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Yoga in the heart of the city

Teacher Training

We offer one year part time courses for yoga students interested in becoming Yoga Alliance registered yoga teachers.

Our Aim and Intention

The teachings of Yoga, an ancient tradition of some 5000 years, have been handed on from teacher to student, with the intention of preserving its essential scientific method. We believe that it is vitally important that this time-honoured teaching of the eight limbs of yoga is maintained.

We aspire to bring to the fore, lessons learned over the 20 years of operating the Yoga Academy, and to package these into a training course, that initiates “wanna be” teachers into the beginning of their long and everlasting journey to become capable and professional teachers.

The Importance of Commitment to Practice

Without hesitation we stipulate that Yoga teachers cultivate, steady and, consistent practices in asana, meditation and yogic philosophy - no less than 10 hours per week. The teaching is powerful, potent and authentic when it comes from one's personal practice, - a practice based on the Ashtanga Yoga lineage.

K.P. Jois received the vinyasa method from his master, T Krishnamacharya; and he from his master Ramamohan who directed Krishnamacharya to the scripture, the Yoga Korunta, thought to be compiled by the ancient seer Vamana.

We believe that our one year part time Beginner Yoga Teacher Training Course and Professional development Modules will BEGIN this process.

Part Time Teacher Training Courses

1.1 YA 200 Teacher Training Course

One year part time course for yoga students interested in becoming Yoga Alliance 200 registered teachers.

This course introduces the teachings of yoga with the intention of preparing each trainee to teach a beginners course competently.

1.2 YA 500 Teacher Training Course

One year part time course for Ashtanga yoga students interested in becoming Yoga Alliance registered teachers at the Yoga Academy who have completed the YA 200 course (1.1 above).

This is a Yoga Alliance registered 500 plus hour course.

Important Note:

At the successful completion of the YA500 course trainees may apply for teaching posts at the Yoga Academy. However, the availability of Yoga Academy teaching positions are limited to those becoming available through natural attrition (i.e. existing teachers leaving ).

Professional Development Modules

Keeping people safe in yoga classes has high priority throughout the modules we teach. We have taken up the request, from Auckland based osteopathic and physiotherapy fraternities, that yoga teachers are trained to keep their students injury free:

2.1 Professional Development Modules (Level I) – Individual teaching modules including Yoga Anatomy and Physiology, Keeping People Safe etc.

2.2 Professional Development Modules (Level II) – Individual teaching modules open to those students who have completed the necessary level I prerequisite modules.

2.3 Professional Development – Teaching Pregnancy Yoga – A discreet group of modules for yoga teachers from any style or discipline of yoga interested in developing their professional expertise to include keeping students safe through their pregnancy.

Important Note: The above modules must be done as part of YA200 and YA500 Courses.

Who are the Yoga Alliance? (www.yogaalliance.com)

The Yoga Alliance was established in 1998 in the United States to form a registry of international yoga teachers who meet the standards of training as set by the Yoga Alliance. The organization is dedicated to "honouring the diversity of all yoga practices and upholding the integrity of yoga".

Registration with the Yoga Alliance allows teachers to teach in countries such as USA, Great Britain, Australia etc, where one cannot legally teach without insurance. Course Venue All courses are based at the Auckland Yoga Academy, 190 Federal St Auckland. See our Facilities page for more information.

Course Venue

All courses are based at the Auckland Yoga Academy, 190 Federal St Auckland. See our Facilities page for more information.

About Jude (Training Director)


Jude demonstrating Mayurasana

Yoga Experience

Jude discovered Yoga in 1988 as an Iyengar Yoga student and completed a three year Academy Teacher Training Course in 1993. At this time the training was facilitated by Peter Nilsson, (an Iyengar Certificate holder and was authorized by Sri Pattabhi Jois to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga).

