Certifications
Students who complete their subsequent trainings are eligible to register with Yoga Alliance as Registered Yoga Teachers (RYT®).
The yoga teacher training course
Pushkar Meditation Temple is a Yoga Alliance Registered School. Trainees who successfully complete the course are accorded a certificate jointly by Pushkar Mediation Temple and Yoga Alliance. The yoga teacher training program is aimed at development of a confident and competent yoga teacher with comprehensive knowledge of the subject with command over theory and practice.
To that end, Pushkar Meditation Temple imparts comprehensive knowledge and training including theory, technique, and practice; and in turn, adequately prepares students with the ability to teach all aspects of yoga as prescribed by sage Patanjali based on ancient Indian Sankhya philosophy that not only meets but exceeds the standards and requirements set by Yoga Alliance for a Registered Yoga School (RYS).
The teaching philosophy and practice
Pushkar Meditation Temple is the only Yoga Alliance registered school in Pushkar. It is a unique wellness institution where yoga and meditation are practiced, taught, and researched as complimentary disciplines and spiritual sciences. The practice and teaching is based on the ancient Raja yoga and Ashtanga yoga system of sage Patanjali, the source of all kinds of yoga that are practiced today under different names and garbs.
Redefining yoga and meditation teachers training
Pushkar Meditation Temple offers the most comprehensive and practical yoga teaching course in India with equal emphasis on bahir (outer) and antar (inner) yoga or meditation. As the students in each batch are very few, it is like private teaching with everyone getting individual attention and space for an immersion course. No wonder, the course is getting raving reviews and is being rated and touted as the best in India.
The carefully crafted course and syllabus go way beyond the syllabus prescribed by Yoga Alliance. There is equal emphasis on learning and teaching. What differentiates a teacher trained at Pushkar Meditation Temple is her or his confidence and competence. Most of them start teaching and training immediately on completion of the course.
About the instructor
Swamiji has thousands of hours of yoga teaching experience spanning over four decades that has nurtured Pushkar Meditation Temple into a yoga teacher training institution in holy Pushkar. The philosophy that Swamiji advocates is that yoga is not about knowing or just doing but it is about feeling! This is what is often repeated during the session where the trainee is asked to feel the after effect of each asana or pranayama; and also in his manual of yoga that defines all the eight limbs of Ashtanga yoga in a totally new light, backed by modern science and used as the basic document of training at the temple.
About the course
The course is broadly divided into five sections:
1. Techniques, training, and practice (120 hours)
The minimum contact hours is 75 hours with 50 hours minimum contact with lead trainer(s). The topics in this category include yama, naiyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi, mudra, bandha, kriya, shatkarma, mantra, meditation, and other traditional and modern yoga techniques.
These hours are divided between guided practice of the techniques themselves and analytical training in how to teach the practice with correct techniques. Both areas receive equal emphasis.
2. Teaching methodology (30 hours)
The minimum contact hours is 15 hours with 10 hours minimum contact with lead trainer(s). The topics in this category include communication skills such as group dynamics, time management, and the establishment of priorities and boundaries; how to address the specific needs of individuals and special populations, to the degree possible in a group setting; principles of demonstration, observation, assisting and correcting; teaching styles; qualities of a teacher; the student learning process; and business aspects of teaching yoga including marketing and legal.
3. Anatomy and physiology (24 hours)
The minimum contact hours is 10 hours with 0 hours minimum contact with lead trainer(s). The topics in this category could include the psychic physiology of yoga with three bodies and five sheaths; five kinds of breath and five kinds of breathing; gunas such as sat, raj, and tam, and vikaras such as kapha, pitta, and vata; kundalini, chakras, sushumna, ida, and pingala; difference between human physical anatomy and physiology such as bodily systems, organs, and others as well as energy anatomy and psychic physiology including kundalini, chakras, nadis, and more; pranic or psychic healing techniques.
4. Yoga philosophy, lifestyle, and ethics for yoga teachers (30 hours)
The minimum contact hours is 20 hours. The topics in this category include the study of yoga philosophies and traditional texts such as the Yoga Sutras, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Bhagavad Gita, Yogopanishada, and other scriptures, yoga lifestyle, such as the precept of non-violence or ahimsa, and the concepts of dharma and karma; ethics for yoga teachers, such as those involving teacher-student relationships and community; understanding the value of teaching yoga as a service and being of service to others or seva; and a minimum of two hours would be spent on ethics for yoga teachers.
5. Practicum or practice teaching
The minimum contact hours is five hours with five hours minimum contact with lead trainer(s). The topics in this category include a minimum of five hours of actual practice teaching as the lead instructor but this does not include assisting, observing, or giving feedback; receiving and giving feedback; observing others teaching; and assisting students while someone else is teaching.
Summary of the training hours
The total hours for the yoga teacher training is 208 hours. The total minimum contact hours is 180 hours and the total minimum contact hours with lead trainer(s) is 65 hours.
