Advanced Training
Thai on the Table Training
with Michael Sitzer
October 7-8, 2023
October 28-29, 2023
December 2-3, 2023
$230/weekend or $545* for all six days
(*= with $50 early discount before 8/7/23)
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
This training prepares one with the skills necessary to offer a ‘Therapeutic Thai-Yoga Bodywork’ treatment on a massage table. This course focuses on how to release individual muscles as well as learning a flowing one hour sequence. There is a strong emphasis on various Thai and Osteopathic techniques, including Positional Release, and Muscle Energy Techniques. You will both learn how to use proper body dynamics and leverage to effortlessly apply pressure to sore muscles, energy lines & trigger points as well as learn how to bring your partner through a series of Thai Massage techniques & assisted Hatha Yoga stretches. This work is performed on a massage table with the client fully dressed. This training is geared for massage therapists and compliments other Thai massage courses as well as many other massage modalities.. After completing the course, all dedicated practitioners should be confidant to offer these new skills into their healing regimen.
This Course is approved by NCBTMB for 12 hours of ‘Hand’s On’Continuing Education hours and an additional 6 hours of ‘Home Study’ CE’s.
Each day is 10:00am-5:00pm (with an hour lunch break around 1:00pm)
Each weekend’s content varies. Click link below for full details on content of each weekend.
About the Instructor:
Michael began his studies of Thai Massage in 1998 with an intensive offered by Ananda Apfelbaum at the Omega Institute. He then journeyed to Thailand to meet her teacher, master Pichest Boonthume. Michael has returned to Thailand over ten times to further his practice and to lead several ‘Thai Massage Study Abroad Adventure Tours’. Michael has also worked closely with Kam Thye Chow for over 15 years.
After leaving Kripalu in 2010, Michael relocated to Asheville to teach ‘Clinical Massage’ at AB Tech College and began offering continuing education courses. Michael has developed a complete Thai Yoga Bodywork Certification Training as well as other CE courses which can be taken live or online via his Thai Yoga Bodywork Academy. Michael has taught his workshops at the prestigious Kripalu Yoga Center, as well as at various Yoga centers across the country and internationally. He is an approved continuing education (CE) provider, accredited by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB # 451645-11). He also holds a N.C. massage license (#10273).
Michael is well known and respected for his heart centered approach to his treatments, his workshops and his life. Michael’s passion for therapeutic touch and inspirational teaching motivates him to continue to share this work around the world…
Designing and Leading Transformative Workshops and Retreats
with Sheila Ewers
Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
One of the most powerful ways to deepen a yoga practice is through more immersive experiences than one can gain from daily classes. Workshops and Retreats give you the ability to take your students into more subtle aspects of consciousness and self and are a fulfilling and powerful way for you to share what you love.
In this workshop, you will learn:
- Principles of effective multimodal teaching to appeal to kinesthetic, audio and visual learners
- Ways to connect students to a communal experience and build sangha
- Effective use of dyads and triads
- How to create and energetic “arc” for longer programming
- The business considerations for leading a retreat
This module is required for students participating in the RYS300 hour program, but is open to all. This module counts for 18 CEUs approved by Yoga Alliance. (16 contact, 2 non-contact)
An Exploration of the Subtle Body and Chakra System
with Sheila Ewers
Friday: 6-9 pm
Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
Tantric Yogis believe that your body is pulsing with consciousness and energy that is particularly concentrated in 7 major centers called chakras. The word chakra translates literally to wheel or disc and indicates the swirling energy that aggregates around major nerve centers and organs in the body. These impact our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing and become repositories for our accumulated life experience.
In this weekend intensive, we will examine the architecture of each chakra’s anatomical structure, investigate the history of the chakra system as described in ancient texts, learn to listen to our own ancient wisdom with deeper consciousness, and discover tools to steward our pranic field with greater sensitivity.
During our time, we will explore:
– Experiential exercises to energize awareness and sharpen sensitivity.
– Tools to enliven the energy body and connect to each center of psyche and soul.
– Anatomy instruction about physical systems associated with each Chakra.
– Collaborative creation implementing your new understanding.
Required Text: The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Body by Cyndi Dale
No Experience Required: This workshop is offered as part of the Lift Yoga and Body 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training but is open to all.
