300-hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training
with Hart Lazer, assisted by Donna Read
300 hour professional certification program
16 weekend intensives July 2020 – November 2021
Important Updates for 300-Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training
This training will take place via ZOOM until we are able to safely meet in person. We understand that this will not work well for some, and will work better for others. We look forward to passing on this knowledge and hope you can join us. Amidst the uncertainty, the following information is how we will move forward.
ZOOM meeting: Friday, June 5, 2020 6:00pm – 9:00 pm.
Agenda:
- Greet those who have registered and committed to the program.
- Discuss the study environment for students to optimize engagement. (ie: mat placement for best viewing, clearing the space of distractions, etc)
- Props: What you’ll need, where to source them, how to borrow them.
* Note: these hours will not be counted toward the program hours.
* Highlighted dates (Part 3: Therapeutic Approach) have been added to make up for our late start.
* If and when restrictions are lifted, and we can meet safely with precautions in place, we will invite you back into a studio with us. We will continue to record the sessions on ZOOM for those who prefer this, or cannot travel to be with us.
Teaching is the very heart of United Yoga Montreal. This course is designed to strengthen and deepen the understanding of yoga as a self-nourishing process as well as to add to the knowledge base of current yoga teachers. Our approach encourages each student to internalize the skills they learn with us and find their own unique expression as a teacher.
Overview
In this section of the 300-hour Advanced TT, emphasis will be placed on teaching clear and precise principles of alignment in both fast-paced movement practices and long-held supported practices. Other important topics include masterfully sequencing poses to attain a certain focus in your practice and teaching, learning to work with mixed level classes, and addressing common problems and injuries that occur in the intermediate and advanced level student.
The intent of this program is to advance and accelerate your practice as well as give you an opportunity to teach advanced-level poses including inversions, hip openings, advanced backbends and twists. You will gain hands on experience in adjusting and assisting students to move safely into these complex poses. Injuries and special needs will be addressed along with some meditation and breath work.
You will have the opportunity to learn:
- How to teach intermediate and advanced level poses in the safest possible way
- Effective language to communicate instructions clearly
- Preparation of lesson plans and creation of exciting sequences from different categories of poses or methods of practice
- How to adjust with skill and precision
- How to safely take your students deeper into their practice
- How to work with musculo-skeletal problems in intermediate to advanced poses
- The importance of practicing and teaching breath work
- How to deepen your meditation practice and teach from your own experience
Overview
Teaching restorative classes requires a specialized skillset. Ideally, deep supported poses are practiced for years before teaching them. Our knowledge and experience in this area will help initiate and deepen your restorative practices. This course will teach how to support with props to achieve a practice that is restorative and/or recuperative in nature.
The intention of this course is to learn to teach with many props including walls, chairs, bolsters, benches, blankets, blocks and belts in order to support students in the safest way possible. (We will incorporate the use of yoga walls, which includes ropes and slings if available.) Pranayama will also be introduced.
You will have the opportunity to:
- Adapt postures with variations from all categories (inversions, standing poses, backbends, twists and forward bends) with the help and support of different props.
- Learn sequencing for different types of restorative practices.
- Work on effective verbal cuing skills to communicate instructions clearly.
- Adjust with skill and precision using props to take your students safely into new or deeper postures and practices.
Restorative practices* we may cover during this module:
- Pre-Menstrual, Menstrual and Post-Menstrual
- Perimenopause – Menopause
- Immune System
- Nervous System
- Respiratory System
- Cardiac Health
* These practices may vary depending on time available and the needs of the group.
Overview
This portion of the 300-hour Advanced TT will focus on understanding the major systems of the body as related to restorative and/or recuperative asana practices, savasana, breath awareness and meditation. Systems covered will be the musculoskeletal system, nervous system, organ system, immune, digestive, circulatory and lymphatic systems.
The intention of this program is to acquire new skills to effectively help students that may be in difficulty and may need to practice yoga in a therapeutic way to feel better. Hart and Donna are invested in educating yoga teachers to become knowledgeable about the potential effects of yoga and meditation as a path to wellbeing.
