work and personal development.

Level 2: Soma Yoga Practitioner 500 hrs (IYN 500hrs)

The second level training delves into the healing power of yoga and gives you a depth of understanding in yoga therapeutics. You will learn to teach Soma Yoga. You will deepen your practice and embody new ones. You will renew yourself physically, energetically and spiritually. You will be guided by the Medicine Wheel Teachings, by powerful rituals, by Soma Nidra and shamanic journeying. What does it mean to live from your centre? How do you stay grounded as a Teacher and share your essential nature?

Yr 3: Soma Yoga Therapist 1000 hrs (IYN 1000hrs)

The third level is all about becoming Soma. You are that elixir and you live in an exquisite balance between life and Spirit. You become able to guide others towards an integrated practice that supports their health, well being and happiness.

Expanding, Exploring and Enriching

• Throughout this mentored journey, this unusual development programme offers studies and practice in yoga, healing methodologies, models of consciousness and much more. With regular weekends, residential schools and ongoing mentoring, students will follow a path towards personal practice, teaching and therapy. Some profound wisdoms are contained within the teaching, fundamental truths about our nature gathered from ancient and modern traditions, all tested through experience.

• If you seek integration, wholeness and peace of mind-body-spirit, then you need to work with all three. The Soma Yoga training uniquely gives you the big frameworks that connect, offer the deepest truths that underlie the content from so many sources and provides the experience that makes all this real.

• You must be committed to practice and open to possibilities and to explore subtle ways of sensing your body, new ways of listening, feeling and seeing. You will explore and reflect upon your practice and life and bring them into alignment with the fullness and depth of you.

What’s in the Soma Medicine Bag

• This Yoga Teacher Training will empower you to teach in a purposeful, safe and inspiring way that has been proven to work consistently and deeply. It will allow you to teach yoga with an empowering effectiveness. Through a progressive and systematic sensitising of your own body, the inherent unity of body, mind and spirit will be revealed to you so that you can teach others with grace and confidence. You will get sound principles of learning and teaching and apply them to yoga methodology in a precise progression that builds together all the elements of yoga.

• The training is at all times relevant, appropriate, essential and will provide a thorough grounding in the dynamics of the simplicity, truths, and integrity underlying the yoga method. You will gain a practical understanding of the nature of body, action, mind, perception, cognition, volition, self and consciousness. This understanding, and its application, will be the foundation for your teaching of yoga in any style or tradition.

• You will be encouraged to teach in the style of your own practice and to adapt your own understanding to the needs of others, without compromising the power and integrity of Yoga. The techniques are not taught merely as the content of a curriculum, but as an analysis of the organic principles underlying all life. The training is as much about how the body, mind and awareness function as it is about postures. This course gives you way more than you need to get you started in teaching yoga.

How the training works

• Based in the mind-body wisdoms of several yoga traditions the programme incorporates shamanic practices, evolutionary psychology, healing arts and skills from East and West, all woven together with music and poetry that resonates with Great Spirit.

• This path offers a complete set of practices and teachings to facilitate the knowledge, health and spiritual openings needed for the coming era. It is an integrative system that blends ancient and modern knowledge with earth-centred practices.

• Throughout the broad-based curriculum there is an emphasis on the teacher’s creativity as an essential ingredient for offering vibrant learning experiences. You will be encouraged to expand your training with anything that inspires and supports you to achieve the results that yoga promises.

• Echoing the biodiversity inherent in the natural world is an equally diverse, interdisciplinary approach to yoga that places a high value on delving into the very roots of everything yogic.

• The training is mostly experiential. You will experience practices that allow you to go deeper into your own being and you will build a massive tool bag for use as both a teacher of yoga and a healer.

• We will explore a combination of contemporary approaches to wellness, adult psychology and psycho-spiritual development. While honouring the history of yoga, the training modules take an evolutionary approach to yoga that helps you access inspiration for lifelong yoga teaching and practice.

Accreditation

• Soma trainings exceed the standards of the Independent Yoga Network (IYN). Graduates will be eligible to join the IYN and be listed in their register at the 200, 500 and 1000 hr levels. These qualifications, together with certification through Soma Yoga & Medicine School will give you everything you need to teach with confidence.

• Embodiment of the principles involved, rather than mere attendance, is required for certification. Trainee Teachers, at each level, are assessed on three criteria: a. Embodiment of techniques being taught, as witnessed in self practice b. Demonstrated ability to teach techniques safely c. Embodiment of the spirit of yoga in terms of sensitivity, honesty, openness, presence, generosity, integrity, trust, self awareness and selflessness

• Mentoring: Students are mentored throughout the training and following the completion of each stage. We aim to support you fully through and beyond the training.

• Record Keeping: Ongoing dialogue between the trainers and trainees will support learning. The usual data protection laws cover all information held by Soma and all progress records will be confidential.

