HappyTree Yoga/Gentle Yoga Teacher Training - Fall 2023

  • $450

Gentle Yoga Teacher Training - Fall 2023

  • Closed

With Melanie Richards
October 20-22, 2023
Chair Yoga workshop with guest teacher Barrie Risman included!

Friday: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm (online)
Saturday: 12:00 - 7:00 pm (in person)
Sunday: 12:00 - 7:00 pm (in person)

In person at Studio Morpho Bleu (4260 Av Girouard 3rd floor, Mtl, QC)

SAVE $50 UNTIL SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2023, WITH COUPON CODE: GENTLE2023
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) partial scholarships are available. Please email melanie@happytreeyoga.com to inquire.
The price includes all taxes and fees.

The relationship between stress & illness

Watch Melanie explain the relationship between stress and illness, including her personal experience. She’ll also share what to expect in the Gentle YTT. ❤️

What you will gain from this training


💜 Principles and tools to teach yoga for anxiety and depression
💜 Creative posture variations that address limited mobility.
💜 Gentle practices to rebuild strength and confidence after illness, depression or burnout.
💜 Tried and tested gentle yoga sequences.
💜 Chair yoga workshop with Barrie Risman
💜 Confidence in effectively using language and imagery for students experiencing mental and physical health challenges.
💜 Lifetime access to the video syllabus with over 100 gentle yoga postures, breathing and centring exercises.
💜 Nourishing connections with a group of like-hearted people.

Video

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About Melanie's Gentle YTT

For ten years, Melanie taught twice-weekly yoga classes to cancer patients through HappyTree's partnership with Cedar's CanSupport. She also taught gentle and chair yoga classes and workshops in hospital settings for 13 years. And in her 17 years as director of HappyTree Yoga, she has taught over 15,000 hours of studio, private and corporate classes to students with a wide range of abilities.

This course, which she developed in 2015 and has since refined, draws from her rich experience in the field, as well as her studies with teachers, Nischala Joy Devi (author of The Healing Path of Yoga), Barrie Risman (author of Evolving Your Yoga: Ten principles for enlightened practice) and Nubia Teixeira (Bhakti Yogi and author of Yoga and the Art of Mudras).

Through lecture, practice, group work, interactive games, case studies, teaching practice and feedback, you will learn how to serve a growing population who would like to receive ALL of the benefits of Yoga - in a gentler way.


This training is for you if you’re:

💚 going through - or supporting someone with - heart disease, autoimmune disease, limited mobility, depression, anxiety or burnout.

💚 a yoga teacher who wishes to feel more confident adapting your existing classes for students with special requirements.

💚 interested in teaching chair yoga, yoga for beginners or yoga for seniors 

💚 a yoga teacher who wants to be more versatile trauma-sensitive and serve a more diverse population.

💚 a parent, school teacher, therapist or health care professional looking for new tools to serve your kids, students, patients or clients.

💚 Come as you are! No prior yoga teaching experience is necessary.

Gentle Yoga Benefits

- Breast cancer survivor

REDUCES STRESS AND ANXIETY
I find Gentle Yoga at HappyTree to be such a positive, uplifting experience. Sometimes, I feel like a totally different person after class. I may have come there tired, anxious or stressed and after yoga I feel happy and relaxed.

- Cancer survivor

 REDUCES PAIN
Some pain has disappeared completely (joints in feet, fingers, shoulders, upper back, legs). Others are mild and manageable (hips, neck, knees). I almost never experience headaches anymore and pain in my jaw muscles has almost disappeared. 

- Cancer survivor

IMPROVES MOBILITY
Since starting yoga with Melanie, I have more flexibility in the area where my surgery was performed. Spasms have almost disappeared. It has definitely helped to reduce my stress level and also appears to be helping with my IBS. 

- Breast cancer survivor

BOOSTS SELF-ESTEEM
We marvel at how the yoga that Melanie provides us with is so good for our morale and our feelings of self-worth. 

Why did I create HappyTree's Gentle Yoga Teacher Training?

In my 15 years of teaching, I have witnessed countless times how yoga improves the lives of people going through various physical, mental and life challenges. For this reason, I feel strongly about making yoga accessible to as many people in as many places as possible. By taking this Gentle YTT, whether for yourself or to serve the people in your community, you are contributing to a global movement of accessible yoga. 

Yoga Alliance Certified


This training counts as 15 hours of continuing education credits with the Yoga Alliance.

Testimonials

Aileen Borruel

Joyful Connections

I loved the entire experience of your Gentle Yoga Training. It was so well organized and I feel that I was so nourished with a WEALTH of information. I gained so much from participating in this weekend's training. You are such an amazing teacher and love your passion and professionalism. I also wanted to share what an incredible soul Brian is. I love his passion for seniors and soaked up everything he taught us. He also has such great energy and I love his sense of humour! I'm super excited to offer chair yoga to my seniors perhaps starting this summer or Fall!

Brandon Dawson-Jarvis

grovecampus.com

Such a privilege and honour to connect with Melanie. Not only is she an amazing yoga teacher but such a beautiful person altogether. She is a supporter of community and understands the importance of representation in the yoga space. I took her gentle yoga training and even after having completed a 500-hour YTT, I left with so many nuggets of wisdom. I'm really looking forward to taking her YIN training that I've heard nothing but amazing things about.

Holly Weller

What a spectacular 3 days that you thoughtfully curated for us.  I felt so privileged to have been a part of such an amazing gentle yoga training.  It shifted how I will approach teaching and holding space for others. 

I learned so much from both you and Brian and would highly recommend you both for anyone wanting to learn anything about yoga period, full stop.

M.A.

Thanks for an amazing Gentle Yoga Training weekend. You are a fantastic, warm, welcoming and knowledgeable teacher who fosters an inclusive environment. I learned a lot and felt so supported. Thanks for your positive and uplifting energy. I highly recommend this course!

Marie A.

I had the amazing opportunity to take part in the Gentle Yoga Teacher Training, and it was all that and more. The training provided me with the support and knowledge to be able to help others, and to discover a side of yoga that is accessible to all. Melanie is an incredible teacher and created a class that was supportive and inclusive. Her positivity is contagious! Thank you Happy Tree!

A.B.

THANK YOU! Your training has been so incredible and you truly are an AMAZING teacher. Thank you for sharing your gifts with all of us! I've gained so much this weekend and I can't wait to incorporate everything I learned into my work.

About Melanie

Founder and Director of HappyTree Yoga [Est. 2007], Melanie leads Hatha, Yin and Gentle Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is a passionate speaker, writer and workshop leader (TEDx Montreal Women, Hatley, MUHC Conferences, Lymphoma Canada, Cirque du Soleil, Expo Yoga Quebec, Wanderlust Tremblant) on the topics of yoga and meditation. She teaches with both empathy and humour, fostering an inclusive learning environment. Melanie believes in Yoga as a path of transformation, with service and compassion at its heart. To learn more about Melanie, visit
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