300+ Hour Advanced Study for Teachers and Students
Invest in your studentship.
Our Advanced Study Training program is a great place for you to continue onward, enrich yourself and grow your studentship even more from your already completed Foundations or Basics Training program. Or, if you are a committed student that doesn't teach, the perfect place to further your own practice and study. You do not have to be a teacher to benefit from the high-quality education offered here in these programs. Building a community of teachers that are mutually supportive of one another, maintaining high standards of continuing study, opening doors of creative possibility, and creating a web of interconnected teaching that crosses boundary and style, at The Bhaktishop we aim to support you and stay centered on what unites you in your continuing journey.
The community, business and teachers of The Bhaktishop are deeply invested in staff training, meaningful self-education, and building the knowledge, skill and human resource necessary to invest in a more equitable business model. We're creating conversations about race, inclusion, trauma-informed practices, and equity on a daily basis here, and aim to make use of these skills in a broader capacity in the yoga community.
Progressive. Smart. Practical.
With curriculum designed by Lisa Mae, bringing two decades of teaching and practice to the table, we've curated a program that brings multiple disciplines, experts and wisdom into the overall conversation about yoga and its evolution. Courses of study focusing on strong bio-mechanics and the varied language of asana cues, practical tools for sequencing and progressive class structure, intricate hands-on adjustment labs, and deep philosophical study and coursework in the bhakti tradition as well as much more form the basis for this modular program.
Featuring courses from other skilled teachers, such as a progressive Prenatal Teacher Training with Shana Celnicker-Chong, deep Ayurvedic wisdom workshops with Danielle Hanna, stellar applied Anatomy and Kinesthetic movement instruction from Monicka Koneski, expert restorative practices and psychological study with Jeannie Songer, Trauma-Informed Yoga Training with The Breathe Network's founder Molly Boeder-Harris, plus rich, potent offerings from our cast of visiting teachers including the acclaimed bio-mechanics researcher and stellar yoga teacher Jules Mitchell, practical asana and methodology training from teacher’s teacher Christina Sell, profound adjustment and inner-body awareness training with Portland's own innovator and teacher's teacher Todd Jackson, satsang with Swami B.V. Tripurari, Sanskrit wisdom from Joshua Michaell, mechanical and sustainable genius movement work with both Brea Johnson of Heart and Bones Yoga and Trina Altman of Yoga Deconstructed and so much more, we aim to offer a place where talented teachers can dialogue with each other, share the seat of the teacher, and gain experience and mentorship opportunities that we might not get otherwise.
“I am grateful to you for being one of the teachers who has contributed to the high standards I hold, because you have given me such authenticity and high caliber in every training I’ve had with The Bhaktishop, and I am grateful for how these two worlds are colliding.” ”
Curriculum as varied as your wide-ranging backgrounds.
Designed to be taken in portions of 50-75 hours at a time, with no set endpoint, it is intended for those already teaching or that have completed an approved Basic training or Foundations program, though it does not have to have been here at The Bhaktishop. You can apply to begin at anytime, as there is something being offered each and every season. Please see the requirements for the program at the bottom of the page in the “fine print” section. You may start the program at anytime, and if you have questions about how to get going, please email weloveyou@thebhaktishop.com.
If you are seeking an Advanced Study Certificate, please email for an application form and return it to us to get started.
Seeking Public Comment: We'd like to discuss how, for political reasons, we are considering leaving the Yoga Alliance at the end of 2019 and would like your opinion on that decision. This may affect your decision to do your study here, and thus if you would please send Lisa Mae an email at weloveyou@thebhaktishop.com and let me know how you would be affected by that choice, if you have found utility in YA registration, and any other thoughts you have?
Statement on potentially leaving the Yoga Alliance
We are considering leaving the Yoga Alliance and their registration service at the end of 2019. I have personally been a member of YA since 1999, and have found absolutely no utility to the entity of the Yoga Alliance and its governing body over these 10 years as a registered school, other than in name only. It is my concern that they lack ethical oversight or accountability protocol for their schools or teachers, and thus we do not feel that they represent a significant source of credibility in the teaching of yoga.
According to the Yoga Alliance, no specific curriculum is required, nor is there any required assessment of a registered teacher’s skill. Ever. And there are no plans to change that. It is this massive omission that has gotten us where we are with modern yoga yoga right now-- trainings with arbitrary curriculum being taught to prospective teachers who don’t know any better, and the situation was borne of and is propelled forward by Yoga Alliance.
Instead of telling schools what should be taught and regulating that (and of course there is always the question: How do you regulate yoga?) Yoga Alliance simply requires that a certain number of hours be spent covering each of five areas of study, with no specificity given on how to fill those hours, nor any follow-up on whether or not a school, once registered, ever actually sticks to that curriculum. As listed on their website, registered 200-hour training (the level that 85% of their registered yoga teachers hold) must include 100 hours of practice, 25 hours of teaching methodology, 20 hours of anatomy, 30 hours of philosophy and ethics, and 10 hours of practice teaching. But, the content of each area of study is left up to the school and once submitted (in the loosest possible terms, believe me, these applications have no oversight) that is the last you hear of them except to tell you your dues are up and you have to pay again. As a school with high integrity we have always insisted on more than 200 hours in our basic training (ours is 300 hours at the Foundations level) a focus on safety and current science in movement theory, a strong basis in the lineage and philosophy of yoga, and also require continuing education and advanced study for our teachers rather than simply the ERYT-500 stamp from the YA.
We realize that this is controversial, and may cost us some students, but as they are simply an online registration body/directory and have offered little else since their inception, they offer nothing other than a logo after one's name or school with no real follow-through or follow up on curriculum, compliance enforcement of standards, ethics and beyond. But someone, somewhere, has to break the iron fist that this organization has around the throats of the yoga industry, simply because "they are the only thing available." We have always maintained the highest ethical and curricular standards in our programs, and will continue to offer this in the Advanced Study modes of study.
So, I wonder your thoughts on how this might affect you and your decision to study here. Would you to continue in the program knowing that where you are currently in terms of hours could be completed by the time we exited the YA in 2019? Know that either way when you finish, you'd receive a certificate from us stating your advanced study happened here. I also wonder in general what your experience is in the wider world of yoga in terms of whether these letters after your name have been useful in gaining employ or credibility. If we were to join with other teachers and schools in the region and beyond to form a new body/association/coalition that had member oversight and an advisory board of skilled teachers and offered credibility through a different organization, would that be a fair or reasonable substitute after 2019?
Would you be willing to send me a note and let me know your thoughts on this? I would be grateful to hear them at weloveyou@thebhaktishop.com
Current Advanced Study Workshop/Series/Training Offerings
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
Sept 8-9 and Oct 27-28, 3-7pm $250 for both weekends
Join Monicka, our resident anatomy, biomechanics and movement theory teacher, for two weekends of experiential anatomy and kinesiology. Whether you are curious and want to take a first glance beneath the skin, or you are a teacher looking for an opportunity to sharpen your skills, this is a great opportunity to have fun, do collaborative work in a group and deepen your anatomical understanding. Expect a healthy dose of exploratory movement, opportunities for critical thinking, and ample time for questions and curiosities, all in the context of yoga asana and functional movement. All levels welcome!