- Q&A Somatic Yoga Teacher Training

What does the Somatic Yoga Basic Training focus on?

The somatic deepening in yoga focuses on the differentiation and shaping of body perception. Consciously addressing the senses of skin and touch as well as the kinesthetic-proprioceptive dimensions of our bodily experience enables a refinement of bodily, spatial and temporal perception in the long term and leads to deep embodiment. On this path, orientation develops in the yoga practice, as well as as an ethically-socially embedded human being. Fineness and depth in dealing with oneself, with yoga as well as in its mediation emerge.

Consciousness between shaping and self-organization

By means of somatic practices we fundamentally train the access to complex, inner processes and create trust in our own resources. Together we learn to integrate traditional yoga and breathing techniques through a high degree of body connection. We take into account our individual circumstances and needs in order to find an individual approach to our own yoga practice and thus to our own teaching style. In this way, all physical postures - asanas - are formed from the inside out. 

After the basic principles have been taught in the first 280 training hours, in the second part of the Somatic Yoga training the somatic method knowledge from the Feldenkrais Method, breath work according to Prof. Ilse Middendorf and Continuum will be related to the yoga repertoire in a more concrete and in-depth way in individual modules. This allows a deepening of the experiential anatomy and makes it possible for bodily relations to be embodied in a more plastic and pleasurable way and to be understood in connection with feeling. The deeper 'knowing oneself' that emerges opens up greater freedom. The design and composition of the yoga sequences in this further encounter with freedom is supported by the rhythms and decision criteria of the Somatic Methods and by improvisational strategies.

What does the Somatic Yoga Teacher Training include?

traditional yoga practices basic & fundamentals within the framework of the BDY Standards

• Asanas (yoga postures)
• Kriyas (asana sequences & flows)
• Bandhas (Closures)
• Mudras (hand gestures)
• Pranayama (guided breathing)
• Dharana (concentration)
• Yoga Nidra (deep relaxation)
• Nada Yoga (sound yoga)
• Dhyana (Meditation)

Principles of the Somatic Methods

• Experiential Breath according to Prof. Ilse Middendorf
• Continuum
• Feldenkrais Pedagogy
• Experiential Anatomy

All teachers are fully certified practitioners in the methods with many years of teaching experience as well as cross-method research practice.

Cross-method content

• Pedagogy, the further development of somatic teaching language, somatic-didactic principles of lesson design, structure & choreography
• Philosophy, individual as well as group examination of yoga philosophy and western phenomenological philosophical approaches
• History and traditions of yoga
• Psychology & Yoga
• Meditation, source texts
• Yoga & socio-political relevance
• Values & ethics
• Professional Studies
• Teaching internship

Which certification does the Somatic Yoga Basic Training offer?

The completion of the Somatic Yoga Basic Training offers general BDY Yoga Standards Basic corresponding knowledge combined with a strong somatic focus. The basic training is certified by the Somatic Academy and entitles to teach Somatic Yoga. Membership in the Professional Association of Yoga Teachers BDY is possible.

The Basic Training forms the first part of the whole Somatic Yoga Training and can be completed by the second part, the Advanced Training.

With the completion of the Somatic Yoga Basic & Advanced Training (500 hours) and an additional qualification (+140 hours), the graduate is entitled to be certified for health insurance approval at the ZPP (Zentrale Prüfstelle für Prävention). The required modules for the additional +140 hours are currently being planned.

Curriculum 

1st year of Somatic Yoga Teacher Training - Basic Training 280h
Mar 14, 2025 - Mar 13, 2026