Inside Our First 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Bali

What actually happens when you take 14 people to Bali for 21 days and completely immerse them in yoga?

A lot.

Our first The Yoga Project 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training was three weeks of movement, breathwork, philosophy, anatomy, teaching methodology, pose labs, sequencing, studying, practicing, teaching—and more than a few moments none of us will ever forget.

But the intention behind The Yoga Project began long before we arrived in Bali.

Why We Created The Yoga Project

The Yoga Project came from the heart of two yoga teachers who have developed a deep love and appreciation for the practice and, particularly, the tools it has given us for navigating life both on and off the mat.

When Candice and Meg began building the program, we wanted teacher training to be about more than memorizing poses and learning how to cue them.

Of course, learning to teach matters. Trainees should leave a 200-hour program understanding anatomy, sequencing, modifications, teaching methodology, philosophy, and how to safely guide someone through a yoga practice.

But before you can understand how someone else moves, there is tremendous value in becoming curious about how you move.

We wanted our trainees to develop their own physical and internal practices alongside their teaching skills.

And we wanted to create an environment where they could temporarily step outside their everyday lives and fully immerse themselves in doing exactly that.

So we took our first class to Bali.

What Does a Day of Yoga Teacher Training Look Like?

Let's clear something up first:

Yoga teacher training in Bali is not three weeks of doing a little yoga and then hanging out by the pool.

Our days typically began around 8 AM, which gave trainees time to eat breakfast and prepare before we started practicing.

Mornings began with breathwork followed by a vinyasa practice led by Meg. From there, we transitioned into lectures covering topics like teaching methodology and yoga philosophy—including what quickly became known as Philosophy Corner.

And yes, Meg loved Philosophy Corner.

After the morning session, trainees had approximately two hours for lunch. Having that break mattered. The training was intensive, and we wanted people to have time to eat, recharge, process what they'd learned, and enjoy being in Bali.

Then we went back to work.

Learning the Poses Is Only the Beginning

Afternoons often included pose labs, where we took the postures commonly found in a vinyasa practice and pulled them apart.

What is actually happening anatomically?

What are common modifications?

How might the same pose look different in different bodies?

How do you cue it clearly?

How do you teach it safely?

How does it fit into a sequence?

Knowing how to perform a yoga pose and knowing how to teach another human being that pose are two very different skills.

Teacher training is where trainees begin bridging that gap.

Anatomy, Mindful Movement and Intelligent Sequencing

Candice took over many of our afternoon and evening lectures and workshops, bringing her love of anatomy into the training.

Trainees explored how anatomy relates to yoga, how bodies move differently, and how to think more intentionally about movement and sequencing rather than simply stringing together poses that look good next to each other.

That understanding became especially important as trainees began creating and teaching their own classes.

Our training days generally wrapped around 7:30 PM, when everyone headed to dinner.

And the next morning, we started again.

For 21 days.

It was immersive by design.

From Practicing Yoga to Teaching It

One of the most rewarding parts of the three weeks was watching the progression happen in real time.

Someone learns their first arm balance.

Someone discovers a modification that completely changes the way a pose feels in their body.

Someone stands in front of the group to teach and is visibly nervous.

Then they do it again.

And again.

Until eventually they're standing in front of their peers teaching an entire one-hour yoga class in their own voice.

That last part matters to us.

The goal of The Yoga Project isn't to create 14 teachers who sound exactly like Meg and Candice.

It's to give trainees the knowledge and tools to understand the practice and then learn how to articulate it authentically themselves.

By graduation, our trainees had spent three weeks learning, studying, practicing, teaching, receiving feedback, completing exams, and presenting what they knew.

They had earned the opportunity to call themselves certified yoga teachers.

There Were Transformative Moments Too

Twenty-one days is a long time to spend immersed in anything.

There were highs. There were challenging days. There were emotions. There were breakthroughs. There was frustration followed by the satisfaction of finally understanding something that hadn't clicked before.

Teacher training asks you to learn about yoga, but spending that much time studying your own body, mind, habits, reactions, and practice inevitably teaches you quite a bit about yourself too.

That's part of why we wanted an immersive training rather than one squeezed into occasional weekends around everyone's normal schedules.

For three weeks, this was the priority.

Our Final Day in Bali

The final day gave us a moment none of us could have planned better.

A Balinese priest and priestess joined our group for a closing ceremony and graduation blessing.

During the ceremony, they spoke about how powerful and beautiful it was that 14 people would leave this experience and go out into the world carrying the light of yoga with them.

After three weeks of watching those same 14 people work incredibly hard to get there, the sentiment landed differently.

They had arrived as trainees.

They were leaving as teachers.

And now each person would decide what that meant for them.

Some may teach regularly. Some may incorporate yoga into work they're already doing. Some may use the experience primarily to deepen their own practice.

There isn't only one way to use a yoga teacher training.

Our First Graduating Class

As lead trainers and facilitators, watching our first The Yoga Project class graduate was one of the most rewarding and inspiring experiences of the entire program.

We watched each trainee develop not only knowledge, but confidence.

We watched them find their voices.

We watched them support one another.

And we watched them work incredibly hard through their final exams, presentations, and teaching requirements to complete the program.

Our first class will always be particularly special because they helped turn something we had imagined and created into something real.

Fourteen new yoga teachers left Bali.

And we cannot wait to see where they take the practice next.

Interested in a future The Yoga Project 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training? Get all the details!