South Okanagan Yoga Academy (Headquarters/Calgary/Edmonton)

With 30 years of training yoga teachers SOYA has transformed into an Academy. Founded by Marion (Mugs) and Robert McConnell, Rebecca Stone and Elaine LaMarre are now the stewards of this classical yoga school. SOYA offers one of the most diverse and accessible yoga teacher training programs in full-time immersion and part-time formats, in these locations:

Penticton, BC, Calgary, AB, and Mexico.

With its roots in the Sivananda lineage, and guided by the highest standards, SOYA gives students a diverse and broad exposure to many styles, lineages and philosophies. Ever evolving, SOYA’s Teacher Training is designed with flexibility, accessibility and transformation at its heart.

SOYA’s lead trainers have extensive experience teaching, training and are dedicated to continued study. Some of the master yoga teachers they have had the blessing to study with include Dr. Hari Dickman, Swami Vishnudevananda, Namadeva Acharya, Erich Schiffmann, Rod Stryker and Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani (son of Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri). SOYA is proud to offer students exposure to various lineages or styles such as Ashtanga, Sivananda, Gitananda, Yin, Restorative, and Vinyasa, as well as Mantra and Mudra.

South Okanagan Yoga Academy has trained over 900 teachers at the 200 hour Foundations, 300 hour Advanced Upgrade and 500 hour levels. We offer ongoing support to our students after graduation as they advance their skills as teachers. The SOYA website at www.soyayoga.com has all the details on our yoga teacher training. After certification, SOYA teachers are eligible to apply for RYT with Yoga Alliance. We endeavour to open students’ world up to the many paths available to them so that they may find their path. As Swami Sivananda once said, “The paths are many, the Truth is One”.