Somatic training for yoga teachers

In this training course, we use somatic practices such as the Feldenkrais Method, breathing according to Prof. Ilse Middendorf, Continuum and Somatic Voice to explore somatic deepening in yoga and focus on differentiating and developing our own body awareness, as well as the principles of somatic communication.

A more conscious approach to the senses of touch and skin, as well as the kinesthetic-proprioceptive dimensions of our bodily experience, enables a long-term refinement of physical, spatial and temporal perception and leads to a deep embodiment. The resulting deeper “familiarity” opens up greater freedom in our actions. In this way, orientation develops in yoga practice, as well as in our ethical and social embeddedness as human beings. Subtlety and depth arise in our relationship with ourselves, with yoga and in its teaching.

In this way, we can find a new lightness with the body-perception-oriented methods of somatics in yoga, build more awareness between design and self-organisation, and strengthen our ability to distinguish between ‘doing’ and ‘experiencing’. As the strategies of physical-formal yoga transform more into a physical-sensory unfolding within the form, somatically oriented yoga has a self-determined and boundary-expanding effect, thus becoming a self-responsible and joyful practice. The result is a present, creative synthesis of collection in form that moves deeply and intensifies the experience of yoga on all levels.
Awareness between design and self-organisation – what is the focus of the somatics training course for yoga teachers?
In this training course, we use the somatic practices of Feldenkrais, breathing according to Prof. Ilse Middendorf and Continuum to fundamentally explore access to interoceptive, inner processes and build trust in our own resources. Together, we learn to integrate traditional yoga and breathing techniques through a high degree of body awareness. We take our individual circumstances and needs into account in order to find an individual approach to our own yoga practice and thus also to our own teaching style. In this way, all physical postures – asanas – are formed from the inside out.

This allows for a deeper understanding of the anatomy and enables bodily references to be embodied in a more plastic and enjoyable way and understood in connection with feeling. The resulting deeper “familiarity” opens up greater freedom. The design and composition of the yoga sequences in this further encounter with freedom is supported by the rhythms and decision-making criteria of somatic methods and by improvisation strategies.

Principles of somatic methods

• Experiential breathing according to Prof. Ilse Middendorf
• Continuum
• Feldenkrais pedagogy
• Somatic voice
• Experiential anatomy

All teachers are fully certified practitioners of the methods with many years of teaching experience and cross-method research practice.

Curriculum of the Somatics for Yoga Teachers qualification

4 modules | Fridays 10:00 a.m. - Sundays 3:30 p.m.

 Who is this qualification recommended for?

• Yoga teachers who are looking for inspiration for their own work through somatic methods, reflection and exchange.
• Graduates of the Somatic Yoga Basic Training at SAB.
• Yoga practitioners who want to find a new, sensory-perceptive approach and deepen their practice.
• Researchers and anyone interested in somatic methods who appreciate an interdisciplinary approach.

What added value does this training offer?

This training offers a somatic specialisation in yoga with 60 hours of instruction. Participants will be certified in the acquisition of trauma-sensitive teaching strategies in yoga classes through 4 somatic methods.

This training course is eligible for funding through KOMPASS (Compact Assistance for Solo Self-Employed Persons), a programme of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. It supports solo self-employed persons in becoming crisis-proof and future-proof through further qualifications. Please check first whether you are eligible for KOMPASS funding. >> Checklist

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Interested solo self-employed persons can contact one of the contact points listed here to apply for funding.

>> KOMPASS funding contact points

All important information about KOMPASS funding is compiled here.

>> Funding guidelines for the ESF-Plus programme Compact assistance for solo self-employed persons ‘KOMPASS’