If yoga could be summed up in one phrase it might be: notice what you notice. The heart loves nothing better than to experience the dance of remembering itself, noticing itself, awakening to curiosity. We go on journeys to deepen this recognition. The practice of yoga shows us the small mirrors that reflect the wisdom and vastness of the heart within our bodies, energetic perceptions, thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and sensations. On each of these layers yoga offers us skillful tools to say “oh, there you are” to our deepest places. The body is where the practice starts, and from there we overflow into wholeness, for as it is said in yoga: higher than the body is our senses; higher than our senses is the mind; higher than the mind is our intelligence; and higher than our intelligence is our heart.
Let’s explore.
WHAT IS IT? WHO IS IT FOR?
““I found the content accessible, deep, clear and I feel like I’ve learned and grown significantly both as a yoga teacher and as a human being.” R. L.
“(This training) was a rich mix of practice and lecture, which included a tremendous assortment of both physical and energetic yoga…business, and a lot of fun.” S. C.
LOGISTICSWe meet in-person one full weekend at the beginning of the month plus the following Sunday (1.5 weekends per month) and over Zoom every Tuesday evening.
HERE is a link to our course outline.
CLICK HERE to apply for this training.
Tuition is $3,800. Payment plans are available.
We have a limited amount of scholarship opportunities, including specifically for our BIPOC community. Please contact Luca for more information.
A completed application and $500 deposit will secure your spot in the program.
40 in-studio classes are included in your tuition.
Please click on the “buy now” link to make your deposit:
MEET YOUR TEACHERS
LEAD: Cynthia Abulafia, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, YACEP: Subtle Body, Sacred Texts, Pranayama, MeditationCynthia brings an eye for detailed instruction to her challenging and creative classes. She likes to make the difficult doable and the doable difficult in flow. Her attention to detail brings her class deeply into the experience of the body, breath, and heart in order to tune attention to its finest point– believing that the purpose of the practice is to simply notice ever deeper into the dynamic silence that is the root of all form.
Her passion for biomechanics, Tantra, the energy body, non-dual self-inquiry, and the beautifully rooted grace of the yoga asanas themselves shines in her classes. She believes time on the mat should be playful, fun, sweaty, inquisitive, and a celebration of this amazing dance we call experience.
In addition to teaching asana she teaches courses in yoga philosophy, tantra, the subtle body, human anatomy for yoga and yoga ethics.
She has been instrumental in the creation and leadership of Yoga Soup’s 200 and 300 Hour Teacher Trainings, is E-RYT 500, YACEP (she teaches continuing education), IAYT (Yoga Therapy), and Pilates certified, and holds a Masters in Nutrition. She has over 25 years of study with world class teachers in several schools of yoga, including Yoga Therapy, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Vinyasa Krama with Srivatsa Ramaswami, modern flow blends originating at Yoga Works in Santa Monica, and many beloved meditation, Advaita, non-dual Tantra, kundalini-Shakti, and self-inquiry teachers, particularly Rupert Spira, Sally Kempton, and leading scholars in Tantra.
Cynthia believes strongly in educating students about Kundalini energy (not to be confused with the system of yoga in the same name). The poses of Yoga are designed to wake up our subtle body, and yet when this happens- as it inevitably does for many people- we often find ourselves without a compass or a safe community.
Website: cynthiaabulafiayoga.com
LEAD: Dora Chan, E-RYT 200, certified iRest® Teacher, Yin Yoga, Yoga NidraDora has a fascination with the workings of the human body and mind, especially how stress, anxiety, chronic pain and trauma play a role in our health and well-being. With a Bachelor in Biotechnology and a PhD in Immunology, Dora has a deep appreciation of western scientific methods. However, she also sees the limitation of the western approach to understanding ourselves.
On her quest to seek a deeper understanding of the human body, mind, and in life itself, Dora began training in various eastern modalities. Dora is an experienced Yoga teacher, Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 Certified iRest® Yoga Nidra Meditation teacher, Level 1 Warriors at Ease teacher, Holistic Nutritionist, Reiki Master teacher, and Yoga Therapist in training.
Dora is passionate about bridging western knowledge and eastern wisdom practices to support people in finding healing in body, mind and spirit. She is especially interested in understanding how stress affects the nervous system and how yoga can be used powerfully to support our physical and mental health.
