Georgia Yoga Teacher Training Collective

06/05/2025

Come learn about the benefits of yoga for osteoporosis!

One of the benefits is for Postmenopausal Women. A study involving 30 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis demonstrated significant improvements in bone mass density after a 6-month yoga program. The participants engaged in a combination of weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing asanas, pranayama, and Surya Namaskar. Post-training bone mass density scores improved from -2.69 to -2.55, indicating a positive effect on bone density.

Join Sarah June 21-22 9-5pm to learn more!

For more information: https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

05/27/2025

🌀 Beyond the Poses: Exploring the Subtle Body 🧘‍♀️✨

As we deepen our practice of asana, we begin to sense the quieter, more refined energies that shape our inner experience. This weekend immersion with Hannah is your opportunity to tap into those subtle layers — and learn how to share them with your students in meaningful ways.

🌟 What We’ll Explore Together:
🔹 The Chakra System — Understand the energy centers and how they relate to physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing
🔹 Sequencing for the Chakras — Learn to design classes that support energetic balance
🔹 Chakra Meditation — Experience guided meditations to awaken and harmonize these vital centers
🔹 The Psychology of Chakras — Dive into the mental and emotional layers behind each chakra
🔹 The Koshas — Explore the five layers of self, from the physical body to bliss
🔹 The Nadis — Discover the energy channels that weave prana through your system
🔹 Energetic Teaching Tools — Learn how to bring subtle body wisdom into your classes with confidence and clarity

💫 This weekend is perfect for yoga teachers, dedicated students, and anyone curious about the deeper dimensions of yoga.

📅 July 19-20 9-5pm
📍 Yovana Yoga in Calhoun, Ga
🔗 https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

Come curious. Leave inspired. 🌈

05/22/2025

Did you know that 55% of women over 50 and 25% of men over 50 have some sort of bone density issue? It is scientifically proven that a twelve-minute daily yoga regimen reverses osteoporotic bone loss.

Come learn:
-Contraindications when teaching students with bone density issues
-Dr. Fishman's three sequences of poses that have been proven to build bone strength
-Learn multiple ways to teach each pose
-Practice teaching the poses

For more information and to sign up: https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

05/20/2025

Join us!

Through the practice of asana, we begin to learn that there are so many other, subtle, energies moving throughout our bodies. This weekend covers these Subtle Body Systems.

In this weekend with Hannah we will dive deeper into:
The Chakras
Sequencing for the Chakras
Chakra Meditation
The Psychology of Chakras
The Koshas
The Nadis
How to Bring Energetics to Your Classes

9 am - 5 pm with an hour for lunch each day.
14 CEU's or be a part of our 300hr yoga teacher training program!

Investment = $350

Sign up now! https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

05/12/2025

Our next training is coming up! Save your spot NOW!

Yoga for Osteoporosis and Osteopenia. This course contains critical information for students with Osteoporosis or Osteopenia. Since 55% of women over 50 and 25% of men over 50 have some sort of bone density issues it is also critical for yoga teachers who teach to this population.We will review the contraindications when teaching students with bone density issues. Then we will review Dr. Fishman's three sequences of poses that have been proven to build bone strength. You will learn multiple ways to teach each pose and you will practice teaching the poses.About the teacher: Sarah DeFoor is an E-RYT 500 yoga instructor. She is certified in yoga for Osteoporosis by Dr. Loren Fishman MD. Over the years of teaching his proven yoga poses for strengthening bones several of her regular students have been downgraded from Osteoporosis to Osteopenia others have been downgraded from Osteopenia to normal bone density.

9 am - 5 pm with an hour for lunch each day.

14 CEU's or be a part of our 300hr yoga teacher training program!

Investment = $350

More information about us and your trainings: https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

04/09/2025

Chair Yoga is for EVERY BODY and this class is all about that! In this class Sarah will teach you how to lead an active chair yoga class that will allow every student to go deeper into their poses. Your hamstrings may never feel as loose as when you progress through 4 levels of Pyramid in the chair.

