Everything kicks off for the Embody Yoga's Roots YTT on January 13th, 2025!

We meet for our live calls on Zoom. If you've never used Zoom before don't worry, it is easy to figure out and we're happy to answer any questions you have.

Yes. Currently, our Yoga School, Ignite, is qualified through an online extension through 2025 with Yoga Alliance to certify students and they can register with Yoga Alliance with our online training*/ We are a Registered Yoga School with Yoga Alliance, ID 12152. Graduates of this upcoming training are eligible to register with Yoga Alliance at the 200-Hour level. Once you complete your training and log your hours of teaching experience on Yoga Alliances portal, you can register as a 200-Hour RYT.

Know that as a school, we approve each student individually in our Yoga Alliance School Dashboard once graduation is complete.
We cannot guarantee that the training program will be offered in this exact same format in the coming years, yet we engage with Yoga Alliance on a regular basis to advocate for keeping YTTs as accessible as possible both online and in-person. Our online format offers group, individual, and asynchronous learning to the highest standards of education. Upon completion, you will receive a certificate from Ignite and can apply for registration with YA according to your certification in our 2025 YTT 200 or 300 hour. Our online training meets and exceeds the Yoga Alliance requirements. Jan 2022 update from Yoga Alliance:

YA has made this statement regarding Online Teaching Exemption: In response to overwhelming feedback voiced by you, our members, Yoga Alliance is extending the online teaching exemption through 2025 for Registered Yoga School (RYS) members who apply and meet qualification requirements. These will include: agreeing to new parameters, expectations on incorporating a mix of live and pre-recorded content, Lead Trainer hour requirements, and a commitment to (and transparency around) competency testing. *Therefore, we are not anticipating needing an in-person retreat in order to get certified by YA in our 2025 YTTs.

For one, if someone has not yet completed their YTT 200, they must start with the YTT 200 before moving on to the YTT 300. There is some overlap between the trainings, but this YTT 300 goes into much more in-depth content. Also, the YTT 300 focuses on asana and goes more in depth on yoga philosophy and living your practice. Much of the feedback received on the YTT 300 is that it "fills in many gaps" from YTT 200s… but there are also a few students who love it so much that they are continuing on to do a second YTT 200 with me. So it really depends on the person and your journey as to which you do first. We believe that yoga education transcends any finite amount of hours of training and is a lifelong journey. We also believe in providing certifications to empower folks who are often not represented in yoga today. Overall, a YTT 200 is like a BA and a YTT 300 is like a Master's in becoming a Yoga Teacher.

I'm a born teacher and our faculty are all trained within Ignite's educational philosophy. My family lineage are teachers and Ayurvedic practitioners! I absolutely love to teach -and think about how people learn almost obsessively. So you'll get an incredibly hands on, project based and innovative experience.

I've been teaching yoga formally since 2008. I have studied yoga my whole life through my family lineage, but formally undertook training in 2001. I studied with various teachers in India such as Shankarji in the Shankaracharya lineage and in the United States and when I returned from India in 2008 my teacher requested that as I return home, I share the true essence of what yoga is with as many people as possible. Since I was already an educator with a Masters degree, teaching English and History, I first began teaching my high school students! From there, a number of friends asked me to teach them, which I did after school in the evenings. And this kept happening until Ignite Institute for Yogic Leadership and Social Change was born. To date, we have trained over 500 teachers and have esteemed lead guest faculty and mentors from around the world.

There are some real benefits to doing a Yoga Teacher Training with me, Susanna Barkataki and the Embody Yoga's Roots YTT Teaching team online.

• Train with an expert YTT leader who has trained hundreds of students in person and online for over a decade.


• Learn to embody yoga's roots


• Embrace a social justice lens in learning


• Incredible Guest Teachers


• Learn and Absorb at Your Own Pace


• Review course materials instantly


• Track progress at all times


• Save time and gain depth of training and knowledge


• Receive Multi-faceted, Personalized Support


• Lower Carbon Footprint


• Easy and Convenient


• Gain access to an experience of yoga you can't get anywhere else

Inside the course portal you'll get the core content for each module. You can explore, learn and do this content on your own time and schedule, from anywhere in the world!

