Have you experienced the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits of yoga? Do you feel inspired to immerse in a yogic way of life and share yoga with others?
Ananda Yoga® Teacher Training is a dynamic blend of professional training and spiritual growth based on the yoga teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.
Located in the beautiful foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains at Ananda Village, our month long teacher training program offers you an opportunity to live in spiritual community, dive deep into Ananda Yoga®, and develop a deep connection with your Higher Self.
Join us for a transformative journey to discover your gifts that will support you in your process of becoming an inspiring and magnetic yoga teacher.
Cost: tuition $2,000 + accommodations
All Inclusive Prices
Location: The Expanding Light Retreat, Ananda Village, CA
Cost: tuition $2,072 + accommodations
All Inclusive Prices
Location: The Expanding Light Retreat, Ananda Village, CA
Recorded May 6, 2023
Join this introductory session to meet the instructors and learn more about Ananda Yoga Teacher Training.
“Yoga means ‘union.’ On a physical level of application, this signifies the complete harmony of all parts of the body – a balanced support of all the members for one another in such a way that disease, or disharmony, is faced with a united defense and can hardly make any inroad into the body.”
“Yoga means ‘union.’ On a physical level of application, this signifies the complete harmony of all parts of the body – a balanced support of all the members for one another in such a way that disease, or disharmony, is faced with a united defense and can hardly make any inroad into the body.”
— Swami Kriyananda (founder of Ananda), The Art and Science of Raja Yoga
— Swami Kriyananda (founder of Ananda), The Art and Science of Raja Yoga
There’s nothing like spending one month completely engrossed in practicing and teaching Ananda Yoga® while absorbing the powerful vibrations of Ananda Village, a yoga ashram community of approximately 250 residents.
You will be completely immersed in the yogic lifestyle. Throughout the program, you will participate in daily sadhana (spiritual practice), eat delicious, prana-infused vegetarian meals, connect with fellow truth-seekers and be uplifted by the magnetism of long-time yogis.
As you live your yoga, you become a greater channel for higher consciousness.
Ananda’s teaching approach will support you to deepen your own intuitive understanding of your inner life – your challenges, your gifts – as a path to becoming an inspiring yoga teacher.
We will share with you ways to ignite and heighten your teaching ability to utilize yoga science and your intuition to best serve your students and yourself as a whole person— body, mind and spirit.
All our instructors are daily meditators and disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda who make it a priority to live the teachings.
For more than 40 years, Ananda School of Yoga & Meditation® has been training teachers in the full range of the yoga tradition as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda—from asana, pranayama, and meditation, to health and yoga philosophy.
Graduates of this yoga teacher training in California can become Registered Yoga Teachers (RYTs) with Yoga Alliance, the national yoga teacher certification standard in the United States.
Ananda Yoga Teacher Training sets you up for teaching yoga successfully to anyone.
We will pace you throughout the program to obtain a comprehensive understanding of asana mechanics/safety cautions, yoga source teachings and techniques.
From day one, you will begin practice teaching asanas to your peers and receive guidance on how to refine your teaching. We also offer specialty classes to help you find your presence as a teacher, such as voice projection and increasing your energy & magnetism.
“At my first class after the yoga teacher training retreat, one of my students said, ‘You are different. I want what you have.’ To me that is the best testimonial of my Ananda experience.”
“At my first class after the yoga teacher training retreat, one of my students said, ‘You are different. I want what you have.’ To me that is the best testimonial of my Ananda experience.”
— C. S., Fresno, California
— C. S., Fresno, California
Melody, E-RYT 500, directs the Ananda Yoga Teacher Training and Restorative Yoga Teacher Training online programs.
She is a Certified Ananda Yoga Therapist, C-IAYT and a trained Prenatal Yoga Instructor. Melody has been practicing the teachings of yoga since the age of 14, and began teaching at age 17. She loves to help her students experience the depth of Ananda Yoga and Meditation.
She will be the main asana instructor for this course and will support you every step of the way in becoming a confident yoga teacher. It is her joy to serve you!
Darshana, E-RYT 200, became interested in meditation and found the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda in 2009. Since then, she has been applying them in her own life and sharing them with others.
Darshana moved to Ananda Village in 2011 and graduated from Ananda Yoga Teacher Training and Ananda Meditation Teacher Training in 2012. She is currently studying to become a certified yoga therapist.
Darshana teaches meditation and yoga philosophy.
Arya Cheng, RYT-200, is a gifted yoga and meditation teacher, and wonderful kirtan (spiritual chanting) leader. She is passionate about sharing yoga as a tool for managing stress, transformation and healing in body, mind and soul.
