Yoga Teacher Training

500 hour level

(Click here for the 200-hour Certificate Program)

Course Objective

This course is designed to:

• Provide a personally meaningful program.
• Increase one's exposure to philosophy and practices of yoga.
• Strengthen one's personal practice through deeper understanding
• Offer teaching opportunities and practicum in a supportive environment.
• Provide opportunities for student mentorship with senior teachers (Yoga Alliance refers to senior teachers as E-RYT or Experienced Registered Yoga Teachers).
• Enhance spiritual learning where students and teachers engage deeply with each other in an intimate setting (Indian Gurukul system).

The Teachings

Yoga is a holistic system for health and well being as well as a ladder towards knowing our higher essence, our deeper spiritual selves. Though it often takes many years of study and practice to understand the subtleties of these esoteric teachings, students will have an exposure to various paths which include Bhakti (Devotional) Yoga, Sacred Sound and Mantra Yoga, Hatha Yoga and our underlying emphasis on Ashtanga Yoga, the eight limbed system elucidated in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Our core courses draw their theory from various scriptures including the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Siva Samhita and Gheranda Samhita. These source materials serve primarily as guides and supports for personal practice. The scriptures themselves declare that the wisdom of yoga is revealed and experienced best through regular practice.

Prerequisite: a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training certificate from Mount Madonna Center or another Yoga Alliance approved Yoga School.

Our Purpose

• Out of respect to the ancient tradition of yoga and to our own teacher Baba Hari Dass, we hope to provide others with the classical teachings as they have been handed down for thousands of years.
• To offer further training in theory, philosophy, benefits and practices of yoga to asana and meditation teachers as well as to yoga practitioners.
• To inspire students and teachers to continue with the worthy search for self knowledge and eternal peace.

Who Should Attend

This program is for Yoga teachers pursuing registration with the Yoga Alliance at the 500-hour level as well as for yoga practitioners wanting to increase their knowledge and experience. You must apply and be approved before you can take YTT 500 program for credit.

Program Details

The Yoga Alliance requires 300 hours in addition to a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training certificate in order to register as an RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) at the 500 hour level. We provide these hours in the following format:

1. 200 hours in a modular format with sessions every other month over the course of a one year. Students may complete requirements in either one or two years.
   Required Modules = 200 hours - $2045 tuition plus meals and lodging.
   The 2010-2011 dates for the YTT 500 modules are:
   
   • April 30 – May 7, 2010 (weeklong)
   • July 29 – Aug 1, 2010
   • October 21- 24, 2010
   • December 9 – 12, 2010
   • February 3 – 6, 2011
   • April 7 – 10, 2011
     Absence: If you must miss a module, you will have one year to make it up. While your tuition will be covered, you will be charged for meals and lodging.
     
     
   Non-MMC Graduates: If you received your YTT 200 hour certificate elsewhere , you are required to complete our bridge intensive as a pre-requisite from Feb. 18-21 2010. Please see no. 3 below)
   
   
2. Electives = 100 hours
   In addition to the modular series (dates above), you are required to complete 100 hours of electives. The programs which qualify as electives for YTT500 hour credit are clearly marked, both online
   in our programs calendar and in the Mount Madonna brochure. MMC offers a diversity of weekend programs in yoga asana, meditation and Ayurveda, giving opportunity to focus in specific areas of interest. Mount Madonna offers four yoga retreats per year which can also be taken as electives with prior arrangement.
   NOTE: The tuition and meal and lodging fees for electives are IN addition to the $2045 fee required for the 200 hour modular requirements.
   
   
3. Yoga Intensive – February 18- 21, 2010 – $350 tuition plus meals and lodging.
   The intensive is required for anyone who completed YTT200 at a Registered Yoga School other than Mount Madonna Center. It can be an elective for graduates of Mount Madonna’s 200 hour training.
   NOTE: The tuition, meal and lodging fees for the intensive are IN addition to the $2045 fee required for the 200 hour modular requirements.

How to Apply

Non-MMC graduates : Email your interest to kamalesh@mountmadonna.org and fax a copy of your YTT200 certificate from a Registered Yoga School (Yoga Alliance approved) to 408-847-2683, attention Kamalesh. You are required to complete our bridge intensive as a pre-requisite from Feb. 18-21, 2010.
MMC YTT 200 graduates: You may register online.

Tuition

The tuition listed below is for the required program modules. Tuition for electives is on a course-by-course basis. Please note that all fees for Mount Madonna Center programs have one fee for tuition and additional fees for housing and meals.

• Fees for electives are on a course-to-course basis. They are not included in the above tuition fees.
• Fees for MMC retreats and MMC Weekend Programs vary. Please refer to Mount Madonna Center Housing and Fees.
• Fees for retreats offered by rental groups, see their websites, as listed above under Weekend/Elective Programs.
• For those joining the program in 2009, there is a one-time non-refundable administrative fee of $200.
• Independent Study. Tuition is $10 per independent study hour for first 25 hours and $8 per hour from 26-50 hours.

Cancellations/Refunds
Please refer to Mount Madonna Center Policy.