Is Soma for you? Crucially important on the journey to becoming a teacher are your intention and your attitude. You must walk the path with true intent and an open mind. Along the way some deep cleansing of your body and mind will happen. Will you welcome this? Are you seeking only your own experience or are you able to serve the experience of others? This question is important. For sure, you will get an experience on this training but if you do not serve it, it will not serve you. The Soma Yoga Teacher Training is about process – you can perform the procedure of asana, mudra, pranayama, but these only becomes a transformational technology when you offer your intent to the ritual, surrender your ego and really understand the process.

Contact: info@somayogaandmedicineschool.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/somayogaandmedicineschool

Website: www.somayogaandmedicineschool.org

Year 1 – Soma Yoga Practitioner (SYT) – 200hrs IYN

SYT Module 1: Asana

Anatomy of Asana, Principles of movement, Teaching skills

An experiential study of postures and movement, discovering the secrets of asana and understanding their meaning and potential. We will explore the relationship between movement and breath and how flow is created. We will also develop an understanding of the dynamics of learning and communication and develop delivery skills for a variety of student abilities.

• Understanding a posture from the inside

• How to utilise the body with yogic intent

• Understanding sequences and designing classes

• Hands-on assisting and modification of asanas

• Use of music, language and voice to create journeys

We will be seeking a deeper understanding of our physical existence through yoga, something that can shake up our perception and reveal something new about ourselves. We will penetrate the physical aspects of yoga to discover a world of energy revealed through practice and teaching.

SYT Module 1: Asana (continued)

Energetics

We go deeper into asana and learn about the energetics of posture. By looking, listening and feeling differently we get to appreciate the underlying forms and the more subtle aspects of our practice. We will explore the inside of familiar asanas and deepen our awareness of energy and energetic alignment.

• Deepening a yoga practice, yours and the student’s

• Exploring the energetic effects of mantras and mudras

• Integrating the Bandhas into a practice

• How to open and strengthen core structures

• Incorporating deep relaxations & meditations into teaching

SYT Module 1: Asana (continued)

Classical Yoga Principles and the Psychology of Teaching

Eastern philosophy is the origin of the practice of yoga and we will look at the foundations of our work to understand the key concepts and guiding principles. We will also develop skills useful for all teachers that utilise the best of Western psychology.

• Yogic and Western models of Self and self development

• Yamas and Niyamas as an ethical basis for relationship with life

• Teaching as a spiritual practice

• Teaching strategies in a modern world

• Nurturing creativity in the learning process

• Unfolding individuals through the Teacher-Student Relationship, understanding and managing the sacred space in between

SYT Module 1: Asana (continued)

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, the 1st Series – Yoga Chikitsa

The Ashtanga Vinyasa series provides a basic template for any teacher looking to develop an effective and dynamic curriculum. We will look at the first Series, (Yoga Chikitsa means Yoga Therapy) its parts and its flow, as well as the foundations of its sequence as a technology and a map. We will explore the key factors of the practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga:

• Releasing the breath from conditioned imposition

• Establishing respiratory integrity from structural integrity

• The relationship between movement, breathing and awareness

• Developing core integrity through the bandhas

• Surfing the breath - ujjayi breathing

SYT Module 1: Asana (continued)

Western Anatomy and Physiology

We will be learning the basic anatomy of yoga through tactile experience - ‘experiential anatomy.’ This module is designed to help you acquire a relevant knowledge of the body by studying both the objective, scientific aspects of anatomy and by exploring the subjective, experiential meaning. We will use movement, palpation, internal awareness and massage as we learn how to sense our anatomy within various yoga practices. We will get ‘hands-on’ through Thai Yoga Massage techniques.

• Muscle, ligaments and tendons - their structure and function

• Understanding the body and how to support students using Thai Yoga Massage

• Our biomechanical integrity and the principles of movement

• Benefits and contraindications for all techniques

• Avoiding common injuries and teaching errors in yogic practices

• Using props and variations to individualise practices

• Exploring boundaries with others

SYT Module 2 : Introduction to Ayurveda

Ayurveda is a complete way of life. It is a holistic health system comprising diet, Yoga, massage, detoxification, herbal remedies, meditation and daily lifestyle. Ayurveda improves not only a person's health, but also their well being, behaviour and state of mind. This module introduces this Eastern health system.

• The Ayurvedic view of embodiment, health and harmony

• Constitution – the 5 elements and a wholistic understanding of yourself

• Agni and rasa – the fire in the belly and the juice of life

• The rhythms of life and going with the flow

• Creating a life of balance for yourself

• Understanding the seasons and creating seasonal practices

• Creating a seasonal lifestyle plan and seasonal yoga practices

SYT Module 3 : Esoteric Anatomy

Understanding the energetic map of life through:

The model of the 10 bodies

The Chakras

The Koshas

The concept of the Holding field

Introduction to the Medicine Wheel as a map of the anatomy of body, mind, soul and spirit

Pranayama as a practice of energy management and reciprocity with life

These are maps of increasing levels of awareness, leading us towards an integrated way of perceiving from all levels. We will develop perceptual skills out of the ordinary and apply them to ourselves, the past, the present and the future. The Seeds of Your Becoming is a map of increasing personal responsibility that provides a beautifully simple but profound series of rites that launch you on a healing journey.