Come see how you can use the chair to deepen your yoga practice and make it more accessible for your students.

9 am - 5 pm with an hour for lunch each day.
14 CEU's
$350 investment

To sign up:
https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

04/03/2025

I get asked all the time, why do you teach yoga?

Let me count the reasons :) I teach yoga because:
- I feel that are a lot of people who still feel that yoga is not for them. And it surely is! It is for every BODY! They just haven't found the teacher yet that will meet them where they are. Yoga is NOT what you see on social media. You only see the highlight reel of how long it may have taken them to master that super flexible and strength based pose. You also don't know their body and how long they have been practicing. Or how much pain they are in. Yoga is about what happens on the inside :)
- Trauma sensitive yoga is not taught in most basic 200hr programs - for a few reasons- but I feel that it isolates a lot of people who have experienced trauma and who could benefit GREATLY from yoga.
- Everyone has the right to heal and to feel good. I wish I could teach every single soul that I meet how to do yoga so they could have these tools in their toolbox for when life gets difficult and uneasy. I'm trying!
- I believe that we all have a path in this lifetime and that our path is meant to ripple out to others (good and/or bad). I believe that my path is to teach yoga, and to teach others how to teach yoga, so that we can all ripple out to the world how to live with more ease, peace, and grace.
- Teaching yoga gives me the ability to expand, learn, and grow in my physical body, my emotional body, as well as my wisdom and spiritual body. It is always asking me to push just a bit outside of my comfort to grow, to be flexible, to be understanding, to know both sides of the coin. It is an honor to do this as "work" if that is what you want to call it.

-Hannah Hutcheson, Yoga Educator, E-RYT500, RPYT, RCYT and Founder of Muddy Lotus Yoga as well as the Georgia Yoga Teacher Training Collective

If you love teaching yoga, please join us for our 300hr yoga teacher training program, CEUs, AND/OR join our teaching collective!

For more info: https://georgiayogateachertraining.com

03/31/2025

Over the last decade of practicing yoga I have learned a few things about yoga and about myself practicing yoga. Here are a few of those things:

-Yoga makes my body feel better. When I go a few days without yoga, my body is asking for it. I cannot imagine how my body would feel now if I had not started my practice and stuck to it. Yoga is my key to healthy aging.

-Doing the same posture in different ways enhances it. Variations can make the pose more challenging or less challenging. Some days we need more and other days we need less. We just have to listen to our bodies.

-Not all poses are good for all bodies. We must always listen to our bodies before listening to our teachers.

-Ego has no place in yoga. Students that push too hard to get into, or hold positions they must not, are more likely to hurt themselves. As my Yin teacher said the Sanskrit for "no pain no gain" is "bull sh*tie". Say that out load!

-I prefer to take poses deeper than do the crazy challenging poses. I don't care if I ever do a wheel or a headstand. I would rather make my warrior 2 more challenging by practicing it in a chair. Yes, the chair can make many poses more challenging and more attainable. I would rather be supported by the yoga strap wall to decompress my spine in a half headstand where my head doesn't even touch the floor so that my neck is safe.

-Yoga really is for everyone. You just need a good knowledgeable teacher to help you on your journey. All Yovana teachers can. I can confidently say we have the best teachers in the region.

-Sarah DeFoor, Yoga Educator, E-RYT-500 & Founder of Yovana Yoga in Calhoun and Dalton as well as the Georgia Yoga Teacher Training Collective.

Join Sarah for Active Chair Yoga Teacher Training April 26-27!
Sign up here: https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

03/07/2025

Save your spot!

This is not your grandmother's chair yoga. This is active chair yoga. Sarah fell in love with chair yoga when she realized that the chair allowed her to go deeper into the poses. Your hamstrings may never feel as loose as when you progress through 4 levels of Pyramid in the chair. Come see how you can use the chair to deepen your yoga practice and make it more accessible for your students.

