FAQ
Frequently asked questions by our community
Questions about
Awakened spirit yoga
Awakened Spirit Yoga was born from our personal visions for healing, creative freedom, and community. The seeds of this vision were planted in 2007, when Julia Forest left Canada to set out on a 6 month journey that sparked the beginning of her 10 year personal pilgrimage to India and Nepal. With a deep calling to explore the roots of yoga, she experienced the rich tapestry of yoga (Sanatana Dharma) and Buddhism in Northern India and Nepal and taught and studied yoga in ashrams and monasteries in the Himalayan foothills. She experienced yoga and mindfulness as powerful paths of healing, inner inquiry and transformation.
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Her travels lead her study permaculture in Thailand. She was inspired by the practical nature of permaculture and immediately began introducing it as a complementary tool to live a life in alignment with our deepest values and a care for the earth and our communities. She founded Awakened Spirit in 2015 as a place to nourish sacred purpose steeped in the values of collaboration, co-creation, freedom and personal transformation.
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Since then we have grown our family to include a broader network of co-creators and empowered global community leaders. The heart of our community is grounded in a deep care for the earth, a reverence for ancient wisdom traditions and a belief in the human potential for transformation and healing.
The awakened spirit yoga approach.Â
With deep roots in Northern India, our trainings and retreats blend traditional Hatha, Vinyasa and the fundamentals of therapeutic yoga to support you in leading a joyful, empowered life. Our alignment-based system incorporates mindfulness and traditional yogic wisdom with a modern understanding of the body.
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Our holistic retreats and trainings unearth how these powerful teachings live and breathe within each individual and how that shapes our world. We explore yoga through the lens of alignment, empowerment, and transformation in our teachings. The heart of our practice is grounded in a deep care for the earth, a reverence for ancient wisdom traditions and a belief in the human potential to heal and transform.
This contemplative approach explores authentic yoga, mindfulness and permaculture as tools to inspire heart centered living and sustainable change. Our curriculum is developed around the three pillars of Mind, Body & Earth.
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We believe yoga is for all people and create safe, inclusive, and engaging learning environments for you to discover your own potential. When practiced and understood holistically, yoga becomes even more beneficial and helpful for humanity in bringing harmony and balance to our lives, our families, and to society.
Align
Look within to create a life in alignment with your highest potential.
The practice of yoga brings us into alignment with our energetic and physical bodies. When we align our bodies in asana, we can find health in our tissues, access great wisdom and uncover inner strength. When we align ourselves with our truths we can live a life informed by our values, led by the heart. Our holistic approach to teaching creates the space for you to discover the alignment that best supports you.
EMPOWER
Embody your true power to rise.
When we are in alignment with our truth, our authentic power is revealed. As we re-member our wholeness and allow all of ourselves to come forth, we embody our innate power to create, to heal and to transform. We believe that through this process you develop the formula for your own empowerment. Our approach supports you in integrating your gifts, finding your voice, and stepping out into the world with clarity as an empowered and heart-centered leader.
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TRANSFORM
Change your perspective, change your world.
When we are empowered on an individual level, we shift how we see our place in the world. Our trainings and retreats support you to explore your deepest potential and expand from a place of true coherence. Our approach sparks inner transformation, inspiring creativity, harmony and compassionate living for all beings.
We believe in the importance of practicing yoga off the mat. We are committed to giving back to communities and the planet. Building sustainable and beneficial relationships with the communities who host our programs is integrated right into our curriculums. We support community projects in the villages that host us and donate a percentage of profits of our offerings to several NGOs. A scholarship is available to 1 qualifying student per course.
In our programs you will learn to teach beginner, intermediate and advanced students as well as considerations, styles and modifications suitable for various populations.
Yes, we are a RYS 200 and RPYS with the Yoga Alliance. All of our graduates may become Registered Yoga Teachers (RYTs) and/or RPYTs with the Yoga Alliance if taking the Prenatal Program.
