Salt and Sun School of Yoga

It has been said that a church is made up of its people, not within the confines of a building. A yoga community is similar, as we do not need a studio to practice and come together. Salt and Sun Yoga and Wellness was founded to serve those who love and practice yoga in all its forms, in any place they choose. Our offerings are for everyone.

When I began my yoga practice, I was intimidated to be in a studio with seasoned yogis. There were times when I was even called out and embarrassed by a teacher because what I was doing contradicted their teaching. I want to eliminate that feeling of reluctance to try yoga, because we don’t think we’re flexible enough or have a body suitable for yoga. I’m here to tell you that if you have a body, you can do yoga. In my classes, I constantly remind my students that yoga is a practice, and with consistent practice, it becomes easier.

This teacher training is designed to grow aspiring yoga teachers into the empowered teachers they are destined to become. In this training, you will learn how to flawlessly sequence and deliver a Vinyasa Flow class and be introduced to Yin, Restorative, and a taste of several other styles of Yoga. The curriculum is designed to give you a broad and overarching lens of the traditional Yoga system, which spans over 5000 years, but honing in on today’s modern practice. 

INVESTMENT

$3200 for 200 hours of training

$2900 until July 31

TRAINING PROGRAM INCLUDES

200-hour course curriculum
Online On-demand learning
Printed Salt and Sun teacher training manual
Yoga Alliance-accredited certificate of completion

Yoga Alliance Accredited

What You’ll Learn:

TECHNIQUES, TRAINING, AND PRACTICE

• Meditation
  • Key Meditation Terms
  • Meditation methods by lineage
  • Chanting, mantras, and mudras
  • How to cultivate a meditation practice
• Pranayama and the Subtle Body
  • Historical Context 
  • Effects of pranayama on anatomy and subtle body
  • Complete sequencing of pranayama safely, including alternatives and adaptations
  • Breath techniques like Ujjayi, Nadi Shodhana, and Kapalabhati, among others
  • Koshas, kleshas, chakras, nadis, and prana vayus
• Asana
  • Historical Context 
  • Poses specific to our lineage
  • Complete sequencing (asana, pranayama, meditation) to achieve a particular effect safely 
  • Shared anatomical and alignment principles, plus contraindications

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY

• Anatomy
  • Skeletal System- Major Bones
  • Skeletal System- Types of Joints
  • Skeletal System- Major Muscles
  • Skeletal System- Types of Contractions
• Physiology
  • Nervous System, including “fight, flight, or freeze” stress response; vagal theory; overall mind-body connection
  • Cardiovascular/circulatory, endocrine, and digestive systems as they relate to yoga practice
  • Respiratory system, including muscles that affect breathing, involuntary vs. voluntary breath, and how air enters and leaves the body
• Biomechanics
  • Types of Joint Movement
  • Joint Stabilization
  • Safe movement as it pertains to balancing, stretching, awareness, and physical limitations
  • Contraindications, misalignments, adaptations

YOGA HUMANITIES

• History
  • The term “yoga”
  • School’s lineage, style, and methodology
  • Dates, key ideas such as the Vedas, Vedanta, Hatha, Colonial, and Modern
• Philosophy
  • Definition of yoga and key terms
  • Relationship between asana, pranayama, and meditation
  • Familiarity with primary yoga texts (I.e., Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika)
  • Self-reflection on how philosophy relates to practice
• Ethics
  • Awareness of yoga sutras and similar yogic-ethical precepts
  • Relationship to Yoga Alliance’s Ethical Commitment
  • Comprehension of and responsibility to increase equity in yoga
  • Accountability measures
  • Self-reflection on how yoga ethics relate to practice and teaching

PROFESSIONAL ESSENTIALS

• Teaching Methodology
  • Sequencing
  • Pace
  • Environment 
  • Cueing (verbal, visual, physical)
  • Class Management
• Professional Development
  • Yoga-related professional organizations, including the Yoga Alliance Credentialing Process
  • Ethical Commitment, including Scope of Practice, Code of Conduct, and Equity Position Statement
  • Lifetime of Learning and continuing education
  • General professionalism, including timeliness, consistency, and cleanliness
  • Marketing and Promotion
  • Liability insurance, waivers, invoicing
• Practicum
  • Knowledge, skills, and experience across key competency areas
  • Mentorship, apprenticeship, and feedback

Michele Dougard
Lead Trainer

An adventurous and curious soul, Michele’s spiritual curiosity sparked at a very young age. At the age of 12, she sought knowledge and insight from various spiritual ideologies. It was through that journey that she developed a fascination with Buddhism and discovered meditation. Her devotion to the practice waxed and waned over the years, but it was after a car accident in her 20s that left her in physical pain that Michele found yoga for the first time and meditation once again. The relief she experienced from the physical aspect of the practice led her down a deeper path of devotion to yoga. Ever the perpetual student, after investigating different principles and disciplines to form a well-rounded practice, she decided teacher training was the next step and dove in headfirst. Over a decade after taking her first yoga class, Michele earned her 500 E-RYT certification and studied various modalities, including Katonah Yoga, Laughing Lotus, Yin, Restorative, and Eco-Yoga, among others.