foundation yoga teacher training (modular format or full 200h)

DE

The Svarupa Yoga Studies Path — Yoga Foundation Training, Reimagined

For 20+ years I direct­ed and taught a 200-Hour Foun­da­tion Train­ing has been a deep immer­sion into the teach­ings and prac­tice of Hatha Yoga. Over the decades, one truth became clear: Most peo­ple ben­e­fit and love the process and a train­ing like this. But, not every­one who comes to study yoga wants to become a teacher.

Many are seek­ing some­thing more essen­tial.  A rela­tion­ship with yoga that goes beyond the pos­es. A con­sis­tent prac­tice that sup­ports real life. An under­stand­ing of the wis­dom tra­di­tions, the body, the breath, and the inner work that makes yoga trans­for­ma­tive, not just informative.

So we’ve reimag­ined the train­ing as a flex­i­ble path­way of study. You can walk the full 200-Hour jour­ney, or enter at the stage or mod­ule that meets
you where you are right now.

Part One: Foundations of Hatha Yoga — Practice & Philosophy | 3 Modules

This is where the jour­ney begins. This cre­ates the ground.
An embod­ied explo­ration of the essen­tial prac­tices and teach­ings of Hatha Yoga. Not just what to do, but the how and why.

You’ll study and expe­ri­ence:

1. Asana + Align­ment: True align­ment from the inside out. We go beyond “pose shapes” to func­tion­al move­ment, bio­me­chan­ics, breath-linked tran­si­tions, and how to adapt pos­tures for dif­fer­ent bod­ies. You’ll learn to feel and under­stand align­ment, not just see it or per­form it.

2. Pranaya­ma: The full map of the sacred breath prac­tices. From the tra­di­tion­al kriyas and band­has (cleans­ing prac­tices), the fun­da­men­tal Ujjay, vilo­ma and Nadi Shod­hana prac­tices, Kapal­ab­hati, and prop­er breath reten­tion. Plus real applic­a­ble ways to grow a life­long prac­tice. You’ll under­stand the phys­i­ol­o­gy, con­traindi­ca­tions, and how to use breath to reg­u­late the ner­vous sys­tem and mind.

3. Med­i­ta­tion: Prac­ti­cal tools for a mod­ern mind. Work­ing from the bud­dhist and clas­si­cal yoga per­spec­tives. Self-inquiry tech­niques you can actu­al­ly sit with. Med­i­ta­tion as sup­port, not sep­a­rate from prac­tice.

4. Yog­ic Phi­los­o­phy: The roots of the prac­tice in life. A true under­stand­ing of the spec­trum from the ancient Yoga Sutras and Bha­gavad Gita to the more mod­ern Hatha Yoga Pradipi­ka and its rela­tion to the life-affirm­ing prac­tices of the tantric/hatha move­ment  and how these ancient maps apply to a mod­ern life.

5. Self-Inquiry & Reflec­tion: Yoga in its essence is trans­for­ma­tion­al, expe­ri­en­tial and a tool for deep­en­ing aware­ness that brings things to life again. The course is intend­ed to pro­vide a plat­form to stay with things long enough, and to feel safe enough and sup­port­ed to allow shifts and clar­i­ty.

This isn’t infor­ma­tion to mem­o­rize. It’s a process.
Through dai­ly prac­tice, study, and com­mu­ni­ty, you build a sus­tain­able sad­hana that sup­ports your body, mind, emo­tions, and spir­it for life.

Per­fect if you’re seek­ing depth, not just a certificate.

