Teacher Training

At Yoga Grove, we offer exceptional courses in the areas of yoga instruction that we specialize in and are most renown for. All trainings are YACEP (Yoga Alliance International Certified) and can be used towards an instructor's continuing education hours. Some courses, including Restorative Yoga Training, are open to Instructors and practitioners alike, allowing serious students to deepen their personal knowledge and practice in the art.

Online Flowyoga Teacher 30 HourTraining

For Yoga Instructors - April 1-3 and 15-17, 2021
Flowyoga, as we teach it here at Yoga Grove, is based on the teaching and training of Bibi Rahim-Hahn, and all of our current Flowyoga instructors have been trained by her. Flowyoga is our studio's most popular class, and is therefore offered the most often in our weekly schedule as there is so much demand for it.

Now, Leslie is honoured to offer the Flowyoga training herself here at Yoga Grove, to help bring this very authentic, yet accessible, training and skill base to our instructors, and to others who wish to offer Flowyoga classes to their students at other studios.
Flowyoga is based on a specific set of poses and sequence that was developed in India decades ago and has been passed down from Master to Master. When taught correctly, everyone from beginner to advanced yogi, from young to old, should be able to not only do the class together, but be able to benefit individually and deeply from the practice. We learn to explore the poses within our own individual limits and abilities, and discover as we do the connection between breath, body and mind. In Flowyoga we really explore Yoga as a moving meditation, learning to approach life, on and off the mat, with mindfulness and grace.

The Flowyoga teacher training will be offered for existing instructors having already completed at least 200 hours in a qualified yoga teacher training program. This 30-hour Yoga Alliance International Certified (YACEP) Flowyoga Teacher Training will involve 20 hours of in-class workshops over 2 weekends, mandatory attendance in 10 hours of actual flow yoga classes, plus written work.
Over the course of 6 days, spread over 2 weekends, participants will receive 20 hours of in-class training covering:

- the origin and history of the Flowyoga practice and lineage
- the traditional sequence and set of poses
- how to do the poses correctly
- how and where to vary the sequence while honouring the Flowyoga tradition
- Flowyoga as a healing art - its effects on the organs, the glandular system, the endocrine system, the spine, the mind, and more
- the chakra system and Flowyoga's impact upon the chakras
- the importance and inclusion of the breath 
- Flowyoga as a moving meditation
- the deeper aspects of yoga, and Flowyoga in particular
- exploring how we teach as being as important as what we teach
- actual practice teaching ​​
- best practices for online teaching
​​
Leslie Cranston has trained with Bibi Rahim-Hahn, taking her Flowyoga Teacher Training back in 2013 along with Emily Bartlett who also teaches Flowyoga at Yoga Grove. 

She has personally taught over 3000 hours of Flowyoga in the last 7 years to students in her small classes at the studio. It is the studio's most accessible and popular style of yoga offered, and we currently have 6 Flowyoga Instructors on staff, 4 of which are offering weekly Flowyoga classes. We are always looking for more excellent Flowyoga trained instructors, and are thrilled to be offering this training to ensure there are more instructors available to teach this beautiful style at our studio.

Please join Leslie for this fabulous opportunity to learn to teach this beautiful and ever-popular style of yoga, as taught by a designated Yoga Trainer in the revered Flowyoga lineage.

When & Where

This training will be offered in-person assuming that circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic allow us to do so. If personal or community circumstances require that it be offered online, we will do so as well or instead. 

We will be offering the training spread over two weekends:

Friday, April 1st from 7 to 9pm
Saturday, April 2nd from 2 to 6pm
Sunday, April 3rd from 2 to 6pm

Friday, April 15th from 7 to 9pm
Saturday, April 16th from 2 to 6pm
Sunday, April 17th from 2 to 6pm

Location: In West Toronto, exact location TBD.

Registration & Cost

COST: $650 + HST, early bird rate $615 + HST before February 1st, 2022

Required Text**

  • Yoga - The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness by Erich Schiffmann
**Note: Please bring this text to class every day

Certification as a
​Flowyoga Instructor

The training is open to all existing yoga instructors with a 200-hour or more teacher training experience. If you wish to become certified as a Flowyoga Instructor (and recognized by Yoga Alliance International for the full 30-hour YACEP training), you must fulfill the following:
  • Attend all sessions (no exceptions).
  • Attend 10 hours of Flowyoga classes (at Yoga Grove and/or other studio offering this style of yoga)
  • Complete a project to be submitted  approximately six weeks after the workshop.
  • Include $50 cheque at the time of submission of the project for the certificate, and the time spent grading the project 

Cancellation Policy

- $150 registration fee included is not refundable
- the balance is refundable in the form of credit at Yoga Grove for future classes, workshops, trainings, etc. 
 
