The Dharma of Engaged Yoga
& The Practice of Sustainable OM Yoga

 A 300 Hour Online
Yoga Teacher Training

Taught by Cyndi Lee

 

Module 1: Inner Work
Nov 14, 2020 - Jan 30, 2021
Module 2: Outer Work
Feb 20 - 27, 2021 & May 1 - 8, 2021
Module 3: The Moon Practices
Available pre-recorded and live
Module 4: Retreats with Cyndi
Jan 11 - 15 or Mar 17 - 21
Jun 11 - 13, 2021
Module 5: Yoga Ethics and the Real World
Module 6: Mentoring Project
Your own schedule, your own budget, your own interest.

The Dharma of Engaged Yoga, a 300 hour OM Yoga Teacher Training program taught by Cyndi Lee, is an expansive approach to practice that flows from the understanding that all beings everywhere are interdependent.  This is a guiding principle for all of us who teach yoga.

The course material is drawn from Buddhist and Yoga teachings on compassion, ethics, sustainability, radical inclusivity, motivation and dedication.  These same wisdom traditions also offer us modern technologies for being helpful to others, via the practices of asana, meditation, pranayama, restorative yoga and deep svadyaya.  

Through the nuts and bolts of teaching methodology and practice, you will learn how to embed the practice of Engaged Yoga into your asana, pranayama, meditation, and restorative yoga classes in a way that  allows you to honestly and ethically be of benefit to all those who come to your classes.  

Who is the OM yoga 300 TT for?

This advanced training course is for 200-hour certified yoga teachers who want to develop their yoga teaching skill sets, grow their physical and spiritual practices, get fresh inspiration, broaden their view and enable their teaching offerings to help a wider variety of people.

Known as a teacher’s teacher, Cyndi will guide you in recognizing your patterns and your potential.  You will discover your innate resiliency and sanity, which allows you to be a present, grounded resource for your students.

 
 

Study & Practice: the 2 Wings of the Bird
(You need both to fly!)

 

Study:

Dharma talks and teachings will offer a framework for bravely looking at our own unseen and unknowledged biases, fears and hopes; empathy fatigue; and physical and emotional burnout.  The inner work of practice and study together will help us grow our capacity as full human beings and cultivate our personal relationship to peace and dignity. 

Upon registration a reading list will be sent to you that includes books on yoga practice and philosophy, Buddhist practice and philosophy, sustainability, interdependence, ecodharma and the spiritual practice of inclusivity and community.  You will be required to read four assigned books plus one of your choice from a list of recommended books.

Practice:

The topics introduced in Modules 1 - 4 will be embodied through Sustainable OM Yoga classes, a practice of working with all the ingredients of your life, as you are and as you change. It is an evolution of OM yoga: medium-paced vinyasa, precise alignment and mindfulness. This work includes all categories of asana: standing and seated poses, back and forward bends, twists and inversions.  It is about presence, stability, nimbleness, curiosity and nourishment, never goal-oriented or performative asana.  Sustainable OM Yoga is about including every body and every person.

The insights and understanding you gain from these asana practices - as well as meditation, pranayama and restorative yoga — will become the ground for learning how to grow your own teaching offering, allowing your work to become more inclusive, sustainable and creative.

Each participant is encouraged to work at their own level as a path to further evolving your own personal practice.

 
 

Course Structure and Content

OM yoga 300 hr Teacher Training is structured in 6 modules. You must take Module 1 and 2 in order and the others can be taken in any sequence. All modules can be taken as stand-alones, if you are not interested in getting a 300 TT certificate.

At this time, all modules will be online, some live and some recorded.

Every module that is live online will also be recorded and made available to you for 30 days. So, if you cannot attend every session of any given module, you can still keep up with the group - or you can study in your own time. But you must register before the beginning date of the module.

 
 
 

What Yogis Are Saying About OM yoga

 
Testimonial Blog

“Cyndi is so steeped in Buddhist wisdom that it flows into every aspect of her Yoga teaching. She shares the deep intertwined roots of Yoga and Buddhism in a way that is natural and simple and entirely her own. I  am forever grateful to have taken my 300 hour TT with Cyndi. Whether you are a practitioner, or a teacher yourself, her generous and informed perspective will connect you to a limitless source of discovery that will change your life.”

— Susan Kraft | Yoga teacher & Writer | Brooklyn

“Cyndi’s ability to make the complex simple and the simple complex is what I understand jazz musicians - and poets! - do. She’s a true artist and inspired teacher.”

