Sample 200 Hour Syllabus

  1. In this TT we explore seven distinct categories each “day” of our training:
    1. Open
    2. Contemplate
    3. Anatomy
    4. Asana
    5. Teach
    6. Philosophy
    7. Close
  2. The content for each 5-6-hour training “day” is organized by category and broken up into 7-10 segments. You can complete the 5-6 hours for each “day” of the training in one continuous sitting on the same day if possible. However, if your schedule does not allow you to work in 5-6-hour chunks of time, there are many other ways you can engage with the material. For example, you can split it up into 3-4-hour chunks and spread learning out across all seven days of the week. If you have a lot of availability on three days each week, you can learn in 7-8 hour chunks each day. If all you have is the weekends, you can complete all the content for “day 1” and “day 2” on Saturday, and all the content for “day 3” and “day 4” on Sunday (about 11-12 hours per day). Ultimately, you will know what is going to work best with your schedule, but we do recommend that you make a plan ahead of time so you can stay on track!
  3. Here’s an idea of what kind of material you might expect in each of these categories:
    1. Open: These sessions are short and will serve to welcome students to training each day, collectively center, set intentions, overview the material we expect to cover over the course of each day, and movement.
    2. Contemplate: These sessions consist of a mix of:
      1. Intrapersonal practices to nurture inner life: We will consider contemplation topics, engage in practices of self-inquiry, journaling, consider matters of ethics and human psychology. We will practice and explore meditation, pranayama, mudra and mantra.
      2. Interpersonal practices to promote consciousness and skill in relationship(s): We will study communication, group dynamics, conflict resolution, leadership, sociology, psychology and ethics for yoga teachers. We will engage teaching related ethical case studies, roles and responsibility and scope of practice for teachers and students of yoga, creating inclusive spaces and diversity in communities of yoga. We will discuss how best to hold the seat of yoga teacher with clarity and compassion.
      3. Philosophical considerations and contemplations including history and cultural considerations of yoga as derived from the Indian subcontinent, including yoga philosophy, yoga mythology, comparative mythology, stories of yoga poses, the power of symbolism and possibilities in mythic interpretation.
    3. Anatomy: These sessions are focused to help students of yoga (and aspiring teachers) learn about human anatomy, kinesiology, physiology and applied biomechanics. Each session is a dynamic mix of experiential learning methods with lecture-based explanation and will provide many insights and strategies that will deepen and enrich ones’ understanding, practice and teaching of yoga poses and movement. Experiential learning in this arena will include discussion, demonstration, movement, yoga poses, skills n’ drills activations to strengthen and lengthen, prop use, exploring regression and progression strategies for motor skill development and yoga pose applications. Lectures will include visual aids (skeletons, models, images, worksheets, etc.) and focus on anatomical body regions. Each session includes supporting worksheets and materials that follow along closely with each session and provide further images and concepts and room for note taking.

      Our Anatomy curriculum unfolds in two main ways:
      1. Applied Human Anatomy by Body Region, bones, joints, movement, muscles, myofascial tissue and other structures in the regions of spinal column, pelvis, hip, knee, ankle & foot, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand, etc.
      2. Anatomy of Yoga Poses & Movement; including pose and movement alignment discussions and analysis, creative use of props, regression and progression strategies, activation skills and drills, mobilization and stabilization strategies.
    4. Asana: Asana classes will help students understand “WHAT to do, HOW to do it, WHY it is important” in practice. Asana classes will provide students with a variety of insights and tools to help students accomplish their movement and postural goals. Asana classes will exemplify how to teach postural yoga safely and effectively. In daily Asana sessions, we will explore differing perspectives and styles of yoga practice and will experience a wide range of possibilities in movement and postural yoga practice. NOTE: Listen or watch if doing feels like too much!
    5. Teach: These sessions will be a deep dive into study and relationship with teaching, laying the groundwork for a rich and skillful practice for our students and their future students. How do postural yoga teachers, convey some part of the immensity of the yoga tradition with integrity, skill and accuracy? What knowledge and skills do teachers need? These sessions explore essential teaching skills we believe students must put into place in order to skillfully teach yoga. In these sessions, we study and unpack the skills students need to teach yoga well. We will explore how to teach and understand poses and how to better instruct them, step by step.
    6. Philosophy: Our exploration will be entirely secular in nature; no belief required or expected. We will explore philosophy in a historical context, as well as how we — as modern yogis — may derive meaning from these ancient wisdom traditions, and help our students gain moments of insight too.Yoga philosophy and related subjects are loaded with symbolism, mythic narrative, and invite rigorous learning. The symbolism and mythology of yoga’s spiritual tradition add deeper dimensions of meaning to the practice on the mat and provide insights that expand our understanding. A peek into yoga philosophy and mythic storytelling offers insight to us now, as 21st century yogis, about our own conscience, culture and nature. As much as possible, we suggest letting the material wash over you. We will not tell you what to think, nor what to believe. You are not expected to memorize everything. Please bring an open and curious mind, a cognitive and intellectual critical thinking skills, imagination and creativity, an engaged and courageous heart, and the somatic storehouse of body. We encourage students to ask every question, follow the evidence wherever it leads, look for the exception, and be courageous to try something different and maybe even change your mind based on the evidence.