You will have the opportunity to learn:
- The multiple layers of the human body and psyche as emphasized by the yoga tradition (the koshas).
- How to join physical movement with breath awareness and spiritual intention – the integration of breath, body and mind – the physical and emotional process towards restoring balance, well-being and improved health.
- How to teach poses and/or practices for different needs or illnesses.
- How to work with props to support your students in a therapeutic way.
- Using different meditation and visualization techniques to help students deal with fear, trauma and everyday life experiences.
- How to teach breath awareness and different variations of savasana.
Topics covered in this training:
- Upper back, neck and shoulders
- Lower back and hamstrings
- Hips, groins and knees
- Autoimmune diseases
- Cancer
- Sexual trauma
- Chronic pain, anxiety and depression
- Stress and trauma
- Asthma, snoring and sleep apnea
$3750 + tax paid in full by July 3rd, 2020
Monthly payment plan available:
$4000 + tax
For more details on this Teacher Training or to register with a payment plan, please email Donna Read at unitedyogamontreal@gmail.com
Friday: 5:30pm-9:30pm
Saturday: Between 9:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday: Between 9:00am – 5:00pm
Schedule: Part 1: Lesson Planning, Sequencing, Teaching Skills and Adjustments
July 3-5, 2020
September 11-13, 2020
October 23-25, 2020
November 20-22, 2020
Schedule: Part 2: Teaching Wall Yoga and Restoratives
January 22-24, 2021
February 19-21, 2021
March 19-21, 2021
April 23-25, 2021
Schedule: Part 3: Therapeutic Approach: Restoratives, Breath Awareness, Meditation and Savasana
May 21-23, 2021
June 18-20, 2021
July 16-18, 2021
August 6-8, 2021
September 10-12, 2021
October 1-3, 2021
October 22-24, 2021
November 19-21, 2021
*** Times may vary occasionally, (ie: start or finish earlier or later) but please plan in your schedule to start and finish at these times.
Admission requirements:
- At least two years of yoga practice
- Completed a recognized 200-hour yoga teacher-training program
- Currently teaching yoga classes at the beginner level
- Personal practice must be at an intermediate level
- Essential to have proficient understanding and practice of backbends and shoulder stand
Program requirements:
- Submission of homework and assignments
- Monthly independent home yoga and meditation practices are given.
- Punctual attendance in full is mandatory. Should any hours be missed, the student is responsible to make up these hours in order to receive a certificate of completion.
- Successfully pass both oral and written exams
Hart Lazer
Hart Lazer has been teaching and training Yoga teachers for more than 30 years.
Something of a cultural hybrid, he thrives in the alchemy distilled in the hatha yoga traditions including Iyengar and Ashtanga systems. Hart’s current teaching contains an emphasis on meditation, derived through the study of zen, Tibetan, and Buddhist practices. Using a tailored and multi-faceted approach, his intention is to guide individuals in their understanding of themselves, and despite the challenges of life, to do so with ease and enjoyment.
Hart’s major influences in his life and teaching are Ramanand Patel and Ken McCleod.
Being the co-founder of United Yoga Montreal gives Hart a home base from which he teaches nationally and internationally.
Donna Read
Donna Read, ERYT-500, is co-owner of United Yoga Montreal and Co-Founder of Le Centre de Yoga de Granby, she has been practicing yoga since 1996. At that time, she was already well established in the fitness industry where she taught workshops all over the world. Donna was a Nike Athlete and had several fitness videos to her name. She has studied mostly in the Ashtanga and Iyengar methods of Yoga with great teachers like Hart Lazer, Ramanand Patel, Father Joe Perrera, David Swenson and many more. Although since 2004, Donna has had the privilege and pleasure of studying under the guidance of Hart Lazer – whom she considers her teacher at heart. Dynamic and fun, Donna combines her knowledge and humour to make all her classes an enriching and unique experience.

Total of 300 hours Includes:
- 270 hours of direct class time with Hart Lazer and/or Donna Read
- 30 hours of group assignments, personal home-study and practice
*** Schedule is subject to change for unforeseen reasons. ***