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Hatha Yoga · Advanced
Advanced Yoga
योग · प्रगत
For practitioners with a daily practice who want the classical material — long holds, inversions, bandha and mudrā, and the texts that explain what is happening.
"Advanced practice is not harder postures. It is finer attention."
The Course
Where this begins
There is a point where adding new postures stops helping. The body can do the shapes; what is missing is depth — the ability to stay, to breathe evenly under load, and to feel what is actually happening rather than what you expect.
This course works in that direction. Holds get longer, transitions get slower, and the energetic practices of Hatha Yoga — bandha, mudrā, the kriyās — are introduced in the order the tradition intends. We read the Haṭha Pradīpikā alongside the practice, because at this level the theory stops being abstract.
This Is For You If
- You have practised consistently for a year or more
- Sūrya Namaskāra and the standing postures are familiar ground
- You can sit still and upright for twenty minutes
- You are considering teacher training, or already teach
What You Practise
Six things, learned properly
Long holds
Postures held for several minutes, where the work moves from muscle to breath to attention.
Inversions
Śīrṣāsana and Sarvāṅgāsana approached progressively, with the neck and shoulder preparation they require.
Bandha
Mūla, Uḍḍīyāna and Jālandhara — the internal locks, taught only once the breath is steady.
Mudrā
Classical gestures and seals, and what they do to the direction of attention.
Ṣaṭkarma
The six cleansing actions — neti, kapālabhāti and their companions — practised under supervision.
Text study
Haṭha Pradīpikā and the Yoga Sūtras read slowly, against your own experience on the mat.
A Session
How the time is spent
Sessions follow the same shape each week, so that attention goes to the practice rather than to wondering what comes next.
15 min
Prāṇāyāma and centring
20 min
Preparation and mobility
50 min
Postures, long holds, inversions
15 min
Bandha, mudrā or kriyā
20 min
Meditation and Śavāsana
What is expected
Before your first session
- A year or more of regular, unbroken practice
- Willingness to practise daily, not only in class
- An honest conversation about injuries before you begin
- A notebook — you will be asked to record what you observe
- Patience with holds that are boring before they are interesting
- Not suitable during pregnancy or with uncontrolled blood pressure
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if I am ready?
Come to one session and the teacher will tell you honestly. The practical marker is a year of steady practice and the ability to sit upright and still for twenty minutes without strain.
Do I have to do the cleansing practices?
No. Ṣaṭkarma is offered and explained, never required. Several practitioners take everything else from the course and leave the kriyās alone.
Is this the same as teacher training?
No. This deepens your own practice; teacher training adds methodology, anatomy and supervised teaching. Many people do this course first, and it is good preparation.
The next step
Begin where you are
Practitioners who want to teach go on to the residential teacher training, where methodology and anatomy are added to practice.