

Advanced Teacher Training is focused finding the teacher’s authentic voice and refining their craft through a deep exploration and application of artful teaching skills, anatomy, subtle body anatomy, and the heart of mythology, bhakti, & philosophy study. Abhaya’s 300 hour course provides an incredibly integrated experience that allows the training teacher to merge their favorite aspects of the practice and create a new and fresh, profound environment for Yoga in their classes.
Our 300 Hour Advanced Teacher Training is for the dedicated teacher that wants to dive in, spend consistent time with one particular group and build a trusting environment for growth. One thing I have experienced through the years of teaching teachers, is that the wisdom that emerges from teaching takes time and should be nurtured. While learning information is helpful, and we do that, I like to focus on HOW the teacher imparts the material. Our focus is in supporting the individual so that they may become a leader in their own way and own voice.”
Tara, owner and principal teacher
Using the Abhaya Method as a guide, teachers learn how to be more present, step back, create space, and teach to what is needed depending on who is in front of them. This subtle approach to teaching and observation is a unique and advanced skill that empowers students and brings life back into systemized yoga classes.
The integration of the Subtle Body and physical practices within the sequence and theme structure, create both clarity and depth. Sharpening the observation skills and learning how to see individual patterns, offers the techniques to teach various levels, privates, therapeutic groups, and special needs groups with clarity, comfort, and professionalism.
The Abhaya Method focuses on the return to our natural state. Yoga provides the means toward awakening body, mind and ultimately one’s life. The method focuses on deepening awareness while releasing holding and gripping patterns in the body and mind. Each layer of experience from most gross to most subtle is explored through asana, pranayama, meditation, subtle body techniques, philosophy study, chanting, and community support. The Method unfolds through 5 “maps” or koshas from the most gross to most subtle; Physical, Energetic, Mind/Emotional, Intuitive/Wisdom, and Heart.
Teachers will have the opportunity for one on one mentoring and feedback sessions. The mentor sessions are a rare and special time to practice their teaching skills learned in the previous session. Training teachers will come prepared with segments to teach and to receive feedback. Mentor Sessions are 1.5 hrs/ week.
Narisara blends poetry, the arts & science, anatomy studies & dharma into her classes and draws inspiration from everyday urban life. She has a master’s in arts administration from Teachers College, Columbia University and is a graduate of Coro Leadership NY. A former dancer and photographer, Narisara Vanichanan received her 200-hr and 500-hr yoga teacher training from OM Yoga Center under Cyndi Lee, Pre-Natal Yoga certification from Janice Clarfield, Yin Yoga certification from Corina Benner, Restorative Yoga training from Judith Hanson Lasater, and is a graduate from the OM Meditation Teacher Training program. She is also certified an additional 200-hr Therapeutic Yoga from Abhyasa Yoga Center, in Yoga for Cancer with Tari Prinster and has practiced vipassana (insight) meditation for over 17 years.
Ellen Saltonstall (E-RYT 500) is a yoga instructor and body therapist based in New York with extensive training in the Iyengar and Anusara methods. She developed and teaches Bodymind Ballwork, a method of self-massage using rubber balls. Ellen has authored three books: Yoga for Arthritis, 2008, and Yoga for Osteoporosis, 2010 with Dr. Loren Fishman, and her new book Anatomy & Yoga: A Guide for Teachers and Students, released in December 2016. www.ellensaltonstall.com.
Seth Lieberman is a yoga instructor and musician based in New York and New Jersey. Born in Brooklyn, raised in New Jersey, he began his music studies at an early age taking private instruction in clarinet, saxophone, piano, and voice. Seth studied Music Performance, Theory, and Composition at the University of Maryland where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Music Degree in 2005. Along the way Seth found a connection back to music through the various yoga traditions of chanting and kirtan (group devotional chanting), teaching integrated music lessons, and creating original music for yoga classes with live music performance. http://soonintune.com/
Dr. Naina Marballi has been healing clients, conducting workshops and hosting Ayurvedic Study Certification Programs based in New York City since 1998. After acquiring her B.S.A.M. (Bachelor of Shuddha Ayurvedic Medicine) degree from India’s premier educational institute, she began her career as an Ayurvedic Physician (Ayurvedacharya) with Podar Ayurveda College and Research Center in Mumbai, India. Her specialty lies in disease prevention; through pulse reading, she is able to analyze imbalances within the chakras, mind, and body and provide insight for healing. ayurvedasworld.com
Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton is a teacher and translator of Tibetan Buddhism. She is the Assistant Spiritual Director and Lead Authorized Teacher for Tara Mandala Retreat Center, founded by Lama Tsultrim Allione. She has taught Buddhism and Yoga since 2001 and co-translated Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection, published in 2012. She also is a teacher of Shadow Yoga. She is currently on the Tara Mandala Board of Directors and the Tara Mandala Bay Area coordinating committee, through which she teaches and organizes events in the Bay Area. Visit www.shunyatayoga.com and www.taramandalasf.org
Sally’s current work interprets the wisdom of the tantras for mature contemporary aspirants, drawing on depth psychology and neuroscience as well as the insights of Integral philosopher Ken Wilber. Though Sally offers many courses for beginning meditation students, she is also regarded as a ‘teacher’s teacher’, whose approach inspires long-time practitioners to free themselves from routine meditation practice, and move deeper. She teaches meditation as a process of inner exploration, in which we learn to integrate heart, mind and body in order to experience our natural state of wisdom and love. Sally also offers a wide variety of classes on yogic wisdom texts, as well as hands-on, contemplative practices for moving through psychological obstructions, understanding the intricacies of inner life, and how to apply spiritual principles to relationships, work, and life in our time. Students say that her classes create an atmosphere of support and joy that allows deep exploration. “Sally’s classes are deeply transformative,” a student says. “Her guidance is gentle and loving, yet challenging in all the right ways. She brings yogic teachings out of the books, and into real life in a way that makes it totally practical.”