YOGA ANATOMY
ONLINE COURSE
WITH MARK STEPHENS
March 1 - 22, 2024
20 Hours of Learning
Live Interaction
20 CEUs
6 Months of Access
Marina Deetjen, RYT 500, Germany
"Amazing course! One of the best I've ever attended- very well prepared, carefully structured, and full of valuable information! Mark is unbelievably knowledgeable and has a talent of explaining most difficult concepts with clarity and ease. I didn't know anatomy could be so interesting! I highly recommend this course to any new or experienced yoga teacher who wants a better understanding of the human body and to learn how to put this theoretical knowledge to practice. Having completed the course, I now feel more confident when preparing my own yoga classes and guiding my students. Thank you so much!" - Marina
ANATOMY IN TEACHING YOGA
Teaching yoga invites us to guide our students in their postural practices in the most informed ways, with insights and techniques that help ensure that their practices are safe, sustainable, and transformational. Our ability to do so is greatly enhanced by a deeper and practical understanding of the body – its basic structures and their functions, how it all optimally works, the very real differences across humanity, and how as teachers we can translate anatomy into refined guidance for the benefit of our beautifully diverse students.
LEARN REAL-WORLD YOGA ANATOMY
THAT EMPOWERS YOU TO
GUIDE YOUR STUDENTS
WITH DEEP & PRACTICAL INSIGHT
INTO THEIR PHYSICAL CONDITIONS.
This course provides a complete introduction to practical human anatomy and physiology for yoga teachers.
With deep bows to the “subtle anatomy" of yoga that describes humans in terms of gunas, prana-vayus, nadis, and chakras, here we take the scientific human anatomy – humans as actually living begins!
Starting with the nature of our bones, ligaments, tendons, and joints, this course introduces and covers anatomy in ways that specifically focuses on yoga, helping us to understand and relate in informed ways to what allows and inhibits our actions in doing yoga postures.
While most other courses on yoga anatomy (and anatomy in general) give us the idealized forms of people that illustrators create, in this course we step up to understand real human beings. We look specifically at the array of conditions (such as different shapes, angles, ailments, injuries, and more ) that create both opportunities and limitations in practicing yoga – and that inform how as teachers we approach everything from sequencing and hands-on adjustments to the best ways to work with individual students in group classes.
THE BENEFITS OF THIS COURSE
Provide Your Students With Clear & Well-informed Guidance In Their Practice
Through A Deeper Understanding Of Anatomy & Physiology
APPLICATION
Knowing the names of muscles, bones, joints and other tissues is a good start. Here we expand that learning with how they optimally function in the practical realities of asana practice – plus how as teachers we can best use this knowledge of anatomy in guiding our students.
INTEGRATION
Just as yoga is a holistic practice, yoga anatomy must always be considered as part of the whole fabric of yoga practice. We integrate yoga anatomy with core concepts and principles of yoga practice in ways that make it a natural part of practicing and teaching.
CONFIDENCE
Bringing it all together, your expanded and refined knowledge will increase your confidence and ability to teach safe, sustainable and deeply transformational classes to a diverse array of students.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
IN THIS COURSE
In looking closely at how the body works (and sometimes doesn’t work so well), we focus on every part of the human musculo-skeletal system.
We look closely at each of our major joints, how they are actively mobilized and stabilized, and how these qualities of action are best approached in a wide array of asanas.
We address healthy range of motion, matters of hypermobility and hypomobility, how long to hold postures for different effects, the role of connective tissues such as fascia and ligaments, differences in bone structure among different students (and differences by age and conditions such as pregnancy), and how best to communicate about anatomy with individual students and entire classes in clear and plain language.
We also address common myths and misunderstandings about the human body that arise from archaic and overly imaginative sources, thereby further highlighting the practical realities of real human beings doing yoga.
This expanded knowledge of practical human anatomy for yoga will directly enhance your skills in designing class sequences, offering modifications and props, giving hands-on adjustments, and more deeply appreciating each one of your students.
It is, again, practical yoga anatomy: practical for you as a teacher, and for your students.
CURRICULUM TOPICS
- The Basic Elements of Human Physiology
- Overview of the Human Musculoskeletal System
- The Nature of Our Tissues
- Bones, Joints and Connective Tissues
- Skeletal Muscles and How They Move and Stabilize the Body
- The Spine: Overall Structure, Segments, Disks and Movements
- The Pelvic Girdle, Hips, Thighs, Knees, Ankles and Feet
- The Shoulder Girdle, Three Shoulder Joints, Arms, Elbows, Forearms, Wrists and Hands
- Postural Observation and the Application of Anatomy to Practice and Teaching
- Alignment, cueing, and hands-on adjustments
- Working with injuries and special conditions
MATERIALS & REQUIREMENTS
This online course requires a strong internet connection so that the video content easily streams to your computer or other device.
COURSE MATERIALS
- Provided: Printable Workbook with images & ample space for notes (PDF), Course Syllabus (PDF)
- Highly Suggested: Yoga Therapy, by Mark Stephens, modeling clay, and a citrus fruit (such as an orange)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION
- Watch all of the course video content
- Attend the live sessions OR watch the recorded replays of the lkive sessions
- Pass the Certification Exam
If you do not wish to receive a Certificate of Completion and/or Yoga Alliance CEUs, you do not need to complete the certification exam. Simply consume the course content however you wish.
FORMAT & SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE
- March 1, 2024
Course opens - March 8-22, 2024
3-week Interactive portion of the course - September 1, 2024
Course closes
LIVE SESSIONS
- March 8, 2024
(9:00-12:00pm PDT) - March 15, 2024
(9:00am-11:00am PDT) - March 22, 2024
(9:00am-11:00am PDT)
Time Zone Converter:
9am PDT = 12pm EDT | 6pm CEST
This Live Format course features 15 hours of online learning that blends self-paced pre-recorded videos with live interaction via Zoom and independent study. Over 7 hours of precorded videos allow you to learn at your own pace and according to your personal schedule.
