200-HOUR YOGA TEACHER TRAINING
CLASS FORMAT
location
Please fill out an application to inquire and set your interest.
COMPREHENSIVE AND SUPPORTIVE TRAINING PROGRAM
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- Asana, techniques for teaching including daily practice
- Alignment
- Sequencing
- Adjustments
- Hatha-based program with a focus on safe alignment
- Principles for teaching a class:
- Assessing needs of the population and individuals
- Effective cueing and finding your unique voice
- Modifications and variations
- In-depth structural anatomy and physiology
- Subtle anatomy: chakras, koshas, prana, nadis
- Eight limbs of yoga including pranayama and meditation
- History, culture, and classical philosophy of yoga
- Professional aspects of yoga: legal, ethical, marketing
TUITION
LEAD TEACHER
Guest Teachers
Kim Sellers E-RYT500 has been a student of Yoga for many years, and began teaching others in 1998. She is a professional, full-time Yoga teacher, and works therapeutically with individuals and groups. Kim was the creator, director, and lead teacher of the Yoga for Your Life 200 & 300 hour Yoga Teacher-Trainings, Advanced Yoga Therapeutics, and the Restorative YTT programs from 2012-2021. Kim was also a primary teacher, founder, and director at Green Tree School of Yoga from 2007-2011, the South Bend area’s first Yoga teacher-training program. Close to 200 teachers graduated from these two alignment-based schools, which focused on the original teachings of Yoga, along with a strong focus on static and dynamic anatomy.
As adjunct faculty, Kim provided instruction at Indiana University South Bend from 2005 until 2023. Kim taught at numerous venues, including the University of Notre Dame and Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center. Additionally, she facilitated twice-weekly Yoga sessions in the oncology services program at Memorial hospital for 15 years, working therapeutically with both patients and cancer survivors. Like many before her, she started teaching at the local YMCA, and in the early years was teaching 15 classes a week.
Kim initially trained at the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, California, then went on to complete a second 200-hour Yoga certification through Yogamocean’s alignment-based program, and a year-long Meditation teacher-training course through the Kriya Temple of Yoga in Chicago. Kim is a Reiki Master/Teacher, and a 2003 graduate of the Tao Mountain School of Traditional Thai Medicine, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Kim currently maintains a private online practice.
Jeff Nixa:
Mindfulness the Shamanic Way:
Developing Your Felt Sense as a Teacher
Ancient healers understood that every living thing has a spiritual aliveness flowing from its connection with its own heart, with that of others, and with the great Web of Life. An open, well-connected heart naturally results in vitality, confidence, joy, and power; a wounded or lost connection results in weakness, uncertainty, pain and illness. Our ancestors’ healers and teachers were very attuned to this heart connection in their own lives, in their students and clients, and in the natural world all around them.
Jeff will share some ancient, time-tested practices to help develop your own heart’s “felt sense,” a key body-soul awareness skill used by your own ancestors and shamans around the world in helping others. Developing a stronger felt sense will foster clarity and power in your own life, allow a more mindful, heart-centered approach to yoga, and help lift your practice from caring technician to true healer.
Jeff Nixa J.D., M. Div., is the founder of Great Plains Guide Company, an array of nature-based spiritual healing programs including individual counseling, seminars, outdoor retreats, and wilderness trips. A veteran spiritual guide, Jeff’s work has spanned over thirty-five years in spiritual care and counseling as a university campus minister, hospital chaplain, pastoral counselor, and board-certified massage therapist. After a life-changing wilderness vision quest experience in 2009, Jeff threw himself into the study of Indigenous healing practices, apprenticing with C. Michael Smith, Sandra Ingerman, traditional healers in the Peruvian Amazon and Andes Mountains, Cree Nation elders in Alberta, Canada, and Oglala Lakota teachers and spiritual elders on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He is the author of two books: The Lost Art of Heart Navigation, (Bear & Company, 2017) and Something Sacred Grows There (Bison Press, 2023.)
Clare Maness: Discussing the Business and Law of Yoga. Clare is an attorney, RYT 500, former yoga-studio owner and former IAYT-certified yoga therapist, and current mindfulness coach. She has been teaching yoga and contemplative movement since 2010.
She has presented at SYTAR on community-focused topics, served as a retreat leader in Guatemala, taught mindfulness for professionals for bar associations nationwide, and currently leads seminars for law firms and legal professionals seeking more holistic approaches to their legal practices.
As a nationally ranked archer, she also coaches mindfulness for peak performance. In her introduction to business and legal points for yoga teachers here, she will not, of course, be offering any legal advice, but she will introduce fundamental concepts to bear in mind as you all embark on this exciting yoga journey.
Karen Sommers has been practicing and teaching yoga for 20 years. She is a 500 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher.
Her approach to life and wellness is holistic and she has directed two healing centers in the area. Karen has worked professionally in healthcare in a variety of capacities.
Most recently she was the Director of Lifestyle Medicine at Goshen Health and also served in that capacity for Beacon Health at both Memorial Hospital and Elkhart General Hospital.
Karen’s outside interests include: long distance hiking; gardening; biking; kayaking; reading; knitting and spending time with her two granddaughters.
Courtney Canfield, ERYT-200: Courtney first found yoga in college in 2005, and her love of yoga continued to bloom while living in New York City.
The practice helped her find balance, connection and present-moment awareness in a fast-paced phase of life. Courtney has certifications in Restorative Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Yoga Nidra/Pranayama.
She has also completed an additional Advanced Teacher Training curriculum and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Indiana University. Courtney is passionate about continual learning and sharing this lifelong journey.
Kimmi Troy has over 15 years of teaching experience in the fitness industry. She specializes in Trauma Informed Yoga practices and beginner Yoga.
Kimmi is a certified Health and Wellness Coach, entrepreneur and Wellness Workshop presenter.
Jason Kniola, LMHC, LCAC, NCC: Jason is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Clinical Addictions Counselor, and Nationally Certified Counselor. Jason also completed a 2-year training in Hakomi Body Centered Psychotherapy.
He has worked in the mental health field for over 25 years and a therapist since 2004. Additionally, Jason has training in shamanism, qigong, meditation, and yoga.
He teaches mindfulness meditation pulling from his training in Zen Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Taoist practices, among others.
Jason is currently clinical director of the Pillars of Wellness, Hobart Branch.