The Tantravaya Yoga Teacher Training is a comprehensive, internationally-respected program designed to deepen your understanding of yoga and Ayurvedic principles.
The Tantravaya training method is unique in that it’s not limited to any “style” or blend of styles. Instead, it emphasizes universal principles of alignment within the context of Ayurvedic and yogic practices.
Tantravaya Yoga trains exceptional teachers by presenting everything you will ever need to know in order to practice and teach any kind of yoga to anyone – safely and effectively within a system of eight principle actions. These eight principles are necessary and sufficient in every active gesture for yoga and beyond. Furthermore, the eight principles are organized into four pairs of oppositional actions that allow for ultimate individualization – customizing each gesture to each practitioner by balancing the intensity of antagonistic engagements for the specific needs of the individual body in each pose. As a recent graduate has put it: “With the eight principles, I couldn’t help but teach excellently, right from the first class, even though I was nervous.”
With exceptional attention devoted to practical training and ample teaching experience time, Tantravaya Yoga Teacher Trainings have a proven track record of producing effective, confident yoga teachers who are ready to teach upon graduation and stand out in the world of yoga.
Our program is registered with Yoga Alliance and provides the most widely-recognized yoga teacher certification credentials in the world. Our primary goal is to cultivate a solid, safe, and effective practice as the foundation of skillful teaching.
Principles. Techniques. Philosophy.
The anatomy and physiology of yoga
Universal alignment and individual needs for different bodies
Pranayama, meditation, mantra, mudra
Introduction to yoga therapy and posture correction
Yogic philosophy, psychology, ethics, history, and scriptures
The Ayurvedic five element system and its application to a balanced life, diet, and practice
Protocols for diagnosing an individual's state of dosha
Yogic techniques for balancing each dosha
At Mountain Waters, we offer you an enriched learning environment of beauty, sacredness and connection to nature. Our intention is to be the place where the aspiration you feel for growth, change and a deeper connection to yourself, is met by a program you take and by something you discover inside yourself while you are here.
We offer you the opposite of distraction. Stillness, deep learning and a space that welcomes your authenticity, whether that means joy, tears, or some other form of your Awe-some-ness. Mountain Waters is where the longing for embodied presence becomes anchored in experience.
Often this can mean taking the time to looking clearly at what stands in the way of the full expression of your life. People come here to help navigate important life transitions. To shift perspectives , to let go, or press “pause” and turn toward the quieter voice inside, that can guide the way forward.
All Teachers Will Be Able To:
Teach exceptional, inspired yoga classes
Offer high quality, individually-customized private lessons
Know which yoga techniques are best suited to themselves and their students
Use asana and movement therapies to address muscular and skeletal imbalances
Use Ayurvedic principals to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different yoga forms
Our retreat facilities are located on the border of the 27,000-hectare West Arm Provincial Park, yet we are within walking distance, of the beautiful small city of Nelson, B.C. We offer a unique combination of pristine natural settings and proximity to world-class amenities. Our property is part of the 100-year-old Svoboda farm, nestled on the side of a mountain just to the East of Nelson. We are blessed with beautiful forests, verdant meadows, and delicious wild water that bubbles down Hermitage creek from springs sourced high up in the park
Nelson is an off-the-beaten-track destination. It is a place where people still leave their cars and walk along the lakefront or down historic Baker Street with its array of shops, outdoor cafes, restaurants, and galleries. It is a small city where smiles are exchanged between strangers and the pace of everyday life unfolds on a human scale.
The city is visually stunning with hilly, tree-lined streets and the beautiful Victorian-era architecture of its founding period. The beauty of the town’s surroundings have attracted many artists and craftspeople, giving Nelson a reputation as one of the finest small arts towns in North America.
Nelson is surrounded by rugged mountains and large pristine lakes. It is home to some of the best hiking, mountain biking, and kayaking in the world. Close to hot springs and four different Provincial Parks, the Nelson area offers an almost endless variety of outdoor recreational opportunities for people of all levels of skill and ability.
Nelson is a town where quality of life is measured in clean air, and deep conversation. The town is strangely quiet on days when it is snowing up at the ski hill. Nelson is a centre for alternative and integrative approaches to health and well-being and it is the perfect place for a retreat vacation that brings together health, nature, and self-exploration.
Driving
Nelson is located about halfway between Calgary and Vancouver in the South Eastern part of British Columbia. Highway 3 cuts across Southern BC and provides access to Nelson from both Vancouver (an 8 hour drive) and the Okanagan Valley to the West, and from the Alberta border and Calgary (a 7 hour drive) to the East.
For people traveling to Nelson from the United States, we are about a 3 hour drive North of Spokane, Washington. The most direct route involves crossing the border at the Nelway/Metaline falls border crossing about 50 minutes south of Nelson. For guests traveling from the States please remember that you will need your passport to cross the border.
Nelson has an active ride sharing community and you can both look for a ride or offer seats in your vehicle here. Go to Kootenay Rideshare’s website. This is the cheapest and most eco-friendly way to get to Nelson.
Flying
The easiest way to get to Nelson by air is via the Castlegar airport, about 40 minutes west of Nelson along Hwy 3A. AirCanada flies into Castlegar twice daily from both Calgary and Vancouver. Shuttles into Nelson from the Castlegar airport can be booked for $25 through Queen City Shuttles.
For guests traveling from the United States, we recommend that you fly into the Spokane International Airport and rent a car at the airport for the 3 hour drive to Nelson
**Please note~ We are happy to arrange transport for you at a minimal cost from Kelowna International Airport
Well into his third decade with yoga, Shy has tens of thousands of hours of experience bringing yoga to students of all levels, treating patients, and training yoga teachers and therapists around the globe.
Shy has offered coursework on education and pedagogy, as well as yoga philosophy and classical Indian literature at the University of California, Berkeley. In his yoga teaching, Shy integrates his experience in higher education with skillful attention to different learning styles, making even the most complex teachings approachable to every student.
Shy believes in teaching people – not poses, since the practices of yoga are infinitely adaptable to fit the practitioner’s stages of development. Instead, his Tantravaya yoga method integrates the classical Eight Limbs of Yoga, equally cultivating the body, breath and mind to bring each practitioner to optimal, holistic health.
This unique method has shown remarkable results in posture correction, pain relief and improved balance, as well as healing emotional trauma and addressing the roots of psychological symptoms, such as anxiety and depression.