Dharma Yoga Mindfulness Training
May 2024 – June 2025
with Anne Cushman, Leslie Booker, Rolf Gates, and Djuna Devereaux
REGISTER
DESCRIPTION
This yearlong Dharma and Yoga certificate program integrates Buddhist wisdom teachings and meditation practice with āsana, prāṇāyāma, and somatic movement. In the teaching of Yoga and embodied meditation, Dharma and Yoga are interwoven as one path to awakening. The training includes silent retreat, community connection, and structured support for deepening your personal practice. Our approach is centered on accessible and trauma-informed practices that nourish belonging and provide systematic grounding in the essential practices of these two great traditions.
This program offers 175 CEUs for Yoga teachers through Yoga Alliance.
Important Note: The program does not certify Yoga teachers to lead Insight Meditation courses, daylongs, or retreats, which require further training.
Participants will:
- Gain skills and understanding in the foundational teachings and practices of Dharma and Insight Meditation
- Advance personal practice and teaching skills in Yoga āsana
- Learn practice and teaching methods that support a loving connection to embodiment, honoring of boundaries, and a sense of belonging
- Refine techniques to support all bodies in āsana
- Gain understanding of how trauma impacts embodied experience
PROGRAM PREREQUISITE
The training is open to everyone, but is designed for more experienced practitioners from either mindfulness or Yoga traditions who aspire to integrate Dharma and Yoga in their practice. Special focus will be placed on integrating mindfulness into Yoga āsana practice and teaching.
PROGRAM INCLUDES
- 3 retreats (two residential, and one non-residential hybrid)
- Optional affinity groups
- Small groups
- Written assignments/reflections
- Q&A sessions in between retreats (every other month)
RETREAT DATES
Retreat 1: Residential retreat May 31-June 6, 2024
Retreat 2: Non-residential January 11-15, 2025 (hybrid)
Retreat 3: Residential retreat June 5-12, 2025
COMMITMENT TO BELONGING AND SANGHA BUILDING
We are committed to creating a DYMT community of practitioners from diverse backgrounds and cultures—a mix of gender identities, ethnicities, socio-economic status, sexual orientations, ages, and abilities—who will support each other’s Dharma and Yoga practice(s). We invite participants who are dedicated to creating communities of belonging and spiritual friendship.
PROGRAMS COMPONENTS & REQUIREMENTS
- Full attendance at both 6-night in-person residential retreats, as well as the 5-day non-residential hybrid retreat (participants can attend the hybrid retreat onsite or online)
- Attendance for and completion of the curriculum offered online between retreats. This will include study, practice, and connection with peers in small groups
PARTICIPATION AGREEMENTS
To get the most out of this training and to support both the Sangha and the container, we ask that you commit to the following:
- Full attendance at both 6-night in-person residential retreats, as well as the 5-day non-residential hybrid retreat (participants can attend the hybrid retreat in-person or online)
- Completion of the curriculum offered online between retreats: 3-5 hr/month recommended
- Maintain a consistent Yoga and meditation practice during the training to integrate the concepts and teachings: 20-30 min/day recommended
- Q&A sessions: 75 minutes every other month live via Zoom (highly recommended but not required, and will be recorded)
- Honor the needs of your body during our in-person and online movement sessions and communicate with the teaching team if further support is needed
- Maintain a willingness and capacity to interact and engage respectfully with people with different histories, stories, backgrounds, and views than your own
RETREAT FORMAT
The retreats will include periods of silence in meditation, and mindful movement. This will be combined with interactive workshop-style sessions—including discussion, small group learning, and Q&A— focused on advancing understanding and skills in the integration of Dharma and Yoga āsana. There will also be time for social connection and Saṇgha building.
