Welcome to the Pacific Yoga Teacher Training and Advanced Study Program website. We are currently in our 13th year of providing teacher training and master classes to yoga students in the Seattle region. Directors Theresa Elliott and Kathryn Payne have been teaching yoga in Seattle since 1990 and have dedicated themselves to the responsible and exceptional teaching of yoga since they founded the training in 1997.*

Students who complete the 200-hour training find they have a deep and well-formed foundation for their practice and understanding of yoga. Both the 200-hour and 500-hour programs involve a commitment to the entire spiritual practice of asana, pranayama, meditation, chanting, and philosophy. Each weekend is progressive, integrating practice and conversation over the course of nine months to a year. Students begin and end the program together, developing lasting relationships within the yoga community and are able to take advantage of a small and consistent teaching staff.

We have over 250 graduates, and many have gone on to teach or establish their own yoga studios.

Latest News as of Winter 2010

200-Hour RYT Training
Our next 200-hour training begins February 19th, 2010. We have a couple spaces left and are still accepting applications, but don't wait until the last minute because we're almost full. It's going to be a great group this year! Please
contact us if you have any questions.

500-Hour RYT Training Update
Check out images in this photo gallery from our 2009 summer retreat at Sleeping Lady Resort.

In November 2009, we spent an Ayurveda weekend with visiting teacher Melanie Farmer. During this 12-hour immersion in the "science of life," each person's constitution was determined according to personal tendencies. Using this information, students received personalized diets and asana practices. It was a vibrant and enlightening course and the students learned a great deal about their bodies, minds, and healing in the context of Ayurvedic medicine.

We also practiced pranayama (breathing techniques) and continued a line-by-line reading of the "Bhagavad Gita." We are all inspired by Arjuna, the warrior and "man in crisis" character of this bhakti (devotional) epic poem of India. Sometimes we chant verses in anustub meter, translating as we go—much fun!

Our next 500-hour training is slated for 2011 - it requires a 200-hour certificate from our school or any other Yoga Alliance registered school. Stay tuned for details!

"Thank you both for your dedication to teaching and for insuring that yoga is taught in the most complete and integrity-filled way."
Jeni M., Co-Owner of Three Trees Yoga and home of five Pacific Yoga Graduates!

*Originally "The Yoga Tree Teacher Training and Advanced Study Program."

Pacific Yoga · 9250 14th Ave NW, #2, Seattle, 98117 · 206.612.1654 · info@pacificyoga.com · Join our email list

Site Design by James Culbertson

Photography by Eric Perret