OUR HANDPICKED TEACHERS
INSPIRE, LEAD AND CHALLENGE
YOU EVERY STRETCH OF THE WAY.

 
 

STRETCH YOURSELF AND LEARN TO TEACH

It’s no secret that we’re leaders in providing training to become a yoga teacher. We're even listed as number 1 in the UK's top 10 trainings here AND here! Our accredited 200 hour teacher training programme will help you deepen your understanding of yoga, develop your own yoga practice and give you the practical skills and confidence to guide students through a yoga class.

 
 
 

Download Our 2024/2025 prospectus

Explore our prospectus and learn more about us, our comprehensive programme’s curriculum and requirements, and all the practical organisation too.

 

COURSE TUTORS

 

Our professional team of tutors have been practising and teaching yoga for a long time. They’re committed to sharing the practice of yoga in a meaningful and practical way. Their guidance and support of you as an individual will enable you to be the best teacher you can be when you stand in front of your own class.

 
judi farrell owner of merchant city yoga

JUDI FARRELL

Principal Teacher + Owner of MCY

+ Read about judi

What started as a class taken once a week in the local sports centre has become a passion and a way of life.

After starting a new job and enduring six months of sleepless nights, Judi was dragged along to her first yoga class by her Mum – an act of desperation on her part. In a very short time her weekly yoga class worked its magic, helping to alleviate stress and anxiety. And provide some much needed sleep too. Further workshops inspired Judi to seek to deepen her practice and understanding of yoga by enrolling in the Yoga Scotland Foundation Course.

Gradually yoga became more than just something to be done in a weekly class. On completion of the course Judi was so eager to continue her yoga journey she enrolled on the CYS Yoga Teacher Training programme with June Mitchell in 2005.

It was here Judi’s enthusiasm for Ashtanga yoga was ignited – the flow of breath and movement, the discipline of a challenging sequence and the respect and humility that comes from practising in an ancient tradition.

Judi owns and runs MCY and is the Principal Teacher on the CYS Glasgow Teacher Training Programme as well as Senior Tutor on both CYS Edinburgh/Perth and CYS Surrey. She’s been practicing yoga since 1998; spent three months of practice and study at the KPJYRI in Mysore, India in 2012; completed Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor’s 200 hour Teachers’ Intensive in Boulder, Colorado in 2018 and has practised with David Keil every year (bar one!) since 2006.

june mitchell is the cys course director

JUNE MITCHELL

Course Director

+ read about june

CYS Yoga Teacher Training Course Director, June Mitchell has been teaching yoga full time since the early 1980s, running three very successful yoga centres in Perth, Scotland. She currently runs Perth Yoga Studio www.perthyogastudio.com.

As a young woman June qualified to teach in Sivananda Yoga in 1976/77 through her inspirational teacher and mentor, the late William Mowat Thomson. He was the founder of the Edinburgh-based Scottish Yoga Centre of the 1970s and is widely credited for bringing yoga to Scotland. He was Patron of CYS from its inception in 2003, giving it a lineage unique in the UK.

June then had the benefit in the 1980s and 90s of many trainings with the best yoga teachers in the UK through the British Wheel of Yoga plus inspirational Iyengar yoga teachers. In 2003 she further qualified in Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga with Certified Ashtanga yoga teacher, Paul Dallaghan’s Centred Yoga on Koh Samui in Thailand and in 2004 was a direct student of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India.

She is dedicated to the traditional teachings of yoga and has been Scotland’s, and one of the UK’s, leading yoga teachers for very many years. She has taught and inspired a large number of highly successful yoga teachers who are now taking classes and running their own yoga centres and charities throughout Scotland, the South of England, Europe, the USA, South America and even as far as Australia – hello Harry and Allison in Townsville!

