1) Asana Practice

Wednesdays 6:00 – 8:00 pm; Saturdays 1:00 – 3:00; Sundays, on full weekends only, 1:00 – 3:30
Asana Practice sessions are like standard yoga classes with extra attention to a “behind the scenes” understanding of the postures and transitions. The focus is on taking each of the participants to their next level through the exploration of the alignment and dynamics in asana including the integral relationship of breath and bandha. Asana Practice sessions will begin with the fundamentals, and progress, as the program continues, toward more and more refined instruction and more challenging content. Brief discussions conclude Asana Practices for general Q&A and to discuss the sequence of the class; understanding the ordering of the postures reveals the relationships between them and brings to light the larger goals of practice.

2) Interactive Discussions

Saturdays, on full weekends, 3:15 – 6:15
Interactive Discussions give context to the practice of yoga by providing a comprehensive overview of the theory behind the method. Yoga History and Philosophy- A time line approach to the history and development of philosophies in yoga and how they came to the west with a closer look at Patanjali’s Eight Limbs. Yoga Philosophies, Lifestyles and Ethics- The lineage and how it shows up in one’s practice and daily life. Sanskrit- A brief overview of the language and its significance. We will cover the pronunciation of the Sanskrit terms for asana included in the program and on the quizzes. Anatomy and Physiology– both the structural and the energetic bodies, and how they relate to the benefits and contraindications/modifications of asanas, alignment, and movement patterns.

3) Hands-on Asana Labs

Sundays, on full weekends, 3:45 – 6:45
Asana Labs are experiential workshops that delve into the principles behind effective action and alignment in asana. Hands-on adjustments and assists are learned, offering insight through the felt experience. The asana ‘officially’ included in the program are systematically covered; from sun salutations to standing poses, standing balances to arm balances, seated poses, twists, restful positions and beyond.

Tuition Includes:

• A binder of handouts and a book that are distributed on the first day of class.
• 1/2 price drop-in classes at Barefoot Movement, once payment in full or the initial deposit has been made. This discount is extended to CYP graduates as well, you’re set!

Payments Made In – Full:

$2000 if paid by November 20
$2150 after November 20

Payments Made in Installments:

An initial deposit of:
$150 by November 20, 2015
$300 after November 20, 2015
plus *10 monthly payments of $200 (Monthly payments total $2000)

*Monthly payments are due on the first day of class and then on the first of each month from September 2015 through May, 2016.
A late fee of $25 is due for monthly payments made after the 10th of the month. Automatic recurring charges to a students’ credit card can be easily set up.

To Make Your Payment:

To pay by check (thank you for paying by check! no credit card fees helps us out…), make it payable to ‘Barefoot Movement’ and bring it into the studio, slide it under Leah’s office door, or mail it to:

Barefoot Movement
1635 Broadway 3rd Floor
Oakland, CA 94612

To pay by credit or debit card:

Enter Amount

Merchant Account

If withdrawing more than one month prior to program start date, a full refund minus a $50 processing fee is given. No Refunds given within one month of program start date. Within one month of a student’s start date, the registrant becomes responsible for the entire program tuition, regardless of participation, including monthly payments not yet made.

What happened to the Flow Yoga Teacher Training (FYTT) programs?

The FYTT I teachers began to feel that they were doing a disservice to the FYTT I participants and to the ‘world of yoga’ in general by, what often felt like, rushing practitioners into teaching. ‘Becoming a yoga teacher’ is best when it comes as an organic evolution out of the students practice and when their teacher suggests or agrees that they are ready.

FYI… there is no government regulation for yoga teachers’ qualifications. And, there have been yoga teachers since long before there were yoga teacher training programs. Some employers, particularly those who are not familiar with the practice of yoga themselves, require their yoga teachers to be registered with Yoga Alliance. Yoga Alliance holds a bare minimum standard for their registrants. Barefoot Movement is discontinuing their relationship with Yoga Alliance because it doesn’t want to participate in upholding a low and arbitrary standard.

