200+ hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training - Learning to Guide

Established 2026

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Serendipity Yoga and Wellness

18300 Dixie Hwy, Homewood, IL 60430, USA

Homewood, IL

Program Instances

Hybrid

Dates: TBD

200 hours • TBD

Homewood, IL, US

Led by

Elizabeth Smith

CYT-L3

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Purpose

This immersive training will equip you with the skills and confidence to lead classes while expanding your knowledge of asana, pranayama, meditation, philosophy, and more.

What to expect

Join the Serendipi-TEAM for one of the most unique and in-depth yoga teacher training programs available. Led by our experienced instructors with diverse backgrounds, our program blends Eastern traditions with modern, acccessible teaching techniques, allowing you to discover and develop your own unique teaching style and yogic path.

Whether your goal is to teach yoga professionally or deepen your personal journey, this program offers a transformational experience that integrates ancient wisdom with practical application. Take the next step in your yoga journey-enroll today and begin your path toward becoming a certified yoga instructor.

Style/Lineage

Our comprehensive 10-month Yoga Teacher Training Program is designed for both aspiring teachers and dedicated practitioners who want to advance their understanding of yoga.

Additional Information

You Will Learn...

Comprehensive yoga anatomy and physiology for safe and effective practice
How to design and sequence Hatha yoga classes for all levels
Effective cueing, teaching techniques, and leadership skills
Modifications for different body types, injuries, and special conditions
How to use props to enhance alignment and accessibility
Seamless integration of yoga philosophy, mindfulness, and breathwork
Hands-on asana adjustments and modifications
Yoga history, philosophy, and its modern applications
Creating a supportive and inspiring class environment
The business of yoga: marketing, ethics, and professional growth
Teaching diverse populations with inclusivity and accessibility in mind
Incorporating Enneagram and Ayurveda principles into your teaching and personal practice

Core competencies

By the end of this program, graduates will be able to…

Teaching Skills	Design a complete class sequence for a specialty population, such as prenatal students, chair yoga participants, or children, adapting every structural component and posture for safety and relevance. Describe how each teaching tool, particularly the voice, shapes the student's nervous system response, sense of safety, and ability to move from external instruction toward inner awareness. Apply prop use and verbal adjustment techniques to adapt postures for students with limited range of motion, injuries, or specific physical and emotional considerations.
Anatomy, Physiology, Biomechanics	Identify the major bones, joints, and muscle groups most relevant to yoga practice, including the spine, hips, shoulders, and knees. Describe how the limbic system, amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex interact during a stress response and how yoga practice interrupts that cycle. Apply knowledge of respiratory anatomy to teach foundational pranayama techniques, including Dirgha, Ujjayi, and Nadi Shodhana, with appropriate pacing and contraindications. Apply chakra knowledge to build thematic classes that address a specific energetic quality, using posture, breath, mantra, and meditation choices that correspond to the target chakra.
Practice Skills	Apply alignment principles and targeted prop use to offer accessible, safe variations of postures for students with diverse physical needs, injuries, or limitations. Create a guided meditation script for one of the six forms, structured with a grounding opener, a sustained central practice, and a gentle closing that supports integration. Apply foundational pranayama techniques in a taught session using clear, grounded cueing that orients students to breath mechanics, energetic intention, and safe self-regulation across diverse experience levels.
Yoga History & Theory	Identify the major historical periods of yoga and the foundational texts associated with each era. Describe how the structure and content of the four chapters guide the practitioner from mental understanding through practice, accomplishment, and liberation. Analyze the similarities and differences between at least two yoga styles in terms of their root philosophy, pacing, use of props, and intended therapeutic or spiritual purpose. Describe how the eight limbs build progressively from ethical living and personal discipline through asana, breath, and sensory withdrawal into the inner practices of concentration, meditation, and absorption. Identify the Himalayan Tradition as a lineage rooted in Vedic knowledge and trace its unbroken transmission through key figures, including Swami Rama. Identify the five koshas as layers of human experience, the three gunas as qualities of nature, and the five kleshas as root sources of suffering in yogic philosophy. Describe how the Ayurvedic dosha system and the Enneagram each offer a distinct lens for understanding a student's constitution, behavioral patterns, and areas of growth. Identify Sanskrit as a vibrational language rooted in the Indus Valley tradition and name the five articulatory locations used in its pronunciation.
Lifestyle & Ethics	Evaluate how authentically embodying the Yamas and Niyamas transforms teaching from a delivery of information into a lived and trustworthy expression of the practice. Analyze how unexamined assumptions about ability, body size, age, gender, and cultural background surface in yoga instruction and create barriers that exclude specific communities. Integrate the self-study and reflective practice frameworks developed in this training into a realistic daily lifestyle that includes consistent asana, pranayama, meditation, and honest engagement with the Yamas, Niyamas, and Kleshas as they manifest in your own life.
Business Skills	Identify the core steps in launching a yoga teaching career, including resume writing, professional biography, liability insurance, CPR certification, and American Yoga Council registration. Evaluate your current professional readiness by reviewing your practicum hours, mentorship feedback, continuing education plan, and the alignment of your teaching niche with the lineage and values cultivated in this program. Examine how the cultural tendency to undervalue yoga instruction and the new teacher’s instinct to undercharge both create financial fragility—and describe how setting rates that reflect your Serendipity training is both a business decision and an ethical one.

AYC allows each school to state and evaluate the competencies each student acquires. Students rate how well the program delivered them.

Program Emphasis

Evaluation methods

Program evaluations

Solo Project Or Presentation
Oral Exam
Written Submission
Direct Observation

Teacher Training Requirements Attend weekly training sessions on Sundays from 11 am - 7pm (includes a 60-minute meal break) Practice yoga at Serendipity at least twice per week Engage in mentorship with a Serendipity Yoga and Wellness teacher Practice teaching in small groups to build confidence and skills Establish a daily meditation practice Complete assigned readings and required coursework Maintain a daily journal for self-reflection and growth Lead free community yoga classes at the studio

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Program Faculty

Featured Faculty

Elizabeth Smith

Liz is a seasoned yogi and holistic practitioner who blends yoga, Ayurveda, meditation, and nervous-system wisdom to help people feel more grounded, resilient, and at home in their bodies.

serendipityyogaandwellness.com

Homewood, Illinois, US