Join us June 16 – July 7, 2023
The Sewall House Teacher Training takes place only once each year and is offered by three dedicated yogis with a combined 75 years of experience teaching yoga. Amrita, Ajeet, and Lindsay provide a training that is rich in yogic practice, theory, techniques, hands-on teaching experience, and personal attention. Because of their extensive teaching and life-experience, the Sewall House instructors reverently and joyfully infuse a depth of lived experience into the program.
Student Testimonial:
I want to send you a huge THANK YOU! The Sewall House 200 hour yoga teacher training program is solid, expansive, informative, and fun. I’m grateful for the many things I’ve learned from you! I appreciate how much time, effort, love, and dedication you’ve put into your program. I was way more prepared for the 300 Hr program I took later than many others there were. Sending you much love today, and every day. ~ Kerianne, Big Heart Yoga in Ohio
Our teacher-training is limited to six participants, ensuring that each trainee will be truly seen and supported through their process of learning, purification, and integration during their three-week intensive.
This is an unique opportunity to take an immersive three-week training in a small residential retreat center located in picturesque Maine. Sewall House offers a private, personalized atmosphere with each participant having a private bedroom to rest and study. (student training discount $100/night)
Join us as we create a nurturing, intentional space for each student to pass through the fire of transformation, into deeper authenticity and connection with life. Whether your intention is to deepen your personal practice, or to develop and share your unique gifts as a teacher, we look forward to sharing this journey together. Complete your application here.
June 2022 Training Graduate:
This is an intimate and intense program! We had 5 trainees and 3 highly committed teachers (one main teacher at the helm teaching and running the majority of our meditations, yoga classes, and lectures/discussions on required topics; a second that shared a couple of special topics and her preferred yoga style; and the third trained in another style lead several classes, our yoga sutra learning and did the majority of the cooking for us). Great teamwork! The five of us worked hard, supported each other through thick and thin, and truly bonded. It was an incredible experience. I feel ready to embark on my teaching journey. 🙂
~ Lynn, Connecticut
Our 2023 Yoga Teacher Training
(200-HOUR YOGA ALLIANCE)
June 16 – July 7, 2023
Each day, the sessions will be 10 hours. There will be a total of three weeks of sessions to meet all of the 200-hour Yoga Alliance requirements of the training, plus homework and the ability to lead three one-hour sessions of your own – an advantage of choosing Sewall House for your yoga teacher training.
Also unique about our teacher training is that various forms of yoga are taught, giving students a broader understanding and ability to either teach a variety of forms or move into a specialization after completing our program. Your path to becoming a yoga instructor includes:
- Yamas and Niyamas
- Different types/ styles of yoga defined
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Philosophy, Ethics, Lifestyle
- Teaching Methodology and Techniques
- Mantra, Meditation, Asana, Pranayam, Sequencing, forward and backbends, inversions and twists
- Meditation, breathing, relaxation techniques, including Yoga Nidra
- Kundalini Yoga sets and meditations, as well as the Chakra Energy systems
- An opportunity to study, and enjoy, the benefits of yogic eating as well as information about various approaches to food and diet (raw, fasting, cleanses etc)
- Modules on teaching children yoga and Bhakti yoga from a mantra perspective
- Each participant leads 3 one-hour sessions during the training to gain practice
Cost of training: $3,000
Cost of room and board (21 nights): $2,100 plus tax (9%)
Cost of 2 manuals: $50
The 200-hour yoga teacher training should be viewed as a beginning rather than an endpoint and Tuition for the course is $3000, which can be paid in installments. Upon completion of the training and exam, you will be well equipped to teach Kundalini Yoga as well as Hatha forms of yoga.
Room and Board is an additional $2,100 for 21 nights and includes a private room, 3 healthy, mostly organic, home-cooked vegetarian meals per day (highly acclaimed by our guests), yogi tea (all day), and coffee (morning only). No alcohol or recreational drugs are allowed at the retreat.
Please make sure the specific dates (June 16-July 7, 2023) work for you and that you can arrange your schedule accordingly. Click here for the teacher training application.
