300-Hour Yoga Teacher Training with Mark Stephens

This online 300-hour yoga teacher training with Mark Stephens is an advanced program for teachers who already hold a 200-hour certification and want to deepen their practice, broaden their knowledge and refine how they teach. It blends ancient wisdom, modern science and real-world teaching practice, and on completion graduates are eligible for Yoga Alliance 500-hour certification (RYT-500).

Mark Stephens has spent more than three decades teaching yoga and is the author of widely used yoga teaching textbooks. He leads the training personally, in a format that is fully online or, as an option, partly in person in Santa Cruz, California.

What to Expect

The training unfolds across six modules, moving like a funnel from foundations to integration and application. It is designed to be completed in 9 to 12 months, a pace meant to support real integration and reduce burnout.

Each module includes 15 to 25 hours of video learning with Mark, practice teaching with direct feedback, guided practice in asana, pranayama and meditation, and supplemental reading, journaling and quizzes. Each also has three live group sessions of four hours on Zoom, with discussion, Q&A and group work. Live sessions are held on Tuesdays from 9:00am to 1:00pm Pacific Time, and replays are available for anyone who cannot attend.

The curriculum begins with the foundations of practice and teaching: what yoga is, anatomy and physiology, pranayama and original mantra practices. It moves through cueing and adjustments, Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, subtle anatomy, standing asanas, the Bhagavad Gita, core and arm-support asanas, back bends, twists, prenatal yoga, yoga therapy and restorative practice. Later modules cover forward folds, hip openers, inversions, yin yoga, sequencing, Surya Namaskara and the koshas, and close with reflection, the business of teaching yoga and a graduation ceremony.

A hallmark is the 50-hour Independent Study Project, with one-to-one mentoring from Mark. Past directions include designing a specialized workshop, creating resources for a particular student population, exploring therapeutic applications of yoga, or researching a philosophical or scientific question.

Three formats are offered. The Live Online Immersion combines video modules released every six weeks with live Zoom sessions every other week, small group practices and personal feedback. The Santa Cruz Immersion Add-On includes all of that plus monthly five-hour in-person Saturday sessions in the afternoon, and free classes with Mark at Santa Cruz Yoga beforehand. The Self-Paced option lets you begin anytime, learn from pre-recorded modules and draw on a library of live monthly Q&A and practice sessions.

About Mark Stephens

Mark Stephens is a yoga teacher and writer. He has taught for more than three decades and wrote the yoga teaching textbooks that many trainings use worldwide, including Teaching Yoga, Yoga Adjustments, Yoga Sequencing and Yoga Therapy. His approach is scholarly and practical, rooted in history, philosophy and science, while staying focused on how yoga comes alive in teaching. He brings a non-dogmatic, accessible and integrated perspective, drawing on yoga history and philosophy, anatomy and physiology, and Eastern and Western theories of consciousness.

A graduate from the UK describes him as available and accessible throughout the whole 300-hour course, and notes that learning from home made the training possible for her.

Before You Go

A 200-hour yoga teacher certification is required. The training is for teachers who want to guide diverse students with confidence, including those with injuries, pregnancy or different body dimensions, and who want a supportive community of peers.

Included are the video content, live sessions with replays, guided practices, an online community forum with optional virtual study groups, digital workbooks on anatomy, asana and sequencing, the Independent Study Project mentoring, the certification exam and a 300-hour certificate. A discount on beYoga liability insurance is also included.

Required books are not included: Desikachar's The Heart of Yoga, Jo-Ann Staugaard-Jones' The Concise Anatomy of Yoga and Mark's four books. Modeling clay for the anatomy section is optional but recommended, and a journal is useful for notes. Travel and lodging for the Santa Cruz sessions are not included.

Open information sessions on Zoom are available for those who want to ask questions before enrolling.