— Alexa Mergen | Nature Writer & Yoga Teacher | California

“My 300 hour yoga Teacher training with Cyndi Lee elevated my teaching practice in every way possible, but especially with creating a full spectrum yoga class. Cyndi masterfully integrates the Buddhist teachings into every asana practice — even just observing her methodology is immensely helpful. After the training, I felt empowered to launch a very successful private practice in NYC and joined the faculty of a prestigious university as part of their mindfulness program. The entire world opened up!”

— Hunt Parr | Yoga Teacher | NYC & Brooklyn

“She is very, very funny and she will work you and challenge you and you will feel like you have actually gained something really deep from the training.”

— Jeri Wilson | Yoga Studio Owner | Maine

“Cyndi is a down to earth teacher. With her precise alignment instructions she guides students to connect to themselves and get stable and clear. She has a unique way of blending Buddhadharma into yoga classes, thereby encouraging students to see and touch their potential, their basic sanity.”

— Detlev Alexander | Yoga & Meditation Teacher | Berlin

“I’m so glad I decided to take Cyndi Lee’s 300 hr TT. It advanced my personal practice in ways that I could not imagine. There is no pose I am afraid of anymore. It’s advanced my teaching practice, it’s advanced my dharma study. It’s just been a thrilling experience the whole time.”

— Ann Megyas | Actor, Yoga Teacher, Hospice Worker | NYC

“Cyndi is a teacher's teacher--meticulous, focused on process, devoted to her lineage. Cyndi has given me the tools to transform my life, breath by breath. I could not be more grateful."

— Lisa Sack | Psychotherapist, Yoga Teacher | Brooklyn

“She is just THE perfect combo of smart and fun. Seriously. Love her so much!”

— Sandy Gross | MoveWell | Cleveland

“She is totally groovy....like a lava lamp.”

— Cindi Assad | Yoga Teacher | Pennsylvania

“I’m Jeri and I’m a studio owner in Maine and I just finished my 500 hr TT with Cyndi Lee. It was an excellent experience, partly because I had been trained primarily in Anusara and I was challenged to think very differently. I found it was very helpful to come back to teach with Cyndi’s influence. She is very, very funny and she will work you and challenge you and you will feel like you have actually gained something really deep from the training.”

— Jeri Wilson, Studio Owner, Maine

“I am a graduate of the OM 2003 Warrior Weekend Teacher Training Program. I had the honor to teach at OM yoga in New York City for several years. I have since moved to another city and was instantly offered teaching jobs based solely on the fact that I had been a teacher at Cyndi Lee’s OM yoga. Studio owners in my current city thought so highly of Cyndi Lee’s OM yoga Teacher Training that they hired me immediately and I found and continue to find that my OM yoga Teacher Training opens door after door for me. OM yoga (practicing there, teaching OM yoga, and learning from Cyndi Lee) helped me professionally in my own yoga-teaching career. Even more meaningfully for me, I feel that the path of mindfulness and attention to alignment that pours through the pores of OM yoga has influenced me and helped me to soften enough to become more “myself” since I first walked into the OM yoga studio.”

— Natalie Levin, OM Yoga Graduate, OM Warrior Weekend Teacher Training Program 2003

“I am a student of the OM 200 and OM 500 TT. I keep learning from Cyndi Lee who is just a master teacher, every class I take, every hour I’m here she says something wonderful that I can bring into my life, onto my mat, into my classes with my students. As a teacher and a student, I feel enriched every time I’m with her and in her class.”

— Donna Levenstien, Yoga Teacher, Lake George, NY

 
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Module 1: Inner Work
(50 Hours)

November 14, 2020 - January 30, 2021
Online via Zoom, hosted by TriYoga

Cost*
Early Bird: $785 before Oct 31
Regular Price: $915

*Module 1: Inner Work requires separate registration & payment through TriYoga

You may also take this as a standalone course. Curious students and teachers are all welcome!

 

Each topic includes dharma talk and corresponding asana lesson :

  • The Three Tenets of Engaged Yoga:
    Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, Taking Compassionate Action

  • Deliberate Practice:  The Six Steps to Growing a Bodhisattva, Part I:
    (generosity, discipline, patience)

  • What does Ethics really mean?:  Reconsidering the Yamas and Niyamas.

