Welcome to Jaya Yoga

The sanskrit word Jaya means "victory to" or "in celebration of." Jaya Yoga was created in celebration of Yoga in all ways. 
​Teacher Training at Flow Yoga delves you deep into the true heart of yoga. physically, you will get the best possible instruction in pose anatomy and alignment so that you can truly understand "the reasons, not just the rules." Personally, Yoga is about connection, union, life, and love. You will come to know yourself as that during these trainings. 

No matter where your yogic path has brought you so far, arriving here, is where you are meant to be. Jaya Yoga Teacher Training celebrates Yoga like no other training program we know of. More than just learning asana and teaching techniques, you will discover true Yoga, the essence of who you are. You will train personally, with teachers devoted to you and your Yogic discovery. You will become immersed in Yoga with the guidance of your teachers throughout the program. This is how Yoga was traditionally taught. ​

Up to this point, you may have been to different classes, teachers, workshops, retreats, trainings, etc, but now you will become immersed with two complimentary and diverse teachers. Stephanie (Pushti) and Adi are devoted to you and your deeper yogic experience during and even after our training time together. Traditionally, this is how Yoga was passed down through the ages. While it can be fun and fashionable and even feel safe to go from conference to conference to training to workshop to class, this can also be a way to avoid intimacy, vulnerability, or to truly be seen. Without a long-term teacher, no one to consistently see your progression and practice in your Yoga training, you may feel something missing in the dedication and devotion you experience on your path.

We provide Yoga Alliance-approved 200-Hour Teacher Training (and a 500 hour training that is offered in 5 one-week intensives). Our program exceeds the basic requirements of Yoga Alliance in many ways, but, most importantly, will teach you how to use your strengths to truly connect with the students you teach.

“Our inspiration is to share Yoga in ways that are meaningful to you energetically and spiritually. Jaya Yoga is also uniquely grounded in preventing yoga injuries so that you can continue your practice for the rest of your life - we approach yoga not from what's trendy, but from what's sacred, sustainable, and revolutionary.” - Stephanie

Jaya Yoga RYT 200 TT Program

Cost: ​$2500 + SAYF Certification + 3 required books  *$200 deposit to hold your spot - non-refundable*
Payment plans also available:
6 Month payment plan includes a $50 administrative fee.
12 month payment plan includes a $100 administrative fee.

Teacher Training Schedule
Our RYS Director, Stephanie, has been leading Teacher Trainings for over 20 years. 2020 brought some new challenges, and, luckily, we were able to adapt and graduate a great group of 12 teachers! In 2021, we are going to be bringing all we learned about effective synchronous and asynchronous online learning to our Teacher Training Programming. AND, we are planning our schedule so we all have some in-person time together later in the year  because there is SO MUCH to be gained by in-person learning, as well. This is our schedule for 2021-22:

Course Title:
Limbs 1 & 2: Yamas, Niyamas, & the Bhagavad Gita
YOU deserve growth and support. WE are here to support YOU in discovering how yogic teachings can be powerful protectors and guides for your life experience.
January is a transformative time of year. Join us for a 10-Week deep dive into the first two limbs of yoga: the Yamas and Niyamas as taught from the teachings of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and The Bhagavad Gita.
You will have the opportunity to join us for two FB Live teaching sessions each week (one taught by Stephanie Adams Ruff and one taught by Adi Vajra). Additionally, this Course includes one Flow class each week live-streaming with Stephanie that integrates the teachings into a practice that focuses both on psychological and kinesthetic awareness. This course includes 3.5 hours of learning each week. Hours can be attended "live" or you can practice with the recordings.
This course is excellent for expanding your yoga practice into all aspects or your life, as well as, personal development and transformation. 35 hours devoted are also eligible to be applied to either 200/300/500 teacher training or CEs.
Offered Jan - Mar each year.
Cost: $299 (if paying separately)
$199 for Flow Unlimited Members not participating in the TT
(please email liaflowyoga@gmail.com to register with this pricing option)
You can register here:
https://www.flowhoodriver.com/event-calendar.html

