Expressing Your Practice
200 Hour Teacher Training
Next Weekend Program:
June - September 2025
with Sonia Lennartz
(Lead Trainer)
Guest Teachers: Trace Sahaja Bonner and Staff
(In-studio with the option to take portions of the training virtually)
This offering consists of 9 training weekends spread throughout a little more than 3 months either in-person or partial virtual. Classroom time includes practice, lecture, discussion, practice-teaching, and more.
Hours:
Class meets on
Friday evenings - 6:45pm-10:00pm
Saturdays - 11:00am-6:30pm
Sundays - 8:00am-3:45pm
Please note attendance is required for all training weekends. No more than 8 hours of absence is allowed throughout the entire program. FULL WEEKEND ABSENCES ARE NOT ALLOWED!
Required Training Weekends :
GYP(Grounding Your Practice) EYP (Expressing Your Practice)
June 20 - 22 Both GYP and EYP programs
June 27 - 29 Both GYP and EYP programs
July 18 - 20 EYP program only
July 25 - 27 EYP program only
August 8 - 10 EYP program only
August 15 - 17 EYP program only
August 29 - 31 EYP program only
September 5 - 7 EYP program only
September 19 - 21 graduation weekend
Program Overview
2025 marks the 24th year of teacher training Holy Cow Yoga Center! Our 200-hour Teacher Training program, approved by Yoga Alliance, is designed to provide and in-depth look at Yoga, and is heavily influenced by the teachings of Sri Swami Satchidananda. Upon completion, graduates will possess a 200-hour teaching certificate and the confidence to use it. All in all, you will learn not only how to teach Yoga, but how to live it. This intensive, comprehensive program is offered once each year in January with 9 weekends spread out over 3 1/2 months. The program is primarily offered in-studio (in person), however we do allow partial virtual experience. See below further details and application button.
What You'll Study
Deepening Your Personal Practice
We play on the mat, learning how your own practice structures your teaching style and confidence.
Asana
We learn fundamental instruction, alignment, execution and hands-on assist to teach the poses (asanas) with clarity.
Anatomy and Movement
Hatha Yoga is fundamentally a practice of movement. We share basic anatomy and how to prevent injury.
Pranayama and the Subtle Body
Learn breathing techniques as well as Bandhas, Nadis, Chakras, Koshas.
Meditation
We will explore techniques to begin your own practice and how to share.
Yoga Philosophy and Religious Studies
The teachings of Yoga arose from ancient texts, including the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita. We will study and discuss these through in-depth lectures.
Sound Vibration and Sanskrit
Ancient Yoga was spoken in the language of Sanskrit, and we honor by learning basic poses, slokas, invocation and spiritual song in Sanskrit.
Required & Recommended Texts
SOME OF THESE TEXTS ARE PROVIDED BY THE STUDIO AND NOTED, THE OTHERS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE COST OF TRAINING.
Holy Cow Yoga Center Teacher Training Manual (PROVIDED BY STUDIO)
Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness by Erich Schiffmann (optional)
Jivamukti Yoga by David Life & Sharon Gannon (highly recommended)
The Science of Breath by Swami Rama, Rudolph Ballentine, MD, Alan Hymes, MD (highly recommended)
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchidananda (PROVIDED BY STUDIO)
The Bhagavid Gita by Eknath Easwaran (highly recommended)
Tuition and Registration
Prospective students must fill out an application and submit a refundable deposit of $150, which will be deducted from the tuition cost.
A payment is due one month prior to the training start date. This fee will be deducted from the tuition costs below:
Credit/Debit card cost - $2650 (includes $150 deposit) **Early Bird discount of $150 before June 1
In-full check or cash $2550 (includes $150 deposit) **Early Bird discount of $150 before June 1
Full balance must be paid in full by the 1st of the final month of training.
Tuition includes a training manual and unlimited classes at Holy Cow Yoga Center for the duration of the training.
Once you have submitted your application, we will schedule a phone interview to discuss further details (allow for 15-20 min). When accepted, you will receive a confirmation letter.
If you do not practice here with us already, we encourage you to come in and take class. We’d love to get to know you and your practice!
Make a Teacher Training Payment
For Currently Enrolled Teacher Trainees Only
We’ve made it a little more convenient to make teacher training installment payments. If you are currently enrolled in our 200-hour teacher training program and you are paying your tuition in installments, you can make a credit or debit card payment right here on the website. We’re still happy to take your payments here at the studio, but now you have options.
Our Faculty
Trace Sahaja Bonner, E-RYT 500, Founder and Director of Holy Cow Yoga Center
She began her practice more than 30 years ago, and is a certified Advanced Integral Yoga teacher (influenced by Sri Swami Satchidananda). Having studied in India and the US, Trace Sahaja continues to draw from a variety of great teachers in the west. She takes workshops with a host of contemporary Yoga teachers to deepen her personal understanding of Yoga. Yoga is about having fun with the journey, so she enjoys bringing her lighthearted teaching style to all levels of Yoga classes, Teacher Trainings, workshops on Meditation, Advanced Studies and the Yoga Sutras.
Sonia Lennartz, RYT 500
Sonia discovered Yoga when she randomly attended a class in 2002 in Italy. She found the effects of the class to be similar to a massage, fitness class and therapy session all in one. She became fascinated by yoga's self-healing properties. Soon after, she moved to the United States where she pursued a career in banking. During that time, her yoga practice continued to grow while she balanced career and family. After the birth of her second child, she decided to abandon the corporate world an dedicate herself to what mattered most in her life, her family. She then decided to deepen her immersion in the practice by becoming a yoga teacher. Teacher training started in Virginia, but mid-way through, life moved her to Charleston. Determined to finish what she started, she completed her 200 hr certification in April 2012 through Holy Cow Yoga Center. She firmly believes that “obstacles are opportunities in disguise."
Heidi Crotts, RYT 500
Heidi lives the practice of yoga on and off the mat. Whether exploring the skyscraper canyons of New York City, or chasing her son Everette (her daily teacher, guru, and little love munchkin) on the beach of a SC summer, she is never without a sense of gratitude for the transformation that the study yoga has given her. Injured from youthful pursuits as a gymnast and diver, she once assumed balance and body confidence were lost to her forever. But, her first yoga class in Chicago in 2005 allayed her fears, and a resurgence of strength and vitality began. Influenced heavily by Ashtanga Yoga and David Swenson, she continues to absorb lessons of Leslie Howard and other illuminating souls into her practice and classes. “Pure joy” is how Heidi describes her return to Holy Cow, where she completed her 200-hour TT in 2010, and Charleston, where she is privileged to breathe in the healing marsh air every day.
Additional Faculty
Geshla Dakpa Topgyal
Geshle has published three practice books on Samatha meditation and teaches students year round at the Charleston Tibetan Society Dharma Center where he is also the resident teacher since 2001. Besides his years of education and experience, he brings to the teachings a kind heart and a sense of humor that is both disarming and endearing.
Rhonda Swickert-Hittner, PhD
A Professor of Psychology at the College of Charleston Dr. Swickert-Hittner has focused her research and teaching on positive & social psychology, with interests in how people may learn and grow from weathering aversive events. She will offer lectures on yoga, mindfulness, and gratitude from a psychology perspective.
“Truth is one, paths are many”