New Ways to Practice Are On The Horizon
I saw that students wanted to get out of pain in their practice, while at the same time wanted to move past their plateus. I saw that when I coached them, they could find a way through, but they weren’t sure how do that, independently.
Theres only one of me, and everyone is SO different, and deserves SO MUCH individual attention and time. There had to be a better way to help students grow. A format shift of some kind– a book, a course… something.
For self practice to last a life time, one needs to have a deeply personal relatiosnhip with practice, and level of knowledge that was not easily accessible without signing up for a teacher training program.
The Functional Ashtanga Training
I want to share with you the insights I have gleaned from traveling the world and studying directly at the source of knowledge on yogic arts.
I am beyond thrilled to share with you all the culmination of the last two years of work. I have developed a program for practitioners and professionals who are looking to grow, learn, and practice in an uncommon way: one that you to understand the why and the how.
The curriculum consists of 250 lessons, each with 5+ topics. Each topic comes with it’s own 5-10 minute video and it’s own readings. There will be weekly assignments and office hours, as well as scheduled group classes. I’ll include quizzes
You’ll have a full year to complete the course, though we will keep to a group schedule, and release the lessons every week or two.
You can rewatch the videos, re-read the
What Is It?
The Functional Ashtanga Training Program is an organized way to learn:
- Core Yogic Teachings
- Functional Anatomy, using Functional Range Conditioning Principals
- Applied Yogic Science, moving practice off the mat
- Applied Functional Anatomy. to rehab, prehab, and train
- Practices That Work
- Pranayama
- Asana
- Meditation
This program is an organized collection of the most potent approaches I have found after two decades of travelling the planet, seeking out the most wizened teachers I could find. It’s great that some stuff works for me, but I have had the blessing to work with thousands of students from all walks of life, in all kinds of settings.
I want to share what I’ve learned from working with these people with you.
Is This Right For Me?
This program is designed to maximize the potential for YOUR understanding of the vast field of yogic arts.
Let me ask you this:
- Do you need some coaching in establishing a meaningful and nourishing self-practice to which you are commited to?
- Are you interested in learning how yoga exists on and off the mat?
- Are you interested in feeling better in the body and mind?
If you answered yes to any of these, then odds are good we’ll be a good fit.
Is It OK if I’m not a Yoga teacher?
Absolutely. I don’t call this a “teacher training program” for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that your training as a yoga teacher begins with developing a real relationship with practice. Thats our work here.
What if I want to be a yoga teacher?
Due to the fact that this is a program from practitioners and professionals, you will be exposed to a great deal of critical thinking opportunities surrounding synthesizing practice for yourself while also observing different ways it can be contextualized. The humanities component will dig into the philosophies of Yoga, vedanta, Buddhism and more.
The physical component will be built upon the understanding that yoga asana is diagnostic and therapeutic. In order to develop that understanding on a personal level, we’ll learn how to asses our movement potential and then target abherant or limited function directly. We’ll learn the basic anatomy and kinesiology skills and terminology to do so in a modern and scientific way. After that is established, we’ll use the Ashtanga yoga syllabus as a template for this kind of therapeutic work.
That might be useful, if you were to want to be a yoga teacher. In fact, at close to 250 lessons, and expectation of practice, the curriculum far exceeds a standard 200 hour training.
But, what makes a yoga teacher? Someone asking you to teach them– and that starts by being a good role model.
What if I’m already a teacher?
If you’ve worked with me in the past, you know that I work in an uncommon way. I’d like to share that with you, because it has proven wildly succesful in helping folks navigate classrooms, privates, mysore rooms, hospitals, and most importantly: life, as it is.
More about my approach:
I look at the Ashtanga method as a collection of foundational positions, each with as many joint articulation potentials as the setup will allow.
I keep freedom and liberation in the forefront of the methodology at all time– so, if the aim is freedom and option, expanding out potential is a great way to go.
We use pranayama as a way to utilize respiratory physiology to create different tension variables. In this way, there is also a learning of how to apply the physicality of pranayama to the work of ashtanga yogas classic asana.
By layering on practical science, we can demystify some of the esoteric, so as to increase the understanding of yogic principals taken from Hatha, Kriya, and Tantra.
It allows the practice to be physically therapeutic, immensely accessible, and functional as a wisdom/insight practice.
And, there’s no dogma about which approach an individual favors, as the practice is infinitely adaptable so long as it remains grounded in efficacy. If you’d like to learn how to work this way, I’d like to teach you.
“What If I’m Not Physically Ready”
Don’t worry about that– seriously. This program starts with an assessment. You’ll record a video and send it to me (very monkey-see, monkey-do). From that assesment video, we’ll identify your perfect starting point.
There’s no better starting point than right where you are. There won’t be baggage about too much or too little. We’ll find what works– for you.
While maintaining the basic syllabus, we’ll learn how to make practice match your intended outcome. In this way, variance for each person is absolutely neccesary. If you’ve felt like you can’t practice because of X or Y, let me help with that.
My Intentions, For You:
- Consistency
- Deeper Happiness,
- Freedom from Suffering (mind, body, spirit!!!!)
- Increased Grit
So, yeah, we’re all gonna need a little something special.
In a counted class, for example, maintaining proper breathing, concentration, and tempo are the objectives. This differs from what one might do in their own self-guided practice.
In this way, the optics of “a complete primary series” shifts— it can be a demonstration of general health for joint mobility, respiratory capacity, and concentration, of it could be diagnostic of abherant function.
So, while a counted class would be a matter of achieving a functional range of motion in a prescribed amount of time, not simply a maximal range of motion. A self-guided practice could be used therapeutically— inclusive of developmental exercises, drills and what not. When the aim is good health, these postures should be examples of controlled articulations.
This kind of approach strengthens, or “unlocks “ parts of the brain through the enhancement of mechanoreceptors— our ability to physically perceive. As we develop greater afference (the name for that skill), we literally expand our consciousness
Other Practices
Of course, there are so many other nourishing practices that overtly complement these beautifully.
Meditation practice, for example, has a stunning way of enhancing concentration skills, healing trauma to the brain, and developing (seemingly like magic) deeper compassion and empathy.
Working with sound and mantra is like magic, too: sound waves have vibrations that we make on the inside. These vibrations of literal energy can be used to interface with our own nervous system, in profound ways.
But, what begins to happen when you combine all of this? Yogic states. The stuff you read about in the esoteric literature. But it’s not special. We all have access to it. It’s right here inside of us
My Intention, Your Intention:
There is no musical note that’s never been played before, and this information can be found in all kinds of ways. What makes this difference is that I am here to share with you the knowledge of the information that has given me insight, and to share that process with you.
I intend to teach you what I have discovered to be the most effective techniques. I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of hours in study and practice, and taught thousands of students. I’ve see how different folks responds differently to varied approaches.
This course provides access to that insight.
What you do with that is your business… but it is my sincere desire for you to live a life that offers you the ultimate promise: bliss and wisdom.
Let me share with you:
Pricing:
Early Bird is $2500. with a $500 deposit
Early bird pricing ends August 1.
Standard is $3000, with a $1000 deposit.
You can pay your deposit in one of three ways:
Venmo: @MichaelJoelHall
Paypal Business Services for Credit Transaction
Both come with a monthly payment plan, after deposit. Monthly billing will be for 10 months, at $200 (beginning September 7).
This program is designed to be accessible, and equitable. If you can afford to pay in full, we’d love that. If not, we love you, too!
Let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to click this link:
to sign up!