In 1995 she discovered her true Guru the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Ashtanga Master, and is now an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practitioner. She used to visit her Guru in South India on a yearly basis and co-hosted with Peter Nilsson, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois's 1999 and 2002 visits to Auckland. Supporting her asana practice with kirtan, chanting and study of the Yoga Sutra's. Through personal practice Jude is able to fully appreciate the physical challenges and benefits of Yoga, and is increasingly passionate about Yoga as a spiritual practice.


Teaching Experience

Prior to becoming a Yoga teacher Jude was a Senior tutor and Course Coordinator for an NZQA recognized Early Childhood Teachers Training establishment. From this environment she brings over ten years of teacher training experience to the workshops and courses she facilitates. In particular, her skills in course development, communication and facilitation, as well as knowledge of educational and developmental psychology. All modules are therefore reference based, professionally written and structured to cater for all types of learning style.

A Yoga teacher since 1993. Jude has experience of teaching as both an Iyengar and Ashtanga Vinyasa practitioner and in both a class room and one-on-one environment. In relation to these modules and training courses Jude has:

* Authorization from the late Pattabhi Jois to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa.

* Certification as an Experienced Yoga Alliance 500hours Registered Teacher (E-RYT500)

Jude brings to her teaching a lifelong commitment to learning and a personal belief in strength through diversity and growth through empowerment.

Teaching Style – Comments from past students

Jude creates:

* “an environment that felt safe at all times with meditation, asana and teaching”..with . “a wealth of knowledge and resources”

Jude's style is:

* “warm, understanding” and “adapted to suit every kind of learner – fast or slow, visual or auditory” with “comprehensive course material”

Jude as a teacher:

* “a passion and commitment to yoga”..”dedication to teaching.. a natural teacher .. excellent tutor..”

* “..integrates all methods of learning:oral, audio and kinetic.. all students were able to keep on the same page..”

* “..well prepared and organised... the course.. runs like clockwork” ..”comprehensive course material” * “wealth of knowledge and reference material “

Jude as a person:

* ” real and open to discussing her own experiences in a manner that .. still manages to maintain her teaching authority..”

* “respecting of the variety of students with ranging histories and personal makeup”

* “treats everyone with compassion”

Ingrid leary - trainee 2011

The Yoga Academy teacher training course is the best challenge I've ever taken on. I did so wanting to get in to yoga in a way that would take me to a new level, without necessarily going on to become a teacher.  The course has given me a new level of fitness, and completely changed my body and the way I think about things. The observations I make during my practice, and the techniques I learn, are carried with me into my every day world bringing a new sense of peace, clarity, presence and fulfillment and this has transformed my life. The anatomy lessons are relatively in-depth yet accessible to everybody and I particularly enjoy the philosophy component. The YA200 course is a big commitment -- and so worth it."

 

Sue Deakin - trainee 2011
I moved to NZ from Australia in January and started the YA 200 teacher training course not long after.  I had been interested in Ashtanga Yoga for awhile but didn’t have anybody teaching it where I lived in Mackay. When my husband and I made the decision to come to Auckland I jumped at the opportunity to sign on to the course.  To cut a long story short it has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made in my life and a very transformational year for me.  The commitment to 5 day practice and having experienced teachers to guide me like Jude, Peter and the other teachers at the academy has been the key for me receiving so many benefits in such a short time physically, mentally and spiritually. The physical has toned my body and  made it stronger, the mental has made my mind more peaceful and balanced, improved my concentration and my relationships with others and the spiritual has given me a sense of myself outside of the physical realm.  For anyone thinking about this course I would say to you that once you have made the commitment to do it, stick to it.  5 day practice can be challenging especially the first 3 months while you are building up your strength and flexibility but make up your mind and do it, it is well worth the effort! 

