Treat yourself and your partner to a relaxing, playful, and rejuvenating experience this Valentine’s weekend! Join us for a special Thai Yoga Massage workshop with David Marshall – Certified yoga teacher, Reiki practitioner, and licensed Thai massage therapist. Learn the art of Thai massage in a fun and hands-on class where you’ll explore soothing stretches, gentle assists, and energy-balancing techniques. Perfect for couples, friends, or anyone who wants to share the gift of relaxation. Sign up today and let the rhythm of Thai massage help you unwind and connect in a whole new way. Space is limited—reserve your spot now!Cost: $45 per person ($40 if registered before January 31st)
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YOGA SHANTI GOLD: Janu Sirsasana
Iyengar says that if you understand Janu Sirsasana (one-legged seated forward bend) that you will understand the essence of all of the forward bends. What are the elements that make up this important pose? Where does it belong in sequences? We will break it down and make you fall even more in love with this crescent shaped, asymmetrical closed twist and forward bend. Come and open up the treasure chest of Janu Sirsasana.
Participate in this discussion by submitting your questions relating to the topic above by midnight on Saturday, April 30th to sagharbor@yogashanti.com with “Gold Question” in the subject line of the email.
200Hr Yoga Teacher Training (Spring 2023)
Yoga Shanti’s 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training is an opportunity to open a doorway into self-awareness of body, mind, and spirit! This hybrid training includes 3.5 months of direct study with Colleen Saidman and Rodney Yee, with the option to participate entirely online, in-person, or a combination of both! This carefully curated program is designed to immerse you in the study of yoga, enriching and strengthening your personal practice, and preparing you to teach a set of safe Shanti-style sequences. The curriculum will include cultivating a daily home practice of asana, pranayama, and meditation with a focus on alignment, flow, and inquiry of the subtle. You will develop teaching skills including sequencing, seeing and understanding bodies, and manual adjusting. Your study will also include anatomy and philosophy. Plenty of individual attention and mentorship will be available for each student. This training has the potential to transform your life, and we hope that you will join us on this ever-unfolding journey.
Read Graduate Testimonials Frequently Asked Questions
Program Structure
The training comprises nine long-weekend immersions roughly every 2 weekends (see exact dates below). The group also meets for compulsory one-hour mentorship meetings on Tuesdays. Students are required to attend all sessions live for a minimum of 80% real-time participation. The entire program will also be recorded and available for on-demand replay so that students can bring themselves up to speed if there is an occasional scheduling conflict. These replays are also an invaluable resource for students during the entire program, allowing for the review of content during home study.
8 Weekend Sessions Over 3.5 Months:
- February 3-5
- February 17-19
- March 3-5
- March 17-19
- March 31 – April 2
- April 14-16
- April 28-30
- May 19-21
Fridays: 6:00-8:00pm (EST)
Saturdays: 9:30am-5:00pm (EST)
Sundays: 9:30am-4:30pm (EST)
Weekly 1-hour Mentorship Calls:
Tuesdays, with the option of 12:30pm or 7:00pm (EST)
Additional Required Classes:
Students are also required to take at least one additional public Yoga Shanti class each week. This can be taken live or on-demand at any time within the same week. In addition, students must also take 5 Beginner Classes and complete 3 class observations during the program.
Reading List
- Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar
- When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
- Yoga for Life by Colleen Saidman
- When Love Comes to Light by Richard Freeman
- The Yoga of Breath: A Step-by-Step Guide to Pranayama by Richard Rosen
- The Mirror of Yoga: Awakening the Intelligence of Body and Mind by Richard Freeman
- Also required: Subscription to Gaia Yoga Foundations for the duration of training.
Props for Home Practice
- A Yoga Mat
- 2 Yoga Bricks (foam or cork)
- 3 Blankets
- 1 Yoga belt or strap
- 1 Sandbag (fill with 5 lb fish tank pebbles)
Technical Requirements
- A reliable internet connection and computer/smart-phone with camera.
- A location in your home that you can set up as a yoga practice space.
- A setup so that instructors can review your practice virtually. Your space should be well lit so that you are clearly visible on screen. It is important that instructors are able to see your full practice space.
- The WhatsApp mobile application
- The Zoom application
Tuition
Tuition for this program is $3160 (for online, in-person or hybrid participation) and includes a 30-class yoga pass to use during the course of the program. Several monthly payment plans are available during the registration process. Graduates of previous Yoga Shanti Teacher Trainings can participate in this training at a reduced tuition of $1960. Please email your graduation certificate to training@yogashanti.com to access this discount code.
