An Indigenous yoga teacher training course is now being offered in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Indigenous Yoga Association (SIYA) is putting on the course which was created for students to teach yoga to Indigenous people.
“The Saskatchewan Indigenous Yoga Association was formed for the purpose of bringing yoga to the Indigenous population of the province by helping Indigenous people become yoga teachers,” says SIYA founder David Edney. “It started out with a scholarship that was offered every year to allow Indigenous people to do a teacher training course that was offered by yoga studios in Saskatoon, Regina or wherever they found one. This was the next step to make a specifically Indigenous course.”
The 200-hour course began on July 13th and is taking place at Pura Vida Yoga Loft.
“The training includes Indigenous elders and knowledge keepers who participated in the preparation of the curriculum and are also participating in the teaching of the course,” says Edney. “They went to a sweat lodge. They are doing basket weaving.”
The first group of students will finish on August 16 and Edney says they plan to keep the course going for years to come.
(Photo courtesy of Rachelle McHenry Lafferty.)