Encouraging Connection

Yoga Teacher Training at Woven Yoga

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Curious minds want to know: what’s involved with a Yoga Teacher Training?

What will you learn?

Over the course of 200 training hours, you will center on 4 primary learning objectives:

  • Teaching, Techniques & Practice
  • Anatomy & Physiology
  • Humanities: History and philosophy of yoga
  • Methodology to teaching yoga

When will it happen?

Mary will visit and teach through Immersion Weekends: Saturday 9:30-4:30, Sunday 9-4. The first weekend is October 4-5.

Additionally, we’ll use time during monthly Evening workshops, Wednesdays 5:30-8:30pm.

Who is teaching?

Mary Borton, E-RYT 500, will visit Woven Yoga for these trainings. Mary’s style  is based in Hatha/Vinyaysa and influenced by the somatic teachings of EmbodiYoga®. From her own experience and training with Elizabeth Silas and her work with EmbodiYoga: Mary recognizes the transformative effect yoga has on the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual life. Informed from her years of practice and study, as well as the influence of many great teachers, Mary skillfully creates classes that meet students wherever they are on their paths. She also shares yoga in the education system by imparting the benefits of breath, movement, and mindfulness to classroom teachers. Mary Borton is Founder and Director of Yellow Tree Yoga, a small studio in Troy, Ohio, where she teaches daily classes, works with private clients therapeutically, teaches workshops and trainings in her local community and beyond, creating relevant and beneficial yoga classes for all levels.

And about her work with Zensational Kids: Mary Borton is a trained yoga teacher trainer at the 500-hour level (E-RYT 500). She began studying yoga in 1998 and immediately discovered the life-changing benefits of practices of breath, movement and mindfulness.

As a school librarian, she witnessed how the stress of teaching affected her co-workers and how student needs were also changing. Mary knew that yoga and mindfulness could provide a way to help them relieve stress, feel better in their own mind and body and support them to do better at school and in life.
Mary began teaching yoga to educators in her school district and others in her community while continuing to work, raise her three children, and care for other family members. With the support of her husband, and to promote peaceful living in her community, Mary made the change from school librarian to full-time yoga studio owner. Her heart never left the schools, as she continues to bring the practices to teachers and students in the school setting. Mary has completed advanced and continuing education courses for working with youth through Radiant Child Yoga, and Zensational Kids. She has extensive training in trauma therapy, prenatal specialization, and somatic education. She is a regional trainer for Zensational Kids, bringing yoga and mindfulness to schools in Ohio.

Where will this take place?

All training will be done locally, in Upper Sandusky, Ohio at Woven Yoga (130 S. Sandusky Avenue). The value of this location cannot be understated. For many – most! – teacher trainees in our area, travel is the challenge: getting away for entire weekends, securing lodging, the cost of gas and food. Mary is generously removing this obstacle from your path.

How much will it cost?

A registration fee of $200 is due with your application to confirm your serious interest. This deposit is refundable until November 1.

The deposit will apply toward the entire program cost of $2400, due at the October Immersion Weekend. 

A payment plan is available: $800 due October 1 followed by payments of $320 due November 1, December 1, January 1, February 1 and March 1, for a total of $2600.

We recognize that pricing may be somewhat of a shock to those who haven’t been in the teacher-training world. Our program is one of the most cost-conscious when compared to bigger schools (if you’d like places to compare, I’m glad to provide), especially given the ease of location. Yet this program is just as rich in value: Mary comes as a highly qualified teacher in terms of experience and training.

What’s included in this cost?

  • All 200 hours of hands-on training with Mary necessary for Yoga Alliance RYT 200 certification.
  • Countless hours of in-class practice of asana, breathing, and meditation.
  • Supplemental training materials such as readings, printouts, and worksheets
  • Access to necessary props and tools for practicing
  • A robust library of supplemental reading from which you can borrow for a limited time
  • Unlimited free yoga at Woven Yoga for the duration of the training (October 2-June 3). This is a $765 value.

What’s not included in the cost?

  • Travel to & from the studio and lodging accommodations, if required.
  • Meals and snacks
  • Required reading books (expect to spend approximately $100 or more)
  • Yoga mat, clothes, or personal items

How do I sign up or learn more?

  • Mary is visiting September 8 to teach a special class at 3:30 PM and stay around for a meet & greet until 5:30. She will be available for questions about the program, the content, the schedule, and the requirements of the program.
  • When you’re ready to commit, begin with the online application. You can drop off your mail your $200 deposit to Woven Yoga 130 S. Sandusky Ave. Upper Sandusky, OH 43351
  • Feel free to email Michele with questions, comments, concerns or clarifications.

Slow Flow for Newbies

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Looking for a great place to begin?

This is an introduction and practice of the basic postures and transitions of a fundamentals yoga class. We take a slower pace so that your mind and body can connect the movement without adding the challenge of speed. Because the brain does its best with repetition, the class will be consistent, with some variation, so you can watch your progress and blossom in your yoga practice.

Join us on Wednesdays at 5 PM! This 4-class series begins August 21 and is only available as a series ($45).

Space is limited to 12 – sign up now!

What is yoga?

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Yuj (sanskrit): To join, yoke, unite.

Entire books and hours of seminars expound on the meaning of yoga. Some see it simply as a physical practice and a form of fitness. Others take it to the far opposite and view yoga as a largely meditative practice of the mind. There are groups who lump it into religion, or at least a system of belief and practice. Any of these definitions can work for particular groups, depending on what you’re looking for it to accomplish. At Woven Yoga, none of these preceding definitions accurately fit the teachings we offer. At it’s heart, yoga is union.

As we practice it at our studio, yoga is the bringing together of body and mind, breath and movement. And because the body resides in the soul, a regular practice will begin to change the way we think and what we believe about ourselves, others, and the world around us. As my teacher says, as the body, so the soul.

So you may find that by coming to class and noticing the breath, perhaps expanding inhales deeper into your belly, that you’re able to take a big breath before other life circumstances. As you practice folding and lengthening certain muscle groups, you could see that you’re able to let go of some of the rigidity that used to confine the way you lived. And as you bear your body weight, this newfound strength could serve you well mentally.

Sir Ken Robinson says in his popular TED talk that we now live and act as if we’re simply “floating heads”, keeping education – and I will add work life, family life, and civic life – all in our heads. While our brains are powerful and important for the flourishing of human life, our bodies, our emotions, and our sense of will also contribute to the human experience. Because the mind gets so much of our attention, giving space in the day or week to give awareness to the body and the breath helps bring a person into a more unified state, aware of all the components of life.

A yoga practice is meant to bring freedom, not burden. One of the most famous of gurus (and my personal favorite) spoke of his own teachings and practices as he shared it with others, saying, “my yoke (yuj) is easy and my burden is light.” While keeping us grounded, the way we integrate our lives should bring lightness, to ourselves and others.

Of course, a quick googling will give you thousands of other answers, as yoga has over 5,000 years of history, beginning long before someone could have a YouTube channel to teach it.

Yoga as an ancient practice, specifically in the ashtanga (“eight limbs”) lineage, from which vinyasa (“to place in a particular way”) yoga emerged – and which Woven teaches – involves more than an hour class, once a week. It includes practices of the breath and elements of meditation, along with aligning your personal and social life with ways of living that keeps you in healthy accord with others and the world around you. You may find that some of these other limbs of yoga work their way into your studio practice and the teachings at Woven Yoga.