The activities during training
- Clean Pushkar drive
- Interaction with local school children
- Language training
- Indian culture experience
Yoga teacher training unique features
- It provides trainees invaluable experience in conducting a daily two-hour session with attendees other than co-trainees in an ashram on the holy sarovar right through the course
- All students participate in the daily meditation walk or parikrama with the master around the holy sarovar
- Experience diksha or initiation and dikshant or convocation ceremonies as per Vedas
- Experience daily evening satsang or soulful mantra chanting
- Hands-on practice teaching or practicum in a local school
- Offers a mutually evolved after-training career path based on astrological charts
- Opportunity to participate in socially relevant projects in holy Pushkar, one of them being “Litter Free Pushkar”
- Opportunity to be absorbed as co-teacher
- Opportunity for internship
- Sharing the roof with the master and other batch mates in Pushkar Meditation Temple’s Yoga Home, a place especially energized with veda mantras and rituals
Highlights
1. An authentic course that sends you back with mastery over more than 132 asanas, all important pranayamas, five kinds of mudras, and bandhas.
2. Knowledge and practice of Shatkarma (yogic detox) is fundamental to the course.
3. The trainees literally live the yamas and niaymas, the foundation of yogic life, during their 23-day stay in the home.
4.The mediation walk every morning and evening satsang (soulful mantra chanting) give trainees a taste of Japa and Mantra yoga leading to meditation.
5. The 2-hour theory class every day helps clarify the yogic philosophy as prescribed by sage Patanjali. All your questions are answered.
6. The 2-hour integrated practice session of yoga + meditation twice every day gives you enough practice to teach correctly and with confidence.
7. The one hour sharing on alternate days further cements your knowledge and teaching methodology.
8. Two practicums (mid-session and final) that each trainee conducts independently boosts your confidence and acts as a mirror.
9. The Roadmap session, unique to TTC with Swamiji, not only guides you on how to use the training but also how to become more successful in life.
10. Many of the above features are possible just because our each batch has maximum six trainees in Pushkar and only four in the Himalayas.
11. The course is conducted in holy Pushkar from September to March and in the Himalayas in April and May every year. The course starts on 1st of every moth and concludes on 21st.
12. Following the course, there is one week immersion called Therapeutic Application of Yoga (TAY) that helps deepen and refine your yoga and mediation practice. TAY begins on 23rd and concludes on 29th of every month (from September to May).
The daily training schedule (subject to change):
Day 1
- 05:45 - 06:45 Meditation walk
- 06:45 - 09:00 Diksha, introduction, registration, consultation
- 09:00 - 10:00 Breakfast
- 10:00 - 12:00 Theory (course introduction)
- 12:00 - 16:00 Lunch/rest
- 16:00 - 18:00 Teacher training course, integrated practice session
- 18:00 - 19:00 Satsang (soulful mantra chanting)
- 19:00 - 20:30 Dinner/break
- 20:30 - 21:30 Self-study
- 21:30 - 22:00 Meditation/prayer
Day 2 to 19
- 05:45 - 06:45 Meditation walk
- 07:00 - 09:00 Integrated morning session
- 09:00 - 10:00 Breakfast
- 10:00 - 12:00 Theory and practice
- 12:00 - 15:00 Lunch/rest
- 15:00 - 16:00 Self study
- 16:00 - 18:00 Teacher training course, integrated practice session
- 18:00 - 19:00 Satsang (soulful mantra chanting)
- 19:00 - 20:30 Dinner/break
- 20:30 - 21:30 Self-study
- 21:30 - 22:00 Meditation/prayer
Day 20
- 05:45 - 06:45 Meditation walk
- 07:00 - 09:00 Integrated morning session
- 09:00 - 10:00 Breakfast
- 10:00 - 12:00 Final written test
- 12:00 - 15:00 Break
- 15:00 - 18:00 Practicum test
- 18:00 - 19:00 Satsang (soulful mantra chanting)
- 19:00 - 20:30 Dinner/break
- 20:30 - 21:30 Self-study
- 21:30 - 22:00 Meditation/prayer
Day 21
- 05:45 - 06:45 Meditation walk
- 07:00 - 09:00 Integrated morning session
- 09:00 - 10:00 Breakfast
- 10:00 - 12:00 Review/feedback
- 12:00 - 16:00 Lunch/Break
- 16:00 - 18:00 Convocation/yajna/naming ceremony
- 18:00 - 19:00 Satsang (soulful mantra chanting)
- 19:00 - 20:00 Time for shower and change
- 20:00 - 22:30 Pritibhoj (satvic supper)
Important notes:
- The course begins on first day of the month and concludes on the 21st day
- Saturdays are days off; but on the first Saturday morning, four hours will be devoted to Kriya and on the last Saturday, seven hours will be dedicated to yoga related excursion
- On day 11, there will be a mid-session test from 16:00 to 18:00
- On day 12 to day 20: a 3-hour slot (15:00 - 18:00) will be used for independent practicum
- If the first day of the month happens to be a Saturday, then the first day off would be on Sunday