​Limb 4: Pranayama & Koshas 
How is your breath?
No, seriously, this is a powerfully contemplative question. Breath truly and remarkably affects YOUR life energy ("prana"). We will delve into both the modern science and ancient tradition of breathing.
Limb 4: Pranayama & Koshas delves into both the sacred traditions of breathwork and the subtle energy bodies (koshas) and also the physiology (Breath book by James Nestor recommended).
You will have opportunity to join us for two live online teaching sessions each week (one taught by Stephanie Adams Ruff and one taught by Adi Vajra). Additionally, this Course includes one Flow class each week live-streaming with Stephanie that integrates the teachings into a practice that focuses both on psychological and kinesthetic awareness. This course includes 3.5 hours of learning each week. Hours can be attended "live" or you can watch the recordings.
This course is excellent for expanding your yoga practice into all aspects or your life, as well as, personal development and transformation. 10.5 hours devoted are also eligible to be applied to either 200/300/500 teacher training or CEs.
Offered April each year.
Cost: $119
$89 for Flow Unlimited Members not participating in the TT
(please email liaflowyoga@gmail.com to register with this pricing option)

Limb 3: Asana, Biomechanics, and Accessibility & Chakras - Awareness & Subtle Energy Balancing  Over 5 weekends that include: language, physical execution, human movement mechanics, and adaptations/modifications to reduce the likelihood of yoga injury and make classes more accessible. An in-depth journey into Chakras - Awareness & Subtle Energy Balancing. These weekends are in-studio in Hood River. 
5 weekends (Fri afternoon, Saturday & Sunday) March-Sept each year (July & Aug off). $1499
2023 Dates:  March 3-5, April 14-16, May 5-7, June 9-11 & Sept 22-24
SAYF Certification is a prerequisite for this training (Jaya students are offered a discounted rate). You must have completed, at least, Lesson 1 of SAYF, unless you have permission from Stephanie.

Limbs 5, 6 & Japa: Meditation & Mantra Sept 19-October 8
You will have opportunity to join us for two Live online teaching sessions each week . Additionally, this Course includes one Flow class each week live-streaming with Stephanie or Adi that integrates the teachings into a practice that focuses both on psychological and kinesthetic awareness. This course includes 3.5 hours of learning each week. Hours can be attended "live" or you can watch the recordings.
This course is excellent for expanding your yoga practice into all aspects or your life, as well as, personal development and transformation. 10.5 hours devoted are also eligible to be applied to either 200/300/500 teacher training or CEs.
Offered Sept each year. $119
Register Here:
https://www.flowhoodriver.com/event-calendar.html
 
Advanced Practices Weekend 1: October 13-15, 2023 - 18 hours
Arm Balances, Sanskrit, Mantra, Mudra, & Patanjali (kleshas, antarayas & brahmavihara) & Practice Teaching - Steph
Practice Teaching, Kriya & Ayurveda - Adi
Offered October each year. $349
 
Advanced Practices Weekend 2: November 10-12, 2023 - 18 hours
Inversions, Sanskrit, Mantra, & Practice Teaching - Steph
Specialty Training - Trauma Informed Yoga - Steph (This can be attended as part of the weekend, or on its own $79)
Practice Teaching, Kriya & Gunas - Adi
Offered November each year. $349

All  courses are taught from hundreds of pages of manuals we have written from our lineages and experience, the books required, as well as, reliance on both Patanjali's Yoga Sutras & Bhagavad Gita.
​
To register email liaflowyoga@gmail.com, or for questions email stephflows@me.com

*If you can not attend all the dates listed above, you can make-up courses to complete in the next year. Upon completion of all requirements includes an RYT 200 and SAYF Certificate. All payments must be made prior to getting your Certificate for graduation.*

We understand that your life is busy and there are often many other commitments you need to consider before diving into a 200 hour training program. After years of experience leading trainings, we have determined a balanced training schedule that allows our students to best absorb the breadth of the training program, as well as, honor those modern life commitments (family, work, finances, and personal time).
We will cover the foundational aspects of yoga: yoga history & various styles of teaching, the 8-limbs, meditative inquiry, human anatomy & movement, and pose alignment. Here are some highlights of programs that can be taken as part of your 200 or 300 hour TT, or simply for personal practice and inquiry:

Personal Inquiry Courses

Explore the limbs of Yoga, in courses that focus on your growth with the support of sangha (group connection):

Limbs 1 & 2: Yamas, Niyamas, & the Bhagavad Gita -
10 Week Course: Jan - Mar each year
$299

Limb 4: Pranayama & Koshas delves into both the sacred traditions of breathwork and also modern science.
3 Week Course: Apr each year
$119

​Limb 5 & 6: Pratyahara/Dharana these meditative practices are covered in a 3-Week Meditative Immersion.
3 Week Course: Sept each year
$119

Sustainable Vinyasa Yoga​

​Aligning with the sacred energy flow of the body is the simplest way to tap into your pranic vitality and return to the natural alignment that is your true nature. Learn simple principles of alignment in fundamental Vinyasa poses based on essentials of hatha yoga biomechanics. This training will give you options to refine your practice and teachings to become even more sustainable regardless of your lineage or dedicated asana style. These functional fundamentals can help to prevent yoga injury especially in areas most prone to injury in modern active yoga styles: the wrist, lumbar and cervical spine, and hips/knees! Sustainable Yogasana creates a good understanding, body awareness, and integration between yoga therapeutics and more active styles of yoga.

