The shape of the journey
The 500‑hour path is open enrollment. You can begin your journey the moment you join our school. It is one complete road: the twelve chapters of the 200‑hour training, then the eight chapters of the advanced training, walked as a single journey.
The path is built on a Vinyasa flow style of yoga. Around that foundation, it covers a blend of Yin, Restorative, Yoga Nidra, and sound healing, from your first detailed breakdown of the postures, breathing, meditation, and mudras to their advanced variations. You will learn to apply principles of alignment, study yoga philosophy from the Sutras to the Gita and back again at advanced depth, journey through the body’s anatomy into its energy anatomy, and build the business of yoga, in the studio and online. Our Inversions, Restorative, and Yin workshops are all included along the way.
Everything except the live calls is available on demand, day and night, beautifully produced in gorgeous locations around the world. You journey through the curriculum in your own space and at your own pace.
What you will carry with you
By the end of this complete path, you will be able to:
- Perform, teach, and cue every pose series, foundational and advanced, safely and with confidence.
- Sequence the arc of a class from the first breath to savasana, all the way up to peak poses.
- Practice and teach pranayama, meditation, mudras, and mantra, and know when each serves.
- Lead classes across styles: Vinyasa, Yin, Restorative, Mandala, and a dharma class of your own.
- Know the body you teach, from muscles, joints, and bandhas through to the subtle body.
- Speak and teach in Sanskrit, from the names of the poses to writing the script.
- Find your authentic voice, and build a teaching life around it, on the mat and in the business of yoga.
The rhythm of every chapter
Twenty chapters, one rhythm. Six parts carry you through the twelve foundational chapters. In the eight advanced chapters, the rhythm deepens to eight.
Masterclass
A full Vinyasa masterclass with one of our mentors, foundational at first, advanced later: Dharma, Mandala, Power, Rocket. You practice as a student before you teach.
Skill Development
The series of poses at the heart of the chapter, taught through video lectures and flashcards. Anatomy as it relates to each pose, deepening into energy anatomy. Yoga history and philosophy, from your first Sutras to the traditional texts at advanced depth.
Hands‑On Practice
A physical breakdown of the sequence and its assists, including mirroring, growing into advanced variations and practice teaching different styles of yoga.
Self‑Reflection
Reading, journaling, and study that connect the chapter to the tradition and to you, becoming a deliberate daily habit of self‑attention as the path advances.
Prepare and Upload
You record yourself teaching the chapter’s sequence and upload it to us. You will be teaching to the Invisible Student behind the camera. No one else needs to be in the room.
Feedback
A mentor reviews your video and sends you detailed, personal feedback. Then the next chapter unlocks. Twenty times, from your first flow to your final class.
In the advanced chapters, the rhythm grows. A daily mindfulness meditation opens each chapter, and a second, subtle masterclass joins the flow: Yin, Restorative, Yoga Nidra, sound healing. This is not a course you watch. It is a practice you build, chapter by chapter, for twenty chapters.
Where your 500 hours grow
The 500‑hour path is two Yoga Alliance registrations walked as one road: the RYS 200 foundational training, then the RYS 300 advanced training. Each is measured by its own Educational Categories.
Part One · The foundational 200 hours. Built on the four Educational Categories of Yoga Alliance’s Elevated Standards, which our school completed among the first.
Techniques, Training, and Practice
75 hoursTwelve masterclasses and twelve pose series taught pose by pose, in English and in Sanskrit. Ujjayi and Nadi Shodhana pranayama, meditation in every chapter, and the mudras you flow with: Kali, Hakini, Garuda, Ushas.
Anatomy and Physiology
30 hoursThe muscles, joints, and bandhas of every pose you teach, with benefits and contraindications. The body’s eleven major systems, then the subtle body: chakras, nadis, the five bandhas, and the koshas.
Yoga Humanities
30 hoursThe Yoga Sutras, Books One and Two, the Eight Limbs, and the Bhagavad Gita as a companion. The history of yoga, a foundation in Sanskrit, and ethics held as a practice.
Professional Essentials
50 hoursThe Five Pillars, the Principles of Alignment, sequencing the arc of a class, mirroring, consensual assists, teaching off the mat, and the business of yoga. Every chapter closes with a practicum video and Glows and Grows mentor feedback.
Part Two · The advanced 300 hours. Measured by Yoga Alliance’s five RYS 300 Educational Categories, each with a required minimum. 270 of the 300 hours are contact hours, at least 45 of them live.
Techniques, Training, and Practice
50 hours minimumTwo masterclasses per chapter, Vinyasa and subtle. Meditation history and techniques, mudras and mantras to writing your own, a Yoga Nidra of your own, peak poses, and inversions coached with your voice alone.
Teaching Methodology
5 hours minimumMasterclass analysis after every class you take, music methodology down to beats per minute, and weaving dharma, theme, and silence into a class that lands.
Anatomy and Physiology
15 hours minimumDeep dives into the shoulder, the lower body, and the eleven systems, then further inward: koshas, nadis, and the chakras pose by pose.
Yoga Philosophy, Lifestyle, and Ethics
30 hours minimumThe Sutras and the Yamas and Niyamas turned toward your own blocks, the Gita against Bagger Vance, the kleshas and gunas, and the ethics of teaching itself, taught as required contact hours.