200HR YTT, 300HR Advanced YTT
Questions about registration, deposit & transfers
If you have already paid your $200 deposit, you can use the PROMO code DEP200 to subtract your deposit on the website. Here are some other ways that you can finish paying your tuition:
- PayPal: You will need to cover the payment fees here, and be sure to change the payment to the friends and family/gift option operations@awakenedspirityoga.com
- Venmo: @awakened-spirit
- Zelle: operations@awakenedspirityoga.com
- Bank transfer
Once you receive access and have signed up to the course on Teachable, we are unable to provide you with a refund. If you still have a balance remaining, you are expected to complete the payment. We are, however, able to switch you from the current program, into a different program. So please contact us so we can make a satisfactory arrangement, thank you.
Yes, a $50 change fee will apply and you may use your deposit for any other course of your liking within the next two years.
Yes you can (unless you already have received a scholarship).
Deposits for all of our courses are non-refundable, but may be transferred to another program occurring within the next calendar year when cancellation notice is given no less than 6 weeks prior to the start date of the original program registered for.
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The remaining balance is refundable, less a $150 application fee up until 4 weeks prior to the first day of the course if a student chooses to withdraw application from the program. Once the program begins, no refunds will be granted. A full refund of the tuition will be offered if a workshop, training or retreat is cancelled by it’s facilitators.
Financing & scholarship questions
We are aware that committing to a training is an important decision and do our best to accommodate various payment options. Please contact us for information about payment plans and let us know how we can best support you.
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ASY is committed to making our trainings accessible to individuals and groups of all socio-economic situations. We offer partial scholarships to individuals who work for NGOs, charitable organizations, social workers, school teachers and students. We offer one scholarship or work trade opportunity per program that we offer.
Live in-person training
Currently in Guatemala, it is not required to wear masks in small gatherings of under 20 people, so we will be following the protocols the country is taking. All participants will have arrived with negative covid tests and the yoga spaces are open air, which further encourages us to follow along and not require masks. If you have any thoughts or questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
In order to travel to Guatemala you will need a negative covid PCR or antigen test result within 72 hours of flight departure as well as this health pass form. You will need to show both forms at each stop over as well as when you enter Guatemala, so we recommend keeping them easily accessible.
Learn more here: https://www.ivisa.com/guatemala-health-pass
La Aurora International Airport is a 4-4.5 hour drive from Lake Atitlán. Some people plan to go directly from the airport to training, which starts at 4pm on the first day, while others choose to stay in Antigua for a night to decompress, and then go to the Lake the next day.
If you are interested in arriving earlier, you may be able to stay directly at the Bambu Guest House Retreat, if they have availability. If you are interested, please email us at info@awakenedspirityoga.com and we will connect you with our lead facilitator, Shad Qudsi who can confirm availability. Accommodation at the Bambu Guest House before the course is $15 per night.
Learn more about the Bambu Guest House Retreat here: https://www.bambuguesthouse.com
If you cannot attend due to new restrictions at your place of origin, or at Guatemala, you can either receive a full refund of the training (minus service fees), or you may transfer your training to an online or future in-person training. We will waive the administration fees in order to accommodate your request.
We can help set up a shuttle for your arrival. For a shared shuttle, the departure times from the airport are 11am and 2pm. The cost is $25 USD per person, which can be paid at the office when you arrive in Panajachel.
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From Panajachel, you would then take a boat to our town of Tzununa and then a tuk tuk up to the Bambu Guesthouse.
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A private shuttle will get you from the airport at any time and will take you right to our doorstep. The cost of the private shuttle is $120 USD and you can pay here upon arrival. The trip takes about 4-4.5 hours, depending on traffic.
On your full-day and half-day breaks, you can relax at Bambu, travel into neighboring towns, or plan activities with your fellow classmates. We can arrange everything for you through the Bambu Guest House.
Full participation is required to complete the program and to receive your Yoga Alliance certification. Three hours of missed classes with a valid reason will be excused without makeup. Any additional hours missed will require communication with a facilitator and an action plan as to how hours can be completed. Additional costs may incur if one-on-one facilitator time is required to make up hours.
At the end of the course, you will receive your 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Certification. This course is approved by Yoga Alliance, so as a graduate of this program you will qualify to register as a teacher with the Yoga Alliance organization if you choose to do so. One of the certification requirements will be a 500-800 word essay on a yoga topic of your choice. We will share more details about the essay during the course, however, feel free to start thinking ahead of time about yoga related topics that you might be interested in exploring.