Payment Plan Options
Various payment plans are available for a $45 admin fee and are outlined below. The initial installment is payable when you register and the follow-up payments occur automatically on the same day monthly thereafter. Note: Because tuition must be paid in full by the end of the program the longer-term plans become unavailable as the program start date draws nearer.
- 3 monthly installments of $1315
- 4 monthly installments of $987
- 5 monthly installments of $789
- 6 monthly installments of $567
- 3 monthly installments of $1100 (previous grads only)
- 5 monthly installments of $660 (previous grads only)
Previous graduates should email training@yogashanti.com for a discount code.
Diversity Scholarship
Yoga Shanti is dedicated to making yoga accessible to as many people as possible and to increasing diversity in the yoga community. As part of our commitment to this endeavor, we have established The Yoga Shanti Diversity Scholarship to encourage and assist people from under-represented groups to join our training program. The scholarship application deadline for this training is midnight on January 3rd, 2022.
Enrollment Process
The application process is as follows: Step 1) Register on our Union page and pay tuition. Please select to “Register for Zoom Session” even if you intend to participate in some (or all) of the sessions in person. Step 2) Complete this application form. Step 3) Once your tuition has been paid and your application form has been reviewed we will confirm official acceptance within 48 hours. Please contact us with any questions.
Withdrawal and Refund Policy
Students may withdraw from the training up until end-of-day on December 20th, 2022 for any reason for a refund of any tuition paid, less a completely non-refundable $300 administrative deposit. After December 20th, 2022 no refunds will be given but the funds may be used towards another training should we schedule another within one year from the student’s original application date. Students on payment plans who withdraw are required to complete their tuition payments on the original schedule in order to be eligible to participate in another training within one year. In the event that we do not schedule another training, the entire sum will be non-refundable. In the event that a student is refused continuation of the program at any time for any reason, there will be no refunds made and the student will be charged any remaining tuition balance.
YOGA SHANTI GOLD: Jalandhara Bandha
- What is Jalandhara Bandha?
- What is the architecture?
- What is the action?
- How do we prepare for it?
- Why bother?
These are some of the questions that will guide our inquiry into Jalandhara Banha. Join us for this upcoming Gold session where together we illuminate and experience the power and subtlety of the valve at the base of the throat.
Participate in this discussion by submitting your questions relating to the topic above by midnight on Saturday, March 19th to sagharbor@yogashanti.com with “Gold Question” in the subject line of the email.
300Hr Advanced Teacher Training (Spring 2025)
Early Bird Incentives: This Spring 2025, Colleen and Rodney are hosting this 300HR Advanced Training due to increased demand. Sign up for this training by January 31st and receive unlimited in-person classes for the duration of the program OR unlimited online classes effective immediately and through August 31, 2025. Additional exclusive offers are available for registering by February 15th. Please contact training@yogashanti.com to learn about these incentives.
The Essence of Yoga: Ancient Wisdom for our Modern Times is a deep immersive experience that will move you beyond the fundamentals of yoga into the realm of subtlety and increased wonder. The program can be taken either entirely online, entirely in-person, or a combination of both! This advanced yoga teacher training gives you extensive access to Colleen, Rodney and the program Mentors. Individual attention and mentorship is a unique and supportive aspect of this training. The community that develops is significant, supportive, fun, and long-lasting! Colleen and Rodney will guide you in establishing and refining a strong foundation for a life-long study and teaching of yoga. The curriculum will include a deeper look into your daily home practice of asana, pranayama, and meditation. Your teaching skills including sequencing, alignment and seeing and understanding bodies will be honed. Anatomy, philosophy, and chanting are important components included in the curriculum. There will be special guest appearances from some of the most renowned yoga teachers of our time.
Upon acceptance into the program, you will receive a list of required and recommended readings and written assignments. You will have a one-on-one Zoom session to introduce you to our online platforms. This unique program comprises 9 training immersions spanning 4 months, beginning March 14th and ending June 22nd, 2025 (see the exact schedule of dates below). Most of the sessions take place over weekends. At least 80% of the program must be attended in real-time, but every session is recorded and available to watch on Replay for when missing a session or two is unavoidable—or for review in your own time. Replays are also available for 30 days after the program ends.