      Discussions will include background in storytelling, folklore and oral and aural traditions of memory, recitation, interpretation and commentary. We will examine the main currents of yoga philosophy and cultural traditions of South Asia, from Veda to Asceticism to Bhakti to Tantra to Modern Postural Yoga, including the indigenous religious traditions of South Asia, namely Vedism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. What do these traditions say about the nature of the cosmos and human nature? What relevance do these traditions have to us? We will examine how yoga has come to be associated with posture, asana, and the dissemination of yoga to the west and subsequent proliferation of modern postural yoga. We will scratch the surface of learning some of what the great yoga texts and traditions have to offer— including Veda, Upanishads, Buddhist sources, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, Bhagavad Gita, Puranas, Mahabharata,Ramayana, Bhakti, Vedanta, Tantra, and other Hatha Yoga sources.
    7. Close: Reflections on Learning: These sessions are generally very short and generally review and/or facilitate further reflection and learning on the main topics of the day, with time provided to take notes and/or journal. For each session of the day we reflect on WHAT we did and learned, explore the SO WHAT of its importance, and the NOW WHAT of applications and next steps. And finally — each day closes with a blessing.
    8. Check Your Retention: Following the daily close, you will be asked to answer a group of review/quiz questions to help solidify the main topics check your understanding.

Dates, Times & Requirements.

  • This training is set to occur online over roughly 20 weeks, between January 16, 2022 and June 17, 2022 (the “ Study Trimester”).
  • The entire course will publish by the end of January 2022, and students may study on any schedule that is best for him/her/them. 
  • We suggest allotting between 15 and 20 hours per week to studying during the Study Trimester.
  • TT Welcome/Orientation Documents will be available in The Mazé Method’s educational platform on January 16, 2022.
  • All TT video lessons and a schedule of live sessions will publish at the beginning of the Study Trimester.
  • You may work at your own pace and work ahead if you’d like.
  • Teachers will offer at least once weekly “office hours” for q&a and once weekly teaching practice sessions throughout the training, to provide participants additional ongoing support.  
  • Live sessions are meant to maximize student learning, assist students who wish to practice teaching in small groups, and provide feedback and assessment of their assignments and skills. 
  • NEARLY ALL LIVE SESSIONS are attendance optional, and students need not attend. 
  • Live office hours and practice sessions are recorded and made available to all students if students wish to watch.
  • Live session recordings are delivered to students in a TT companion folder in the learning platform.
  • The time of our office hours will be determined based upon student enrollment and geographical location and we will take students’ responses upon entrance (via online survey) into account in connection with office hour timing.
  • To graduate with a certificate from our school, students will have completed and submitted 2 required assignments, attended and participated in 3 live practicum sessions, watched ALL MINUTES of the video lessons, and passed mid-term and final by June 17, 2022.
  • We will offer a live graduation celebration in June 2022. Like most other real time content in the TT. This graduation celebration will be recorded and made available to students who can’t make it on the appointed date and time.
  • Schedule Notes:
  • This TT is constructed in a way that allows you as much freedom as we can offer you. We both invite you to learn at your pace and encourage you to set and maintain a time-based routine for weekly learning. The TT consists of 10 “virtual weeks” and each “virtual week” consists of 4 “virtual days,” each of which runs between 5 and 6 hours. In reality, it’s 235 hours of lessons online; and you can break this up pretty much however you’d like.
  • If you intend to meet TT graduation requirements, we strongly suggest keeping up with a suggested TT schedule of roughly 20 hours of learning per week. We are suggesting a TT schedule of M-TH 5 hours daily. You MAY schedule your learning to fit your needs and need not observe our suggestions. You MAY complete study and practice in your time zone. If you follow our suggestions, and schedule 4 chunks of 5-6-hour time periods every week to your learning then you will be able to take the training in exactly the format we envisioned.