We have experiential, interactive and fun! live training sessions each week on Mondays 7- 8:15 PM Eastern and a weekly mentor deep dive session (Mondays at 8:30 - 10 PM Eastern). Note: call times subject to change at our discretion.

During these live sessions each class might look and feel a bit like this:

• Ritual EYR Opening and Welcome


• Drop in


• Core content shared


• Breakout sessions


• Discussion or art and experiential learning


• Guided teaching


• Group teaching


• Share and Q and A


• Ritual EYR Closing



We may mix and match from the above to create an engaging experience in every session.

We will also be going "offline" together to do art, music, dancing, ritual, journaling, working with the elements, candle gazing - and other fun, creative and elemental things that enliven our YTT 200 deep dive.

With this training you are certified at the Foundational Yoga Teacher level to be able to teach yoga classes, meditation classes, and other various skill-specific yoga classes (trauma-informed, yin, restorative, accessible yoga, etc.)

Also, you can live and embody your yoga. Part of the philosophy is that yoga isn't just something we do - it's something we are. So we enliven every part of our experience, jobs, work, family, creativity and relationships with yoga training.

Our programs are known for their Incredible group support. We have multiple mentors within the program - so you not only learn from me (Susanna), but from the support mentors who are here to guide you through also!

Also, as a teacher, I think a lot about how students learn best. We have varied and diverse learning styles and work to accommodate - and incorporate all of them! Student learning is our top priority.

You will have the opportunity to meet with your Embody Yoga's Roots mentor weekly for live group sessions with your student cohort group, and during the training you'll also get a personalized Sankalpa Intention Setting 1:1 call with your mentor to receive support and coaching on your journey with yoga.

Justice and Equity are our core values - so this is a huge part of our training. As a training school committed to equity and inclusion, we make every effort to support our students of color and underrepresented and underestimated folks. We know that it is not an accident that yoga in the West looks like it does and we actively seek to change this in our teaching faculty, support staff, student body and practices.

We are skilled at space-holding and also create brave and sacred caucused spaces for working on our liberation with those who might understand us best. This is one of the most powerful parts of the training!

In addition to the guest teaching faculty who are majority BIPOC, queer, trans, bodies of color, size different abilities and culture, so we have various mentor support staff of different backgrounds and experiences who will be present to learn, support students with curriculum as well as hold space for the entire YTT. As a training school we prioritize voices of color and other marginalized folks and we hold commitments that our students agree to. We also know that white supremacy is the air we breathe and, as such, we cannot provide an environment free of white supremacy but we can make every attempt to address it if and where it arises by calling in.

We require all faculty and students to understand and participate in EYR/Ignite Yoga School's commitment of fostering an environment welcoming and attentive to people of color, queer and trans people, disabled people, low-income people, people of various body sizes, and other underrepresented communities. This involves developing an awareness or inquiry regarding language used to discuss various concepts, and an awareness of how racism, ableism, fatphobia, homophobia and anti-LGBTQIA prejudice, transphobia, classism, or misogyny may show up in the yoga classroom. We also ensure that learning is supportive of various learning styles, and when teaching asana, online or in person, we do not single out any student by name and always will get multiple forms of consent before providing any hands-on adjustments. Prior to starting the training our non-BIPOC white allies are required to do exploration into their white identities and how to be anti-racist accomplices and allies.

Lastly, we offer a handful of scholarships to BIPOC students to make this training more accessible. To apply for a scholarship email booking@ignitebewell.com with email subject "YTT Scholarship Request" and in your email ask for the scholarship application form to be sent to you. Once you fill out the form our team will be in touch with an outcome. Thanks in advance for your patience as we review these!

Yoga is a pathway of union rather than separation. As part of our Embody Yoga's Roots Training, we caucus to go deeper and learn in safer and braver space - to do this kind of in-depth antiracist learning and then come back together. This is a powerful opportunity to support individual needs. Caucusing is a practice of meeting in affinity groups based around identity. In our training, we create safer caucused spaces by meeting as BIPOC folks and White Allies.

