Teaching Diploma Course
In our Teaching Diploma Course students gain knowledge and experience of yoga over 18 months of distance learning, reflecting on how they can apply it to their life, yoga practice and yoga teaching.
A weekly commitment to learning creates a solid foundation to making yoga a life-long experience in understanding ourselves and those whom we teach.
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View testimonials from past graduates of the course here.
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Enrolments are open for the next Teaching Diploma Course, now due to begin on 1st May 2024. Contact the TDC coordinator for more information and to confirm the start date of the next course.
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Introducing Our Tutors
Introducing the tutors for our 2024-2025 Teaching Diploma Course.
Thomas Spring - Tutor
In the same way as there are different styles of music, there are different styles of yoga, each with a different history, focus, and benefits.
I am trained in Satyananda Yoga, as taught by the Bihar School of Yoga. Satyananda Yoga is an integral style of Yoga, consisting of different branches of Yoga. Swami Satyananda was one of the major forces who brought the traditional style of Yoga to the West, making the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga relevant to the modern lifestyle. He developed the practice of Yoga Nidra.
In the West,
Hatha yoga is best known and widely taught. The word Hatha consists of two parts, 'ha' (vital) and 'tha' (mental energy). The original aim is to balance those two energies so that the spiritual energy flows. Other branches like Raja and Bhakti Yoga focus more on enhancing the function of the mind and balancing the emotions.
IYTA was set up by Roma Blair, who was a disciple of Swami Satyananda.
As a Feldenkrais practitioner and Assistant Trainer, I am fascinated by the human potential to learn, change, and improve. In the Feldenkrais method, we work with the nervous system through movement. Moshe Feldenkrais, the founder of the method, talked in the 1950s about neuroplasticity—the brain's capacity to change and recover after a stroke, brain injury, or accident.
For me, learning never stops. For that reason, I travel on an annual basis to Bihar School of Yoga in India to deepen my understanding and experience the yogic lifestyle.
I am a level 4 teacher of Yoga NZ.
Qualifications:
2004: Satyananda Yoga teacher - 2400h
2002: Feldenkrais practitioner
2022: Assistant Feldenkrais trainer
1996-2022: Toastmaster Gold
1999: Dip. Holistic Pulsing
1990: Instructor level 1, Swiss Karate Federation
Marja Captijn - Tutor
Marja has a background as a nurse, specialised on obstetrics and gynaecology. In 2012 she and her family moved to New Zealand from the Netherlands, where she was retrained as a personal trainer and yoga instructor.
She completed a course “Exercise as medicine,” which linked her nursing background to her new role as yoga teacher and personal trainer.
In 2019, she was a finalist for the exercise industry awards.
She enjoys teaching yoga for her community, offering classes that are accessible for all levels of fitness, strength, mindset and flexibility.
At this moment she is busy completing her 500-hour yoga medicine training, with a special interest in stress management.
Rachel Chapman - Tutor
My teaching was born out of my love for yoga and the beautiful and profound personal journey I found myself on through this practice. I wanted to keep learning and sharing the knowledge with others and chose to become a yoga teacher.
I enjoy teaching people of all ages and abilities as much as I love the challenges that I continue to discover in my own personal practice. It is my hope that through my classes people will also experience the deep joy, serenity and healing that yoga has offered for me.
I originally did an Iyengar Level 1 training in the UK but never pursued this lineage after the training. When I came to NZ, I embarked on IYTA’s TDC in 2007 and have been teaching yoga ever since.
During my first pregnancy with my daughter in 2009, I also trained in London in Pregnancy and Post Natal Yoga, and have been dedicated to supporting women in pregnancy and post natal yoga since then.
I trained with Uma Dinsmore Tuli in both Yoga Nidra and Well Women Yoga and this has expanded my teaching to supporting women at all stages of their life both in classes and privately. I have also learnt to guide children and teenagers with Samadhi Yoga in 2011.
I have for the last 18 months been studying Yoga Therapy with the Mohan family with their Svastha Yoga Therapy and Ayurveda training.
I currently teach workshops, classes and private clients in Hawke’s Bay. I am a Level 4 teacher with Yoga NZ.
Karyn Stein - Tutor
Karyn Stein is the founder of Earth Strong Yoga. She has been passionate about yoga since a young age, remembering both of her parents doing yoga.
She has an MA in Yoga Studies from Loyola Marymount University in LA, and has completed her Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training with Bliss Baby Yoga Australia.
She is a strong advocate for women-centered and empowered natural birthing practices. She had a midwifery-led home birth for both of her daughters in New Zealand, where yoga (including breathing and meditation) played an important role.
She has completed a 1.5-year teacher training with Yoga Aotearoa - the International Yoga Teachers Association of New Zealand (IYTA), and is currently the secretary, as well as a teacher in their 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training.
Karyn also currently works as an Adjunct Yoga Instructor for the University of South Carolina.
Besides yoga, she is passionate about promoting self-sufficiency, sustainability and organic food growing practices. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography and Sustainability from the University of Otago in New Zealand.
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If you have any further queries, please contact the TDC Course Coordinator, Jo Chandler Bringins, by email or contact your nearest IYTA (NZ) branch representative.
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​​Yoga has so much to offer us all at this time.
We wish you well for your yoga journey.
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