Total CEUs: Contact: 20 hours/ non-Contact: 2 hours (homework assignment to be submitted after completion)
Assisting + Adjusting Practicum
with Akasha Searcey
December 1-3 — $350
Friday: 4:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
Assisting students in yoga postures can be transformational and literally life changing. The key is to understand exactly what aspect to assist as well as making adjustments based on core concepts of stability, ability and integration. As teachers, it is of the utmost importance to know when and when not to assist a student in a way that creates space for energy to flow into new spaces of mind, body and heart.
Required book: Yoga Assists: A Complete Visual and Inspirational Guide to Yoga Asana Assists
About the Instructor:
Student of life, teacher of light. Devoted to the exploration of what it means to be human and present, to every single day of your life. She harnesses the gifts of yoga, nutrition, mindfulness, culture, adventure, emotion and life experience, to illuminate both where we are (not where we perceive ourselves to be) and where we can be (without our self imposed limitations). This truth is what Akasha calls: your level best and she is committed to helping her clients identify, achieve, and maintain it.
Meditation + Pranayama Teacher Training
with Akasha Searcey
January 19-21, 2024 — $350
Friday: 4:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
Prana is life force, life energy. It is everywhere; within us and all around us. “Breath is king of mind.” -BKS Iyengar
Join us for a deep dive into various practices. This workshop is for the teacher or the advanced student that wants to cultivate a depth of knowledge beyond asana. Learn all about the anatomy and physiology of breath as well as advanced breath technique practices to up level your health, awareness and consciousness. We will use breath, mantra and more to dive deep into the practice of meditation. Understanding the power of these practices and their effect on the entire physical body and its energy systems.
Required books: Light on Pranayama BKS Iyengar, Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
About the Instructor:
Student of life, teacher of light. Devoted to the exploration of what it means to be human and present, to every single day of your life. She harnesses the gifts of yoga, nutrition, mindfulness, culture, adventure, emotion and life experience, to illuminate both where we are (not where we perceive ourselves to be) and where we can be (without our self imposed limitations). This truth is what Akasha calls: your level best and she is committed to helping her clients identify, achieve, and maintain it.
Yoga & Trauma: Healing with Tantra Hatha Yoga
with Holle Black
February 16-18, 2024 — $350
Friday: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
- Effects of trauma on the mind, body and nervous system
- Uses of Tantra Hatha Yoga to help heal the mind/body disconnect following trauma
- Practices of Tantra Hatha Yoga to help students and clients better understand and heal from trauma
- How trauma informed yoga is different than a “regular” studio class (language/cueing, postures, pacing, philosophies)
- How to create and teach trauma-based yoga classes to various populations and in different settings
Ayurveda: Yoga’s Sister Science
with Akasha Searcey
March 8-10, 2024 — $475
Friday: 4:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
Price includes two meals as part of the training.
The sister science of Yoga has so many amazing tools as well as gifts. Ayurveda is like the human handbook. When we take the time to understand the doshas and how energy moves in and within our energy bodies then we are able to begin to cultivate continual renewal in our body that allows us to reach our human potential in this lifetime. Take this workshop to do a deep dive into the practices and lifestyle that is Ayurveda. Learn how to offer Ayurvedic Marma Therapy in your classes as well as how to sequence for and celebrate the doshas. Yoga is for everyone and Ayurveda can be a lovely lighthouse to guide you home to your true nature.
Required book:Ayurveda: The Science of Self Healing: A Practical Guide
Understanding The Bhagavad Gita
with Sheila Ewers
April 6-7, 2024 — $325
Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
The Bhagavad Gita appears in the 6th Book of the Hindu Epic, Mahabharata. Written somewhere between the 5th and 2nd centuries B.C., the Gita has long been considered one of the most influential texts in the World. In a conversation between Prince Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna, universal themes such as the purpose of life, humankind’s relationship to divinity, the value of action vs. renunciation, and the timeless journey of the soul are explored in depth along with the concepts of Karma, Dharma, Bhakti and Yoga.
The text has had international influence, informing the writing of American authors like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Mahatma Ghandi turned to the Gita for consolation during his campaign for Indian Independence, and many other prominent politicians, philosophers, psychologists and leaders have lauded both its beauty and its message for centuries. For Yoga Practitioners world-wide, understanding the Gita has become an essential part of discovering the philosophical premise that underscores the practice.
- Session 1 – Saturday 9am-1pm: Introduction, Background and Context
- Session 2 – Saturday 2-6 pm: Understanding Dharma, Karma and How to realize the Nature of the True Self through Yoga
- Session 3 – Sunday 9am-1pm: Ishvara and Bhakti: What the Gita teaches about the Nature of God and the Worship of God
- Session 4 – Sunday 2-6pm Gunas and Atman: What the Bhagavad Gita teaches about the Nature of the Universe.