The 3 month journey

3 week­end mod­ules (3 day week­ends)
Fri­days 13.30 — 19.00
Sat­ur­day and Sun­days 8.00 — 11.30 and 13.00- 17.30

12 week­ly online prac­tice over the three month phase (on the dig­i­tal library, watch at your con­ve­nience), self direct­ed read­ing and con­tem­pla­tion guid­ed by the course each month

cer­tifi­cate pro­vid­ed if the stu­dent com­pletes all hours*

Dates 2026/2027

Part 1 — Module 1

Nov 06 — 08, 2026 — Bern
Bern (or Nov 13 – 15, 2026 Zurich)

Part 1 — Module 2

Dez 04 — 06, 2026
Bern

Part 1 — Module 3

Jan 22 — 24, 2027
Bern

faculty

Stephen Thomas

Asana, Pranaya­ma, Med­i­ta­tion, Philosophy

Céline Ryf

Asana, Mantra, Phi­los­o­phy www.celineryf.com

Chris Eggenschwiler

Anato­my, Asana www.the-yugen.com

Brigi Thomas-Moog

Ayurve­da, Asana, Restora­tive Asana

Part Two: The Inner Architecture of Practice — Yoga, Anatomy & Ayurveda | 3 Modules

Once the foun­da­tions are steady, we deep­en. This stage bridges ancient wis­dom + mod­ern sci­ence to under­stand the human sys­tem.

You’ll explore:

1. Func­tion­al Anato­my: Bones, joints, fas­cia, and move­ment pat­terns. How asana actu­al­ly works in your body. Injury pre­ven­tion, intel­li­gent mod­i­fi­ca­tions, mov­ing bod­ies with clar­i­ty, com­pas­sion + pur­pose . Under­stand­ing how things work from the inside out and help­ing to demys­ti­fy many aspects of yoga Asana that cause prob­lems for stu­dents. This is a com­bi­na­tion of under­stand­ing prin­ci­ples and actions rather than look­ing at an out­er form and try­ing to match it. A way of giv­ing depth to prac­tice and longevi­ty!

2. Ayurve­da: This is a real explo­ration. not sur­face def­i­n­i­tions, but the liv­ing sci­ence of how we live in rhythm with nature. We study con­sti­tu­tion as dynam­ic, not fixed: how your prakri­ti shapes your body, mind, and emo­tion­al pat­terns, and how vikri­ti shows up in real life when bal­ance is lost. You’ll learn to read the signs of vata, pit­ta, kapha in your­self — as door­ways to under­stand­ing why you crave cer­tain con­di­tions, why your ener­gy shifts with the sea­sons, why stress lands in your body the way it does. We go into dai­ly rhythms and sea­son­al liv­ing with pre­ci­sion. Dinacharya and rit­u­al become prac­ti­cal, not the­o­ret­i­cal. You’ll under­stand how sleep, diges­tion, and men­tal clar­i­ty are direct­ly tied to tim­ing: when you eat, when you move, when you rest. Prac­tice and self-care get tai­lored through the lens of agni, ama, and the six tastes, so yoga stops being one-size-fits-all and starts sup­port­ing your actu­al sys­tem. This work gives you a frame­work for life­long bal­ance. You’ll learn how Ayurve­da and yoga are sis­ter sci­ences — one work­ing through lifestyle + diet, the oth­er through breath + asana + aware­ness. Togeth­er they teach you how to make small, intel­li­gent adjust­ments that restore vital­i­ty, pre­vent burnout, and keep prac­tice sus­tain­able through every stage of life.

3. The Sub­tle Body: We explore the layers/Koshas, channels/nadis, plexus/chakras, winds/vayus. Not as con­cepts, but as lived expe­ri­ence. This trans­forms how we can use the prac­tice to cre­ate vital­i­ty, ease, or to shift sys­tems accord­ing to needs. This mod­ule gives you the “win­dow into what’s behind and in sup­port of the prac­tices. It’s an invalu­able part of any life con­nect­ed to the path of yoga. You’ll under­stand how yoga sup­ports health, vital­i­ty, bal­ance, and per­son­al evo­lu­tion — and impor­tant­ly how to adapt it for your­self and oth­ers.

Ide­al for:
Stu­dents con­tin­u­ing the full path­way | Teach­ers refresh­ing anato­my + Ayurve­da | Ded­i­cat­ed prac­ti­tion­ers who want a more sophis­ti­cat­ed under­stand­ing of wellbeing.

