Boston/Woburn, MA September 2022 MBF Conference

YogaFit Seniors

This one‐day workshop offers ways to modify YogaFit classes to make them accessible to individuals over the age of 55, regardless of their fitness levels. You may take this workshop at any time that fits with your schedule, after completing Level One. 

TaiChiFit

TaiChiFit® is a form of ancient martial arts that can be used for defensive capabilities and excellent health benefits. TaiChiFit introduces the fitness professional to the four main styles of TaiChi, its purpose, history, principles, philosophy, and psychological health benefits. This course is adaptable for all fitness levels and can be done anywhere.  It brings focus on balance with controlled movements to increase stability, flexibility, circulation, immunity, strength  (in a subtle way), moving meditation to promote relaxation and awareness of the breath.  It is a low-impact fitness option to complement any fitness program as an adaptation for functional exercise for the general public, seniors, those with physical challenges, and athletes. 

We will cover clothing options, breath work, class design, as well as utilization of a chair to fuse Yoga and TaiChi.  There will be illustrations on how to execute proper alignment in basic exercises to help with posture, stability, and many other positive aspects. There will be a breakdown of each exercise to be able to teach the pose.  During pose breakdown, there will be complete step-by-step instructions for setting up the movement and team-teaching practice with peers. This course will help you design and teach three different approaches to TaiChi with a special emphasis on form and technique.

Integrating Mudras into Practice

When we think of a yoga practice, we often think of physical postures (asana), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation. For most people, a lesser-known part of yoga is mudras. The term mudra is a Sanskrit word meaning “gesture” or “seal”. Mudras can be described as self-acupressure with the thumb and each finger taking on significance of meaning depending on how they are positioned and brought together. The hands are loaded with sensory and motor nerve endings that communicate to the brain creating the potential for powerful shifts in physical, psychological, and spiritual awakenings. In this training, we will learn the history and science behind mudras, their benefits, and the interrelation of mudras with koshas, vayus, chakras, meridians, and the five elements. We will experience and learn how to incorporate mudras in various ways into a yoga practice with pranayama, meditation, and yoga postures for both our students and ourselves.

YogaFit Advanced Sequencing

Take your teaching to the next level! The YogaFit Advanced Sequencing Training will allow yoga practitioners to work from every angle of the yoga mat while challenging the mind and body. Engage students of every skill level with new asana and vinyasa flows using the YogaFit method sequencing technique. This training also introduces yoga variations of high-intensity interval training to build strength and cardiovascular fitness to your yoga practice. Elevate your mind and body with these new vinyasa flows.

YogaFit Dream Yoga

Dreaming offers unparalleled opportunities for mental, physical, and spiritual growth. During this one day workshop we will explore the science behind lucidity, how to induce lucid dreams, what to do with them, and how to transcend any obstacle. Lucid dreaming has been developed for thousands of years in the East, and recently augmented with sophisticated techniques from the West. We will learn how lucid dreaming leads to lucid living, and how this ancient practice can change your brain, facilitate healing, overcome daytime obstacles, and spiritually wake you up.

LEVEL ONE: Foundations

The first step on the path toward becoming a yoga teacher or simply deepening your practice, Level One provides the tools to create inspiring vinyasa yoga classes grounded in proper alignment and the safety of exercise science. 

While there are no prerequisites for this course, we do require that all attendees read Beth Shaw's YogaFit prior to attending. This book explains the foundation of our entire teacher training program, and allows for better overall understanding of the material covered in our Level One Training. Please email edu@yogafit.com with any questions about Level One!.  We look forward to seeing you on the mat. 

We are also offering Level One virtually, with live trainings via zoom.  Please click here for the schedule of Virtual Level One Trainings.

Note: In order to receive a Certificate of Completion for Level One, you must also complete eight hours of practice teaching as a community service, in which you bring the gift of yoga, free of charge, to individuals who would not normally be exposed to yoga on a regular basis.

Upon completion of the Level One training and Community Service hours, click here for instructions regarding obtaining your certificate. 

You have one year from the date of your Level 1 Training to complete Community Service and apply for your Level 1 Certificate. We do understand that sometimes life events interfere with our plans. Please email certs@yogafit.com if you find that you may need an extension for completion.

Retrain: Please call Customer Service at 1-888-786-3111 to register for retrains of Level 1.  The retrain price is $199.

LEVEL FOUR: Tradition

Level Four continues where Level Three left off, exploring more challenging practices and the preparation for each of them. But the real emphasis is on how to weave elements of yoga's ancient tradition into your practice, life, and teaching. This four‐day intensive delves deeper into the Yoga Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita, and some of the more esoteric elements of yoga, such as chakras, mudras (hand gestures), and sound.

**Please note: Due to the scheduling involved with Level 4 and 5, requests to transfer out of Level 4 or 5 trainings will result in a $100 transfer fee. 

Ayurveda I

Learn ways to adapt the principles of yoga’s sister science, Ayurveda, to your yoga classes and for your clients in this two-­day intensive. By taking into account health challenges, age, seasons of the year, times of day, and myriad other factors, Ayurveda can help you more effectively meet the needs of your students, your clients (and yourself) on and off the mat. Combines lecture, discussion and practice. 

Note: This course fulfills part of the requirements for the YogaFit 100-hour Ayurvedic Coaching Certificate.

***Virtual Trainings will receive a digital manual only. 
 

Holistic Yoga and Nutrition

Nutrition is the act of being nourished and the processes by which an animal or plant takes in and utilizes food substances. Holistic refers to the belief that you need to look at the whole, interconnected person. Therefore, holistic nutrition can be defined as is the process of taking food into the body and absorbing the nutrients in those foods based on the principle that everything is connected in some way. In this training we will explore nutrition in the content of the 8 limbs of yoga and create a greater understanding of Ayurvedic principles and western nutrition.  