Many people approach life and their yoga practice as two separate things. Dora believes that life and yoga are in fact not separate. Based on the Tantric teachings of Kashmiri Shaivism, Dora’s approach is about welcoming and integrating all aspects of ourselves, which may show up in various ways in our daily lives. Yoga helps us live life in full awareness so that we continue to find new opportunities for integration and returning to wholeness.
Dora invites you to deep self inquiry by challenging your belief system and what you perceive to be true about yourself. With love, gentleness, and non-judgment, she invites you to break free from conditioned beliefs and to expand your mind and heart for limitless growth.
Website: dorachanyoga.net
Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn: @dorachanyoga
LEAD: Jazmin Ment, E-RYT 500, Asana and AlignmentJazmin maintains respect and amazement for the innate wisdom of the body and the transcendent experience of being more and more embodied. Expressed by her commitment to her own practice and living the principles of yoga, she shares her teaching from an integrated understanding of the postures and the practice.
She has practiced Iyengar and other forms of yoga since she was a little girl and still considers herself a student first and always. With thousands of hours of study and 500+ accredited teacher training hours, her understanding of yoga, meditation, the human body, and well-being is extensive and heartfelt. She initially studied to become a yoga teacher with Ganga White and Tracy Rich. She then completed her 300-hour advanced teacher training with world-renowned master teachers Colleen Saidman Yee and Rodney Yee. She has more recently taken a mentor role as a part of their teacher trainings. Jazmin considers Rodney and Colleen her primary teachers and has studied with them since she was a teenager.
Jazmin incorporates her deep-rooted background in Iyengar yoga with the fluid evolution of Vinyasa yoga and its older sister, Ashtanga yoga. Her holistic approach to yoga opens a welcoming door (hopefully with a little humor) into self-awareness and relationship with body, mind and Spirit. She believes it is in and through the body and life itself that we practice Yoga, that we realize our humanness, ours and each other’s. And that through the method of Yoga that we un-do patterns of fear and separateness, ‘sit with it’, and relax into our truest Self, a unique part of the whole. Ultimately, Jazmin believes in the power of Yoga to transform our world and uncover joy, breath by breath, through deep listening and compassion, from the inside-out.
Her approach is rooted in postural alignment, therapeutic benefits and application, pranayama (breath), and meditation as a means to inner and outer peace. The thing she continues to find is that the deeper she dives, the more and more there is to discover and the practice is ever-giving. It is with great commitment that she lives and teaches from a place of deep embodied understanding. It is with great joy and passion that Jazmin shares her lineage of yoga with fellow students and teachers.
Website: jazminmentyoga.com
Instagram / Facebook: @jazminmentyoga
Plus contributions from:
REQUIRED BOOKS: TESTIMONIALS FROM GRADS OF OUR PAST TRAININGS“I practice yoga with a deeper listening to my body than I did before. The training taught me that to practice yoga it is necessary to really listen inward so that we don’t injure ourselves or push past our limits too much, and also to move through emotional and spiritual territory that is important to the whole of the practice. The fact that our skeletons are all different, our spirits are all unique, means that our practice can be what we need, not what we think it should look like. Also, learning more about the philosophy of yoga, the yamas and niyamas, and all of the wisdom our teachers had to share was completely life changing. It helped to deepen my practice of yoga not only on the mat, but also in all things I do.” ~ Katelyn B. Class of 2020
“The Yoga Soup training was the most impactful training I’ve done. The instructors are experts, the content made me want to never stop learning and my personal practice has grown immensely. I look forward to getting on my mat everyday with this new knowledge!! Thank you Luca, Cynthia, Kendall, Eddie and others!!!” ~ Mycah K, Class of 2020
“I appreciated each teacher’s particular engagement with the philosophical material, the principles of alignment, and the principles of teaching yoga. The sessions on subtle body (the bandhas and the chakras) really validated some watershed experiences I have had in the practice, experiences I had previously thought were a little nutty, to say the least – these sessions in particular aroused a deep appreciation, a kind of reverence, for the vast alchemy of resources for self-healing and self-transformation the yoga practice provides.
In terms of the experience in practice teaching gained from the teacher training, the practicum weekends and the final evaluation exercise were very helpful, particularly the feedback I received from my peers and the teacher trainers!”~ Emily C. 2019