This type of caucused safer space is crucial, culturally beneficial and builds the kind of culture we are hoping for! Safety and space to breathe freely are a right that should belong not just to the norm but to everyone- people of color, queer, trans, healthy or unhealthy, all classes, all body-sizes and abilities. We put even more purpose to our practice as we learn and share yoga for everyone.

-- Why a BIPOC Space For thousands of years, yoga has come to us from and been practiced in spaces that are Black, South Asian and other folks of color and it's important to continue this. Today in yoga in the West, BIPOC space is so precious and so rare. It's so important to have this opportunity to caucus and share stories, experiences and to create a place to take a breath together. To learn without the pressures of white gaze, not needing to pull punches, explain ourselves, nor to guard what we say - we can express more of our pain for deeper healing, more of our joy - that's deeply culturally expressive and rooted, finding and feeling more freedom is all why we caucus.

It's also key to create a decolonized experience of learning open with spaciousness. To do our best to foster safety and growth. We are capable of having deep empathy for each other and we can really help each other. We know what it feels like to live in a body of color and culture and the joys and tensions that come along with that. For these reasons, we have an opportunity to lift one another up and to grow together.

-- Why a White Space The idea of a 'white caucus space' might seem strange, maybe even like segregation, and can perhaps be met with skepticism. When we say "White" in this context, that can mean a white person, someone with white-skinned privilege who would like to investigate whiteness as it impacts their identity and experiences. The most important thing is that we are looking at ourselves. Generally, White Spaces are for White People to talk about Whiteness and building an anti-racist culture and our focus is to consider how we can build this within yoga. It can be so healing to have a space to be messy without harming or burdening BIPOC folks. We are in an arc of learning that is ok and good, it is part of the learning process. This is our space to really get that need support, from each other with trained mentorship. We are capable of having deep empathy for each other; we can really help each other. We know what it feels like to live in a white body and the tensions that come along with that. For these reasons, we have an opportunity to help and support each other. A space to have community and fellowship with other white anti-racists. We have an opportunity to unlearn racism: we have to unlearn racism in order to undermine it as part of our journey of yoga in action. Our caucuses are not a substitute for multi racial spaces. Both are an important part of the yoga learning journey.

-- Integration

Why do we integrate: to come back together, learn, and practice what unity can really look and feel like when we are living yogic ethics. This is how the world is - so we caucus to experience and integrate and anchor in our bodies a sense of safety so we can come back and bring that within our lives and world that is integrated from a place of solidity and strength.

I still don't understand - why do you Caucus?

Caucusing is incredibly effective at addressing separation and creating unity. Caucusing also isn't a new trend. As part of public schools I've been leading and participating in caucusing since the early 2000's. Trusted corporations and institutions of higher learning know the benefit that affinity group spaces can bring. Colleges and universities across the country, such as the UC system as well as private schools, sponsor affinity groups to strengthen success amongst BIPOC students. Companies like GM offer affinity groups for female employees. I've seen great success with a POC and allies model for meditation groups over the years to recruit and retain folks of color into spaces where they usually don't feel welcome enough to stay.

According to Marketwatch, for legal and community success, affinity groups can be purely voluntary, open to at times including "allies" or folks who are interested in the group but who don't fit the target demographic, and always remember the purpose of the group is support of its members.

We welcome multiple experiences and viewpoints and are aware that everyone is at a different place in this work - some info may be a refresher, but is new to others just beginning this work, so please respect each other's journeys. If information feels like 'old news' I would encourage you to look for a fresh example of how you are applying this principle, or where you are struggling, where you see it at work in your life.

We are so thrilled to be able to offer this structure which allows students to sink in, change and grow themselves, go deeper, and really embody their yoga leadership and changemaking in the world!

This training is geared to be accessible and fit into our lives. It happens once a week every week on Mondays at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT on Zoom plus a weekly mentor deep dive session with a smaller student cohort group on Monday (timing to be confirmed). There is also a monthly weekend intensive virtual retreat (2 - 5 PM ET / 11 - 2 PM PT Saturday and Sunday on the 4th weekend of the month every month, often with one of our esteemed guest teachers). Dates and guest speakers subject to change. In addition to that time, planning on spending 1-2 hours of reading and about the same for practice each week should be good!

