The Dynamic Gentle Yoga Teacher Training includes many guided practices in which Rudy will exquisitely guide you into slowing down and tuning into subtleties, allowing you to embody the methodology. His commitment to your development in an environment of safety and support will enhance your self-awareness and self-compassion and deepen your understanding of what your students really need to feel safe, included and empowered in a gentle practice. As you strengthen your connection to yourself, your own personal practice will be enriched which naturally translates into better teaching.
Yes. This training will give you more confidence to teach online in at least two ways. First, Rudy teaches you how to set a context and exquisitely cue yoga that is accessible and inclusive. In this way, although you are not in person with your students, you ensure their safety which helps you relax as a teacher. Second, this training includes two bonus sessions about teaching on Zoom. These sessions are offered by Joyce who teaches online herself and also does all the tech, website updates and registrations for Gentle Yogis. She created the Gentle Yogis in-home studio complete with inexpensive lighting and simple equipment upgrades to ensure good video and audio quality. If you can’t attend these sessions live, you will get links to the recordings to watch at your own convenience.
Rudy taught yoga and directed teacher trainings at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health for over 35 years and was honored with Legacy Faculty status in 2019. He was a proponent of slow and gentle yoga for all (not just for beginners) well before it caught on as a popular offering in the yoga world. Rudy was instrumental in making Gentle Yoga a key offering at Kripalu. Rudy is the creator of of Dynamic Gentle Yoga and has been offering an advanced teacher training in this method since 2013. He is a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider.
Yes. All 24 sessions are taught live online in an interactive format and all sessions are recorded for you. We make these video recordings available as soon as possible following each session and they will remain available in a designated video library for you to access online at your convenience for two years following your training.
Yes. You can make spread out your total investment over four monthly payments. Send an email to joyce@gentle-yogis.com to request this option.
Click here to go to the certification info page and click on the orange register button.
You need to complete a 200-hour yoga teacher certification program from a Yoga Alliance approved yoga school before taking this training. We recommend the 200-hour program at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.
As long as you are registered with Yoga Alliance and you complete our program by December 31, 2021, you will be eligible for a total of 74 hrs of continuing education credits with Yoga Alliance (18.5 hours per module). This is due to YA’s provision during the pandemic allowing for increased training hours to be obtained online. You can find our profile on the YA website here. To obtain the CE credits, there is an administrative fee of $25 payable at the end of the training.
No. The standard 200-hour certification is required before participating in the Dynamic Gentle Yoga Teacher Training and DGY is a specialty that is not found in any 300-hour training.
The word Dynamic in this method means that this practice is transformational. Dynamic Gentle Yoga (DGY) becomes transformational because of several critical elements. First, all movement is breath-initiated which will stimulate the energy level. Second, although this method clarifies which postures and warm-ups are most accessible (and distinguishes those not to lead) it also includes specific methodology to deepen the practice so that all the benefits of yoga are available. DGY is not just easier poses. Third, Dynamic Gentle is also a meditative yoga, continually directing the attention inward and creating a one-pointed focus. Click here to read more about Dynamic Gentle Yoga.
You will want to spend some time reading the DGYTT manual and, at times, there are assigned readings from this manual. Previous participants have found that spending an hour or so each week was more than sufficient to read through the manual thoroughly. Then it becomes a resource that you reference when you are preparing your classes or want to brush up on methodology. At the end of each day of training there is a brief Learning Review for you to complete online. These are open-book ungraded “quizzes” that you will help you integrate the learnings from the day. We also ask you to complete a Program Reflections questionnaire at the end of each module. This can be anonymous if you choose; we want to receive honest feedback to continue to make any adjustments to improve the training.
We hope you will not have any emergencies, however, if something urgent comes up or you have a conflict that you discuss with Rudy as soon as you are aware of it, you can complete a missed session by video along with any assignments Rudy deems appropriate. Missing more than one module live would make it difficult for you to complete the training.
All sessions are live and interactive on Zoom. None of the sessions are pre-recorded, though you can review sessions afterwards since the live sessions are recorded.
You will need all the typical yoga props: a yoga mat, two yoga blocks, yoga strap, sitting cushion or pillows, and a blanket. We will send you a pdf file of the DGY Teacher Training manual prior to the start of the training. Purchase of reference books is not required for this training, though you may become interested in some of the resources Rudy shares along the way, such as poetry books by Danna Faulds.
We recommend you participate using a laptop with a built-in camera or an added webcam so you can easily reposition your device for easy viewing during lecture or to capture yourself in full view during practice teaching dyads. You can use an iPad /Tablet, but a smartphone is not advisable due to the fatigue people typically experience watching on such a small screen and you are less likely to feel part of the group if you can’t see everyone on your screen. If you have not used Zoom, you will want to download their app (free) from the Zoom website (click here) and watch their tutorial (click here) about how to join a meeting.l about how to participate in a Zoom meeting.
All four modules have the same schedule. Times are listed in Eastern Time: Thursday sessions are 6:45-8:15pm, Friday sessions are 6:30-8:30pm, Saturdays and Sundays are 9:00am-12:00pm and 1:30-5:30pm.
We can appreciate your concern and we want our program to be a good fit for you. If you would like to connect with someone who graduated from the online program we would be happy to set this up so you can find out first hand from a former trainee how it was to take this particular training online. We can assure you that the feedback about how well this training worked online was overwhelmingly positive. The participants felt they had bonded as a group and made lasting connections with each other.
There are no hands-on assists in Dynamic Gentle Yoga. Rather, the cueing / language will teach your students what it means to “listen” to the body, how to move safely no matter their condition, and guide them to access the deeper benefits of yoga so they want to return to your class over and over again.
You will be finished at the end of the fourth module once you complete the online Learning Reviews (which you will do along the way) and Program Reflections forms (one at the end of each module). The exception would be if you had an emergency and had to miss a session. In this case, you would be required to watch the session video, and, if you missed a practice teaching session, you would arrange to do a practice teach with another teacher from the training and Rudy may give you a reasonable written assignment.
We are excited to be growing the post-training programming. Once you have graduated, you have the option to join the Dynamic Gentle Yoga Teachers Circle that meets monthly with Rudy on a Sunday evening on Zoom. The Circle is a place and time for peer connection, continued professional development, and direct access to Rudy to ask any questions you may have. Currently, each Circle begins with a peer-guided yoga practice. You also have continued access to your training resources including the video recordings of all the sessions from your training that you can review in your own time for two years.