Curriculum
The Yoga Shanti 300HR Advanced Teacher Training covers the following topics:
- Enhancing your own practice and understanding
- How to confidently teach a class for the desired energetic outcome
- Sequencing for emotions, advanced poses, the health of the spine and nervous system
- The art of verbal instruction and demonstration
- Pranayama and meditation
- Experiential anatomy
- Seeing and understanding bodies
- Therapeutics
- The relevancy of Eastern philosophy for the Western mind
- Essential studies
Program Structure
The training begins with a 4Day Intensive to dive deeply into our advanced studies, which is then followed by seven training weekends and ends with a weekend of final evaluations. Please note that students are required to participate live at least 80% of the time. (Please communicate with us beforehand if you anticipate missing more than 20% of the actual program dates.)
2025 Program Dates
- Initial 4-Day Intensive:
Mar 14, 15, 16 & 17 (full day schedules*) - Weekly 1-hour Mentorship Calls:
Every Tuesday at 7:00pm (ET) throughout the training - 8 Weekend Sessions:
March 28-30
April 11-13
April 25-27
May 2-4
May 16, 17 & 18 (full day schedules*)
May 30 – June 1
June 13-15
June 20, 21 & 22 (full day schedules*)
- Typical Weekend Schedule
Fridays: 6:00-8:00pm (ET)
Saturdays: 9:30am-5:00pm (ET)
Sundays: 9:30am-4:30pm (ET)
*Full days schedule is 9:30am-4:30pm - Additional Required Yoga Classes:
Students are required to take one class every week with Colleen or Rodney during training. These classes can be taken live or on-demand at any time within the week. Additionally,
+ Students must take 5 Beginner classes throughout the duration of training.
+ Students must complete 5 class observations throughout the duration of training.
Required Reading
- When Love Comes to Light by Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor
- Yoga FAQ by Richard Rosen
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Chip Hartranft
- Yoga For Life by Colleen Saidman
- Moving Toward Balance by Rodney Yee
- The Muscles Premium application from the Visible Body anatomy series.
Recommended Reading
- Yoga Body by Mark Singleton
- Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Suzuki Roshi
- The Book of Joy by Dalia Lama and Desmond Tutu
- Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health by Iyengar
Required Props
- A Yoga Mat
- 2 Yoga Bricks (foam or cork)
- 3 Blankets
- 1 Yoga belt or strap
- 1 Sandbag (fill with 5 lb fish tank pebbles)
- A chair
- A yoga bolster (the 3 blankets can substitute)
Technical Requirements
- A reliable internet connection and computer/device with a camera and microphone.
- The WhatsApp mobile application installed on your smartphone.
- A location in your home that you can set up as a yoga practice space.
- A setup so that instructors can review your practice virtually if you are practicing from home. Your space should be very well lit so that you are clearly visible on screen. It is important that instructors are able to see your full practice space.
Prerequisites
This teacher training is designed for students who have already completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training program. Serious practitioners looking to continue their personal studies in yoga are also welcome to apply. Admittance into the program is subject to approval on a case-by-case basis.
Tuition & Registration
Tuition for this program is $3900 and includes a 25-class yoga pass for in-person classes and unlimited online classes with Yoga Shanti to use for the duration of training. Previous Yoga Shanti 200 and 300-YTT graduates receive a $600 discount. Registration requires an initial deposit of $1000 and 2, 3 and 4-month payment plans are available for the balance and incur a $100 fee.
Early Bird Incentives: Sign up for this training by January 31st and receive unlimited in-person classes for the duration of the program OR unlimited online classes effective immediately and through August 31, 2025. Additional exclusive offers are available for registering by February 15th. Please contact training@yogashanti.com to learn about these incentives and available payment plans.
The Yoga Shanti Diversity Scholarship
Yoga Shanti is dedicated to making yoga accessible to as many people as possible and to increasing diversity in the yoga community. As part of our commitment to this endeavor, we have established The Yoga Shanti Diversity Scholarship to encourage and assist people from under-represented groups to join our training program. The scholarship application deadline for this training is midnight on February 20th, 2025. Please forward this information to anyone you feel may benefit from this opportunity.
Withdrawal and Refund Policy
Students may withdraw from the training up until end-of-day on January 31st, 2025 for any reason for a refund of any tuition paid, less a completely non-refundable $300 administrative fee. After January 31st, 2025 no refunds will be given but the funds may be used towards another training should we schedule another 300-hr training within 18 months from the student’s original registration date. (Another 300-hour training occurring within this time-frame is not guaranteed.) Students who are on payment plans who withdraw from the program for any reason are required to complete their tuition payments on the original schedule in order to be eligible to participate in another training within 18 months. In the event that we do not schedule another training, or the student does not complete the original payment plan, the entire sum will be non-refundable and non-transferable to any future training. In the event that a student is refused continuation of the program at any time for any reason, there will be no refunds made and the student will also be charged any remaining tuition balance.