  • Yoga is not an Aspirin:
    What we can and cannot offer/guarantee as yoga teachers

  • The Self-Secret Relationship between Vinyasa and Mindfulness

  • Sustainable Yoga for Humans and our Planet: Cultivating an awareness of Cause and Effect

  • Detailed and Sustainable Sun Salutation Study & Practice as a teaching vehicle for embodying engaged yoga philosophy

  • How to Make Your Practice a Refuge, Not an Escape
    Purpose, View and Establishing Presence of Mind
    The Practice of Self-Caring: How to Avoid Burnout
    Working with Obstacles to Growing, the Vow Not to Burn Out

  • The Radical Inclusivity of the Four Immeasurables
    Motivation, Practice and Dedication
    Relationship between Aspiration and Practice
    Expanding our innate capacity for Lovingkindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity

 

Module 2a & 2b:
Outer Work
(100 Hours)

Methodology: Ingredients & Processes (50 hours)
Pedagogy: The Darsana of Teaching (50 hours)

Module 2a: February 20 - 27, 2021
Module 2b: May 1 - 8, 2021

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Each topic includes dharma talk and corresponding asana lesson :

  • Exquisite Sustainable Sequencing:
    Creating yoga classes that sustain our capacity for mobility, strength, nimbleness now and into the future
    Peak Pose vs Peak Experience
    The Tentpole Principle
    Creating Robust Practices of various lengths

  • Radical Inclusivity:  Sequencing for All Bodies Together
    Inspiring everyone vs “dumbing down,” integrating pre-binds, pre-, position vs action

  • Details of Methodology:
    Use of Duration, Repetition, Rhythm, Effort, Position, Action
    Filling and Emptying Space
    Creative Precision
    Inviting Mindfulness/Sati Dots of Awareness
    Creating multi-layered instructions, merging philosophy with precise physical action

  • Finding your creative expression of dharma lessons via language and movement: Ground, Path & Fruition

  • How to Make Your Classroom a Refuge, Not an Escape

  • Pointing to the Moon: Taking Your Seat as the Teacher
    Manifesting the Three Qualities of a Good Teacher

  • Deliberate Practice: The Six Steps to Growing a Bodhisattva, Part 2: (wholehearted enthusiasm, meditation, wisdom)

  • A multi-pronged approach to teaching Radically Inclusive yoga classes:  voice, speech, language, touch and no-touch, use of props and space, and methods of regulation

Module 2b includes Teaching Practice:

  • Creating and Teaching sequences

  • Detailing “assists” 

  • Learning to Give and Receive Feedback

 
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Module 3: The Moon Practices

Meditation Teacher Training, Level 1 & 2 (24 hours)
Pranayama Teacher Training  (9 hours)
Restorative Yoga Teacher Training  (6 hours)

See section below for details regarding registration and costs for this module.

 

Trainings on Yoga International
Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Levels 1 and 2
Restorative Teacher Training
Pranayama Teacher Training

Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training levels 1 & 2 and Restorative Teacher Training are pre-recorded and available to take on Yoga International at any time, and Pranayama TT will be available live March 2-4 and available pre-recorded after that.

Once you are fully registered for the full 300 TT, you will receive a special discount code just for the participants of this training. Instead of Yoga International’s usual price of $229 for Mindfulness Meditation TT 1 & 2, Restorative TT and the upcoming Pranayama TT (live online March 2-4 or recorded), your price will be $150 for each of these trainings.

Trainings with Triyoga
Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Levels 1, 2 and 3

If you prefer to take Mindfulness Meditation TT live online with me, Levels 1, 2 & 3 will all be offered LIVE through Triyoga London. Cost is $265 per Level. Level 3 is not required but will also be offered live for $150 and can count toward your Mentoring project hours. It’s more expensive, but more extensive.

Meditation Teacher Training Level 1
February 6-7 and February 13-14

Meditation Teacher Training Level 2
April 10-11 and April 17-18

Meditation Teacher Training Level 3 Level 3
May 15-16

Module 3 Cost

I am negotiating with Yoga International on a special discount for my pre-recorded Restorative Yoga TT and Mindfulness Meditation TT Levels 1 & 2,  It will be approx. $185/course.  You will receive a code and be able to register and take these courses in your own time.

Pranayama TT will be offered Live through Yoga International and for this you will also be offered a discount code.  You will be able to take the course live March 2-4, or the recording anytime after that.

In addition to the pre-recorded courses available through Yoga International, Mindfulness Meditation TT Levels 1, 2 & 3 will also be offered LIVE through Triyoga London.  Cost is $265 per Level.  Level 3 is not required but will also be offered live for $150 and can count toward your Mentoring project hours.  It’s more expensive, but more extensive.

 

Module 4: Retreats with Cyndi

Mindfulness Meditation Mini-Retreat
January 11 - 15, or
March 17 - 21

Very Special Yoga Teachers’ Retreat
June 11 - 13

You must attend one mini-retreat and the Very Special Yoga Teachers’ Retreat.

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Mindfulness Meditation Mini-Retreat
January 11 - 15, or
March 17 - 21

Each day I will offer a lesson on the nuts and bolts of meditation, as well as how the practice relates to the rest of your life. On Day 1 I will give specific mindfulness meditation instruction and we will sit for a short period.  Every day the instruction will deepen and the length of the sitting periods will grow.  By the end of five days we will sit together for 30 minutes…or more.