SCHEDULE OF RETREATS (TOPICS SUBJECT TO REVISION)
First Retreat: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
Residential: May 31 - June 6, 2024
Topics include: Mindfulness of the Body, Breath, Heart, and Mind; Establishing and Deepening a Meditation Practice; Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels; Saṇgha building
Second Retreat: The Four Brahmavihāras
Non-residential hybrid retreat: January 11 - 15, 2025 (participants can attend online or in-person)
Topics include: Integrating the depth and dimensions of the Four Brahmavihāras—lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity—into the practice and teaching of mindful movement. Embodying the Brahmavihāras in daily life.
Third Retreat: The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path
Residential: June 5 - June 12, 2025
Topics include: What habitual actions and attitudes lead to suffering for ourselves and others, and which lead to increased happiness and freedom? How can we embody these understandings in our practice and teaching of Yoga?
175 YOGA ALLIANCE CEUs
This training program offers 175 CEUs with Yoga Alliance.
Please note:
- There will be no additional CEU fees.
- Only existing RYT (Registered Yoga Teachers) can use the hours if they complete this training program.
- After completion of the training program, those who have completed all participation requirements will receive a DYMT Certificate of Completion. Further instruction on how to upload certificate to Yoga Alliance for CEU submission will be provided at the end of the program.
TUITION
Sliding Scale: $11500 – $4500. Please consider paying at the highest rate that you can afford: your generosity supports the teachers of this program as well as Spirit Rock, staff, and your fellow practitioners. Any amount offered above the Sustainer rate of $4500 is a tax deductible donation to Spirit Rock, and your generosity will enable and support the participation of others.
As at all residential retreats at Spirit Rock, program fees do not include support for the teachers for the first and third retreats. There will be an opportunity to practice dāna (generosity) to support program teachers for the two residential retreats.
Standard Sliding Scale:
Supporter (Guaranteed Single Room) – $11,500
Benefactor – $9,050
Sustainer – $6,750
Basic – $4,500
Scholarship Sliding Scale:
All Scholarship rates are available on a first-come, first-served basis and are open to those needing financial support.
Scholarship Rate 1 - $4,050
Mudita/Karuna Scholarship Rate - $3,000
BIPOC Scholarship Rate - $3,000
CANCELLATION POLICY
Financial Details and Assistance
Participating in DYMT will require your commitment of both time and financial resources. If you need to withdraw from the program, the following fee structure will apply. Payment plans are available for all levels. A minimum deposit of 50% is due upon registering to secure your place in the program. Monthly installments are available until the first retreat. Scholarships are limited and are reserved for those truly experiencing financial hardship. Financial assistance for training programs is limited to once per year, per person to allow access for others.
Cancellation Policy*
- $150 non-refundable, flat fee for all applicants on or before Jan 1, 2024
- 15% fee = January 2 - March 2, 2024
- 30% fee = March 3 - May 3, 2024
- 50% fee = May 4 - May 30, 2024
- NO REFUNDS = On or after May 31, 2024
**Cancellation fee is a percentage of the total amount agreed to pay. These fees apply to all participants. Late cancellations do not allow us time to fill a vacated spot in the program.
QUESTIONS?
Please email us.
FACULTY
Anne Cushman
As a teacher and writer, Anne Cushman explores the intersection between meditative practice, creative expression, and the down-to-earth details of embodied human life. A practitioner of both dharma and yoga since 1982, she is a Spirit Rock residential retreat teacher; core faculty for Spirit Rock’s Dharma Yoga Mindfulness Training; director of mentoring for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program; and a founding teacher of Cloud Sangha, an online mindfulness community. She is the author of the memoir The Mama Sutra: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Path of Motherhood; the novel Enlightenment for Idiots; the India pilgrimage guide From Here to Nirvana; and Moving Into Meditation, a mindfulness manifesto for yoga practitioners. Her essays on spiritual practice in daily life have been widely published in venues that include the New York Times; Yoga Journal; O, The Oprah Magazine; Tricycle: The Buddhist Review; Lion’s Roar; and many other publications. She mentors writers and practitioners of embodied mindfulness worldwide, teaches retreats in person and online, and leads courses that combine creative writing, meditation, and yoga.