9 am - 5 pm with an hour for lunch each day.

14 CEU's or be a part of our 300hr yoga teacher training program!

Investment = $350

https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

02/12/2025

Georgia Yoga Teacher Training Collective's FIRST Training weekend is coming up! Will you join us?!

Yin Yoga Teacher Training:
Are you ready to teach yin or take your teaching skills deeper? Maybe you just want to learn more about yin as a student. You will learn how to teach a safe, accessible yin class for all levels. Focus is on the asana and cueing.

About the teacher: Sarah DeFoor is an E-RYT-500 and YACEP. She has taught at least a thousand yin classes over the last 7 years. In 2023 She did a 60 hour Yin Training with Sarah Powers. Then in 2024 she expanded her knowledge of yin by studying with Bernie Clark for 50 additional hours.

9 am - 5 pm with an hour for lunch each day.

14 CEU's or be a part of our 300hr yoga teacher training program!

Investment = $350

https://georgiayogateachertraining.com/upcoming-trainings

02/03/2025

How long do you hold a yin pose? The answer is longer than you think! When I first learned yin we were told 1 - 5 minutes. The single most surprising thing I learned in training with Sarah Powers was that in some poses you get more benefits to your energetic body when you hold for up to 20 minutes. She went on to tell us that Seal was the pose you received the most benefits from in a 20 minute hold. Then when I trained with Bernie Clark he took us on this yummy 15 minute journey of Sphinx pose where we continued to take our spinx higher to go deeper. Bernie went on to say that there is no need to do seal unless you cannot feel the stress in sphinx. Yes, two of the best yin teachers in the world gave me two very different perspectives. I love being exposed to different views and taking what resonates best with me.

Join us at Yovana yoga in Calhoun, GA February 22 -23 to get a few new perspectives on yin. This training is appropriate for yoga teachers as well as dedicated yin students.

You will learn how to teach a safe, accessible yin class for all levels. Focus is on the asana, and cueing. You will learn how to incorporate props as well as learn several variations of the poses.


You will earn 14 CEU's or you can use this toward the Georgia Yoga Teacher Training Collective 300 hour training.

Investment = $350.

To sign up: https://yovanayoga.com/events

Are you ready to teach yin or take your teaching skills deeper? Maybe you just want to learn more about yin as a student. You will learn how to  teach a safe, accessible yin class for all levels. Focus is on the asana and cueing. 

02/01/2025

We have some exciting news to share! We have been deep in the creation stages of co-creating a beautiful collection of yoga educators gathering to educate Georgia's Yoga Teachers! Meet the Georgia Yoga Teacher Training Collective!

We are yoga educators who help yoga teachers expand their knowledge and skill set. Our focus is on advanced training for existing teachers. The Georgia Yoga Teacher Training Collective is a Registered Yoga School (RYS 300) with Yoga Alliance. The program is ran by Sarah (Yovana Yoga) and Hannah (Muddy Lotus Yoga) who have more than 4000 combined training hours. Together they focus on inclusion, adaptability, healthy aging, the roots of yoga, and the philosophy of yoga. Separately they focus on different areas that combined make them the a dream team.

But they do not want it to stop with them. They want to bring in other teachers who can add knowledge to the collective. Would you like to educate Georgia's Yoga Teachers with us? If so, please go to our website to apply www.GeorgiaYogaTeacherTraining.com

Do you want to expand your yoga education? You can do this with CEUs or join our 300hr YTT program!

Help us get the word out to people that would like to take Yoga Trainings as well as teach in them:
❤️ Like + follow us on instagram and facebook.com/georgiayogateachertrainingcollective
❤️ Publicly share the post announcing the collective and tag at least 3 friends that you would like to take a training with or you think would be a good trainer.
❤️ Be rewarded! Everyone that does all of these things will be rewarded with a FREE Yoga Strap Wall class in Calhoun at Yovana Yoga and be entered into the draw to get a FREE training weekend with Sarah or Hannah