Meditation is sometimes called “a gathering together.” We will organize our body, breath and mind and gather together with each other.  There is a special kind of magic that comes from sitting with a group — even on line!  The benefits of meditation are stability, clarity and strength of mind and you develop these from consistent practice.

This is a great opportunity for those who have not had formal meditation instruction or would like to refresh their practice.  We will have a little bit of time for Q & A, too.  

If you can’t make it every day, just do your best.  All registrants will have access to the videos for 72 hours after each day so you can watch later on the days you can’t be there.

Very Special Yoga Teachers’ Retreat
June 11 - 13

In 2013 I cooked up this this very special retreat designed just for yoga teachers.

Like me, you might find that regular yoga classes don’t typically offer enough time for the deeper explorations that allow us to further develop our practice and study -- and our own home practice and personal yogic explorations often take back seat to class planning on the mat. And then….we find ourselves in a teaching rut.

Perhaps you agree with me, that as we evolve, our relationship to practice should evolve.

This retreat is a time for you as a yoga teacher to reflect on:

  • what yoga means to you NOW.

  • what is it that you want to teach, to transmit as a yoga teacher, based on who you are NOW.

  • where are you stuck in your practice of teaching yoga?

  • what is the relationship between your asana practice and your teaching practice NOW?

  • what part of your yoga storyline is no longer true for you NOW?

  • where are you stuck in your practices of asana, pranayama, meditation?

  • what lights you up?

We will practice yoga in some familiar and some new ways. We will work on asanas that you do and don’t like. You will meditate, relax on bolsters, get inspired by nature, art, dharma discussions and possibly chocolate. You will make dear friends. You will be ON RETREAT.

Think of this retreat as yoga food, nourishment for that deep part of you that was called to teach yoga in the first place.

June 12 & 13 $324.00

June 11 2:00pm - 4:00pm ET
June 12 10:00am - 1:00pm, 2:00pm - 4:00pm ET
June 13 10:00am - 1:00pm ET

 
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Module 5: The Dharma
and the Dollar
with Hunt Parr

Details coming soon!

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 Module 6: Mentoring Project
(50 Hours)

When: on your own schedule

Where: wherever your chosen workshops occur

Cost: whatever your budget allows

 

 What is the Mentoring Program?

The Mentoring Program means that you get to discover your own vocation within the wide realm of yoga.  You can think of this as your graduate thesis in yoga.  What is calling you? Anatomy, Sanskrit, Meditation, Yoga for Vets, Pre-Natal Yoga?  Ayurveda, yoga for Prisoners, Pranayama for Stress? These 100 hours (90 contact, 10 non-contact) are for you to go deeper into the area that is your passion….or what you most want to study in order to expand your teaching offering and income potential.

You and I will work together to custom-make your Independent Learning Plan, with clear goals and measurable objectives; outlining how those specifically relate to the work we have done together in the other modules. 

You will need to track your hours and document your work.  You may end up with a tangible project, a new teaching offering, a new not-for-profit, a digital diary, a podcast or… who knows?

In order to be certified by me and OM yoga at the 300 hour TT level, you must successfully complete the all modules and the Mentoring Program. 

 

Application, Registration, and Cost 

 

Cost

$2,700 includes all modules except Modules 1, 3 & 6.

Module 1 Cost

Early Bird Price: $705.00 before Oct. 31
Regular Price: $800 after October 31
(Module 1 is hosted by Triyoga London. Currency exchange varies slightly per day.)

Module 3 Cost

Once you are fully registered for the full 300 TT, you will receive a special discount code just for the participants of this training. Instead of Yoga International’s usual price of $229 for Mindfulness Meditation TT 1 & 2, Restorative TT and the upcoming Pranayama TT (live online March 2-4 or recorded), your price will be $150 for each of these trainings.

If you prefer to take Mindfulness Meditation TT live online with me, Levels 1, 2 & 3 will all be offered LIVE through Triyoga London. Cost is $265 per Level. Level 3 is not required but will also be offered live for $150 and can count toward your Mentoring project hours. It’s more expensive, but more extensive.

Live & Online TriYoga Meditation Teacher Training Registration:

Module 6 Cost

Module 6 is your mentoring project and cost depends on your project.

Application Process & Payment

Please complete the application below. To be considered, you must also send a $500 deposit via pay pal with the payment button below.

Your spot will be held once your application is accepted and your deposit is received.

When you receive your notice of acceptance, please go to the link above to register for Module 1 asap.  You will get a letter from me with lots more info, so don’t worry!

The remaining amount of $2,200 is due by January 15.

If you are not accepted, you will receive a refund less $75 application fee.

 
 

300 Hour OM yoga Teacher Training Application Form