Teacher Training · The Timbers, Seaview, Isle of Wight
There is a point on the yoga journey when a deep part of you yearns to know more. This is the training for that moment — the ancient teachings woven elegantly into a contemporary context, taught in small groups by a senior teacher and yoga elder.
Emma Spencer-Goodier is a senior teacher and yoga elder, and a teacher of teachers. Her training weaves the ancient teachings elegantly into a contemporary context — the philosophy, the physiology and the psychology, held together rather than kept apart.
Groups are deliberately small, safe and intimate. Learning is embodied and practical, and everyone is mentored individually rather than processed through a syllabus. The aim is a life full of joy and gratitude, free of judgement — and, for those who go on to teach, the confidence to hold that subtle and precious space for others.
Where a subject needs a specialist, Emma brings one in: nutritional therapy, clinical psychology, plant medicine, ritual and ceremony are all taught by people who work in those fields.
The foundation course comes first and stands on its own — plenty of people take it with no intention of ever teaching. For those who feel the pull, the teaching course follows. Is it your life purpose to teach this precious, much-needed art?
A foundation course like no other: an immersion in the precious art of practice. Asana, meditation, pranayama, philosophy, nutrition, chanting, moon work, ceremony and clinical psychology, woven in incrementally as discerning habits.
Coaching your inner teacher. Teaching theory, anatomy, physiology, neurophysiology, assisting, the science of alignment, teaching pranayama and meditation, ritual, trauma sensitivity, and the subtle but precious art of holding space.
Complete both and you finish with a full three-hundred-hour training behind you, and a teacher who knows your practice well enough to keep mentoring you afterwards.
A yoga foundation course like no other, elegantly weaving the ancient teachings with a contemporary context. Asana, meditation, pranayama, philosophy, nutrition, chanting, moon work, ceremony and clinical psychology.
How to teach, and how to share yoga safely and inspirationally — finding your own voice, your own style, your own unique and special talents. Teaching theory, anatomy and physiology, neurophysiology, assisting, alignment science, ritual, trauma sensitivity and holding space.
When taught compassionately and with humility, the intelligence of the ashtanga method is exquisite: the choreography of the asanas, the medicine of the breath, the mindfulness of the vinyasa system. An intensive rather than a drip-feed, and demanding in the way the method itself is.
A breathwork and mindfulness teaching intensive: the science behind the practices, how to teach them, and how to hold a healing space while you do.
Make the ocean your studio: board skills, health and safety, meteorology, tides, anchoring, and peer teaching review on the water. A conversion certificate is required for insurance before you teach on a board. Emma has been running this since 2013, the longest-established SUP yoga training in the country.
Hands-on assisting: when it helps, when it doesn't, and how to offer it so that it is always the student's choice. Consent, confidence and clarity in equal measure.
Yoga teaching shaped around athletes: coordinating breath with movement, sharpening focus, and the mental conditioning that turns a good session into a good season.
A programme for navigating peri-menopause and menopause: yoga, meditation, pranayama, nutrition, clinical psychology, psychosexual work, soul work, exercise and joy work. Pointed firmly at pleasure, joy and abundance rather than damage limitation.
Dates and fees vary by course and intake. Get in touch and Emma will send the current dates, the fee and what's included for whichever course interests you.
Cohorts are kept small on purpose. Nobody sits at the back unnoticed, and the practical work has room to be practical. It also means the pace can bend around the group rather than the group bending around a timetable.
Anatomy, physiology, neurophysiology and clinical psychology sit alongside philosophy, ritual and ceremony. The tradition isn't diluted to make room for the science, and the science isn't waved away to protect the tradition.
Where a subject needs a specialist, Emma brings one in — nutritional therapy, clinical psychology, plant medicine, ritual and ceremony are taught by practitioners working in those fields, not summarised second-hand.
Coaching is compassionate and individual, and it doesn't stop when the hours are counted. Emma knows her students' practice well enough to keep being useful to them long after the certificate.
“Emma was a gorgeous, friendly, warm, knowledgeable instructor, who instantly made me feel at ease. It has quite literally changed my yoga business forever.”
Donna · SUP yoga teacher training, 2017
Training is based at The Timbers on Eddington Road in Seaview, on the Isle of Wight — a quiet corner of the island, a few minutes from the sea.
Courses marked as in person and online run in both formats, so students who can't be on the island every week aren't shut out of the programme.
The Timbers
Eddington Rd, Seaview, Isle of Wight, PO34 5EB
07880 558599
Most people begin with a conversation rather than a form. Emma will want to know where your practice is now, what part of you is yearning to know more, and whether the foundation course or something more specialised is the better place to start.
There's no obligation in asking, and no hard sell if the answer turns out to be "not this year".
Not sure which course? Say what you practise and what you're hoping for, and Emma will tell you honestly which of these fits — including if the answer is none of them yet.
Tell Emma what you practise and what you're hoping for, and she'll come back with the dates, the fee and an honest view on which course fits.
The Timbers, Eddington Rd, Seaview, Isle of Wight, PO34 5EB