The new Modular Training Courses are tempting many of our Level 1 and Level 2 graduates back to Byron Yoga Retreat Centre for a short (but sweet!) training course. These courses are a fantastic way for current trainees to clock up required hours for 200 or 300 hour certificates and for yoga teachers and to add skills, complete Continuous Professional Development hours for Yoga Alliance – and to have a few days connecting with peers at tranquil Byron Yoga Retreat Centre.

Book now for the Teen Yoga, The Arts of Adjusting and Articulation, the Advanced Asana Weekend and the recently launched Meditation Teaching Training.

The May course – Remedial Yoga Training with Maria Kirsten – was fully booked. Lou and Suzi were two of the lucky participants and Mia Tarantini caught up with them to chat about their experience:

How has this course helped you grow as a yoga teacher and what have you learnt about yourself?

Lou: This course adds so much more depth and layers to what I learnt in the Level 1 and provides a different perspective. Obviously when you’re starting out you need the guard rails to make sure that you’re safe, but once you’ve got those principles you can explore and understand the body more deeply and how it works. Once you’ve got that knowledge you can start being more creative. If Level 1 was the bones this course is like adding some flesh to those bones.

What motivated you to complete this modular training?

Lou: Suzi and I completed our Level 1 Teacher Training here in 2015 and loved it. It acted like a springboard to grow and explore from. In that training we had a session with Maria and we were quite taken with her and her teaching style. Not only is she a warm person but she’s so much fun and her way of conveying complex information is just amazing. We both knew we wanted to come back and do a course with Maria and when we received an email about modular courses being an option we knew this was our chance.

What has been your main takeaway from this course? What has really stuck with you?

Lou: There is yoga for every body. There’s some form of yoga that anyone can participate in. Even if they’re injured they can focus on and practice their breathing whilst concentrating on their state of mind. When you teach, they don’t have to be exercise classes. I feel I have been given the skills and creativity to modify classes and poses so anyone can participate and that’s really inspiring for me.

Is there anything else that you would have liked to cover? Anything you didn’t feel there was enough time for?

Suzi: I felt that the course was planned out beautifully but more time with Maria is always welcome. It never feels like enough time with her just because she has so much knowledge and you realise that there’s just so much more to learn from her. She’s just giving us a little taste of what she knows!

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Are you considering coming to do any other Modular Training courses at BYC?

Suzi: It’s like coming home. We will always find a reason to come back here! We love it.

Lou: Definitely! We always find a reason to come back. I really like the idea of the Adjusting Course and finding more confidence that and the hands on skills. I would also love to do the Meditation Training to increase my knowledge in that area. I’d be really interested in those two.

What 3 words best describe your experience?

Lou: Inspiring, Challenging, Nurturing

Suzi: Stimulating, Challenging, Inspiring

Final thoughts?

Lou: The other thing we’ve been talking about is just the environment that you’re in. We’ve both observed that the whole atmosphere is just so beautiful. In the couple of years we’ve been coming here there’s always new people in the garden or kitchen but that’s just the natural flow of life. But no matter the change, the atmosphere is always the same when we come back here.