YTT 200 runs January 2025 - June 2025

Live immersive training, weekly:

1. Live Calls with Susanna Barkataki on Mondays: 7 - 8:15 PM Eastern
2. Weekly Mentor deep dives with your cohort on Monday at 8:30 - 10 PM Eastern*

*You pick your prefered cohort time and we do our best to accommodate. Once you pick your live cohort time you should stick to that cohort and you cannot switch times.This is to ensure consistency of experience and small group live training. Additionally live training, monthly:
We will have monthly weekend intensive deep dives. These are typically from 2 - 5 PM EST / 11 - 2 PM PST on Saturday and Sunday on the 4th weekend of the month.

YTT 200 Curriculum and Flow
January: Module 0
Welcome and Orientation

January: Module 1
Ethics of Yoga: Examining Power and Privilege
Dismantle Perfectionism in You and Yoga
Guest Experts:Tejal Patel and Jasmine Hines

February: Module 2
Sadhana, the sacred anchor of a yoga practitioner
Anatomy of Stress and Respiration
Guest Experts: Susanna Barkataki and Aarti Inamdar

March: Module 3
Practicing the Yamas and Niyamas and a form of Self-Care and Social Justice
Teaching to Every Body
Guest Experts: Arturo Peale and M Camellia

April: Module 4
The Historical Bhakti Movement: A Radical Movement of Inclusion and Resistance
Kīrtan: A Practice of Bhakti Yoga Guest Experts: Lakshmi Nair and Mx Puja Singh

May: Module 5
Grounded Confidence: Trust Your Inner Wisdom & Teach With Confidence
Rhythm Therapy Creative Arts Salon: Embracing the Craft of Storytelling to Amplify Your Voice
Guest Experts: Samantha Santiago and Jeanine T. Abraham

Graduation and Celebration!

*We have diverse, esteemed guest teaching faculty from around the world exclusively teaching in this YTT 200 hour. There may be extra guest teacher surprises and workshops added in! These will always be recorded for you to watch later if you can't attend live.

In any given week you might be watching a few hours of pre-recorded course content on your own convenience and time

• Attend our live Susanna training sessions on Mondays (or watch replay)
• Attend weekly cohort session with you mentor and cohort classmates
• Complete one hour of homeplay
• Enjoy and experience 3-4 yoga practices
• Once a month you'll attend a monthly weekend retreat - 2 - 5 PM Eastern / 11 - 2 PM Pacific Saturday and Sunday, or watch the replay!


The training is built to be attended easily by busy folks and fit with your lifestyle. After all, this is yoga school, not school, school!

Our regular pricing is usually $4,797, but at the moment we are offering a special reduced rate that is a significant discount on that price depending on the payment you select.

1. Pay in full now: $3,997 (savings of $800 compared to regular rate )

2. 8-Month Payment Plan: Non refundable deposit of $700 and 8 payments of $450 a month (savings of $500 compared to regular rate)

This special offer price is only available for a limited time.

Part of your tuition goes to support communities impacted by systemic oppression and injustice and that work to create equity.

• Black Lives Matter
• The First Nations COVID Emergency Fund
• Yoga Service in India - Manav Sadhna
• Action Aid India

We understand! Life happens. If you have to miss a session, that is understandable and we have built in some wiggle room. Do please notify the EYR teaching team and your " EYR buddy" as soon as possible.

Please check with a buddy to review any material you may have missed, and check the Course Portal and Facebook group.

We've got you covered. All of the live recordings and the retreats will be loaded inside the Course Portal for you to watch the replays at any time.

Also, remember, the Core Content for each module is inside your course portal - so you can easily get ahead - and catch up - all on your own time.

This is yoga school - not school, school! Yoga school is different from regular school in many ways, and homework is not assigned to be checked or graded, but for your own development.

We believe there are many ways to be smart- and many ways to learn! Our program is VERY experiential.

You can choose to do Projects and Homeplay!
A flow, inclusive and trauma-informed sequence
Yoga and Social change project
Culmination and sharing the fruits and roots of practice

Class is scaffolded and you will be supported to know how to do each of these projects.