YOGA SHANTI GOLD: Peak Pose Sequencing (An Exploration for Teachers and Students)
1. How and why do you pick a peak pose?
2. What are you trying to learn from the peak pose?
3. What alignment points will set you up for accessibility to the peak pose and why?
4. What are the basic elements of the pose and which of those elements cause difficulty or lack of understanding?
5. What other poses are similar in shape and in action?
These are some of the questions that will guide our inquiry into “peak pose sequencing”. Join us as we play with different ways to break the yoga sequencing code by playing with the pieces of the asana puzzle. We will be architect, builder, interior designer, and occupant.
Participate in this discussion by submitting your questions relating to the topic above by midnight on Saturday, February 19th to sagharbor@yogashanti.com with “Gold Question” in the subject line of the email.
Yoga Shanti Gift Cards
Purchase a Gift Card for Someone
Select any of the passes below to send as a gift to someone you love. You can choose to have the recipient notified by email immediately or at a select future date of your choice. Please review the information below to familiarize yourself with the simple steps necessary to send a Yoga Shanti gift card. If you need help, please email us with your phone number and we will contact you to guide you through the process.
Please read steps 1 through 3 below before purchasing a gift!
Step 1. Choose a Gift
Select a gift below to add to your cart. You will need to create your own Union account during this process if you do not have one already, even if you are just buying a gift for someone else. (To gift any of our monthly subscriptions, please contact us by email.)
One Month of Unlimited In-Person and Online Yoga: $299
Two Months of Unlimited In-Person and Online Yoga: $598
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
1 Livestream Class: $15
One Month of Unlimited Online Yoga: $170
Two Months of Unlimited Online Yoga: $340
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Step 2. Check the “Add gift options” Checkbox
Once you select to add any of the above passes to your cart, (and have logged into Union), you will be presented with a screen that looks similar to the image below. At this stage, be sure to select the checkbox next to “Add gift options” (outlined in the aqua box) so that you can enter your gift recipient’s details in the next step.
Step 3. Enter Gift Recipient’s Details
As you progress to the checkout, you will be asked to enter the full name and email address of your gift recipient, as well as a short personal note, and to select the date on which the gift notification should be emailed to them. If you do not select a future date they will be notified immediately. The screen will look similar to the image below.
Optional: Purchase Multiple Gifts at the Same Time!
If you added multiple passes to your cart, then the screen will show gift options for each individual pass so that you can choose to gift passes to several people. You might have to scroll down the page to see multiple passes. (You cannot purchase Class Pass gifts and Monetary Gifts at the same time.)
Optional: Physical Gift Card Request
Once you have completed the steps above, if you chose to send the gift to your recipient immediately they will have already received a notification of their gift direct email from Union. If you chose a future date and would like to give the recipient a physical Yoga Shanti gift card, please contact us by email to request we send one out in the First class mail within 48 hours to you or directly to the recipient. You will need to have your Union order receipt number from your gift purchase handy when you complete this form (found on your email receipt):
YOGA SHANTI GOLD: Ganesh, Bhujapidansana, Mayurasana, and Kapalabati Breath
Ganesh: The Remover of Obstacles. Bhujapidansana and mayurasana will serve as our asana obstacles in this session. We will use them as a way to understand how our perspective and attitude about these arm balances can get in the way of our play and experimentation. Finding our path back to an open mind and our natural curiosity is our class topic for this Shanti Gold session. Kapalabati will be our breath focus to help clear the Nadis, providing an easy breath in the midst of challenge.
Participate in this discussion by submitting your questions by midnight on August 13th to sagharbor@yogashanti.com with “Gold Question” in the subject line of the email.
Balanced Open-Level Practice
Join Colleen and Rodney in New York City at the beautiful Souk Yoga studio for an open-level class that will leave you feeling grounded and open, strong and mobile, steady and joyful and alert and relaxed. Cost: $40.
