Street Yoga Teacher Training

Teacher Training

The next Street Yoga teacher training will take place in San Francisco, CA, May 9-11, 2008.

The next Portland training will take place August 1-3, 2008.
There will also be a training in Ontario, Canada, September 19-21, 2008
(You can fill out the application below and select any of the locations.)

This training will focus on homeless youth, and youth at-risk of homelessness. This latter group includes youth who have been involved in the foster care system, youth from homeless families, young people who have been physiclaly, sexually and emotionally abused, youth in detention, and youth who identify as a sexual or gender minority.

Yoga for Homeless and At-Risk Youth

Mark Lilly & Katie Arrants, with Lauren Turley

Youth who are homeless or in transtional living situations spend much of their time and energy devising strategies for survival on the streets. This leaves precious little time for rest or personal reflection. Street Yoga offers these youth accessible, non-threatening environments in which to take off their backpacks and to experience strength and stillness in both body and mind.

Street Yoga highly values direct, compassionate action. In this training, you will receive practical, real world knowledge and techniques that will assist you in teaching at-risk youth. You will also be encouraged to dig into your personal experience in order to draw out your own courage and compassion as a teacher.

Street Yoga does not prescribe a strict methodology for bringing yoga to youth. Instead, we will cover the basic techniques we have found most useful and will present a brief sketch of the challenges faced by these young people. You can expect to learn:

• Population characteristics and backgrounds
• Communication techniques, including conflict prevention and de-escalation
• Useful yoga postures and sequences, including ideas for special populations
• Common challenges to creating and maintaining a yoga program for youth
• How to work effectively with organizations and use resources efficiently

This training is open to individuals of all levels and backgrounds. Whether you have been teaching for years or are just beginnning to share mindfulness practices with others, we simply ask you to begin where you are and share what you know.

Intention

Going into the training, we see three goals, for which we set our intention:

• That you will develop your confidence and skills to teach homeless youth, and youth at-risk of homelessness.
• That you will better understand the connections between youth homelessness, and foster care, a history of childhood abuse, family rejection and poverty.
• That you will feel inspired to volunteer to teach yoga to homeless youth in Portland, or to create a program of your own in your part of the world.

Trainers

The training will be led by Mark Lilly, Director and Founder of Street Yoga, and Katie Arrants, Street Yoga Program Coordinator. Mark and Katie have over a decade of experience teaching yoga. Both have received training in a wide variety of mindfulness disciplines, including yoga, meditation, and "non violent communication." They have worked intensively with homeless and at-risk youth and share the common belief that sharing yoga with marginalized populations is a key step in the journey toward a more peaceful, egalitarian society.

Where:
It's Yoga Kids Studio
569 Ruger St
San Francisco, CA 94129
(415) 561-0900

When:
Fri: 5:00-8:00pm
Sat: 1:30-7:30pm
Sun: 12:00-5:00pm

San Francisco Lodging Info:
Click here and here for two resources of travel and lodging info.
For info on hostels, try here and a decidedly SF experience, the Green Tortoise hostel, here.

Cost:
The cost of the training is $190.
A limited amount of partial scholarships are available. (Current Street Yoga volunteers with more than 3 months teaching experience can receive an 70% discount)

Please click here to pay by PayPal:

Please note that this training fills quickly. A deposit of $100 is required to reserve your spot. Please contact us if this is a hardship. Please either pay via PayPal or mail a check to the address below:

Mail deposits to:
Street Yoga
833 SE Main St, Box 226
Portland, OR 97214

Still interested. Please fill out our online application:

Click here for the online application.

Need More Information?

If you have any questions, just click to drop us a line.

Namaste.