In addition to the recommended book below, we also recommend this digital textbook. You are welcome to download the book or read it in your browser. 

Yoga for Addiction and Recovery

Gain a deeper understanding of addiction and compulsive behavior in their many guises—drugs and alcohol, gambling, sex, overeating, shopping and exercise—through the yogic lens of “samskaras,” impressions or pathways carved into the mind by habitual behavior that make addictive patterns very difficult to break.

Click here for information about MyCAA

YogaFit Restorative

YogaFit’s four­-day Restorative teacher training is essential for the yoga therapist to understand how to introduce the profoundly soothing effects of this restful practice to clients and students. Using props to completely support the body, restorative yoga creates passive poses that induce a deep state of relaxation, awaken dull areas of the body, and encourage the body’s innate ability to heal itself.

Note: This course fulfills part of the requirements for the YogaFit 300‐hour teacher training. The one-day YogaFit Props training is part of this four-day workshop. However, please note that you will NOT receive a separate Props Certificate when registered for the four day Restorative Training.  To receive a Props certificate, it must be taken as a one day training at a different time. 

YogaFit Props

Tight shoulders, hamstrings or hips can prevent even the most seasoned student from experiencing comfort and ease while doing yoga or even moving through the world. By reducing muscular effort and encouraging proper alignment, effective use of yoga props—blocks, blankets, bolsters, straps and even chairs—helps everyone to feel successful and enjoy the full benefits their practice.

Expanding Consciousness: The Yogic Mindset

As yoga therapists and teachers, we hold space and act as guides for our students and clients as they work to create balance in their lives and build a healthier relationship with the challenges they face. In order to be effective healers and therapists, however, we must believe in the limitless ability of our own power to heal. YogaFit’s Expanding Consciousness workshop provides an opportunity to examine our own limitations and fears, increase our capacity for self compassion, and learn to co-create our own reality. 

YogaFit for Caregivers

Caregivers spend so much time and loving attention on others that they forget to care for themselves–physically and emotionally. If you work with elderly patients, children with special needs, or foster kids trapped in the system, this one-­day workshop can provide the tools necessary to revitalize and reconnect to your center and find the balance you need to serve others.

Meditation and Mindfulness

This one­-day transformational training uses a multilayered approach to mantra and chakra meditations to balance the nervous system and bring greater awareness to the mind and the body. An essential “Healer Heal Thyself” self­care tool for all yoga therapists, healthcare professionals, and yoga teachers to reflect, regroup, and be able to serve the needs of their clients and students effectively.

LEVEL FIVE: Unification

Level Five brings together all that you’ve learned in your YogaFit 200‐hour teacher training, and shifts the emphasis from external accomplishments to internal growth. Applying the powerful practice of staying in the present moment, an integral tenet of the essence of YogaFit, this two‐day intensive may be the end of your official teacher training, but it’s just the beginning of your journey inward toward true integration.

Note: All participants are required to complete the Brief Strengths Test, authentichappiness.org, print individual results, and bring these results to the training.

Ayurveda II

Drawing on the concepts presented in Ayurveda I, this two-­day workshop delves a bit deeper into specific practices of Ayurveda, yoga’s sister science of holistic self­care, providing an opportunity to enjoy a weekend of personal practice that will enhance your own well being and give you the tools to strengthen your knowledge of yoga’s therapeutic benefits. 

Note: This course fulfills part of the requirements for the YogaFit 100-hour Ayurvedic Coaching Certificate.

Recovery Coaching Essentials

In these times of great change and uncertainty, the need for people who are able to provide support, healing, and empowerment is on the rise. Many feel lost and alone as they are attempting to create healthier lifestyles without the crutch of unhelpful numbing agents. In our role as yoga teachers, we have the ability to guide others as they create a place of safety, calm, and stability within themselves. This Yoga Teacher Training combines effective coaching skills along with the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda and the modern science of habit change in order to empower clients in their own journey of navigating recovery from unhealthy and unhelpful patterns. 

This training is part of the Mind Body Recovery Coaching 100 hour Specialty Track. 

*Please note: Recovery Coaching Essentials is Yoga Teacher Training focused on integrating coaching skills into our yoga classes and sessions. It is NOT a certification in coaching.  

YogaFit for Chronic Pain

Chronic pain affects more people worldwide than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined, and results in sleep disturbances, fatigue, emotional stress, muscular tension and more. Using a combination of ancient yoga practices and modern physiological treatment modalities, this two-day training will provide the yoga therapist the necessary tools to work with students and clients suffering from chronic pain.  

The Art of Storytelling: The Therapeutic Narrative

We all learn through stories, either listening to others or sharing our own. And the power of storytelling lies in the way it can help rewire the brain by bringing new images to life—of courage, hope, love and acceptance—to replace the old ones. In this one­-day workshop, discover the art of weaving stories through your teaching in a way that will support all your students, no matter what they’re going through, and enrich their classroom experience.

Sound and Mantra Healing

Sound and vibrational healing, as described in the yogic texts of old, has been practiced in the East for millennia. Come explore the ancient practice of sound healing in this two­ day workshop, learn the therapeutic healing power of sound and vibration, and discover why music, chanting, and toning continue to have a profound effect on our physical and emotional well being.

YogaFit for the Change: From PMS to Menopause

For many women moving through the stages of their lives—from puberty to post­menopause—can be quite challenging. This one-­day workshop examines what goes on physically and emotionally in a woman’s life and presents tools and practices to help her navigate those stages with grace and determination.