300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh, India

The grounding strand of the course, practiced at a slower pace with the breath in charge. Every asana is taught the same way: its name in English and Sanskrit, its history, its benefits, how to enter it dynamically and how to hold it meditatively.

• Six meditative steps per asana: centring, entering, refining, holding, coming out, reflection
• Standing, sitting, backward and forward bending postures
• Spinal twists, the fire series for the abdomen, balancing poses
• Inversions, relaxation asanas and the meditation seats
• Anatomical and therapeutic aspects of each posture
• Corrections, modifications, contraindications and reference books

Reconstructed from the Yoga Korunta, a palm-leaf manuscript found in the 1930s by Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and K. Pattabhi Jois. At 300-hour level the course goes past the primary series into the intermediate one.

• Samasthiti, Surya Namaskara A and B, and the standing sequence
• Intermediate series: Pashasana, Krounchasana, Bhekasana, Kapotasana
• Advanced arm balances and inversions — Karandavasana, Pincha Mayurasana, Mukta and Baddha Hasta Sirsasana
• Ekapada and Dwipada Sirsasana, Yoga Nidrasana, Tittibhasana
• The finishing sequence through to Uth Pluthi and Shavasana
• Tristhana: asana, breath, bandha and drishti held together

The specialization this course is known for. Kundalini is the dormant energy stored at the Muladhara; the practice wakes it and follows it up through each chakra it passes, using breath, movement and sound.

• Mantra first to settle the mind, then physical practice, then kriya
• Chakras, nadis and the guidance of energy through them
• Kriyas and pranayama used to clear the body and build immunity
• Relaxation, meditation and affirmation to close a session
• Control over energy as the basis of every kind of healing
• Kundalini and Tantra Yoga as its own hour in the daily timetable

The fourth limb of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Prana is the vital energy of the body, ayama its expansion. Seven techniques, each taught with its meaning, benefits, contraindications and duration — and at this level, in techniques two and three as well as one.

• Kapalbhati, the frontal brain cleansing breath — techniques one and two
• Sheetali and Sheetkari, the cooling and hissing breaths
• Bhastrika, the bellows breath — techniques one, two and three
• Bhramri, the humming bee breath, and Ujjayi, the psychic breath
• Nadishodhana, channel purification, through all three techniques
• Demonstration by a teacher, then preparing the practice for students yourself

Six purification techniques — Basti, Nauli, Dhauti, Trataka, Neti and Kapalbhati — each targeting particular organs, balancing the tridoshas and freeing the flow of prana through the nadis.

• Jala Neti and Sutra Neti, with preparation, demonstration and practice
• Kunjala Kriya and Vat Karma
• Nauli Kriya and Agneesara
• Benefits and contraindications taught before every technique
• You then prepare and lead the class in all six yourself
• The teacher observes rather than leads — the 300-hour difference

A bandha is a lock: a muscular contraction that holds and redirects energy towards particular organs, raising blood flow and prana with it. All four are taught at advanced level.

• Jalandhara Bandha — the thyroid, parathyroid and respiratory organs
• Uddiyana Bandha — the heart chakra and the abdominal organs
• Mula Bandha — especially used to awaken Kundalini energy
• Maha Bandha — the three together, the highest form of body lock
• Meaning, benefits, contraindications and duration for each
• Demonstration, then technique practice with students

Gestures that channel prana through the body. In Ayurveda each finger carries one of the five mahabhutas — fire, earth, air, water, ether — so a gesture can raise or lower the flow to a given part of you. Eight of them here, against four on the shorter courses.

• Jnana Mudra, the psychic gesture of knowledge
• Chin Mudra, the psychic gesture of consciousness
• Bhairava (Shiva) Mudra and Hridaya Mudra, the heart gesture
• Yoni Mudra, the womb gesture
• Shambhavi Mudra, eyebrow-center gazing
• Kaaki Mudra, the crow's beak, and Ashwini Mudra, the horse gesture

Not one technique but a dozen, so you leave with a practice that suits you rather than the one you were handed — and enough range to put a room of very different people into one.

• Mantra chanting and Ajapa meditation, with meaning and benefits
• OM meditation, and the sixty-one energy points
• Trataka: its stages and benefits, then dot and yantra practice
• Osho dynamic meditation
• Music, dancing and walking meditation
• Props where they help: meditation seats, malas, singing bowls

Conscious relaxation taught as a discipline of its own rather than the few minutes left over at the end of a class, working from gross movement down to visualization.

• Point-to-point movement, then stillness
• Point-to-point tension and relaxation
• Entire-body tension and relaxation
• Selective tension and relaxation of individual body parts
• Point-to-point relaxation with white light visualized at the cardiac center
• Detailed relaxation with spinal breathing and the So-Ham mantra

The technical core of teaching safely. Alignment is the precise positioning of a body in a pose; adjustment is how you change it — with a word, or with your hands, always within the student's own boundaries.

• Alignment of spine, joints and muscles, and the natural curves of the back
• Components of alignment, and how they differ between styles
• Physical adjustments versus verbal adjustments
• Challenges and considerations in adjusting a real student
• Alignment and adjustment as spiritual practice, not only injury prevention
• Integrating both into your own asana practice as homework

How to actually run a room. The school's own list is as much about conduct as technique — teach from the heart, be present, start and end on time, and never let a beginner fall behind the class.

• Welcoming students, and opening with chanting, prayer or a short meditation
• Voice, volume and clear instruction pitched to the group
• Asking about injuries and physical problems before every class
• Reading poses, alignment, breathing patterns and group energy
• Moving through the room, adjusting verbally and physically
• Equal attention to all, extra attention to beginners until they catch up

The framework the practice sits inside. Yoga's founding claim is that mind, body and soul are one and cannot be separated; the philosophy classes are where that stops being a slogan.

• The Yoga Sutras: discipline, the types of thought, and God
• The seven chakras, Muladhara through Sahasrara
• The three gunas — sattva, rajas, tamas — and the three bodies
• The types of yoga: Hatha, Karma, Bhakti, Ashtanga
• The obstacles to yoga and the causes of pain
• Written exercises and a closing exam

Manas, mind, and tra, an instrument — a mantra is a tool the mind uses to free itself of its own distraction. Chanted daily to open and close the Hatha classes, and most powerfully at Brahma Muhurta.

• The Hatha Yoga mantra, Yogena Chittasya Padena Vacham
• The health mantra, Trayambakam Yajamahe, and the Gayatri mantra
• The Ganesh, morning and Guru mantras
• The Aum and Shanti mantras
• Ashtanga Vinyasa opening and closing mantras
• Meaning and correct pronunciation, alongside daily group practice

The havan that opens the course, and the flower mandala laid out for it — marigolds on the grass, the tilak, and the batch sitting round the kund making offerings into the fire.

• The traditional havan at the school
• Laying the Om and the mandala in flower petals
• Receiving the tilak
• No prior experience assumed