Studio South is proud to announce the graduation of 17 new yoga teacher training program graduates.
The studio’s registered yoga school is credentialed through the Yoga Alliance, a national organization that sets the standards for many studios throughout the country.
The program, which began last March and concluded in September, includes 200 hours of training in everything from yoga postures to anatomy to mediation and breathing.
“We want [the students] to experience what yoga is from a bigger perspective,” said Katy Henderson, owner and founder of Studio South.
Students in the program earn their designation through hands-on learning and teaching as well as professional instruction and study for one weekend a month over the course of seven months.
The training culminated with a retreat to Yogaville, a community near Buckingham County founded by famed Yogi Sri Swami Satchidananda. The community is a destination for all things yoga, and those who reside there live in accordance with the philosophies that inform yoga in all aspects of their lives.
Upon completion of the official coursework, the class was challenged to take on a community service project and chose to adopt Avalon: A Center for Women & Children as their charity of choice for the project.
In addition to putting together supply drives to gather clothing, home goods, toiletries and other essentials for the shelter, the graduates are also currently in the process of preparing to teach free yoga classes on Avalon’s campus as a way to share the strength and peace they have found through their practice.
While many of the students come to the program with the intention to teach yoga professionally in a studio or gym setting, others sign up as a way to deepen their own personal practice and share their love of yoga with those closest to them.
Henderson believes all of the trainees will go on to find some way to serve their community through yoga.
“We are so incredibly proud of their dedication to their own practice and to sharing their practice with others,” Henderson said. “The world can’t have too many yoga teachers.”
The next teacher training program begins in March 2016.