SYT Module 4: Cosmic Maps

To give context to the whole programme we will compare the developmental models found in various spiritual traditions, looking for common themes and processes. Whether it’s Sanhkya philosophy or Star Wars, we encourage you to engage with these cosmologies and use them to interpret the experience of your personal journey. We will examine several good maps that help us to walk mindfully on the path and to know where we are when we feel lost.

• What are the great traditions telling us?

• The Yogic view of the universe – the history, philosophies

• Sanhkya philosophy, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

• The Medicine Wheel

• The Hero’s Journey

• The context and purpose of this training

• An introduction to the concept of Verticality

• Western Models - speaking the same Truths

SYT Module 5: The Yogic Mind

Discovering depth through meditation, visualisation, deep relaxation, sound and silence. Training your mind.

This is the module where we explore the power of guided relaxations, vision journeys and yoga nidra. We will look at the relationship between breath and consciousness and examine the subtleties of meditation as a source of integrity.

• The Yogic understanding of the landscape of the mind

• Learning to flow within complete stillness

• Pranayama and mantra as part of meditation

• Accessing the guru process within – guided visualisations, journeys and deep relaxation

• Using sound and silence in deepening meditative states

• The relationship between stillness, perception and consciousness

• Healing Savasana - the homecoming to the source within yourself

• Healing touch to ground a student’s experience

SYT Module 6: Satcitananda

We look at the goals of yoga, the apparent end points, described as Samadhi or nirvana, and how yoga works to get us there. We explore how yoga interrupts negative programming, bad habits and karma. We seek to understand how yoga moves us towards harmonisation, integration and balance. We also examine the difference between the blissful states we may experience during yoga and the more permanent results from prolonged practice. Along the way we’ll bump into the ego and its manifestations, the various pitfalls of a spiritual practice and the confusion that accompanies the struggle with what is real and what is imaginary.

• Learning to listen to the inner teacher and paying attention to what’s important

• Making your spiritual practice a communion with clarity, healing and well-being

• The concept of Satcitananda – wisdom, grace, beauty, bounty and bliss

• The Tale of Three Cities – understanding the landscape of the Mind

SYT Module 7: The art of the Namaskars

Flowing sequences and sun salutations are built upon a deep understanding of the subtle and a mastery of the breath. In this module we experience the principles of flow and develop our flowing practice. Moving from technique to flow allows us to incorporate many subtle aspects of yoga and meditation and to access the deeper benefits of yoga. We will deconstruct the Soma sun salutation sequence as well as enjoy the trance states that they create.

• The concepts of conscious fluidity, intention and flow

• The dimensions that create a state of flow

• The collective flow

• Moving meditations

• Conscious fluidity for balancing and healing the stresses of 21st Century living

• Flow sequences in your practice and your classes

SYT Module 8: The Art of Kriyas

Kriya as a system of meditative techniques and movements, within the yogic tradition. Kriya focuses on psycho-spiritual growth and the body's and mind’s potential for maturation. Kriya involves a number of body postures, expressive movements, mudras and mantras, breathing patterns, and degrees of concentration. We will explore:

• The Tantric tradition

• Kriyas for body and mind

• Kundalini Yoga – we meet the role of the spine and endocrine system in the process of awakening. Kundalini Kriyas - understanding how they work, from inside and out

• Maintaining the integrity and flow of kriya

•Sacred Fire Kriya

Practicums

The Soma Teacher Training is a practical development course and participants will be working to become highly skilled teachers, healers and more. The application of knowledge is essential and wisdom must be embodied. A full set of teaching and group management skills will be taught including class design, use of voice and language, teaching asana, leading a visualisation and dealing with the practicalities of a session. Every module will have its experiential and practical time, students will teach each other and be encouraged to get teaching experience outside of the weekend modules. As part of the assessment scheme, the following forms part of the programme:

• Mini-teaching opportunities

• Design and teach 60 minute classes in your style

• Giving and receiving feedback

• Design an 8-session course in style of choice

• Practice teaching exercises in small groups

• Co-mentoring and self-evaluations

• Ashram Life, Bhakti Yoga and Seva

• First Aid - for full certification students will be required to complete a day of first aid training or provide evidence of qualification in 1st aid.

The Team

Nicole – Soma Yoga

Dev – Soma Yoga

Supported by Soma assistant trainers

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Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time,

carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration.

The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that

life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal

connection has meaning and that laughter is

life’s sweetest creation.