Q: Considering there will be a group of 15-20 people in the YHSX Program, will I still receive enough personal care, reflection, and feedback to make sure I’ll become a well-skilled Yoga teacher and practitioner?
A: As program director, it’s Dr. Goldman’s job and responsibility to provide individual attention to each participant to make sure he/she is advancing successfully and feeling supported in the program. Many of our guest faculty members are wisdom teachers who’ve been teaching and practicing Yoga for 30-50 years – and are even lineageholders of certain Yoga traditions – so our collective experience totals over 1000 years of collective Yoga teaching and practice experience. Additionally, we often have more than 1 faculty member present at class, which lowers out teacher:student ratio into the single digits. That said, we are continually fine-tuning the materials, teaching styles, and assignments to ensure that we can offer the thoughtfulness, care, and support that’s required to assist everyone in becoming a safe and skillful practitioner and teacher. We go on a deep and beautiful academic and soul journey together through this incredible course, and we even bring in past graduates and assistants throughout the program to help provide more opportunity for connection and to enrich our sense of being part of a community.
Q: What topics are covered in the YHSX Program at USC?
A: The course outlines popular styles of Hatha Yoga – including Chikitsa Vinyasa, Vinyasa/Flow, Iyengar, Kundalini, SmartFLOW, plus many therapeutic refinements – as well as other important elements of Yoga practice, including meditation, chanting, pranayama, yogic philosophy, Yoga anatomy, energetics, Karma Yoga, Sanskrit, Ayurveda, and nutrition. It also covers specialized aspects of modern Yoga, like prenatal Yoga, Yoga for children, Yoga for midlife (and beyond), and Yoga therapy.
Q: What if I have no plans to teach Yoga, can I still take the YHSX Program at USC for personal enrichment?
A: Of course! Typically, there’s roughly a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 breakdown in teacher training programs and the YHSX Program, itself, meaning (1) 1/3 of people have the intention to transform their professional life and become full-time Yoga teachers (2) 1/3 of people have the intention to teach Yoga part-time in their local communities and/or at their job where they already work and (3) 1/3 of people have no intention to teach and are taking the course for personal enrichment and to learn ways of living better through the yogic sciences. The most beautiful thing about that, however, is sometimes people start out in one of those categories and shift into another the course of the training, so the best advice we can offer here is stay open to all possibilities and the myriad ways life will manifest Yoga in your life for you.
Q: What if I have to miss a weekend for work, a family affair, or I get sick? What happens if I can’t attend all of the weekends?
A: The program allows you to miss up 1 full weekend (18 hours) and still graduate with the opportunity to apply for registration with the Yoga Alliance as a 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT200). Segments are defined as the 2 to 4-hour blocks that constitute the first half or second half of Saturdays and Sundays or the Wednesday evening segment (3 hours). Certain segments must be made up if they are missed (i.e. the teaching segments where you receive supportive feedback on your teaching progress) while other sessions may have a recorded component that you can view on your own time. Additionally, you are allowed to attend any segments you miss this year in subsequent cohorts and future YHSX programs at USC.