Many yoga students come to a place where they want to take their practice to the next level. They feel the benefits of their practice and want a deeper embodiment of the practice as a whole, a bigger understanding of what’s behind the content of the classes they attend. Teacher training programs have become the default place to go for such students. Barefoot Movement’s Cultivate Your Practice and Vinyasa Yoga Immersion programs are meant to satisfy that need without the auspices of ‘becoming a teacher’.

Are there scholarships available?

There is one work-trade student per CYP that covers $1000 of the tuition. If you’re interested, send a resume with your request.

How do I know if my practice is advanced enough for the CYP to be a good fit for me?

Chances are good that if the program is appealing to you, that you’re ready. Speak with one of the CYP faculty if you’d like to check in more thoroughly on this, send an email to set up a meeting or just catch one of us at the studio.

Ongoing “homework”- work outside of program hours:

• In addition to the CYP program hours, choose (at least) one class from the ‘regular’ class schedule at Barefoot Movement with one of the CYP teachers that you can commit to coming to on a weekly basis.
• Complete the reading & writing assignments throughout the program
• Learn the Sanskrit for the asana that are covered– Your handout binder will include the poses that we ‘officially’ include.
• Learn the anatomical terms that are covered– Your handout binder will include the information that we ‘officially’ cover.
• A base level of fluency with common terminology is an important aspect of building your foundation. Required quizzes encourage you to commit the terminology to memory. The quizzes are included in your binder, no surprises!

The calendar will show the dates for in-class quizzes, reading assignments and writing assignments once they are scheduled.

Upon Successful Completion…

Graduates receive a Certificate of Completion from Barefoot Movement and continue to qualify for 50% off individual classes and class packs.

Requirements for Certification:
1) 100% Attendance
2) 100% Tuition Paid
3) 100% Satisfactory Completion of Quizzes
4) 100% Satisfactory Completion of Homework

Required Reading

This book will be provided to you with the program; reading assignments for each class are included in the calendar.

Functional Anatomy of Yoga: A Guide for Practitioners and Teachers by David Keil, ISBN: 978-1905367467
Anatomy principles applied to directly to yoga. See also the author’s website

Additional List of Recommended References and Resources

This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are many wonderful books written about yoga.

Anatomy

Yoga Anatomy 2nd Edition by Leslie Kaminoff, ISBN: 1450400248
Chapters 1-5 provide an overview on Anatomy for yoga. The rest of the book serves as an invaluable reference for the individual poses. Not only does it cover the poses with great visual aids, it also displays the Sanskrit in phonetic transliteration and clear translations. See also the author’s webpage

Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain, ISBN: 0939616572
This reference provides a very detailed look into the musculoskeletal system and its functional relationship to the movements of the human body.

Pranayama

The Yoga of Breath by Richard Rosen, ISBN: 1570628890
This book is “a guide to learning the fundamentals of pranayama and incorporating them into an existing yoga practice by easy to follow with step-by-step descriptions of breath and body awareness exercises accompanied by clear illustrations. The book also covers the history and philosophy of pranayama.”

Sanskrit

Online Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide Here is a great (free) resource for hearing the pronunciation of Yoga terms in Sanskrit: http://www.tilakpyle.com/sanskrit.htm

The Language of Yoga by Nicolai Bachman, ISBN: 1591792819
Aside from the Sanskrit audio and written, it includes good thumbnails of the poses beyond the primary series selection (includes audio CD).

Sacred Sanskrit Words: For Yoga, Chant, and Meditation by Leza Lowitz and Reema Datta ISBN 1880656876
This is a very practical reference book that introduces 180 Sanskrit words with Devanagari scripts, pronunciations, chants and brief cultural/historic explanations.