Homeplays/projects will correspond to what is discussed in class and will supplement that knowledge. If you have not completed the homeplays, it is OK! Just do your best within the context of all of the other responsibilities you have in your life. Homeplays/projects will be announced in three places: in class live, in the Facebook group and on the course portal with a detailed description of the project.

Finally, there are books to go along with each module and the book list comes to you when you've signed up. We will discuss the books in live class times.

If you are looking for more ways to learn outside of the classroom, you can always review your flashcards, journal about your experiences, take or teach a yoga class, and read suggested texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, or the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. There are various translations of these texts -- You can also practice and reflect on the yamas and niyamas in your everyday life.

We create this training to be a transformative, supportive learning and growth experience with yoga. Freedom and responsibility are key parts of our Agreements with one another as part of you taking this training. We are such a unique program and part of what makes this experience special is the diversity of experience and how we build connection and co-learning in community. We really value you as part of this experience.

Decolonized learning

We are co-creating a new model of yoga education and collective change which requires us all to show up to co-create this new world of learning and practice together. We take our commitment to you as students very seriously and will always do our best to provide you with quality yoga education. Our grads and students often comment on how transformative this learning experience is, and how they get so much more out of it than other learning experiences because of how we decolonize learning and how empowering it is.

In this program, in alignment with yoga philosophy and practices cultivating sovereignty, you'll find a lot of power and spaciousness for yourself as a student. With that power comes some commitment and responsibility - particularly to engage and communicate. We offer spaciousness and we would like students to attend as often as you can and communicate around individualized needs if they arise.

Here are your responsibilities to the program:

Your participation is a wonderful part of engaging in this training. What you put in creates so much of what you'll get out of this training. You don't need to want to teach to still deepen through engagement, participation, and application of what you are learning. Your attendance matters to the group co-learning, co-creating, processing and integrating together.

Know that if you'd like to get a certification, live attendance to at least 50% of the calls (including calls with Susanna, mentor cohort calls, and weekend retreat calls) is required. This is because we want to be able to support you in integrating what you are learning and build community together. Connection and communication are key!

If you will not be joining a call, for planning purposes we request that you let your mentor know ahead of time. Things can happen in life, and if you need to take a period of time off of live attendance and watch the calls, please be in communication. You can let your mentor know via email. For any live calls you are unable to join, recordings will be made available within 24-48 hours and if you have questions or reflections, it is your responsibility to watch them the same week so that you can submit your questions to the teaching team in a timely way ahead of the next lesson.

Our training gives and also invites engagement with flexibility for an optimal experience. Also, please remember that there are no refunds (more details in the following section). Transfer only possible if mutually agreed upon and the program continues (i.e. you could forfeit your spot if the program changes or in the unexpected event of us having to cancel the next round of training.) To qualify for a transfer, let us know before the training starts or at the latest within 30 days of the training start date. If you do not communicate to honor the guest teachers, mentors and program structure, you would forfeit your spot in a future training. We value you and your yoga education and always aim to be in right relationship by having clear agreements. We cannot wait to support your growth with yoga.

For you, when you sign up the commitment is to transformation, so in the contract is a no refund policy to support you in honoring the intention to your growth that invited you to sign up. All of our students agree to the same contract and terms, and it is only fair to students that all students honor the agreement. We have a no refund policy in this training out of support for you and our team for multiple and intersecting reasons.

People have major life events come up during the training, since it's a half year long, and stay to receive the support and tools they signed up for or transfer to the following training if absolutely needed. Additionally, there's a team of BIPOC, queer/ trans and allies working behind the scenes year round for each cohort. This team is already being paid based on your student spot upon enrollment. Refunds are not possible because resources are already used to support the team and part of your tuition goes to support communities in need, as well as your transformation as a student. This is why we have a clearly stated no refund policy. If mutually agreed upon, you may transfer your enrollment to the next training. This solution has worked well for some students. We support you in taking personal responsibility and honoring your commitment to deepening with yoga and to honoring your agreement.

Right now, I just don't know, is truthfully the answer. I would love to say yes - but I am not sure what the future holds -- only that this is the only YTT 200 I'll be doing in 2025. If you're interested, I suggest joining now to avoid disappointment.