Training details

Why Did I Create This Training?

I want us to better. I want to level up your yoga practice. I want you to understand the asana alignment better. I want you to level up your practice to access more advanced postures. I want you to deepen your meditation practice + expand your knowledge of breath work. I want you to strengthen your body + avoid injury. I want you to get better in all the ways that you want to better your yoga practice.

Over the years, I have stood in front of hundreds of rooms, before thousands of bodies. It’s an honor, it’s tremendously rewarding, it’s super fun + it’s a responsibility I take seriously. I have seen this awesome collection of bodies, minds, attitudes, spirit. Younger/older, flexible/tighter, encouraged/demoralized, injured/not, frazzled/steady. I witness people grow into the most remarkably physically strong version of themselves. And I can testify to how the anxious move into calm + the noisy headed find meaningful quiet (er) minds.

Over these years, I have been asked with relative frequency if I could train people to become yoga teachers. The plan is that one day I will. Not yet. I see too much of an opportunity for more of us, not just those that think they want to teach, to become better. And I want to seize this opportunity for us.

Yoga Teacher Training is no small commitment-- it’s a lot of time (200 hours) + substantial investment ($3000 avg for a good one). And frankly, I think a lot of people take these teacher trainings because they actually want to go deeper with their own yoga practice and not necessarily be in front of a room teaching. There are not many trainings that offer a middle ground between being a student in regular class + the whole enchilada of a 200 hour teacher training. I wanted to create that middle mark, that middle ground for people to explore, understand more, go deeper. I want you to level up whatever level you are in your practicce. You’re a begininger? Great! Level up from there. You’re more advamced? Super level up from there. I want people to become better yogis. Stronger, more mindful, joyful, playful, intelligent, disciplined practitioners. And then maybe then you/they become better teachers if that is the next step. Or not.

Also, to be frank, I have found that since the pandemic, our yoga classes have shifted + with that, our practice has shifted. I can confidently say that all yoga teachers that I speak with agree. No one is to blame but the changes are very obvious to me + I want to better us. Not take us back to pre-pandemic, but to bring us forward better.

Yoga classes used to be 75-90 min. I know—long! Now we have 1 hour classes. Our realtionaship with time during the pandemic went through its own change- we somehow now (think we) have less of it. Though I like a strong, quick class to let me get on with my day too, there is no doubt that from a teaching perspective, we have lost a lot. There is less time for all components of class + that has meant that our collective practice has suffered. I notice this daily.

Studios need to have as many full classes during prime time hours to get everyone in the studios, so we have to get in quickly, out quickly. We have to park our cars where there are too few spots, 20 people have to each pee 3 times before class, I have to futz with the music, windows, doors, heat, microphones. All of it is necessary, no one is to blame or shamed- it just aggregates + detracts from our practice. If a teacher does hands on assists in crowded rooms, it means leaving others hanging out in a pose longer than I would like. There are 12 levels in any one class with 30 people in this shorter class.

These last few years we have had an astonishingly quick descent into a depleted attention span paired with a wickedly treacherous relationship with being in constant contact with the world at all times. It’s bananas. As for phones: I actually have less issue with people recording themselves. This is the life we now live in—we film our boogers. Everything is filmed. But, somehow post pandemic, we are all very important + we need to be in touch with the world every moment. The once 1 sacred hour of yoga class has been trashed. People return texts, emails, poke their wrists alerts, open their phones, make phone calls (yep)during class like they’re waiting on line in the market to buy tissues for those boogers. It’s almost comical if it weren’t so terrible for us. We need one hour of uninterrupted, healthy retreat from life. I want to reign us back in. ( ok, rant over. for now.)

So, all of this is actually generally good because it means there are more + more people who are on their yoga journey. More people in class, more people who get yoga’s medicinal potency, more good vibe + calm spreading. This training brings us forward to the best of that, strengthening the best in us. Honing + building integrity, honesty, time + wisdom into our practice. It offers you the chance to get more, to get better. It lets me give you more to get better.

I have been working on this for a while now + I am so crazy excited to offer to you.

Namaste xT

schedule

Classes take place in (not hot!) studio
Weekly Wednesdays 12 - 3pm for 5 weeks
One Monday 2 hour session. One Friday 2.5 hour session
One 30 min private session with Tootsie planned together according to your schedule

payment

Total Cost of training: $495
20 hours
5 (3) hour sessions, 1(2) hour session, 1 (2.5) hour sesion, 1 private 30 min session with Tootsie
Training materials (books) will be assigned for mandatory + optional pre-training reading. Links will be sent to participants once you register for training.