Technique and Philosophy

Yoga Teacher’s Toolbox by Joseph and Lillian Page, ISBN: 0974430331
[This one is carried onsite in the Barefoot Movement store at a considerable discount compared to what you will find online] Aresource for the new teacher learning how to build out sequences because you can pull out the plastic coated pages from the spiral binder from the various types of poses (standing, seated, inversion etc) and organize them into your sequence for reference like flash cards for yourself. Contains details, variations, and modifications of poses and also covers esoteric information like chakras.

Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness by Erich Schiffman, ISBN: 0671534807 This is a keeper. Love this book. And most of the chapters can be found for free on Erich’s website here: http://www.movingintostillness.com/teachings.html

Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy by Gregor Maehle, ISBN: 1577316061
This is an excellent resource on “the Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga”. It describes in great detail exactly how to get into and out of all the poses in the Primary Series (the basis for Vinyasa Flow yoga), includes multiple detailed photos and illustrations, plus sidebars that discuss the anatomical focus of specific asanas. Covers yoga history and includes a complete commentary on the Yoga Sutra philosophy. And it also has a helpful glossary.

The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice by T.K. V. Desikachar, ISBN: 089281764X Desikachar discusses all the elements of yoga–poses and counter-poses, conscious breathing, meditation, and philosophy–and shows how the yoga student may develop a practice tailored to his or her current state of health, age, occupation, and lifestyle

The Mirror of Yoga: Awakening the Intelligence of Body and Mind by Richard Freeman, ISBN: 1590309448
Richard presents an “enlightening overview of the many teachings, practices, and scriptures that serve as the basis for all the schools of yoga.” It’s a particularly dense read but well worth it. His chapter on the Bhagavad Gita alone is worth the read as a very healthy Cliff Notes to the classic story.

Teaching Yoga: Essential Foundations and Techniques by Mark Stephens, ISBN: 1556438850
This book provides an overview for new and experienced teachers addressing 100% of the teacher training curriculum standards set by Yoga Alliance.

The Classics – Translated

There are many translations of the following yogic texts. Some suggested editions noted below:

The Vedas – especially Rig Veda – any edition

The Upanishads – any edition
Recommended translation by Eknath Easwaran ISBN: 1586380214

Bhagavad Gita – any edition
Recommended translation by Eknath Easwaran ISBN: 9781586380199
Or Bhagavad Gita: a New Translation by Stephen Mitchell ISBN: 0609810340

The Yoga Sutras – any edition, but here are a few we recommend:

The Yogi’s Roadmap: Patanjali Yoga Sutra as a Journey to Self Realization by Bhavani Silvia Maki ISBN: 1482378248
Bhavani lives and teaches on the island of Kauai. She has studied the texts extensively and has chosen a different way of presenting the teachings of the Yoga Sutras. The book does not cover every single one of the 196 aphorisms; she groups them in ways that offer the Western mind ways to integrate the teachings into our daily life through deep personal inquiry.

Inside the Yoga Sutras: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for the Study & Practice of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras by Jaganath Carrera ISBN: 0932040578
Based on Swami Satchidananda’s translation, this book is a straightforward, accessible discussion of the Sutra.

Four Chapters on Freedom by Swami Satyananda ISBN: 8185787182
This book contains the full Sanskrit text of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra as well as transliteration, translation and an extensive commentary.

Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy by Gregor Maehle ISBN: 1577316061
While this is an excellent resource describing in great detail exactly how to get into and out of all the poses in the Primary Series, it also provides extensive commentary on the Yoga Sutra.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika – any edition

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika Translation by Brian Dana Akers ISBN: 0971646619
This is an affordable, definitive edition containing the original Sanskrit, a new English translation, and full-page photographs of all the asanas.

