Certified Yoga Practitioner: Yoga Philosophy and Ethics

Mountain View, CA

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Purpose

Deepen your practice through Yoga Humanities. This program bridges Patanjali’s Sutras with modern life, aiming to deliver emotional regulation and ethical clarity. Master the 8 Limbs, Koshas, and Gunas to audit energy and live yoga off the mat.

What to expect

Expect a combination interactive discussions, in person lectures, community building events, as well as a livestream component and take-home assignments.

Style/Lineage

YogaSix is a modern Vinyasa style rooted in the Raja Yoga tradition and Post-Classical philosophy. This lineage integrates Tantric principles and Shakti energy theory to deliver a practice focused on emotional regulation and ethical clarity.

Core competencies

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

Yoga History & Theory

Discuss patanjali’s yoga sutras defining the goal of yoga as citta vritti nirodhah (stilling the mind) and explaining how the 8 limbs serve as a map for daily life.
Identify the 10 ethical principles articulate and explain how vinyasa methodology informs sequencing, pacing, breath coordination, and alignment principles by describing the relationship between movement, breath, and intentional progression within a given yoga style.
Describe the 5 koshas (energy sheaths) explaining the layers from physical to blissful and identifying which "sheath" is being fed by different lifestyle choices.
Define prana, nadis, and vayus and describe how they contribute energy moving through the body and how "blocks" manifest as fatigue or tension.
Audit personal "energy leaks" \using the yamas and kosha model to identify where energy is being wasted in daily life (e.g., gossip, poor sleep, or cluttered spaces).
Identify the 3 gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) describing the three qualities of nature and identifying which guna is dominant in their diet, environment, and mental state.

Lifestyle & Ethics

Discuss the "off the mat" application of yoga explaining how tools like conscious breathing and "witness consciousness" transfer from challenging poses to real-world stressors.
Analyze the five yamas: ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha and explain how they preserve personal energy and support clear, ethical relationships
Analyze the fine niyamas: saucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya, ishvara pranidhana by explaining how these personal observances purify and refine the koshas, supporting mental clarity and preparing the mind for meditation

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

Competencies will be assessed through a combination of oral and written exam, observations and practice demonstrations.

Program Faculty

Featured Faculty

Audrey Ryder

Multi-Studio YogaSix owner living in The San Francisco Bay Area. Specialist in private yoga, breath, mobility, recovery, and empowerment.

yogasix.com/mountain-view

Woodside, CA, US

Bonnie Erickson

2,500+ classes taught. Four 200-hour trainings led. Deep study across lineages. I teach creative, trauma-informed yoga rooted in tradition, with a dancer’s grit and a writer’s clarity. Come breathe and move and laugh with me -- I'm the lady at the center of sacred and profane.

East Palo Alto, CA, US

Policies

AYC Policies

Progam Code of Conduct

Refund Policy

View program website

American Yoga Council