While Amrita/Donna is the lead teacher the team also includes Ajeet and Lindsay. Amrita teaches Kundalini, Hatha, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Restorative/Iyengar-influenced teachings. Ajeet leads the special section on teaching children yoga and will also teach the use of sound, Japa. Lindsay leads and facilitates the daily, interactive study of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
Student Testimonial:
Sewall House Yoga Teacher Training was a life changing experience. I learned more than I could ever have imagined in a very short period of time. That lit a fire under me to learn even more. Donna (Amitra) Davidge is the real deal and a true inspiration. Her dedication to her students and the practice of Yoga is unparalleled. I don’t think I would have had the same experience in an online program. Living at the Sewall House for 3 weeks with Donna and her staff was inspiring. Donna (Amitra), Ajeet and Lindsey were all amazing teachers with their own unique strengths. We were blessed to have all three of them. The small class size was fantastic. We all received such individual attention and also really learned from one another.
If you want an intensive, all inclusive Yoga training this is the place to go. You will study all 8 limbs of yoga while you are living it!! The location is beautiful and having all of the meals included is extremely helpful. It allows you to focus 100% on your study. A great benefit to the students is getting to teach 3 classes before we leave. We teach to our fellow students, teachers and guests of the Sewall House Yoga retreat. You receive amazing feedback and it gives you great confidence to come back home and start your practice. My fellow students and I have become very close and stay connected to support each other as we start our new ventures. I will forever be grateful to Donna for her passion and dedication to Yoga and keeping her Historical Home as a Yoga Retreat. ~ Amy, Pennsylvania
Read more participant experiences at the end of the page.
OUR YOGA TRAINING INSTRUCTORS
Donna (Amrita) Davidge (500 Hr Yoga Alliance E-RYT) has a well-rounded background in (various forms of) yoga teacher training Amrita has taught Kundalini Yoga in various 3HO settings (solstices, festivals, centers) since 1985 (Over 30 years) and other forms of yoga, such as Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Restorative and Nidra, since 1999.
She has tens of thousands of hours teaching in various settings, from corporations to health clubs to yoga centers, privately and at her own (Sewall House) and other yoga retreats/spas (Puravida Costa Rica, Nu-Age, Spannocchia Italy), as well as on radio, television and in print.
Since 2003 she has also taught many hours of Hatha, Ashtanga Series One, and Vinyasa Yoga based on her studies (since 1999) with Eddie Stern and Dharma Mittra in New York City. She has been studying with Genny Kapuler’s Iyengar-based practice since 2003.
Besides producing two audiocassettes, one booklet, and two videos in the 1990s, Amrita produced two Kundalini Yoga DVDs in 2004. Many of Amrita’s students have gone on to take the Kundalini Yoga teacher training. Amrita’s style of teaching is warm, welcoming, non-judgmental, informative, and safe. She approaches yoga as a lifelong lesson and journey of self-study, as a way to better understand and explore your mind, breath, and physical body. This teacher training will give you that opportunity as well.
Donna/Amrita continues her studies, teaching and practice of yoga on a regular basis. She currently teaches primarily at PURE YOGA NYC and privately in the winter months (www.donnadavidgeyoga.com).
“Thank you so much for being my teacher! I know it will be a lifelong learning. Thank you for propelling me further. I so appreciate your commitment, passion, and compassion. I have learned much from you.”
Nicole, Anusara, Practitioner and Energy Worker, New Hampshire
Additional instructors:
Formerly a modern dancer and performance artist, Ajeet Khalsa began practicing yoga and meditation earnestly in 1992 through 3HO–Healthy, Happy Holy Organization, specializing in Kundalini Yoga and Meditation and has been certified in yoga since 1996, completing both her E-RYT and Children’s Yoga Experienced Yoga-teacher trainings. In 2016, she became certified in Svaroopa yoga as a Foundations teacher. She developed her own style of children’s yoga, Color Me Yoga and has enjoyed traveling the country teaching and sharing her passion for yogic living. She lives part time in Maine at Sewall House and in winter, travels and lives in Knoxville, TN.
During the Sewall House Teacher Training, Ajeet leads modules in Bhakti yoga and Children’s Yoga. (Bhakti is devotional yoga, taught as chanting and mantra in the traditional raga system of India where each seed-sound becomes a current for internal changes and transformation. This module is more than learning affirmations, mantra and chanting are the root vibration of all yoga practices. Chanting literally rewires your brain and brings you into a state of heightened flow.)
Color Me Yoga is Ajeet’s signature program, and gives you all the poses needed to begin teaching a fun and energizing kids yoga class. Whether you’re interested in giving back to your community, special needs, leading yoga classes in schools, teaching at festivals, or just having fun with your children and grandkids, this yoga practicum will inspire you to get out there.