Miscellaneous

A few other books you might want to read along the way:

Krishnamacharya: His Life and Teachings
A.G. Mohan
This is a wonderful tribute to “the father of modern yoga” Sri T Krishnamacharya written by one of his longtime disciples. Amazon book description puts it this way “In this book, the author, A. G. Mohan, a well-respected yoga teacher and yoga therapist, draws on his own memories and Krishnamacharya’s diaries and recorded material, to present a fascinating view of the man and his teachings, and Mohan’s own warm and inspiring relationship with the master. This portrait of the great teacher is a compelling and informative read for yoga teachers and students who truly want to understand the source of their tradition and practice.” Note if you’re interested two other books help round out the tale of Krishnamacharya. They are Health Healing and Beyond: Yoga and the Living Tradition of T. Krishnamacharya by TKV Desikachar (Krishnamacharya’s son) and Yoga of the Yogi: The Legacy of T. Krishnamacharya by Kausthub Desikachar (Krishnamacharya’s grandson). You can assume there will be a slightly different bias in each of these books.

The Inner Tradition of Yoga: A Guide to Yoga Philosophy for the Contemporary Practitioner
By Michael Stone
Michael is a great writer and deep practitioner. He demonstrates the interdependence of theory, practice, and daily life in a really well-crafted book. To learn more about, Michael Stone, visit his website: http://www.centreofgravity.org and/or check him out on YouTube (he sounds a lot like Richard Freeman)

The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling
By Stephen Cope
While the title sounds a bit over the top “self-helpy” it is actually a contemporary tour of the themes presented in the Bhagavad Vita, that ancient allegory about the path to dharma. Never read the Gita? This could be a good introduction. Read and studied the Gita? Never hurts to take a fresh look into these teachings.

Arrive on Time
For your personal safety and as a courtesy to others, we encourage our students to arrive to class on time, to participate in the warmup, and to stay until the end. We usually lock the door at the top of the stairs 10 minutes into class for security reasons, and instructors are not available to let anyone in after that time since they are in the middle of leading their classes.

Stay for the Entire Class
If you do need to leave early for any reason, please inform the teacher before class begins. However, we do recommend planning to stay for the entirety of the class to receive the most benefit from your practice and to pay respect to to the practice itself, your commitment to your own practice, to the teacher and to your fellow students.

Cell Phones & Devices
Please do not use your cell phone during class to talk, text, etc.. We encourage you to silence your phone, rather than set to vibrate mode, or even turn it off entirely. That said, if you need to silence (no vibrate) your phone and leave it near your mat because you need to be ‘on call’ for whatever reason, we understand. Please check with the instructor first, before doing that, to let her/him know of your circumstance.

- For our Workshops & Programs, if you would like to take notes, please stick with pen and paper. We have found that it causes too much of a distraction both to the teacher and to the other students to use devices such as phones, tablets, computers for note taking. (It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why it is more distracting than paper, perhaps because these devices are portals into the wide world web, regardless, thank you for honoring this request).

Scents and Smells
Practice good hygiene, please come to class clean. Also, because of other students’ allergies and/or sensitivities, we ask that you refrain from using any sort of scent including: lotions, essential oils, etc. before coming to class.

Do Not Chew Gum During Class

Attire
Be sure that your clothes actually clothe you. Shorts need to be long enough to cover ‘private parts’ no matter what the asana. It is appreciated when waist bands are high enough to keep the buttock region under wraps, even when in full forward bends. Holes located in unfortunate places need to be mended.

The Reception Area is a Quiet Zone
Use a soft voice while in the reception area, the sound does carry into the studios.

Avoid Drinking Water During Class
If you need to drink water during class, for any reason, by all means, please do so. As your practice becomes more advanced, more refined, water consumption during class will impede the benefits of the practice and, hence, your progress. Drinking water, or anything else, during class, falsely affects your temperature, gives the body something more to digest (really, the practice is enough), and serves as a distraction. Please do drink water after class!

Studio Mats and Props
You are welcome to use the mats and props in the studio. Please put them away ready for the next person to use; we provide mat cleaner and towels in each studio to wipe down the mats after use. Please put props away in an orderly way, for example laying blankets flat so that they stack easily. If you borrow a drinking glass, please clean and hang it to dry when you’re finished.