Yoga for Every Age & Stage

There is so much great information out there about teaching to different ages and stages of life. Stephanie has taken the vast amount of options and information available for modifying the traditional practices for specialty populations into the most practical and powerful. Learn the most important considerations for modifying classes for pregnancy, seniors, obesity, and fun and playful formats for teaching to kids. This is a training for every body and will include adaptive options for stress reduction for optimal health for every age and stage. 

Creating Connection Through Touch

​Yoga is a gift. We can create connection and community in many ways. One natural way we express connection is through touch and physical support. This 5 hour teacher training workshop will focus on assisting and adjusting asana to both connect and to guide. Healing through touch by bringing aligned balance to our students' bodies.


Jaya Yoga 200 Hr Training Highlights:
  • Over 80 asana/postures/modifications/vinyasas (some unique to Jaya Yoga) from an alignment, kinesiology, and energetic perspective. We explore asana thoroughly to balance the muscles and prevent yoga injury, looking at asana together as standing poses, backbends, forward bends, twists, arm balances and inversions.
  • Kinesiology is the study of movement, performance, and function by applying the sciences of biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, and psychology. From a yogic perspective, we look deeply into the poses and apply the ancient science of bandhas (energetic seals/locks) with modern functional strength/muscle balancing. Additionally, we take into consideration skeletal anatomy and develop an understanding of the physiology of stretching to "see" both the benefits and limitations of asana to balance the physical body.
  • Discussion of common yoga injuries and how to prevent them through progression, modifications, and options.
  • We develop an understanding of the subtle energy body: koshas, chakras, rasas and nadis, and understand the benefit of pranayama, kriya, mudra, and asana to connect with the inherent vital energy that we are.
  • We will review up to 30 kriyas, many unique to Jaya Yoga.  Kriyas are mental and physical fluid meditations.  Kriyas are not well known or understood in the West, yet are a primary practice in India, where yoga began.
  • At the 200 hour level, we deeply study Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, including the essentials of Yoga philosophy, the 3-Step Plan, 8 Limbed System, and Yamas and Niyamas.
  • In celebration of yoga all ways, we look at the "family tree" of the major lineages of Eastern and Western Yoga Traditions, older & contemporary, to understand the styles and traditions emerging today.
  • Sanskrit pronunciation and practice for both asana and yogic terms.
  • Support in developing your authentic teaching voice and language.
  • Energetically balancing our classes with hatha and vinyasa. The energetic and physical practices of mantra and mudra will be introduced and practiced, including practical ways you can incorporate them into classes. Meditation and pratyahara (sense withdrawal) will be daily practice using a variety of techniques, as will the other limbs of the 8-limbed system.
  • Mindful Adjustments. Learning to connect individually and energetically with students first, and secondly, through visual, verbal, and touch. Physical adjustments are an advanced teaching technique that should be applied with experience once a teacher has become comfortable with teaching technique and creating connection. 
  • Practice teaching experience through observation and assisting in classes with your peers. 

What to Look for in a Yoga Teacher Training Program
As you compare different programs and schools, feel free to ask lots of questions about the program and the experience of the Trainers. Not only how long have they been practicing or teaching Yoga, but how long have they been training teachers.
Another thing to consider is how many students will be allowed into the program. It is of the utmost importance to us that we have enough people to generate energy and support, but not so many that we are limited in our personal connection to each student.
Adi and Stephanie have been taught by master teachers in the U.S. and India and have taken a variety of trainings around the world to ensure that we are providing classes to inspire the mind, awaken the spirit, and bring vital energy into the body. There are many newer teachers who put together teacher trainings and many of them have only been trained in one style of asana. Our teacher trainers have been trained in many forms of vinyasa/astanga/power, bihar, kriya/kundalini, yin, Iyengar, partner/acro, Pranava, and therapeutic/viniyoga. Stephanie has been practicing asana regularly since 1994 (25 years), and training Yoga teachers and developing curriculum for Yoga Alliance-approved training programs nearly full-time since 2000 (nearly 20 years). Adi has been teaching the heart of Yoga since he first had the highest samadhi experience in 2003. THIS is our lives' work, THIS is what we are here to do. We have 40 combined years of full-time teaching.