Location:
Souk Yoga
12 West 27th Street 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
Hopeful Notes and Music for the End Times
In these turbulent times, I’ve found refuge on my yoga mat, and I’ve found real joy in listening to music, making daily space for deep listening sessions to soothe my troubled soul. I hope you all have been doing the same because it’s incredibly helpful. One artist whose music I’ve played a lot lately is the visionary Alice Coltrane, especially her beautiful piece entitled “Turiya and Ramakrishna” — Turiya being the 4th state of consciousness beyond time, thought, love and will, the superconscious which is indescribable, the one true, pure self. Such expansive, gorgeous, blue sky ideas… I hope you can give this music a deep listen as I have, not only because it’s so appropriate to the times, but you might enjoy it. In the spirit of Alice Coltrane and her gorgeous music, I’ve entitled my dharma talk:
Hopeful Notes and Music for the End Times
“Helped are those who love the entire cosmos rather than their own tiny country, city or farm, for to them will be shown the unbroken web of life and the meaning of infinity.” — Alice Walker
“We are caught in an inseparable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” — Martin Luther King
Truer words could not have been spoken by our beloved freedom fighter and novelist respectively, words that clearly illustrate something I’ve grappled with lately, and perhaps you have too: the collapse of the space between the personal and the collective as we confront together the epic tsunami of current events. We are living through extraordinary times, one might even say radical times, the word radical, here, perfectly defined for us by activist Angela Davis as meaning simply “grasping things at the root.” As yogis we can relate to this idea of the root, and the transformation that is possible from harnessing our ground. She goes on to urgently say, “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” I have thought of this call to action often when for the past 90 days, a rapid succession of interlocking catastrophic global and national events has held us captive and sheltered in place. And like so many of you, I too have been gripped by reactions of disbelief, denial, terror, anger, horror, sadness and utter despair. Where was my blue sky, I wondered? Had you told me in February that we would soon be in the throes of a ferocious pandemic that is disproportionately killing people of color—my heartbreak, shutdowns/lockdowns/and social distance, a great recession where 1 in 6 black Americans is out of work, a destabilizing crisis in leadership, multiple murderous lynchings of innocent black people in plain sight, a great and diverse outpouring of public rage and pain on our streets and a fervent demand for justice and reform of the tenacious racial inequities that permeate every single aspect of our lived experiences in America, if you had told me in February that all these things would come to pass by spring, I would not have believed you. How could I? The streets are echoing the sentiments of Ms. Davis when she says: “In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” Never in my lifetime have I witnessed such a great reckoning unfolding before us here today. I never thought I would see the day…
“Neither love nor terror makes one blind; indifference makes one blind.” — James Baldwin
“Our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter. ” — MLK
“Your silence will not protect you.” — Audre Lorde
We have all learned in our studies that yoga means UNION, a linking of the the individual consciousness to the universal consciousness. We have learned that traditional yoga seeks a state of tranquil withdrawal from the world, a non-attachment, a letting go of the fruits of our actions. I hope you will join me along with the growing chorus of voices that also insist that in today’s world, it is also entirely possible and even preferable to cultivate the fundamental tenets of yoga, that is: serenity, non-judgement, peace of mind, while also being of and in the world, while also being of service to the world. Not just by the yoga that we practice on our mats, but by the yoga that we embody in our experiences, the yogic values that we embody in our lives: compassion, freedom, equanimity, a release from suffering, from illusion, from the fluctuations of the mind, spaciousness. Author and yoga teacher Roseanne Harvey says that there is “no fundamental disconnect between the deeper roots of meditative yoga and political involvement. On the contrary: the focus on compassion, truth and justice is essential for the practice to remain relevant.”
Just yesterday Rodney Yee taught us a master class on some of these related principles: He urged us to organize our bodies on the mat to be centered; to efficiently align our skeletal structure with our breath to harness our personal power; to practice asana to feel our bodies; to augment the peace within ourselves; to extend these actions from the internal to the external, from the individual to the collective, to reach for connectivity. To self. To cosmos. To community. Yoga is connectivity he told us. Organize. Center. Align. Augment. Feel. See. Listen. Connect. In her teachings, Angela Davis says, “It is in collectives that we find the reserves of hope and optimism.” And Martin Luther King asks of us this fundamental thing; “Life’s most persistent question is: what are you doing for others?” We have power on our mats and in the world. We have influence. We have tools. We have voice. Our calling as yogis, as humans, is to share these skills and empower others too. Yoga is an agent of change, not just of the individual, but of the universal within us and the collective without. Sanskrit scholar Manorama teaches us that the pulse of our heartbeat is the pulsation of the entire world.
I’d like to share a beautiful poem with you by Audre Lorde:
When I dare to be powerful, to use my
Strength in the service
of my vision, then it
becomes less and less
important whether I am
afraid.I invite you all to not be afraid, to use your strength in the service of your vision, to be an agent of positive change in America today.
Let us gather our hands in prayer in front of our hearts and let us close by contemplating the music of the spheres, the sound of the heavens within us, OM.
Lead us from untruth to truth.
Lead us from darkness to light.
Lead us from death to immortality.Blue skies, at last.
Namaste.