Awake Yoga Teacher Training
The Bodhi Tree Yoga Awake Teacher Training is a comprehensive program covering the essentials of hatha yoga instruction from asana and pranayama, to anatomy, meditation, history, philosophy, and sanskrit. Colin Hall and Sarah Garden have been training yoga teachers since 2004. Teachers graduating from our program have taught locally and internationally. We have graduated and continue to train many of the provinces most sought after and respected yoga teachers.
We believe that good yoga teachers do more than teach people how to stretch and read inspirational quotes. Good yoga teachers have experienced the healing and transformative power of yoga. Good teachers have taken the time necessary to become strong and grounded in their physical practice. They are patient, compassionate, intelligent, mindful in speech and action, and have a great deal of respect for the yoga tradition. Our teacher training program provides our students with the skills to demonstrate and teach the basics of yoga postures, breathing exercises, relaxation and meditation. Our program aims for more than just teaching people sequences of postures. We aim to create genuine change in people's lives so that they can become a living example of the healing and transformative power of yoga.
Our teacher training program is not quick and easy. We realise there are programs that promise certification in a couple weekends and ask for little to nothing in the way of pre-requisites or prior yoga experience. We believe that genuine yogic transformation takes consistent practice over time.
About Colin Hall and Sarah Garden
Sarah Garden C-IAYT, ERYT 500
Sarah has been a yoga therapist for almost two decades. She has taken thousands of hours of yoga therapy, yoga, and movement training as well as having over ten thousand clinical therapeutic practice hours. Sarah pioneered yoga therapy in Saskatchewan and is a highly respected therapist, teacher, and teacher trainer. Through her career, she has developed a thriving local yoga therapy practice, has trained hundreds of yoga teachers locally and nationally, and teaches internationally.
Sarah regularly speaks at medical conferences about the benefits of therapeutic yoga as a whole person modality to compliment conventional treatment or to treat when conventional treatment fails. She believes yoga can play a valuable role in the treatment of everything from persistent pain, to cancer treatment and recovery, to women's health issues. She has forged relationships with many local doctors, physiotherapists, massage therapists, and other health practitioners to work co-cooperatively to better serve students.
Sarah's passion lies in deepening student's connection with their body and empowering them to take their health into their own hands with simple accessible yoga and movement practices. Her teachings help students connect with and understand the best practices for their individual body and circumstances. Sarah believes the practice must be co-created with students to meet their needs.
Sarah is published by and is a featured teacher for Yoga International. In 2016 she received the CBC Future 40 Award and in 2017 she was awarded the YWCA Women of Distinction Award.
Colin Hall M-RLST, ERYT 500
Colin Hall co-director of Bodhi Tree Yoga. and Bodhi Tree Yoga College. Colin began yoga in 1999 and after completely immersing himself in the practice he was accepted into the Yoga Studio of Calgary’s teacher training program in 2001 where he was fortunate to find one of his most influential teachers David McAmmond. With a background in religious studies, Colin found the historical and philosophical aspects of yoga fascinating and slowly began to integrate the many facets of yoga. Colin began teaching part way through his teacher training program and after graduation quickly became a full time yoga teacher. Colin taught at a number of Calgary yoga studios as well as throughout the city for health clubs, corporations, sports organizations, and community associations.
He continued to push his practice with teachers Dattatreya and Norman Sjoman. In 2003 Colin travelled to Pune, India with Sarah to further his study of yoga with Dr. Nivedita Pingle in the Sun Jeevan style of yoga therapy. Since that time Colin has taken two groups of Regina yogis to India for further training(in 2007 and 2009). In 2010 he completed his Masters in Religious Studies his thesis entitled Masters and Servants: Gurus and Teachers in Hatha Yoga Traditions. Colin has continued to study yoga with senior Iyengar teacher Manouso Manos, David McAmmond, Dr. Pingle, and a number of other teachers.
Colin is a featured teacher for Yoga International and the writer and host of The Yoga History Podcast. He continues to contribute to yoga both through teaching and writing, his articles can be found in publications such as Yoga International, Om Yoga Magazine, and The Elephant Journal. When Colin is not teaching at the Bodhi tree you can find him at The University of Regina teaching for the departments of Kinesiology, Sociology and Religious Studies.