A 6 week journey

3 week­end mod­ules (3 day week­ends)
Fri­days 13.30 — 19.00
Sat­ur­day and Sun­days 8.00 — 11.30 and 13.00- 17.30

12 week­ly online prac­tice over the three month phase (on the dig­i­tal library, watch at your con­ve­nience), self direct­ed read­ing and con­tem­pla­tion guid­ed by the course each month

cer­tifi­cate pro­vid­ed if the stu­dent com­pletes all hours*

Dates 2026/2027

Part 2 — Module 1

Mar 05 — 07, 2027
Bern

Part 2 — Module 2

Mar 21 — 28, 2027
Ayurve­da Week* — Online

Part 2 — Module 3

April 02 — 04, 2027 — Berne
.

*Stu­dents can work a nor­mal work week, but fol­low a pro­gram of Spring Cleanse, online study (or in stu­dio) and guid­ed prac­tices. Can be cus­tomized to fit work schedule

Part Three: The Art of Teaching Yoga — Teaching & Leadership | 2 Modules

Teach­ing yoga is an art, not a script.
It requires pres­ence, clar­i­ty, dis­cern­ment, and the abil­i­ty to hold space for trans­for­ma­tion. It also needs some hard skills. How to sequence and cue pos­es. How to adjust and mod­i­fy for peo­ple. It takes year to learn it well. But it helps to have cours­es that give the frame­work, the script and the videos to allow growth over time.
When your part of the svaru­pa foun­da­tion train­ing, you do this course when you are sure you want to teach. When you have com­plet­ed a train­ing and feel that nat­u­ral­ly you just didn’t get enough time to learn the skills and have the space to apply and prac­tice it over and over again, this is for you!

You’ll devel­op:

1. Teach­ing Method­ol­o­gy: How to be a clear, authen­tic teacher. Voice, pac­ing, sequenc­ing log­ic, and the ethics of guid­ance.

2. Intel­li­gent Sequenc­ing: Build class­es with pur­pose. Peak pos­es, coun­ter­pos­es, breath-to-move­ment, and how to theme with­out clichés.

3. Obser­va­tion & Assess­ment: See what’s real­ly hap­pen­ing in bod­ies. Offer adjust­ments and ver­bal cues that land, safe­ly and effec­tive­ly.

4. The Lan­guage of Yoga: How words shape expe­ri­ence. Craft­ing cues, metaphors, and instruc­tions that cre­ate space, not con­fu­sion.

5. Hold­ing Space: Group dynam­ics, trau­ma-informed aware­ness, and the teacher-stu­dent rela­tion­ship.

6. Prac­ti­cal Teach­ing + Pro­fes­sion­al Devel­op­ment: Prac­tice teach­ing, feed­back, and how to build a sus­tain­able offer­ing after train­ing.

Designed for:
Future teach­ers | Grad­u­ates who still don’t feel con­fi­dent to lead | Expe­ri­enced teach­ers want­i­ng men­tor­ship + refinement.

The Teaching journey

This is a demand­ing course but the results will change and shift you.
10 day jour­ney (videos, self direct­ed ses­sions to learn)
2 immer­sive long week­end mod­ules (3 day week­ends)
Fri­days 13.30 — 19.00
Sat­ur­day and Sun­days 8.00 — 11.30 and 13.00- 17.30

Dates 2026/2027

Part 3 — Module 1

Date to be announced
Loca­tion to be announced

Part 3 — Module 2

May 07 — 09, 2027
Bern

Choose your Path

You can com­plete the full 200-Hour Foun­da­tion Train­ing, start to fin­ish. Or choose the sec­tion that sup­ports your cur­rent stage.

Whether you’re seek­ing per­son­al trans­for­ma­tion, a deep­er under­stand­ing of yoga, or the skills to teach with integri­ty — there’s a place for you here. Yoga is a life­long study.  Our pro­grams are designed to meet you where you are, and where you’re going.

If you’re not sure, con­tact us and we will help you to shape a pro­gram that suits you.

Fees, Application, Testimonials & Further Questions

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