Her journey as a yogi started at age 14, when she attended Ananda’s Living With Spirit Program and experienced first hand the transformative effects of yoga and meditation.
Arya currently lives at Ananda Village and serves as an Ananda Yoga Instructor for the Ananda School of Yoga and Meditation and support staff for the Karma Yoga Program.
In this training, she will be a lead asana instructor and here to encourage you to shine your light!
Nayaswami Gyandev McCrod, E-RYT 500, is the Director of the Ananda School of Yoga & Meditation. Gyandev has an advanced certificate in online teaching methodology, is the Director of Ananda Yoga worldwide, and is a co-founder of Yoga Alliance.
A member of the teaching staff at the Expanding Light Retreat for more than 30 years he is well known internationally for his profound ability to share the teachings of yoga asana, meditation, yoga philosophy, and the joy that comes from living a yogic lifestyle.
Mangala, E-RYT 500 and C-IAYT has a background in a variety of healing modalities including Nursing, Ayurveda, Yoga teaching and Yoga Therapy practice and teaching. She currently serves as the Director of the Ananda Yoga Therapy Training program. She has been a RN, Nurse Practitioner for many decades and has been involved in assisting residents of Ananda Village for over 30 years with health and illness-related situations, and also with the process of dying. She also serves as a teacher, spiritual counselor and minister. She enjoys helping people to find positive ways to cope with and even thrive with challenges presented by illness and dying. Mangala is an Ananda minister.
Nicole DeAvilla, E-RYT 500 and C-IAYT has taught yoga teachers for over 20 years, and has taught regular Ananda Yoga classes since 1984. She has a background in sports medicine and chiropractic physiotherapy. Currently she teaches private classes as well as a Master Yoga Class for Yoga Teachers. Nicole is an active member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and is a contributor to their journal and several other publications. She has taught Master Classes for the International Yoga Therapy Conferences.
Tracy, E-RYT 500 and C-IAYT, received her yoga and meditation training certifications from Ananda beginning in 1993, and soon after completed massage therapy (LMT, BCTMB), personal training, and Pilates certifications.
She enjoys teaching and sharing therapy at YMCAs, schools, hospitals, and a home studio. She helps lead an Ananda Midwest Meditation Group and yearly retreats and is an Ananda minister. It was her blessing to help teach the first AYTT in India, and now assist with AYTTO. She looks forward to infusing your study of anatomy with energy and joy, experiential learning, and its many practical applications!
Jitendra Guidon, Director of Online with Ananda’s Online Outreach ministry and a certified Ananda Meditation instructor and Ananda Yoga Teacher registered with Yoga Alliance (E-RYT 200).
Jitendra is originally from Rhode Island, where he helped lead the Ananda Yoga and Meditation Center and aided in spreading the path of Self-realization in Boston and New York City. He has taught meditation in diverse settings including yoga studios, government agencies, colleges, high schools, rehabilitation centers and more.
You need to have an established regular Hatha Yoga asana practice (3 days per week) for 6 months prior to the program. If you have other qualifications which makes this program suitable and would like for us to consider, please explain on the application form. Without an established personal practice, it would be premature to consider teaching. Although the program’s asanas are not overly demanding, you will be doing a lot of them and combined with a full schedule, it’s important to be prepared physically.
| Tent RV | Standard Shared | Standard Private | Deluxe Shared | Deluxe Private |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $3920 | $5124 | $7000 | $6496 | $9072 |
Absolutely! One of the highlights of this professional training program is having instructors spend quality time giving you personalized feedback. We will be closely watching your progress within the course so that you can take the appropriate steps you need—as an individual—to become a confident, knowledgeable, and conscientious yoga instructor.
Our Level 1 and Level 2 programs are registered with Yoga Alliance and 200 and 500 hours. Every Ananda graduate can register with the Alliance as “Registered Yoga Teacher.” We believe that, in time, this Registry will lead to more yoga teaching opportunities for you.
More important, Ananda’s is the only training in the highly regarded yoga tradition of Paramhansa Yogananda. We’ve spent more than 25 years making our YTT into a first-rate expression of that tradition – a dynamic blend of professional training and personal growth.
If the literature and graduates’ testimonials don’t tell you enough, please call to talk with one of our program staff, or talk to a graduate near you.
To receive certification as a Level 1 Ananda Yoga Teacher, students must:
Ananda Yoga is about adapting the asana to the person, not forcing the person to do something inappropriate for his or her body. In this spirit, you need to be able to do the asanas covered in this course in ways that are appropriate for your own body and health conditions.