CYP is a new program, a variation on our former Flow Yoga Teacher Training (FYTT), the below testimonials are for FYTT…

I started Flow Yoga Teacher Training with Leah Gillman for the wrong reasons: I was going through a transition in my life, I wanted to be distracted and busy. Serendipitously, Leah subbed for a class I was taking at the Y, and she handed me a flyer for the program. I had really enjoyed the class with her…I signed up. What started out as an almost-random fluke turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. Through FYTT my body has gotten stronger, my spirit has grown clearer, my brain is more willing to focus, or even to be quiet altogether. By organizing and leading an incredible learning community, Leah made for the space for all this growth to happen. Leah is terrific at teaching yoga, and she’s terrific at teaching people how to teach yoga. She is able to see what everyone in the room needs and wants, and quickly figures out how to help them get there. She can make constructive feedback feel like a gift. She creates links between what people already know and new knowledge, she demonstrates with her hands, with her words, with her body, with pictures, with handouts, with the example of her own life. As Oakland Unified School District’s 2008 Teacher of the Year, I often get asked about what makes a good teacher. I wish that everyone who asks could come see one of Leah’s classes; with her ability to transfer wisdom, to differentiate for each of her students and to inspire an entire class, she models effective teaching at it’s finest. –Karen Pezzetti

This program is awesome!

The most amazing part of this program is the group dynamic – fed, in part, by Leah’s set-up and her awesomeness. The environment is warm, excepting, and in my program there was absolutely no hint of competitiveness or contention and I totally love each and every one. We each had something unique to give and to receive.

Leah has a lot to give and knows her stuff. She also encourages others to share, and will let the group share its knowledge while still maintaining structure so that we still learn the topic.

The opportunity to teach and to gain additional experience were great. Leah’s connection to the YMCA allowed us to make up additional classes, adjust “real” people, and to teach.

I loved the variety in the class – we were introduced to many different (highly competent) instructors of various modalities. We learned physical asanas, but also yoga history, yamas and niyamas, and anatomy.

Leah is fair, down-to-earth, fun and an exceptional teacher. I felt like I was in great hands – Thanks!!! –Erin Jarvis

I attended the 200 hour program that Leah was offering in the Spring of 2010. My initial intentions were to open up potential career paths; hopefully teaching some yoga gigs on the side. I didn’t anticipate the changes that my body and mind would go through.

My body is so energized and intelligent. My muscles are awakened and I feel the energy in parts of the body that I’ve never felt before. I feel the potential that my body has and the progress that it can make.

My mind is full of knowledge; from a culture and time before ours and from the wonderful teachers from Barefoot Movement. Going into this program, I had some “issues” regarding going into other people’s personal space. I can say now that, though it’s not gone, it’s heavily worked on. This program made it possible for me to make contact with people and become familiar with the human physiology; both in theory and practice.

As for the program curriculum, it was great. We were exposed to so many different aspects of yoga. Though this is a flow vinyasa teacher training, Leah had us take different yoga style classes. From anusara to iyengar to ashtanga to yin to restorative and everything else in-between! We had history lessons of the important texts and anatomy lessons including some awesome videos!

This teacher training is closely tied with the Downtown Oakland YMCA. There is an open slot for a yoga class at the YMCA for Barefoot Movement students. I took advantage of this and did one of my first teachings there. What a difference it makes to have not-known students taking your class!

So many great things to say! I couldn’t say more than this was fantastically, amazingly, awesomely perfect. –Alex Miley

Hi Leah!

Hope things are going well for you. Just read your newsletter … the studio is action packed, yippee!

I taught my first class at Berkeley yesterday and I totally didn’t pass out from nerves! I’m pretty sure that out of all the sciency stuff I’ve done and the teaching workshop at Berkeley, the thing that prepared me most was your yoga teacher training.