 

Barbara Schaffer PhD - graduate 2010

“Perfect” strangers shape us forever. More than a memory of a chance encounter, they leave us marked with their lasting impressions. All strangers begin as someone unknown. Then, they touch our lives. With time, a relationship may develop as they become friends, colleagues, or mentors.
 “Perfect” strangers, however, are different. They are the most memorable of those we encounter because they change our very being. They “be” hold us.  In other words, they hold our way of being by moulding and reshaping us into someone new. Nurturing our rebirth into the everyday, “perfect” strangers hold us in their teaching.
Holding is an act of supporting another with hands or arms in an embrace that assures and steadies all at once. It is a momentary coming together of beings in learning that enables personal transformations. To be taught is to be held in teaching by one who is the teaching. Being held by Jude in teaching is being  just within reach of her, yet completely on my own.
Great teachers are like the lead ship in a flotilla. They are the first to arrive at a destination.  After her arrival, who then becomes the lead ship? It is us, the students, the ones who follow close behind. Great teachers know the purpose of teaching is to prepare those who follow, to share with them all that they know, to hold, shape and guide the other.
Jude has brought many of us to a new dialect. Our yoga speaks a language of compassion, love, time for self, self reliance, self discipline, and consideration for the planet. Is it reminiscent of forgotten ways and forgotten ideas that we might have known at an earlier time and have put aside to live in a busy world?  Great teacher know when a critical number of people come to know a way of being that changes how they think and behave in the world, the world changes and a new era begins.
I wonder…how would my life have been different had Jude not created a place for me in her circle of learning at the Yoga Academy?
Newly informed with her teaching, I travel on with a new way of thinking that will touch all I encounter. The ripples I create travel outward to touch the lives of others, and they, in turn, will ripple bringing others to the experience of new way. Around and around the ripples go as the concentric circles of our teachings cover the world.
How does a student know that they have become the teacher? At the right time, their knowing guide releases her hold and the student emerges into the world with a readiness to teach another. It is at that moment the meaning of teaching is uncovered and the student comes to know the teacher in themselves. That time is now for me, as my perfect stranger, Jude, releases me upon the world.
Get Ready –here I come!!!

Marcela - trainee 2011

I am a medical doctor from Colombia and English is my second language. The Yoga Academy’s Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training Course is my first real contact with the world of yoga- that is yoga beyond asana. I always had the interest, but had procrastinated about doing a teacher training course. Now I am fully involved and I am very happy about my decision to do a course.

The course has allowed me-in the most complete way- to understand everything that yoga involves. It is a comprehensive course, which values ​​each of the 8 aspects of yoga practice. I love this course!  It has a particular emphasis on philosophy, and anatomy applied to the practice , as well as a strong component about educational psychology. As a doctor I like to be able understand the science of yoga. This means that I can provide yoga students with proven facts about the benefits of yoga. All measures must be taken into account so that we make the yoga practice safe and of benefit to each individual. This course helps me to become the kind of teacher who is able to do this confidently

The atmosphere generated during the classes  is always respectful, supportive ,and  compassionate. And of course I totally appreciate the patience that the tutors show to me.

 

Katie Pervan- graduate 2006

"The YA200 course at the Yoga Academy with Jude Hynes I highly recommend to any aspiring Ashtanga yoga teacher. Jude and Peter's in depth knowledge and dedication to Ashtanga yoga is incredible and the Yoga Academy establishment is world class.
Jude delivers lectures, assigns study plans, mentors and workshops concepts and technique and also keeps you driving and working through your own yoga practice, with love and care.
There are many things the YA200 course has given me but the things which stood out for me was the importance of professionalism, honesty and ethics in teaching yoga which I feel has built a strong foundation for me as a teacher.
I'm extremely thankful for doing the course.
Go for it! Katie".

Eleanor Smith - graduate 2007

"If you're looking for an exceptional yoga teacher's training course, look no further. I completed the YA 200 and YA 500 with Jude Hynes at the Yoga Academy over a period of two years while I was working in my corporate day job. This is one of few courses which demands five days a week personal practice and training in a real classroom environment - two important aspects that enable teacher trainees to teach with integrity and a place of knowing.
Places are limited on the course which means that trainees receive intense one-on-one training and support from teachers who have decades of experience in this industry. Furthermore, Jude Hynes and her husband Peter Nilsson have a wealth of knowledge to share with their students as they run one of the most successful yoga businesses in New Zealand. Subsequently, I have no qualms with recommending this course. It has changed my life and allowed me to pursue my dreams to do what I love - teach yoga"