Formerly a conductor and band director, Lindsay Samuels began practicing yoga and meditation earnestly in 2009 in Himachal Pradesh, India, and has since completed a 200- and 500-hour yoga teacher training in 2013 and 2015, respectively. She enjoyed traveling the world through organic farming, yoga, and meditation for many years, and now resides and teaches yoga in Mt. Dora, FL. A perpetual student, her deep love for adventure, exploration, and new experiences fuels her passion for life.
Lindsay specializes in Hridaya yoga, a contemplative practice in which every asana becomes a meditation. This method was developed by her teacher, Sahajananda, during solitary cave retreats in the Romanian countryside. Hridaya hatha yoga focuses on cultivating a continuity of awareness, with an understanding that the stillness of the body induces the stillness of the mind.
During the Sewall House Yoga Teacher Training, Lindsay leads and facilitates the daily, interactive study of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
Donna (Amrita) Davidge
Ajeet Khalsa
Lindsay Samuels
YOGA TEACHER TRAINING APPLICATION
Please click here for the application if interested. Please make clear your reason for taking the training, as this is an important requirement. It is not about years of experience, though you are expected to have had some yoga experience. If you have only taken a few yoga classes you may not be a good candidate for this training but may still apply as the reasons for taking it are as important as your experience.
If that is the case, you may be required to take a certain number of classes before the training. You are expected to attend all sessions, do all work that is required, as well as practicums and work outside the classroom. Completion of the exam is at the end of the program.
Sewall House is located in a small village in northern Maine. You may view the rooms on our accommodation page; they are roomy and comfortable, beautifully furnished. This environment allows the student teacher to concentrate on their studies while living in a like-minded community. Your work will then help you incorporate and build what you have learned into your practice, homework, and potential as a teacher.
You must be able to commit to the entire program!
Please consider this carefully as there will be no refunds, though the tuition can be paid as you go along (you will still be charged once you have committed to your spot). Payment is by Visa, MC, or personal check.
Teacher Trainer Testimonials
“Things that I love about my training: the people that I was privileged to share 27 days with, the fact that you started with the yoga sutras gave me the basis of what yoga could potentially do…ELEVATE OUR CONSCIOUSNESS…which collectively will elevate the consciousness of our planet. That is something that was very important to me as a yoga practitioner. That would help me how to become a yoga instructor. I loved the accessibility of all involved but especially YOU. I think the smaller group and the proximity of our day-in and day-out schedule contributed to my growth.
Although I wasn’t thinking about teaching Kundalini yoga the kundalini offerings contributed the most to my personal growth. Thank you for requiring us to do a forty-day discipline!!!! I think it would be an absolute benefit to anyone seeking to grow as a yoga teacher and practitioner. I haven’t felt as moved or peaceful since our yoga practice together. I also haven’t appreciated the smell or taste of my first-morning cup of coffee as much either. The accommodation was wonderful and the food was fabulous!”
Donna Crozier, Portland, ME
“I’ve always been interested in yoga, especially in Kundalini yoga. However, I hadn’t thought about taking teacher training until I visited Sewall House last year. Sewall House is a serene place, perfect to get immersed in training. I enjoyed my three-week intensive 2,00-hour yoga teacher training and learned a lot from Donna. She covered so many topics that really helped me understand the origins of yoga and that it’s so much more than just about asanas. She helped to understand how to become a yoga instructor.
Donna not only brings theory to the training, but she also speaks from experience from her many years as a teacher and small business owner, which is why I enjoyed the training so much. After all, theory only gets you so far and you want to have a teacher that can also address how to deal with difficult situations, create space, and much more. I haven’t taught yet but the training has advanced my yoga practice because I have so much more background on why we do the poses And meditations we do. I do plan to teach one day but in the meantime, I take different classes to continue learning”.
Nadja, Washington DC
This intensive and immersive 200 hour yoga teacher training was a great way to focus completely on all aspects of yoga for 3 full weeks. Intimate setting, one on one training…completely customized! Many different styles of yoga – Hatha, Kundalini, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Restorative, Yin! Donna’s vast experience as a yoga teacher training expert allowed for a very diverse education. Exactly what I needed! There were so many things that came up in this training that apply to daily life. I learned how to become a yoga teacher instructor. One of my favorite concepts that I still work on daily: Respond, don’t react. Little did I know at the time that within 6 months after completing this wonderful training, I’d be purchasing my yoga studio!
Kerianne Sidoti, Euclid, Ohio