I will probably never teach yoga as my career, but I am forever grateful for having had the experience anyway … not only did the training draw me deeper into my own practice, it gave me invaluable experience for teaching and public speaking in general. -Erin Jarvis, PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley (received 1 year after certification)

Three Words: Money Well Spent!

This teacher training program gave me the confidence and education to get me going on my path to teaching flow yoga. It was a great exposure to all the different forms of yoga and how to structure a class. You even get anatomy basics! There was more than a class feel to this program, it was a baptism into the yoga community and family of flow. Two Thumbs up! Namaste! –Samantha Stevens

I have known Leah for 5 years, since I began teaching at the Downtown Oakland YMCA.
Her classes are inspiring to students and instructors alike. Many of the early students are still in her classes.
She presents yoga at a depth that I can only aspire to.
She requires a lot of others and an equal amount from herself.
Leah is comfortable in her own body, individual hands-on adjustments are one of her many gifts.

When she began offering teacher training, I considered it a wonderful opportunity, and was fortunate to join the 2nd training.
She makes learning a joy, I look forward to each class.
She attracts a group of dedicated people who are becoming talented teachers.
I especially enjoy the anatomy part of the training; she has the ability to focus on the essentials without bogging down in details.

Leah is part of the tradition of wise women who have guided humanity though the ages. She got spunk. –Don

I work full time yet I loved the way this 200 hour year long program fit seamlessly into my schedule. It was always a joy to learn from Leah.

I appreciate the way Leah respects and adapts to each of her student’s learning styles.

I thought the guest teachers were amazing.

I loved leaning from the participants. Their extra credit presentations were very interesting.

I felt supported by my peers and appreciated the rich learning environment.

I came into the program injured, yet I learned how to teach even with all of my limitations!

I can’t believe how much I learned and experienced for such a great bargain. –Karen J

If you are ready to explore the physical and mental joy that yoga seems to have on people- and then challenge yourself to share that joy with others-then the Flow Yoga Teacher Training program is the place you should think about doing it.

Leah Gillman is not just a skilled yogi- she is thoughtful in her approach to the art of teaching yoga. She is a wealth of knowledge-she is light and powerful in her own body, and you feel the confidence she brings in her teaching.

Yoga looks different on everybody, and you will learn to appreciate that difference in you and others- which is human and real, and for me, the true meaning of yoga. Not only will you learn the inner workings of the body (i.e. lots of anatomy!), you will learn that while in your body, your breath is the true guide. You will learn the philosophy and history of yoga. You will develop your own technique and touch and voice, and learn that you are more powerful than you thought. You will be blown away when you finally learn how to do Bakasana…and then be blown away that you can teach it to others!

You will make good friends-my classmates come from all walks of life and all age ranges-from dancers to lawyers to the arborist. Leah has the gift of bringing people together and sharing this wondrous thing called yoga in a way that allows us all to create our own paths in learning.

It is an intense, one year, 200 hour commitment. And if you are ready either deepen your own practice, or teach others to move and breathe and seek joy, then this is the way to do so. Namaste –Ife

I am just reaching the end of Leah Gillman’s 2008 Yoga Teacher Certification Course and can recommend the course highly to anyone thinking of taking it. Leah is an excellent teacher, full of wise guidance, and encouragement. She is friendly, humorous and inspiring. Her course is very well-designed and provides a great combination of Yoga practice and theory. The course’s connection with the Downtown Oakland YMCA is particularly helpful in that every student has many opportunities for practice teaching not only to other classmates, but also to regular YMCA members.

It is possible to obtain a Yoga teaching certificate by taking an intensive course for three or four weeks. No such training, however, could possibly provide what this longer course does, with its opportunities for personal growth, information absorption, teaching practice, and the formation of relationships with one’s fellow students. Even if I do not do much Yoga teaching in the future, I shall be very glad I took Leah’s course. –Cecilia Storr