Online Zoom Format

Due to the unique and challenging needs of our time, we are offering this segment as an online Zoom webinar over the course of four weeks from August 3–29, 2020. Training sessions are held five days per week at an average of four hours per day. Please see the sample schedule here.

Highlights of the Zoom training sessions include:
  • Participation in at least one live session per day is required
  • All sessions will be recorded and available to watch four hours after they air live
  • Follows the same curriculum as in-person training
  • Students must submit a brief summary of each session not attended live
  • All sessions will be available to view for 30 days after the end date of the program
  • Students will need to coordinate with other students in order to participate in the independent group work assignments, therefore individual email addresses will be shared within the training group
  • Students are responsible for downloading Zoom to their personal computers and ensuring that they are comfortable with operating the program
  • Link for joining the program will be sent prior to the start date
  • Opportunity for additional informal sessions—such as a virtual chai party, and more!

Questions about the program? Please email us at [email protected]

If you have already been accepted into the program, you do not need to reapply. Please email us directly to register.

Program Description:

When you enroll in the Himalayan Institute’s 500-hour teacher training course, you don’t just train to become a teacher—you get the opportunity to participate in one of the best teacher training programs in the nation, and learn from some of the most experienced yoga teachers alive today. Through their guidance, you will acquire the wisdom and knowledge to confidently interpret and convey the deeper meaning of yoga.

Our 500-hour yoga teacher training program offers yoga teachers from all traditions and backgrounds the opportunity to advance their studies in a truly impactful way. Our teachings draw from the source of yoga, based in guidance passed down by Swami Rama—a true yogic master who founded the Himalayan Institute—and rooted in yogic scriptures.

The Himalayan Institute 500-hour teacher training course includes in-depth application of:
  • Advanced studies in teaching methods
  • Sequencing strategies
  • Verbal and hands-on assists
  • Practical application of subtle body anatomy in asana teaching

You will also explore advanced applications of yoga for mental and physical well-being, acquire an authentic understanding of the eight limbs of yoga through an in depth study of essential yogic texts, and attain a first-hand experience of ancient techniques in pranayama (breathing techniques), pratyahara (sense withdrawal), and meditation.

Whether you wish to develop your skills for teaching yoga classes, or broaden your personal application of yoga through an advanced teacher training course, our 500-hour program is an excellent way to become proficient in concepts initially touched upon in 200-hour yoga teacher training courses.

Program Structure:

Our 500-hour yoga teacher training program consists of 3 modules that are each 10 days long. You have the freedom to take the modules in any order you choose, and you can take up to three years to complete them. This immersive format gives you the opportunity to step away from the responsibilities and demands of daily life, allowing you to focus completely on deepening your personal practice and developing your skills as a yoga teacher in a spiritually supportive environment. You will connect with other teachers from all over the world, making life-long friends and new networking opportunities in the process.

This 500-hour yoga teacher training course is certified through Yoga Alliance.

“The faculty have a great deal of experience and knowledge in Tantra and yoga philosophy. The teachers clearly practice what they teach and live by the philosophies they themselves study. Each teacher brings their own unique experience of yoga to their teaching. They are kind, patient, and very humble.”
500 HR Graduate
“From this experience, Swami Rama’s quote in the main hall: “You are the architect of your own destiny” found home in my practice. As a result, I have found an even deeper joy, flow, and grace in the balance of my practice.”
500 HR Graduate
“Through the Himalayan Institute, I gained so many skills, methods, and tools to refine both my practice and my teaching. Learning to break down poses into activations outside of the specific asana itself has been vital to my practice and a gift to my teaching. As I invite students to feel the activation within their body without the complexity of the pose itself, I witness more students finding the balance of sthira and sukha more readily within their poses.”
500 HR Graduate
“This program enriched my personal practice immeasurably! My practice evolved from a 4-5x/week mat practice with pranayama to a daily practice encompassing my sadhana, asana, pranayama, and meditation time and a more in depth perspective of what mindful living of the path of yoga means for me. I have rebuilt my practice to better support my life’s journey—expanding my focus on the essence of yoga.”
500 HR Graduate
“Frankly, I did not even begin to appreciate the expertise within the walls of the Himalayan Institute until I was actually in the throws of my 500 hr studies. Retrospectively, I am in awe and in deep gratitude for the depth of knowledge, the level of commitment of the staff, the understanding and infinite wisdom their teachings held and continue to unfold for me.”
500 HR Graduate
“The biggest thing that I have taken away from my studies at the institute is that I have been introduced to a web of life that I had not experienced so strongly before. The studies acted as a catalyst for more searching and more questions. I use the practices that I have been taught to help me with my obstacles in life. They support me in making the very necessary changes and transformations in my life so that I can find my way to that “luminous joy” that we all have inside ourselves.”
500 HR Graduate
“Were I to boil it down to one thing, through this training I learned to step into myself as a witness—this shift has enriched my life experiences beyond words. I am extremely privileged to have studied where authenticity is deeply woven in the tapestry of their teachings.”
500 HR Graduate
“I knew I wanted to deepen my practice, my teaching and my understanding of the science and philosophy of yoga. My own research supported the unerring depth and breadth of HI’s offerings, its commitment to the Himalayan Tradition under the Spiritual leadership of Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, and their global outreach programs completed the cairn of my decision to apply.”
500 HR Graduate
“Because of my time at the institute my teaching has changed. My focus is more on the subtle aspects of yoga and I have more confidence teaching in this way than I did before. “
500 HR Graduate
“After I returned home from each of the training segments I noticed that I began to apply what I had learnt at the institute to my daily life and the various situations in my life. The information that I received and the practices that I have been taught have supported me through some very trying times.”
500 HR Graduate

Summer Segment

Awakening the Subtle Body: Chakras, Pranayama, and Sacred Yogic Texts

The Summer Segment of our 500-hour yoga teacher training program is more inward and reflective. You will dive deeply into a personal study of subtle body anatomy, working with the concepts of chakras and prana vayus in a practical and grounded way. You will learn how to apply this experiential knowledge to your own practice and teaching, and expand your capacity to develop intelligent and energetically balanced class sequences. Learning to sequence energetically will help your students cultivate the ability to sustain an inner focus that serves as a foundation for meditation. During this segment, we will also look at the Bhagavad Gita and learn how the ancient dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna can give us insight into the battlefield of life.

In this segment of our teacher training course, you will:
  • Refine your understanding of chakras as doorways to pure consciousness, and integrate this knowledge into the practice of asana with a chakra focus
  • Develop or deepen your personal practice of pranayama, and learn how to offer these potent practices to students in a balanced and practical way
  • Learn more about the five prana vayus in relation to breathing, prana, and pranayama
  • Refine your skills of effective and powerful class sequencing
  • Participate in an in-depth study of the Bhagavad Gita as a foundation for understanding the four paths of yoga, dharma, and the wheel of karma
  • Practice time tested yogic meditation techniques to develop or deepen your personal meditation practice, and teach meditation fundamentals to your students
  • Enhance your credibility as a yoga teacher by skillfully incorporating Sanskrit into your teaching, and learn a set of traditional Sanskrit prayers and chants