Photo courtesy of Christian Murdock

RootEd Apprenticeship & Teacher Training Program (RootEd) is the 200-hour Yoga Alliance Registered School. RootEd is the educational “branch” of Root and represents the philosophy and practice that has shaped my own teaching. When we are firmly established in our own practice, the teacher shines forth. This is not a mass-scale training, nor is it a fast one. It is a SMALL and intimate group that becomes a family, and this unique experience involves direct mentorship as well as hands-on apprenticeship opportunities at retreats, workshops, and ongoing classes. The apprenticeship defers to the wisdom of Sri Patanjali, whose teaching was that the practice be cultivated over a long time, with reverent and dedicated effort, and great love. This 7-month intensive immersion is designed to support the yogi who wants to delve deeper into their own embodied yoga so they can heed, authentically, the call serve in whatever form or forum they will shine. Over the course of our journey, you will study directly under me as well as highly experienced faculty who share the vision that the teacher is revealed in a myriad of ways.

RootEd is such a special experience–intimate, deep, very intense, and very much focused on the responsibility and opportunity each of us has to bring these teachings into our real lives. Authentically. Organically. So that when we teach, what we teach comes from an honest, rooted, embodied place. We tune in and drop deep and thus we hear what the world is actually calling forth from us. THAT is what touches the universal in those who come to learn, and that music, that voice can ONLY come through an instrument that is attuned to the real experience of one’s own life AS life itself. What we do is delve into the teachings with the goal of incorporating and weaving them into our actual lives, and this is what makes this program intense and beautiful–your life is your yoga, and when we focus on that (vs “being” a yoga teacher and merely memorizing things or parroting things), what you teach becomes a natural extension of who you are, and thus resonates with others as relevant and meaningful.

When we pursue something with the mindset that it is to serve, we receive so much more than if it were about “getting something out of it” for ourselves alone. And, the desire to more fully inhabit one’s own yoga and communicate it from that rooted, embodied place is what RootEd is all about (thus the name!).

The program really isn’t for everyone. Meaning, if what someone wants is to “be a yoga teacher” as quickly as possible, or just to learn how to teach an asana class in a studio, RootEd will likely be a poor fit. However, if the interest is in genuine Self-study, integration of ancient principles in contemporary real life, and service beyond the ubiquitous studios, it can be a most transformative and powerful experience.

We meet one day per and we also meet for one full immersion weekend per month (all day Fri-Sun). Some weeks are “off” during holidays, and some weeks are Self-Directed Study/Independent or Group work weeks.

We keep the groups SMALL, so that participants become a true family over 7 months of this work. When we are in that intimate setting we can guarantee that 1) our “stuff,” whatever it is (unresolved karma, tendencies, habitual thinking, old stories, fears, etc) will arise, and 2) we won’t be able to slide under the radar and hide, fake our way, muscle our way, or run from that stuff via our habits. In the loving presence of our satsang, we are able to finally face and resolve the junk that prevents us from receiving the messages and invitations of this life. It’s a beautiful thing, and a powerful thing. So the group size and dynamics are carefully weighed with each applicant.

Though there is a discounted tuition for paying in fully, we do work with payment plans (monthly payments, usually, though some people do a few installments) and accept credit cards. We encourage applicants not to let the finances be the deciding factor, because there is always a way.