In 2003 June co-founded and was Course Director of CYS Scotland, then called the Chi Yoga School, as an independent yoga school offering the highest standards in yoga teacher training. In 2006 CYS expanded into the South of England and the training courses have continued to thrive since 2010 when June took over as sole owner and Course Director of CYS, now known as the Classical Yoga School.

hands in yoga pose from our experienced yoga tutoring team

TUTORING TEAM

Our tutors bring real breadth and depth to the course.

+ read about them

Practicing and teaching yoga comes from the heart and when you take one of our yoga training courses you’ll learn how to teach in a range of different styles. Learn from our tutors and you’ll become skilled in teaching yoga for different classes and levels in your own style.

Senior Tutors

Alanna Dearden has been a Senior Tutor on CYS Glasgow since 2015, regularly covers for Judi & Rose Ann here at MCY and teaches on a recovery programme as part of MCY’s yoga outreach commitment. She’s been practising Ashtanga since 2003 and teaching since 2009.

Rose Ann McKean teaches our morning Mysore programme here at MCY. She’s been practising Ashtanga since 2005 and is dedicated to sharing the traditional teachings in an approachable and down to earth way.

Ana Costa graduated CYS Glasgow in 2015 and has been teaching our Vinyasa Flow class ever since. She has a PhD in heart research (2019), a master’s in Exercise Science (2013) and a BSc (Hons) in Physiology (2012).

MEET OUR TUTORING TEAM

Practising and teaching yoga comes from the heart and when you take one of our yoga training courses you’ll learn how to teach in a range of different styles. Learn from our tutors and you’ll become skilled in teaching yoga for different classes and levels in your own style.


SENIOR
TUTORS

Alanna Dearden
Rose Ann McKean
Ana Costa


Sue Barclay – Alexander Technique
James Boag – Yoga Philosophy – Kirtan
Judy Cameron – Scaravelli style Yoga
Siobhan Fitzgerald – Pranayama / Hands on Skills
Gareth Magee – Anatomy & Physiology
Emma McGurn – Iyengar Yoga
Alex Woodward – Myers Briggs
Tony Young – Narad – Nadis & Chakras / Meditation / Music & Kirtan

Sheila Croken – Mindfulness Meditation

Emma Thornton MSc (RNutr) - Nutrition

GUEST
TUTORS


Syllabus

Our yoga teacher training programme will help you develop your understanding of yoga and build your yoga practice as well as support you as you begin to learn to share yoga with others.


Practice teaching skills;
Hands-on Skills for adjusting in postures;
Guidance for Self-Practice, Personal Development & Accountability;
Self reflection – how yoga ethics & yoga philosophy relate to your practice and teaching;
Tutorials in Mindfulness, NLP, Alexander Technique and Nutrition to develop a sound holistic approach to yoga teaching;
Myers Briggs Personality Profiling for building self-awareness to teach;
The Business of Yoga including setting up your classes Marketing, Accounting & Insurance;
A 6-hour Emergency First Aid Course will also be made available to all students out with the course hours.

TEACHING PRACTICE ESSENTIALS


History and context of yoga;
Philosophical and Spiritual Study including Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras & The Bhagavad Gita;
Asanas – For personal practice we are working with the Ashtanga Vinyasa Primary Series in addition to studying Hatha, Sivananda, Iyengar, Scaravelli-inspired, Yin and Vinyasa Flow styles;
Anatomy and Physiology – covering all the body systems and understanding how yoga acts on them with additional tuition in Anatomy for Yoga;
Pranayama – the science behind the breath;
The Subtle Body – including Nadis, Chakras, Bandhas and Kriyas;
Meditation – practice & understanding;
Relaxation techniques;
Kirtan and the use of music, mantras & chanting;
Yoga for special circumstances (including back pain, pregnancy,children & seniors.