 If you have any questions, please contact us.

Restorative Yoga
​40 HourTraining

No Need to Be an Instructor 
To be rescheduled to when we can do in-person
These days people need rest more than they need anything else - more than exercise, more than changes in diet, more than vacation, more than medication. Deep, healing, profound rest. It is this that we crave, we need on every level, and it is this that will set us up to be able to absorb and benefit fully from everything else.

Restorative Yoga provides the deep rest, the profound relaxation that has the power to heal and rebalance us on every level. It is one of the most effective ways of healing and cleansing from the effects of stress in the body and the mind, and we know now that stress is the single most consistent factor at the root of everything from poor sleep to chronic disease. 

Leslie, owner of Yoga Grove, and renown for her fully hands-on and fully customized restorative yoga classes, is happy to announce that she will be offering a Restorative Yoga Training Course this November for both existing Yoga Instructors and students who wish to deepen and inform their restorative yoga practice.

​Over the course of 6 days, participants will receive 40 contact hours of hands-on training covering:

- the science and physiology of relaxation 
​- understanding the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
- Restorative Yoga poses themselves, how to set them up for oneself and for others
- understanding the physiological, psychological and emotional effect of each Restorative Yoga pose
- the art and subtleties of folding, propping and blanketing
- qualities of the environment necessary for relaxation
- special poses, modifications and sequences for insomnia, trauma, anxiety, grief, depression, pain, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause
- how to sequence and lead a Restorative Yoga class
Leslie Cranston has studied intensively with Judith Hanson Lasater and Andrea Peloso in the Relax and Renew(R) approach to Restorative Yoga, founded by Judith Hanson Lasater. Leslie has over 120 hours of basic and advanced Restorative Yoga Teacher Training, and has personally taught over 2500 hours of Restorative Yoga in a private or small-group hands on setting. She also has offered over a dozen very popular and much anticipated Restorative Yoga Retreats.
Her uniquely personalized, full-service and deeply therapeutic approach to Restorative Yoga teaching has helped countless people find deep rest and healing when suffering from: ​

​- chronic pain
- fibromyalgia
- cancer
- palliative care
- PTSD
- adrenal fatigue
- adrenal breakdown
- insomnia
- Parkinsons disease
- grief and loss
- anxiety and depression
- heart arythmia and palpatations
- headaches and migraines
- conception and pregnancy
... and much more
Many people swear that Leslie's Restorative Yoga has saved their lives and the impact of her classes is evident from all the detailed testimonials she has received over her years of teaching it.
​Please join Leslie for this incredible opportunity to learn first-hand from a Master in Restorative Yoga -
​the Art of Profound Relaxation.

When & Where

This training will be offered in-person once circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic allow us to do so. 

Location: High Park Club, 100 Indian Road, Toronto, 2nd Floor

Registration & Cost

COST: $900 + HST, early bird rate $850 + HST before December 7th

Required Texts**

  • Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times by Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., PT.
  • Restore and Rebalance: Yoga for Deep Relaxation by Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., PT.

**Note: Please bring both texts to class every day.

Required Props

For the training, each student will require***:
  • a yoga mat
  • an eye pillow
  • a bolster 
  • 3-4 firm blankets (Halfmoon cotton blankets are best)
  • two yoga blocks
  • and one yoga belt (8 foot)
 
***Yoga Grove will have 3 blankets and 1 bolster for each participant available. Students are required to bring 1 yoga mat, 1 eye pillow, 2 blocks, one yoga strap (8'), and 3-4 blankets to the training. 

Certification as a
Restorative Yoga - Art of Profound Relaxation
​Instructor

The training is open to all teachers and serious students. However if you wish to become certified as a Restorative Yoga/Art of Profound Relaxation Trainer, you must fulfill the following:
​
  • Attend all sessions (no exceptions).
  • Complete a project to be submitted by mail approximately six weeks after the workshop.
  • Include $150 cheque at the time of submission of the project for the certificate, the time spent grading the project and a lifetime listing on our site of certified trainees

It is also possible to take the workshop for learning only and not submit the project.

Cancellation Policy

- $200 registration fee included is non-refundable
- the balance is refundable in the form of credit at Yoga Grove for future classes, workshops, trainings, etc. 
 
 If you have any questions, please contact us.