Each individual module of the training must be completed, and is structured around several key elements:

• Technical training (particularly in posture practice, meditation, pranayama, sequencing a class, and hands on adjustments).

• History and philosophy (particularly with reference to the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali and the Baghavad Gita). • Anatomy and physiology as applied to the practice.

• The psychology of teaching: character development and learning methods.

Asana Intensive: April
The first intensive focuses on posture (asana) and the various technicalities that accompany teaching this ancient art to students. The five central techniques of posture practice (asana, bandha, pranayama, vinyasa, and drushti) are clarified and contextualized, with particular emphasis on bandha as the unifying activity among these five. The session will also cover hands on adjustments, practice teaching, and observation and assistance in classes at Barefoot Studio. The anatomy and physiology section will focus on the musculoskeletal system, and the philosophical study will center on the second chapter of the Yoga Sutra and its definition of practice as Ishvarapranidhana, or the aligning of one’s efforts with the ultimate source of action and freedom.

Pranayama Intensive: July
The second intensive centers around pranayama, its historical development as a practice in the pantheon of Hatha Yoga, its medieval aims in relation to liberation from suffering, and its classical context as a being state in which the body-mind is quiet, and the breath has become refined and subtle. The individual techniques of Ujjayi, Surya bedhana, Chandra Bedhana, and Nadi Shodhana will be investigated and clarified as means of enhancing enquiry into the nature of present centered existence. Anatomy and physiology will focus on the respiratory system, in particular the diaphragm and its movements during the respiratory cycle. History and philosophy peruse the relationship between pranayama in the Yoga sutra, and then its later developments in medieval Hatha Yoga and Tantra. Yoga practice, practice teaching, hands-on assistance, and class observation at Barefoot Studio are also scheduled.

Meditation Intensive: October
The third intensive centers around the practice and overall importance of meditation in the full development of the human being. The distinction between meditation as instrumental practice and meditation as insight will be clarified, and both will be practiced. Anatomy and Physiology will cover the nervous system, its major divisions, and its relationship to perception and movement. History and philosophy will cover the first chapter of the Yoga sutra, particularly the sections on the various levels of Samadhi (meditative absorption). Yoga practice, practice teaching, hands-on adjustments, and in-class assistance and observation are also scheduled.

Practice teaching intensive: February
The last fifty-hour intensive consists solely of practice teaching. Each of the candidates for certification teaches other trainees and students ten minute segments on various topics such as preparation or compensation for a particular posture, hands-on assistance, adaptation of key postures for those with physical limitation and etc. These segments are filmed and recorded. Each student teacher views the film of their work and receives feedback about potential problems and methods for correcting those, and then is asked to go immediately to the teaching room to repeat the process. This is one of the best ways that we have found to reinforce changes in behaviors that distract the teacher from staying in contact with the students, seeing their needs and responding to them in class. When the short sections have been completed, each student instructs a thirty minute-long class within the same format.

When the student teachers are not being filmed they are taking the classes that are being taught, and are instructed to keep notes during the short sessions about things that were potentially confusing in the student teacher’s presentation. This feed-back is also given to each student teacher during breaks in the process. Five hours of the last intensive are set aside for the written test assessment.


Pre-requisits for entering the Barefoot Training program:
In order to enter the Barefoot training program, students are required to have maintained a steady posture practice (3-4 times a week, or more) for at least a year.

They are required to fill out in full the Application for enrollment. They are required to complete an interview with one of the principle trainers at the studio (Matthew Krepps, Robin Buck, Caran Curry, Louanne Lawson, or Holly Krepps.) This interview can be in person, by phone, or via e-mail depending on the circumstances.

TT Breakdown and prices:

A.) 4 manditory intensives for a total of 180 supervised hours of training in posture, meditation and basic pranayama. Each intensive is 550.00 for those registered in the Barefoot program. For those seeking to aquire accredited hours to use in applying for certification on their own, the workshops can be done on an individual, non-manditory basis. The cost of proceeding this way is 600.00 per workshop.

B.) Home study: there are 6 written homework assignments over the course of the teacher training course, all of which are to be typed in Microsoft word format, and sent to Matthew for grading and response. It is estimated that each assignment will take about an hour to grade and provide a short response: 25.00 per hour.

C.) There is a non-refundable 150.00 application fee for those who enroll in the entire training program. This covers administrative costs that the studio incurs for the time spent organizing the student’s information, keeping track of the student’s hours, sending in the final fees for the student’s certification, and the cost of the manual, which is available only to those who enroll on the entire training program.

D.) Aside from the 180 supervised hours at the studio, the remaining 20 hours are to be accumulated via required reading and home study, and attendance of at least one 9-10 hour workshop with a yoga teacher certified by the Yoga alliance. This usually runs somewhere in the neighborhood of 175.00 to 200.00. This can be done at Barefoot or another studio. The student is to provide documentation of the event.

E.) Other additional costs may include books for the required reading list.

4 Intensives@ $550.00 = $2200.00
6 hours home study @ $25.00 per hour = $150.00
$150.00 non-refundable application fee

The balance of the training must be paid in full by the start of program. No partial payments or payment plans will be accepted.