CORE YOGA PRACTICE


Course Dates

+ 2024/2025

One module per month for 12 months:

2024

MODULE 1 - 13/14 September

MODULE 2 - 11/12 October

MODULE 3 - 8/9 November

MODULE 4 - 6/7 December

2025

MODULE 5 - 17/18 January

MODULE 6 - 14/15/16 February

MODULE 7 - 14/15 March

MODULE 8 - 11/12 April

MODULE 9 - 16/17 May

MODULE 10 - 13/14/15 June

MODULE 11 - 11/12 July

MODULE 12 - 8/9 August

Friday evenings: 6–9 pm Refreshments will be included

Saturdays: 8am–5pm Vegetarian lunch and refreshments will be included

Plus TWO Sunday mornings: 8am–12pm – February and June

+ 2023/2024

One module per month for 12 months:

2023

MODULE 1 - 8/9 September

MODULE 2 - 6/7 October

MODULE 3 - 3/4 November

MODULE 4 - 1/2 December

2024

MODULE 5 - 12/13 January

MODULE 6 - 9/10/11 February

MODULE 7 - 8/9 March

MODULE 8 - 5/6 April

MODULE 9 - 10/11 May

MODULE 10 - 7/8/9 June

MODULE 11 - 5/6 July

MODULE 12 - 2/3 August

Friday evenings: 6 – 9pm / Saturdays: 8am – 5pm

Plus TWO Sunday mornings: 8am til 12pm – February and June 2024


Fees + Applications

The CYS Glasgow Yoga Teacher Training course fees are made up of a deposit of £450 followed by 10 monthly instalments of £254 from the first month (September). The deposit is an advance payment for the last two instalments (July + August).

Total cost £2990.

These programme costs do not include the Emergency First Aid Course provided out-with the course hours. The first aid course is discounted for our CYS groups and usually costs around £50.


TO APPLY

In the first instance email Judi with a paragraph or two talking about each of the following:

Tell me about your yoga practice;
Why would you like to do the Teacher Training?
What might you as an individual bring to the training?

We’ll then invite you to meet up for an informal chat and to take part in a class.

We ask that our applicants have a regular yoga practice prior to commencing the course. During the course we ask you try and attend at least one class per week with your regular teacher (it doesn’t have to be here) and practice at home most other days. Here at MCY we offer current year trainees the concession rate on all classes.


CYS CLASSICAL YOGA SCHOOL

CYS is a Yoga Alliance® accredited Registered Yoga School (RYS® 200) allowing graduate teachers to teach worldwide with their Certificate CYS/Yoga Alliance.

CYS Yoga Teacher Training is synonymous with high standards and is known as a centre for excellence in yoga teaching. Students coming out of the school with a CYS Yoga Alliance® Certificate will be seen to represent the above standards and should expect to finish their training confident, happy and ready to pass on their understanding and experience of yoga to their students.

Yoga is a lifetime’s study and this course should be seen as a sound foundation to build on while acquiring the wisdom to recognise new openings and pathways for learning as they occur over the years – which they will.

www.cysyogateachertraining.com


ACCREDITATION

Yoga Alliance® is a nonprofit association representing the international yoga community, helping to maintain and promote high standards across the sector. Yoga Alliance certification is recognised worldwide. As a Registered Yoga School (RYS®) offering a 200-hour programme, the CYS Yoga Teacher training program:
Meets Yoga Alliance’s standards.
Has been approved by Yoga Alliance.
Is up-to-date with annual registration fees.
You can find out more about the standards required by Yoga Alliance for a Registered Yoga School that offers a 200-hour program here.
ID No: 11350


 

WHAT OUR STUDENTS SAY

 
 

Our students are our best advert! They’ve been in the thick of it and have come out the other end. We asked them why they chose this course, what most surprised them during our time together and what they’re doing now that they’ve graduated. Here’s what they had to say.

 
 

FAQ’s

 
 

When people come to chat with us about joining the Yoga Teacher Training programme, there are a few common questions that come up all the time. Judi, Principal Teacher on the course, answers these questions.

 
 

TESTIMONIALS