Useful Links
Leslie Booker
Booker brings her heart to the intersection of Dharma, Embodied Wisdom, and Liberation; using this framework to support folks in creating a culture of belonging. She shares her offerings as a university lecturer, public speaker, and Buddhist philosophy and meditation teacher.
Booker began training at Spirit Rock through the Mindful Yoga and Meditation training (2012), and supported by her teacher Gina Sharpe, continued her formal Dharma teacher training in the Community Dharma Leaders Training (2017), and the 4 year Retreat Teacher training (2020). Throughout these years, she worked as the Director of Teacher Trainings for Lineage Project where she shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with incarcerated and system involved youth for over a decade. She also facilitated a Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy intervention with the youth population on Rikers Island through the LionHeart Foundation and the National Institute of Health, and shared these practices with New York City’s most vulnerable populations through several other NYC non - profits. This is where she learned to take her practice off the cushion and into everyday life.
She has spoken at several conferences including Mind & Life’s International Symposium and Wisdom 2.0’s Mindfulness in America Conferences, and has been a featured speaker and facilitator at the Fetzer Institute, Vassar and Pitzer Colleges, and the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. She’s especially passionate about supporting folks on the front lines to thrive in their work, and training future leaders through the Peace Corps’ Jaffe Fellows and Teaching Residents at Teachers College at Columbia University, as well as the Dalai Lama Fellows.
Booker is a co-author of ‘Best Practices for Yoga in a Criminal Justice Setting’, a contributor to Georgetown Law's ‘Gender & Trauma—Somatic Interventions for Girls in Juvenile Justice’, contributed to Sharon Salzberg's book ‘Happiness at Work’ and Dr. Rima Vesely - Flad’s book ‘Black Buddhist and the Black Radical Tradition’. Her writing and other work can be found in Lion’s Roar, Tricycle Magazine, Yoga Journal and 10% Happier. She is a co-founder of the Yoga Service Council at Omega Institute and the Meditation Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. In 2020 she was a Sojourner Truth Leadership Fellow through Auburn Seminary, and was voted by her peers as one of the 12 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement. She currently lives in Philadelphia with her partner and pup, and is a Co-Guiding Teacher of New York Insight.
Rolf Gates
Rolf Gates is the author of the acclaimed book on yogic philosophy, Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga, and the newly released Meditations on Intention and Being: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga, Mindfulness and Compassion. He conducts yoga workshops, retreats, teacher trainings, and coaching and mentorship programs throughout the U.S. and abroad--and online. Rolf and his work have been featured in numerous media, including Yoga Journal, ORGINS, Natural Health, People Magazine, and Travel and Leisure's 25 Top Yoga Studios in the World.
Rolf is also the co-founder of the Yoga, Meditation and Recovery Conference at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts. A former addictions counselor and U.S. Army Airborne Ranger who has practiced meditation for over twenty-five years, Rolf brings his eclectic background to his practice and his teachings. Rolf and his wife, Mariam Gates, author of Good Night Yoga: A Pose by Pose Bedtime Story, live in Santa Cruz, California with their two children.
View Rolf's upcoming programs.
Djuna Devereaux
Djuna Devereaux has more than two decades of experience teaching the integration of yoga and Buddhist Dharma. At Spirit Rock, she teaches on retreat and leads the Dharma and Yoga Teacher Trainings. She supports her primary Dharma teachers, Thanissara and Kittisaro, as a core teacher and Board Chair for Sacred Mountain Sangha. Djuna is also faculty for Prajna Yoga, offering events internationally, and is a certified yoga therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in private practice.
Djuna weaves asana training, with somatic movement, biomechanics, and the wisdom of the Buddha Dharma, into her offerings. Her sessions are intelligently crafted to cultivate embodied awareness, strength, and mobility, while supporting the body’s innate capacity to heal. As a long-time Dharma practitioner, she approaches the asanas as vehicles of insight, inviting us to awaken to present moment experience through the intelligence of the body.