Teach Pranayama

3-month online advanced training for yoga teachers who would like to teach pranayama classes and/or integrate breathing exercises into existing classes, as they deepen their personal practice

Classes meet Saturday, 1-4:30pm (UK time)
15 Feb - 5 April, 2025

Student-teacher contact hours are balanced with personal practice:

• 8 LIVE SESSIONS via Zoom (3.5 hours each)
• Recordings of each session will be posted online for additional review
• Extensive hand-outs (PDF)
• Weekly assignments
• Daily personal practice
• Practice teaching

+ Personal mentoring with Swami Saradananda

Learn innovative techniques for introducing your students to yoga breath-work and the ways in which these vital exercises can enhance their yoga and meditation practices. Simultaneously deepen your own understanding of prānā and prānāyāma.

In this course for yoga teachers, Swami Saradananda introduces you to a variety of powerful revitalising and regenerating effects that breathing exercises can have on your body and mind. It promises to be unique in its simple, yet in-depth approach to the yoga practice of prānāyāma.

The first half of the course is about teaching prānāyāma; the second half will give you the tools to deepen and advance your personal practice.

What you, as a yoga teacher, will get out of this course:

A working understanding of the physical structure and function of the breathing mechanisms.
The ability to introduce prānāyāma and related breathing techniques to all levels of students.
Teaching prānāyāma to beginners
Powerful tools to enable students to make more efficient use of their breath and vital energies, including helping them with issues related to stress.
Ways that you, and your students, can use the power of breath to manifest your ideas and dreams.
A more breath-centred and meditative approach to asana practice and teaching.

You will learn:

• How to integrate prānāyāma into asana classes, group meditations, workshops and retreats
• To perfect prānāyāma teaching techniques
• Ways that students can make prānāyāma a part of their daily lives
• Use the breath to overcome distractions in meditation
• How the mind and breath interface in meditation
• Prānāyāma practices specific to meditation
• Effects of lifestyle and diet on prānāyāma
• How to encourage students in their prānāyāma practice
• Online teaching methods
• Introduction to the use of mudras and bandhas in prānāyāma

Requirements for participation:

• Completion of yoga teachers training
• Computer access, basic computer literacy and an email address
• A copy of "The Power of Breath" by Swami Saradananda (either as a book or in Kindle format). There will be weekly reading assignments.

Cost: £495

Early-bird booking (with deposit) before 31 Oct: £395

To book: bank transfer of non-refundable deposit of £150 will hold your place on the course. The balance is due 2 weeks before the start of the course.
Click here to request registration form and bank details for transfer of payment.
Classes are small, as the number of participants is limited. Please book as soon as possible.
Venue: Zoom
Any questions: contact Swami Saradananda about the course – or would like to arrange a customised programme for your group.
Refunds and transfers: once payment has been made, there are no refunds. However, you may transfer to another session of the course, with a £100 transfer fee. You must complete the course within 3 years.
Attendance: participants are expected to attend all classes via Zoom and be absent only with good reason. If you are unable to attend because of illness or other emergency, you must inform the tutor before the start of the class. You are permitted to miss no more than one live class, if you would like to receive a certificate. If you do miss a class, you will be asked to watch the recording and submit a written summary within the week.
Your time commitment: In addition to attending the 3.5 hour workshops, the course involves 20-30 minutes daily practice and submitting a weekly ‘practice diary’. There is no other written homework.

Booking

“An excellent course, which has helped me with both my personal practice and teaching pranayama. Swami’s style keeps to the traditions of yoga without jargon, this helps with learning and developing the discipline required.”

- Anthea Sweet, yoga teacher, yoga sports coach and director of Academic Faculty at the Institute of Yoga Sports Science

“This was a really wonderful online course. It was a good balance of theory and practice with just the right amount of home practice too. Revisiting and embracing the pranayama practices covered in the course has reminded me of the power of such practices and I have felt nourished and even more balanced than usual as a result. I highly recommend this course. Swami Saradananda is a fabulous teacher with a wealth of experience for sure.”

- Susan Spreckley, yoga teacher, Bed & Breakfast Owner, Isle of Mull, Scotland

“I qualified to teach yoga on a 200-hour course, I have found that all your courses have helped to fill in gaps and also consolidate that which I had been taught. I would recommend all your courses to other yoga teachers, especially ones that have only done 200-hour TT. Personally throughout each course with you my personal practice has evolved and become a more intrinsic part of my life……thank you.”

- Julie Kidd, yoga teacher, W. Midlands

“Thank you Swami Saradananda for a great experience throughout 'Yoga Teachers' Guide to Pranayama' course. What I really found valuable were the practice diaries and your pace of teaching. The weekly homework taught me to have discipline in my own practice and deep understanding of different levels pranayama offers. I highly recommend studying with Swami to all teachers.”

- Alena Leprevost, yoga teacher

“I have been enjoying the benefits of the class—not just the breath work itself, but also the shift in my perspective from the focus on my asana practice with some pranayama and meditation to a more balanced yoga experience. Samanu has been transformative for my meditation practice and I always use that to lead into my meditation now. Thank you for a wonderful experience and I hope to take more courses in the future!”

- Laura Harris, yoga teacher, Fresno, CA

“I always enjoy learning from Swami Saradandana, her style of teaching is an inspiring combination of clearly explained theory with a firm foundation of consistent practice, both built upon a wealth of experience. Learning under her tutorage motivates perseverance in the practice.”