This may mean modifying some of the asanas, perhaps significantly in some cases, but only rarely does it mean not doing any version of the asana at all. However, you will need to know how to teach all the asanas covered in this course.
Not at all. We sincerely respect all spiritual paths, and we welcome anyone who gives that same respect to our tradition, whatever his or her path may be. Of course, you should realize that AYTT takes place in the context of Ananda’s spiritual tradition, which emphasizes the time-honored approach of yoga as a tool for the Divine Quest.
Participation involves practicing a variety of yoga techniques associated with Ananda’s tradition, such as meditation and chanting as well as asana and pranayama.
Yes. This course takes place within the tradition of Paramhansa Yogananda and his direct disciple, Swami Kriyananda. Participants should be open to learning and teaching this approach to yoga postures and yoga philosophy. Those who come from a different tradition—or no tradition at all—should register as far in advance as possible in order to learn and practice those techniques before the course begins; we will send those links to you before the course web page opens. Then your course experience will unfold much more naturally, and your teaching and personal practice will benefit much more.
Please note: We do not ask that you discontinue your current yoga practices if they are different; we simply ask that you do the practices that are required for this program.
You must arrive for the opening session at 7:30 pm on the first day of the program. Plan to depart after lunch (12:30 pm) on the last day. Better still, arrive early for a day or two of Personal Retreat to get rested and completely ready for the experience (this is especially important for those traveling a long distance).
Also, please consider a day or two of Personal Retreat after the program. It’s a perfect way to begin to “digest” the transforming experience of the training, and it will smooth your transition back to your usual lifestyle. Many students have wished they’d planned ahead for this, since airline reservations often cannot be changed without extra cost.
Yes, most graduates do. In AYTT, you’ll learn to teach about 40 asanas and pranayama techniques, as well as how to combine those practices into safe, effective, enjoyable yoga classes for beginning students.
Yes. Ananda’s Level 2 AYTT is registered at 500 hours with Yoga Alliance. It consists of 300 hours of training beyond Level 1, offered in a modular format, with modules lasting from 2 to 12 days. For more details, see the full requirements for Ananda Yoga teachers.
More Questions? Please email us.
AYTT was a course in how to live. It not only taught us how to teach but how to deepen our own practice so that we become what we are teaching.
AYTT was a course in how to live. It not only taught us how to teach but how to deepen our own practice so that we become what we are teaching.
— Trina, North Augusta, SC
—Trina, North Augusta, SC
| Week 1 | 9:30 am – 12:30 pm | 2:30 – 4:30 pm | 7:30 – 9:00 pm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Introduction to Ananda Yoga and Neutral Poses | Yoga Lifestyle Energization Workshop | |
| Tuesday | Standing Poses 1 | Meditation: The Central Technique of Yoga | Perspectives on the Yoga Tradition |
| Wednesday | Forward Bends | Anatomy & Physiology 1 Practice Teaching 1 (5:15 pm – 6:30 pm) | |
| Thursday | Standing Poses 2 | The Source Teachings of Yoga | The Yogic Science of Affirmation |
| Friday | Backward Bends 1 Sharing Circle (12:00-12:30) | Anatomy & Physiology 2 | |
| Saturday | Inversions 1 | Practice Teaching 2 | Kirtan |
| Sunday | Sunday Service | Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1 |
Retreat Accommodations
Each guest room includes air conditioning, heating, carpeting, towels, and bedding. Fresh linens and towels are available weekly – no daily maid service. A limited number of queen-sized beds are available. Wi-Fi is available for all guests except those in cabins or tents. Limited handicap accessibility.
Deluxe: Harmony House
Standard: Serenity House & Cabins
Tents and RVs:
Dates: July 5 – Aug 4, 2024
Location: The Expanding Light Retreat, Ananda Village, CA
All-Inclusive Cost (tuition+accomodations/meals):
| Tent/RV | Standard Shared | Standard Private | Deluxe Shared | Deluxe Private |
| $3,980 | $5,270 | $7,280 | $6,740 | $9,500 |
Mandatory online component: A month before the program begins, you’ll be given access to the AYTT online pre-course webpage. There you will find additional assignments (video presentations, reading assignments, and self-quizzes), which you’ll have access to throughout your stay with us. Expect to spend 1-2 hours each week during your 4-week stay, completing some online assignments. We encourage you to get started on these assignments early as your schedule will be busy while on campus.