The 3-week interactive portion of this course offers three live sessions via Zoom in which you will directly engage with Mark and other course participants.
To make the most of attending the live sessions, we encourage watching all of the pre-recorded videos during the 3-week interactive portion of the course. This makes our live sessions via Zoom far more useful and productivein expanding your knowledge of practical yoga anatomy.
That said, we know your schedule can change at any given moment and that you may need more time to complete the course. That's why all the live sessions are recorded and available for you to watch at your convenience, and it's why we give you 6 months to complete the course.
Thus, you can either attend the live sessions in real-time or you can watch the recorded replays if you cannot attend live – or both!
This flexibility allows you to complete the course in as little as three weeks or as long as 6 months. It's your choice!
EXPERIENCE YOU CAN TRUST
I’m deeply passionate about yoga and teaching it in the best possible ways. Practicing yoga for over 30 years and training teachers since 1998, I’m here to help you develop your knowledge of anatomy in entirely practical ways.
I started teaching yoga anatomy in the early 2000s as part of Yoga Inside Foundation, helping yoga teachers in serving students in prisons, mental health facilities, drug rehabs, inner city and rural schools, and other settings where we encounter the fullest range of human conditions.
All of my books address and tap into yoga anatomy. From my first textbooks on Teaching Yoga (2010, second edition forthcoming in 2024), Yoga Adjustments (2012), and Yoga Sequencing (2014) to my comprehensive 720-page text on Yoga Therapy (2017, which has 10 chapters on human anatomy and physiology), the theme is the same: provide yoga teachers with a rich set of thoroughly researched resources that meet the practical tests of teaching and guiding a diverse array students in their yoga practices over a long period of time.
Thus, drawing from multiple sources, I bring a non-dogmatic, accessible, and integrated perspective to my teaching, always striving to make yoga a more refined practice for healthy living, including through guidance that is deeply informed by a plain and accurate understanding of anatomy for yoga.
I also take the risk to point out the common distortions and misunderstandings found in much of yoga anatomy instruction, whether in best-selling books or online offerings, in abiding pursuit of jnana (knowledge), satya (truth) and ahimsa (non-hurting).
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR
NEW & EXPERIENCED TEACHERS WELCOME!
Designed for new and experienced yoga teachers (& yoga teacher trainers), this course builds upon your current knowledge and helps you develop the refined skills for guiding students far more safely and effectively in their practices.
As the vital foundation that informs alignment, cueing, hands-on adjustment and sequencing, this course is for teachers who want to guide the practice from their own knowledge and understanding of how the body is structured and functions (instead of simply repeating what they've been told).
- If you've ignored learning anatomy or struggled with retention...
- If the anatomy curriculum in your Yoga Teacher Training was inadequate or you've forgotten what you learned...
- If you want to improve your knowledge of alignment and cueing...
- If you want to learn more about helping students with injuries and special conditions...
- If you want to teach from a well of your own knowledge...
THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU!
BENEFITS OF ONLINE LEARNING
Both in-person and online workshops and trainings come with their own strengths and weaknesses, and neither one is superior. My online workshops and trainings offer the same quality as my in-person offerings do, and even include some added benefits. When deciding what's a good fit for your development as a yoga teacher, consider your options and what will best suit your unique needs.
FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE
+ BALANCE
Not everyone can take time off work (or from other responsibilities) to advance their learning and deepen their studies. If you are juggling multiple commitments and responsibilities, the flexibility of online learning offers you an opportunity to study when it works best for your unique schedule. In lieu of taking time off work or missing family dinners, you can log-in and learn when it’s convenient for you, making it easier to balance all that you do and love in life.
PLAYBACK CONTROL
+ SELF-PACED LEARNING
Unlike in-person workshops or trainings, online learning allows you to pause, rewind, re-watch and even slow the speed of video lectures and classes. This playback control helps to ensure you don’t miss any critical information being presented when you need to pause to take notes, do additional research or contemplate an idea. Those who don’t speak English as their native language especially find value in slowing down the video speed to help with translation. Plus, you can re-watch the videos repeatedly to make sure you fully understand the material before moving onto the next topic. This added control allows you to work through the material at your own pace and get the most out of your learning experience.
STUDY FROM ANYWHERE
+ GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Traveling for in-person workshops and trainings can present many challenges, including an added cost and time commitment, that prevent teachers from being able to study with Mark. Online learning means you can train with Mark from anywhere in the world, without the need to travel and from the convenience of your own home. Plus, online learning attracts a wide range from participants from all over the world which lends itself to a deeper, global perspective that enhances the learning experience during live group sessions on Zoom.
MORE ACCESS
+ TIME FOR INTEGRATION
For most people, learning requires repetition, but in-person workshops and trainings are live which means you can’t “rewatch” the material or access it again. With online learning, you can watch the video lectures and classes as many times as you like during your time of access (generally 6 months or more). Not only does this improve your ability to understand the material, it also provides ample time for integration of the information; you have time to go out and apply the teachings, methods and theories in your classes and then revisit the material or ideas that didn’t make sense during application or that you didn’t fully grasp.
Heidi Nelson, RYT 200, USA
Mark's vast knowledge about Yoga and Anatomy (combined with his many years of experience teaching yoga and training teachers) is a huge asset for anyone who is serious about the path of teaching yoga." - Heidi
REGISTER
FAQs
What if I can't attend a live group session?
How many hours is this course?
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Jimmy Corneyre, RYT 200, France