**This training counts for 1 required module in the RYS300 Program and for 16 Continuing Education Hours with Yoga Alliance
Meditation and Pranayama Immersion
with Sheila Ewers
July 10-14, 2024
$1,200-$1,650 depending on room choice
Noon Wednesday to Noon Sunday
Location: Offsite, Location TBD
This five day, four night immersion at Elohee in the North Georgia Mountains is required for those students enrolled in the Johns Creek Yoga RYS300 training, but is open to all. Join us to dive deeply into consciousness as you explore your own meditation and pranayama practice and learn new techniques and skills to create a life-long relationship with Prana (the sacred life-force/energy that we often access and experience through the breath). Enrich your personal practice and develop skills to teach others. Our hope is that this experience will launch a lifetime commitment to the more subtle, and often more powerful practices of yoga.
Cost includes food, lodging, tuition and manual for 5 days/4 nights (space is limited to 10 Participants):
- Twin/ Shared Room: $1,200
- Queen/ Private Room/Shared Bath: $1,400
- Queen/Private Room/Private Bath: $1,650
About the Instructor:
Sheila Ewers is an ERYT 500 and YACEP teacher certified through Yoga Alliance. She trained at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and has been practicing and teaching for more than 20 years. In 2011, she created Blue Lotus Yoga, LLC which operated in two physical location in Johns Creek and Duluth, GA, Under Blue Lotus, she also launched a comprehensive online studio platform and developed Sweet Tea Yoga Festival in Alpharetta, GA. She is a published author and served as Yoga Editor for Natural Awakenings Atlanta Magazine from 2019 through 2021.
Today, Sheila owns and operates SEEK Yoga and Travel, a full service yoga platform designed to help students and seekers of all sorts develop tools for deepening consciousness, developing connection and living lives of joyful embodiment. Sheila holds additional certifications in Meditation, Yin Yoga, Thai Yoga, Bodywork, and Yoga Nidra and has trained with dozens of internationally known yoga and meditation teachers. She leads Yoga Teacher Training at both the 200 and 300-hour levels, hosts retreats and workshops both domestically and internationally and provides spiritual and professional coaching. As a former Professor of American literature, Sheila loves to explore the intersection between philosophy, poetry, religion, nature, and yoga and often brings that synthesis into her work. She continues to take advantage of every opportunity to train and learn and will forever consider herself a student of this ancient and beautiful practice.
Yin Yoga Teacher Training
with Kathy + Dennis Lang
August 16-18, 2024 — $385, $350 early bird rate if registered by June 1, 2024
Friday: 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Saturday & Sunday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Lift Yoga Johns Creek
- A historical perspective of Yin Yoga and its roots in Taoism
- Yoga anatomy for a yin perspective
- The Dualism of body and mind
- Meridian Theory and the use of yin yoga for targeted results
- Yin for athletes
- Teaching guidelines and how to design a practice
- Over a dozen Yin yoga sequences are provided as well as class theme suggestions
- Upon completion, each student has the tools, practices and resources to lead yin yoga classes
Recommended pre-reading: The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark OR Insight Yoga by Sarah Powers
Course will be 50% lecture and 50% practice
About the Instructors:
Kathy + Dennis bring a different perspective to yoga instruction by co-teaching… a blend of Yin and Yang energies. Their abundance of knowledge, practice, and experience draws from their studies and attendance of many national workshops across the country including training with Rodney Yee, David Life and Sharon Gannon, Shiva Rea, Sean Corn, Paul Grilley, Sarah Powers, and others. Their style is influenced by the traditions of Kripalu, Kundalini, Jivamukti, Ashtanga, Yin and Vinyasa Flow Yoga. Having traveled overseas extensively to over 40 countries, they have a broad view with much cultural exposure.
One cannot simply read and theorize; one must practice and take that practice inward to experience the multiple layers and terrain of ourself. As musicians, they have added the modalities of sound and vibration as a key experience and ingredient with meditative instrumentals of guitar, Sitar, crystal bowls, Native American flute, drums, and gong. They are teachers, but consider themselves more as guides or facilitators of an experience. They believe that yoga is about relationships; first, you with yourself, then you with the world and the divine. So with us, the practice is not a “work out”, but very much a “work-in”.