Practicum
30 hours minimumA teaching video in every chapter with detailed mentor feedback, at least five hours actively teaching as lead instructor, and a final complete class, half of it taught off the mat.
Across all 500 hours, the school’s discretionary hours lean into the practicum, the subtle body, and the music and sound that make this school what it is.
The path, chapter by chapter
Twenty chapters, one path. Twelve foundational, eight advanced, and two summits along the way: RYT 200 at chapter twelve, RYT 500 at the end.
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Chapter One
Engage
The practice begins. Your first series, your first Sutras, and your first teaching video.
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Chapter Two
Heat
Pranayama and Drishti. Breath and focus become the engine of your flow.
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Chapter Three
Extend
A Kali Mudra flow of transformation. The extension series opens the body and the teaching voice.
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Chapter Four
Equilibrium
Balance, the principles of demonstration, and the art of teaching relaxation.
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Chapter Five
Earth
Grounding. You learn to call breath, to close a class, and to guide your first savasana.
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Chapter Six
Fire
Teaching off the mat begins. Your voice leads, and you learn to reach every style of learner.
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Chapter Seven
Deep Center
The core series, the body’s eleven major systems, and Sanskrit taking root in your cueing.
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Chapter Eight
Expand
Teaching for pregnancy and special populations, and the koshas and chakras.
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Chapter Nine
Lengthening
The subtle energy systems and the mudras. Your teaching begins to carry the unseen.
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Chapter Ten
Enlightening
A live festival masterclass with the full Drishti Beats band. The Inversions Workshop unlocks.
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Chapter Eleven
Surrender
Restorative and Yin, and your final one‑hour class takes shape.
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Chapter Twelve
Celebration
The first summit. A complete hour of teaching and a written exam. You are ready to register as an RYT 200.
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Chapter Thirteen · The Advanced Training Begins
Engage
The path begins again, deeper. Your storyboard, the seat of the teacher, and a daily mindfulness practice.
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Chapter Fourteen
Heat
The honest work of unlearning, and a dharma class of your own.
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Chapter Fifteen
Extend
Padma Mudra opens the heart chakra. Arm balances and core work deepen.
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Chapter Sixteen
Equilibrium
A full class taught entirely off the mat, threading the story of Hanuman.
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Chapter Seventeen
Earth
Mandala Vinyasa, rhythm flows, and the Gita read against The Legend of Bagger Vance.
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Chapter Eighteen
Fire & Deep Center
Tripsichore, and seventy percent of your teaching off the mat.
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Chapter Nineteen
Expand & Lengthening
Sanskrit in your own handwriting, a Yin class of your own, and openings and closings that carry a theme.
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Chapter Twenty
Enlightening & Surrender
Rocket Ashtanga, inversions coached by voice alone, and the final summit: a complete class across all ten sequences, and a written reflection worthy of a magazine spread. You are ready to register as an RYT 500.
How we walk beside you
Assessment here is not a single test at the end. It is continuous, for five hundred hours.
Twenty chapters, twenty teaching videos, twenty rounds of detailed, personal mentor feedback. Each chapter opens only when you are ready for it. And in the advanced chapters, assessment begins to flow both ways: after every masterclass you take, you complete a written analysis of it, learning to see a class the way a mentor sees yours.
The path holds two summits. At chapter twelve, a complete one‑hour class and a written exam mark your first certification. At chapter twenty, a final class across all ten sequences, half of it taught off the mat, and a written reflection on the whole journey close the path.
You set the pace. You are never alone.
We meet every Thursday for our live Gather Round calls, in two groups so the whole world can join, for the entire five hundred hours of the path. The calls are interactive and they change week to week. Discussion, guided meditation, live masterclasses and flows, and students teaching. They are your connection to the mentors, to other students, and to the path itself.
We encourage you to join us, and we understand that not everyone can come every week. That is what the recordings, the one‑on‑one sessions, and our live web chat are for. Any time you have a question, a mentor is within reach.
Everyone moves through this path differently, depending on your goals and your days. Two hours a day carries you through the foundational chapters in about one hundred days. Three hours a day carries the advanced chapters in about one hundred more. Walked steadily, the whole path takes most people six to seven months. Take longer if life asks you to. The path will wait for you.
The living thread
Seven books walk beside you on the path.
- Journey into PowerBaron Baptiste
- The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for WesternersJack Hawley
- The Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliSri Swami Satchidananda
- The Yamas and NiyamasDeborah Adele
- Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have OneRaphaëlle Giordano
- Ganesha Goes to Lunch: Classics From Mystic IndiaKamla K. Kapur
- How to Train a Wild ElephantJan Chozen Bays
The first four walk with you from the foundational chapters. The rest join you on the advanced path. None are required before you begin, and you are welcome to read them at your own pace. They are not side reading either. They are beautifully woven into the training, chapter by chapter.
For the foundational chapters, you will also receive the interactive 200h Student eBook, in US and UK English, with notes, highlights, and bookmarks built in.
Your certification
Where the path leads
Drishti Beats is a fully recognized Yoga Alliance Registered School. You earn your RYT 200 eligibility at chapter twelve, and upon completing the full path, you are eligible to register as an RYT 500.
Verify our school on Yoga AllianceReady to walk the whole path? The full training, the mentors, and the community are waiting on the program page.