About the program
Shivakali Yoga offers a 200-hour yoga teacher training on the Big Island of Hawai’i, which is immersed in the ancient spiritual, philosophical, and meditative traditions of yoga, while also maintaining a firm ground in modern anatomical training, sequencing, and approaches to practice.
This 18-day yoga retreat offers students the lived experience of the teachings. In addition to practice and study, you will participate in meditation, ceremony, and council, and explore what these practices and teachings mean for yourselves as individuals, and for the community as a whole.
The course
The teacher training in Hawaii progresses over 18 days with a map of the chakras, starting at the root and ending with the crown.
During the root segment, students will ground their intentions for teaching/practice, and learn the vast history of yoga from the Vedas through the Upanishads, Buddhism, yoga Sutras, Bhakti traditions, Tantric Lineages, and contemporary yoga Schools.
In the sacral chakra, you will uncover the countless layers of the subtle body, learn the principles of Ayurveda, gain an overview of classical Tantra, and practice yoga Nidra. As you progress through the navel chakra you will explore yoga's connection with power, and fire, and introduce Lakshmi practice and the business of yoga.
In the heart, you encounter the devotional path of Bhakti (devotional) yoga, as well as ceremony, prayer, and healing. You will connect in nature, and receive teachings on the heart of your practice. You share in men's and women's circles as a step in the process of uniting energies, wherein you also honor identifying with a group other than your assigned-at-birth gender and exploring the group you feel called to.
Moving upwards into the throat chakra, students will learn about Kashmir Shaivism and the Sanskrit language, pronunciation, principles of chanting, and a wealth of mantra and deity practices. Progressing to the third eye the training becomes increasingly more subtle, as you encounter an array of Yogic meditations, explore Yogic Buddhism, and turn inward in silence. Culminating in the crown, trainees will receive kundalini awakening practices, learn the Shakti mantra, and yogic ritual, and receive an initiation into the practice.
Each of the 18 days will also include a thorough overview of the anatomy/physiology of yoga-asana (postures), a comprehensive outlook on teaching methodology, an intensive dissection of major and minor poses, workshops on adjustments/alignment, and plenty of time for practice teaching. Not to mention time for students to be alone in nature, reflect, hike, swim, stargaze, and relax in quietude. Come join them on the Island.
What style is Shivakali Yoga?
They equip teachers to guide alignment-based Vinyasa classes while learning about restorative postures, meditation, and pranayama. Their practice serves first to awaken the body and move energy, and then to soften the mind and nurture your inner being.
Uniting the masculine and feminine aspects of practice, you find freedom in movement, drawing awareness from the mind to the heart, allowing insight to arise naturally.
Sample schedule:
- 06:00 - 08:00 - Morning yoga sadhana (yoga, meditation, chanting, fire ceremony)
- 08:00 - 09:30 - Breakfast break/Seva
- 09:30 - 11:00 - Class 1 (anatomy, methodology, philosophy)
- 11:00 - 12:30 - Posture clinic
- 12:30 - 15:00 - Lunch break
- 15:00 - 16:30 - Class 2 (anatomy, methodology, philosophy - discussion-based)
- 16:30 - 18:00 - Practice teaching exercises
- 18:00 - 19:45 - Dinner break
- 19:45 - 20:45 - Evening program (Restorative yoga, meditation, song circle, etc.)