Fiona Mather - graduate 2007

"I completed the two consecutive one year Ashtanga teacher training programs; YA200 and YA500 with the Yoga Academy in 2007. Studying in a small group was a transformative period of my life. I developed close friendships with the other students and a better understanding of myself by undertaking the intensive training.
The focus of the training is on the practice, with corresponding theory throughout the year. As the training progressed, a deep understanding of the discipline unfolds, because it begins with oneself. The course incorporates theory and philosophy of yoga within a well-paced and supported framework and the practical assisting and teaching is brought in towards the end of the year. This allowed me time to develop confidence and trust within the group.
I highly recommend the teacher training to those wanting to undertake a strenuous and very rewarding learning program, and are able to dedicate themselves to the practice of yoga for a full year".

Chistian Graham - graduate 2007

"I completed the YA200 course in 2006 and the experience is one I will never forget. Not only does this course provide you with the basic tools for you to become a competent and safe teacher of yoga; it gives you the opportunity to study in depth the history and philosophy of yoga and creates understanding and awareness of your inner self.
I found the 1 year part time course structure to be of immense benefit as it allows you to explore these concepts, whilst patiently and with expert guidance, developing your asana practice. Whether you are considering becoming a teacher or whether you would like to deepen and develop your practice and understanding of yoga, I can highly recommend the course. Not only does it teach you the theory and practical aspects of Ashtanga yoga; more importantly, it instills in you respect for the tradition and teachings of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois".

Namaste.

Anita Worthington - graduate 2008
"The YA200 course at the Auckland Yoga Academy has really pulled me back on track. I came to the course a bit lost and fragile. Sometimes we travel through life so fast we forget where we were going and why we were going there in the first place. Now 11 months later I feel strong and focused, talk about extra benefits!
During this course I have learnt invaluable things from Jude and Peter, two wonderful people who genuinely care about their students' personal development. Such a positive impact on my life, thank you.
Aside from being molded and shaped into a competent and confident yoga teacher, I have learnt to harness my energy and use it more wisely. I can focus my mind to task and concentrate more clearly on the things I do.
I have found more time in a sense, or perhaps slowing down enough to take a look at things objectively, has given me more time".

Nicola Wood - graduate 2009


"Completing the YA200 Teacher Training course has been such a rewarding experience for me on many levels. It has enabled me to develop my own physical practice in addition to giving me a much more in-depth understanding of the principles of Ashtanga yoga which has had positive benefits for me in all aspects of my personal and professional life.

I would highly recommend this course for anyone who wants to become a yoga teacher or simply develop their own yoga practice to a much deeper level within a positive and supportive learning environment".

Jim Andrew - graduate 2008
"Whether you want to become a teacher or not, if you get a lot out of yoga practice,
DO this course! It will expand your experience of yoga well beyond the mat, as well as increasing your understanding on the mat - and it is all excellent!.
The course is quite demanding, but it has to be that way for us students to get so much out of it. Be warned, you may find it life transforming! I wasn't drawn to teaching when I started, but as the course heads towards the end, I am being drawn to it much more".
"Depression /anxiety is an issue that I deal with in my life. And yoga is probably the best tool that I have found to deal with it (and I am certainly not the only one). It may take a pretty immersive approach (5 day a week practice for me plus more), but I find that it is well worth it
namaste".

Jodie Xie - graduate 2008
"Heartfelt thanks to Jude and Peter, the YA 200 yoga teacher training course was a wonderful and unforgettable journey for me. It was an incredible change to my life! I began practising yoga for my physical well-being, but now I practice for psychological, emotional and spiritual health as well. The benefits I receive from the practice include a pain-free body, present state of mind, energy and happiness, and the refinement is on going......

What a valuable gift has been given to me! I am appreciating and grateful for what I have learnt from Yoga Academy. And I highly recommend you this course who want to make this transformation in their life".