Yoga Teacher Training with Aurolab Yoga Project (Yoga Register School)

Principals: Sama Fabian

Aurolab Yoga Project is an international Teacher Study Program devised for serious practitioners to further their studies and for aspiring teachers to gain their qualification. It is an essentially experiential course with an emphasis on process and group dynamics. Aurolab's concept is flexible and inclusive, it can be adapted to different groups according to their location, concerns and aspirations.

Our intention is to offer a space where students can make choices and develop their practice in resonance with their deeper nature. The course articulates around the western concepts of evolution and the eastern experience of a transcendental plane accessible through dedicated practice.

The program spans over two and a half to four years with a 500 hour curriculum covering all the aspects of the practice. Teachers who would like to take on the Aurolab Program for their students are welcome to contact: sama@aurolab.net.

Introduction:
Teaching Yoga is an art that requires an understanding of your process and an uncompromising commitment to the practice. It is in your personal experience that you will source your deepest insights. And it is those insights that will reveal your individual teaching voice. Aurolab Yoga Project is formulated to help you deepen your practice and give you a language to transmit your experience and understanding with clarity, precision, skill and a compassionate heart.

In essence Yoga is a dynamic effort to reach the deepest layers of our organic and spiritual reality, to free ourselves from the servitude of physical and emotional habits, compulsions and unconscious patterns. Aurolab Yoga Project brings together the different aspects of Classical Yoga and presents them in the light of contemporary psycho-spiritual developments promoting:

• The understanding of structural alignment & breath in the practice of asana
• The refinement of mental & emotional patterns with the practice of pranayama
• The elevation of the hearts spiritual longing with mantra & voice work
• The cultivation of a sharp & connective intellect with the study of both ancient & modern texts
• The recognition of internal conflicting forces with shared dialogue & group work
• The access to a place of stillness through relaxation & meditation

All of these aspects come together in the practice as one unified whole where the dualities of action and release, stillness and continuous movement, centre and periphery, masculine and feminine, internal and external are connected to a focal point of reunion.

Yoga is not simply a path for physical health but a way of life where all aspects of a person’s life stream can be integrated into a harmonious whole. Through a dedicated and intelligent practice we can improve the quality of our life and access the inner message that gives existence its direction, its deeper meaning. This in turn enables us to make clear choices, act with awareness and skill and improve our relationship to self, others and the world at large. The practice need not be dry, austere or repetitive but can be a means to keep in touch with our inherent joy and creativity. To be happily established on the spiritual path requires steady, uncompromising work on our deepest patterns but also a conscious connection with the beauty of life, its potentialities and the wonderful opportunities that we are given.

Programme Overview:

• History of Yoga and chronology of Yogic texts
• Philosophy: the core texts and contemporary developments
• Structural and subtle anatomy and physiology
• Sacred sound and Mantra
• The eight limbs, the seven principles and other techniques
• Asana understanding, how does the body work in: standing poses, forward bends, twists, sitting poses, Navamala, hand balances, back bends, Sirsasana and Sarvangasana (ref: Asana Syllabus)
• Pranayama, the nature of Prana and the effects of breathing techniques
• Relaxation theory and practice
• Meditation theory and practice
• Teaching skills:
  * Class planning, coherent sequencing, observation skills, how to make mindful,
  effective and safe adjustments
  * How to modify postures to assist with common postural problems
  * Therapeutic asana sequences for common ailments: back pain, joint stiffness, stress etc.
  * Combining accuracy, clarity and creativity
  * Sanskrit terminology and basic pronunciation
  * Sharing experience: transmission, what do we pass on?
  * Relational skills, understanding group dynamics
  * Responsibility, the ethics of Yoga teaching

Outline of the Course:
The course is a mandatory 500 hours with a minimum of 350 contact hours with the leading tutor. The remaining 150 hours will be organised as follows:

• 40 hours observing/assisting classes
• 30 hours personal and group study
• 80 hours workshops/yoga days/retreats

The course is intensive and spreads over 24 weekends of approximately 14.5 hours in two and a half years. Students who want their teacher diploma will then have another year to complete all the requirements in their own time. Those who want to deepen their practice but do not want to teach can finish their course after the 350 contact hours are completed.

To qualify for the 500 hours Yoga Register standards certification an additional 100 hours (fifty 90 minutes classes) teaching experience will be needed. Aurolab organises a First Aid Certification workshop specifically for yoga teachers and is required to obtain an Aurolab Diploma.

Graduates of a School on the Yoga Register (YRS) are entitled to use the letters YRT (Yoga Register Teacher) and benefit from a discounted subscription rate of £25 for annual entry on The Yoga Register (www.theyogaregister.org).

Aurolab is currently processing its application for a Yoga Alliance 500 hours Certification.

Application Requirements:
Applicants will have a commitment to deepen their understanding of the subject and enter the course with an open mind and heart. We ask students to be prepared to drop any preconceptions and be willing to learn in new ways.

Applicants must have the desire to participate fully in every aspect of the course and understand the need to take responsibility for their own growth and learning, with the support of tutors and the other group members. They will have the curiosity and willingness to deepen their awareness of self and have a minimum of 2 years Yoga practice.

Dates and Location for the new 2005 Course (Group 3):
14-15 May, 4-5 June, 2-3 & 23-24 July, 3-4 September.

Further dates to be given in June. The course will be held at Plumstead, South East London. This venue may change depending on numbers.

For further information:
website: www.aurolabyoga.net
email: sama@aurolabyoga.net