Is Jaya Yoga Right for You?
Jaya Yoga will challenge your body and mind, and open your heart, if you let it. We will ask a lot from you, and you will get back, what you give. Once you commit to this program, your practice, and your overall well-being...you "catch" Yoga, you become Yoga. You relax into life with the most vital energy you've ever known. We offer a 3-Day Foundations Training so that you can meet your potential teachers and get a deep sense and feeling for what this style/approach is founded upon. If your heart is inspired toward the Jaya Yoga path, you can choose to enter either at the 200-hour or 500-hour level (if you already have your RYT 200).

What if I am coming from out of town? 
  1. Stephanie can help arrange local lodging, nearby rooms, and/or a hostel that range in price from about $100/weekend. You choose where you want to be depending upon your needs and circumstances and level of privacy you require. 
  2. Food, lodging, and transportation to Hood River are your own expense, but we will help you coordinate rides, etc, from the airport, if needed.
  3. Each training includes teacher training manuals. A list of other required books will be emailed to you after you register. We have carefully considered which books are most essential to a yoga teacher's reference library - you will use these again and again.
  4. The weekends are intensive. If you commit to this program, please leave all other work or obligations behind during your training weekends. During the free time you do have, there will be some reading, etc, required, and/or you will be really encouraged to be "free" in that time - you will need the brain and body break!
If you want more information about Jaya Yoga Teacher Training’s RYT 300/500 program (offered as five one-week intensives), please email stephflows@me.com

Pricing

Our entire RYT200 training comes to $2500 + SAYF Certification + 3 books. A *non-refundable* $200 deposit is required to hold your space in the training. 
We prefer your balance be paid in full by the conclusion of your training. In special circumstances we can offer a payment plan extension, please contact our training manager to see if you qualify. 

Registration

A yoga teacher training is and should be an intentional, personal relationship with both yourself and your inner growth, as well as with your teacher trainers and the information that is presented. We would love to have a personal conversation with you regarding our program and your interests to make sure that we are a good fit for you and your needs. 

To register please contact us expressing your interest and any remaining questions you may have regarding the Jaya Training Program. You may also directly register for our upcoming trainings and workshops online. 

Here is what people are saying about Jaya Yoga Teacher Training (unsolicited feedback):

"Stephanie, thank you so much for the training. I can’t find words for a high enough praise. I have been changed by it. I appreciate your graciousness." ~ Dr. K Wright

“First I want to thank you so much for the incredible weekend. I feel so happy and focused and calm and excited and emotional (all those at once) to continue my learning with you both, with Jaya Yoga. I feel very clear about this—pursuing a path that manifests as supporting others has been in my mind and heart for over 20 years—should I get a graduate degree in psychology? Should I enter into energy work? Life coach? Yoga teacher?
I am clear now about the path—this is huge for me (and for my family, who has been observing this spinning wheel in my mind for a long time). As a dancer, and as a support person in my work and family and life, yoga is the magic combination of movement and expression and quiet and compassion and challenge and joy for me. The universe seems to be offering me openings in this regard right now, and I can’t explain why this is, but know I would like to move forward. I was deeply moved by the weekend, and humbled by all there is to learn—you know the old adage, the more you know, the more you don’t know!
All I learned made so much sense to me intuitively—emotionally, and physically. I am excited to have learned how to care for myself more fully in yoga and how to care for others. Practicing restraint and calming my own intensity is a life challenge for me, but I felt an opening in that regard, in myself, after the weekend.” ~ VT

“I wanted to say “Thank You” again to you both for the amazing opportunity you provided for us to all come together and learn and celebrate yoga. The depth of your knowledge, compassion, and love for what you do and the people you teach is truly a thing of beauty and I count myself lucky to be able to share in that. I’m inspired to share what I learned and have been processing the weekend and rereading my notes today in hopes that I can internalize as much as possible and bring it into my own classes as well as my life.” ~BB
​
“Once again let me tell you how grateful I am ...My life has been changed forever and that seems to happen every time I meet with you. I want to tell you a story: On Saturday when I had that experience of waves of heavy sadness I didn’t know if I could bear it but I decided to let my body handle it because it obviously didn’t want to store that pain any longer. I thought when I came to the workshop that I could disconnect and leave my problems at home and I was surprised that I could feel everything that I was feeling and still enjoy the training. Usually when I am having an experience I get disconnected from my body. This time it was different and I was in my body... I suspect that is part of your mission of creating a yoga community and I want you to know IT’S WORKING!!!” ~JH
"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
​ ~ Rumi