200-Hour Ashtanga Training in Norman, Oklahoma
A year of monthly weekends with Andrew Eppler, built on the full online curriculum.
Yoga Alliance Registered School · RYS 200
The same curriculum is also taught online and as a 28-day immersion in Mysore, India. Compare all three.
A full year in the practice
This training is for people who want to learn the Primary Series in depth and study the philosophy behind it. Some want to teach one day and want to learn it properly, from the practice up. Others come for their own practice. You can come at any level, as long as you are willing to practice steadily and want to learn.
Each weekend begins with practice, usually a led Primary Series class with hands-on adjustment. The rest of the day goes to that weekend's subject, with time for questions.
The group is small, and you work with me throughout the year.
By the end of the year you should know the Primary Series well and understand why it is put together the way it is, well enough to take a nervous beginner through it or to work safely around an old injury.
The curriculum
The weekends rotate through three subjects: Yoga Methodology, Physiology and Healing Arts, and History and Philosophy.
Primary Series
The vinyāsa count, which pairs each movement with a breath, the Sanskrit names, alignment, and safe hands-on adjustment, learned slowly and thoroughly.
Pranayama and Mudras
Prāṇāyāma, the regulation of the breath, and the mudrās, or seals, used with it.
Healing Arts
Traditional Thai bodywork, safe assisting, injury awareness, and prāṇāyāma for the nervous system.
Philosophy and History
Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras and the Bhagavad Gītā with Sanskrit scholars from Mysore, along with Sāṅkhya philosophy and the history of the practice.
Sanskrit and Chanting
Pronunciation and traditional mantra, learned by ear.
Personal Mentorship
One-on-one guidance with me through the year, on your practice and your study.
Online Library
165 hours of recorded teaching and 220 pages of written material, open to you from the day you register and yours to keep.
Teachers in Mysore
I have been studying in India for many years.
Dr. B.N.S. Iyengar
Student of Sri T. Krishnamacharya
Guruji, as his students call him, is my teacher in Mysore. He is now in his hundredth year.
I've created courses in philosophy with Sanskrit scholars in Mysore, and you study with them live on Zoom during the year.
Dr. M.A. Alwar
Senior Professor, Maharaja's Sanskrit College, Mysore
He teaches our course on the Bhagavad Gītā and gives the final examination in philosophy.
Dr. H.V. Nagaraj Rao
Sanskrit scholar, former visiting professor at the University of Chicago
He teaches our courses on Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras and the Sāṅkhya Kārikā.
Students in the training are also welcome to join our ongoing live programs on Zoom.
The Film
Mysore Yoga Traditions
I directed this feature documentary in Mysore, built on interviews with scholars and practitioners there. Some of those scholars are directly responsible for the philosophy taught in this training, and they helped me create the course.
Your Teacher
Andrew Eppler
Andrew has taught yoga for thirty-five years. He trained in Mysore under Dr. B.N.S. Iyengar, and he is an E-RYT 500 with Yoga Alliance. He teaches students of every age and level.
- Founded Ashtanga Yoga Studio in Norman in 1999
- Directs Mysore Yoga Traditions
- Directed the documentary Mysore Yoga Traditions
- Founded the Mysore Yoga Conference
On What Yoga Is
So what is yoga, really? I have been asking that question for forty years, and my answer has changed many times.
My understanding keeps growing as I continue to study with my teachers. What I share in this training is where my practice and study have brought me so far.
I regard yoga as a sacred art and, in the words of my teacher, Guruji B.N.S. Iyengar, as soul education. It is a vehicle for life. It bends and adapts, and it has changed across thousands of years, because that is what a living tradition does.
The Ashtanga series we know and love are brilliant. They are the foundational choreography under much of modern yoga, and they deserve to be taken seriously. I think of them the way a musician thinks of scales. You learn them with rigor so that one day you can be free. Essential and demanding, and still only part of the music.
But when a practice is treated as dogma instead of honest inquiry, it stops serving the person and starts serving itself. Yoga is about love: self-love, honest discipline, and care in how we treat one another, as well as in how we move through a sequence. The postures matter, but they are not the point. Internal stability and joy are the point. That is what I try to teach in this training.
From students
I love how each month is a different module theme. Andrew does a wonderful job with asana, with the history and philosophy of yoga, with the therapeutic arts, and more. And he brings in guest teachers and speakers every month. Ten out of ten for anyone who wants an authentic, fulfilling, and fun experience.
I loved my training in Norman. The teachings of yoga history, philosophy, prāṇāyāma, and Thai yoga massage were especially good. We learned the Primary Series, anatomy, how to adjust āsanas, and how to lead a class, with wonderful live guest speakers from Mysore.
Andrew made real efforts to connect us to Sanskrit scholars from Mysore and to experts in the history of yoga from around the world. The program deeply changed my approach to practice.
Andrew's approach to the practice is level-headed, down-to-earth, and very sincere. I especially appreciated his commitment to making sure students are exposed to the philosophical traditions of the lineage.
Andrew's training was the most transformative experience of my life. I was embraced by Andrew and Ashtanga Yoga Studio in a way that will stay with me. This experience is my happy place.
Andrew is one of the best teachers of authentic Ashtanga in the country, and his experience with prāṇāyāma is the best I have found in the US.
Graduation
To graduate, you will:
- Complete the nine weekend modules within twelve months
- Submit essays on the Bhagavad Gītā and Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras
- Pass an oral exam with me
- Memorize the Primary Series and the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga
- Write a personal reflection on what yoga means to you
- Take a final examination in philosophy with Dr. M.A. Alwar, a separate $108 fee that supports the Samskriti Foundation
Certification is issued through Ashtanga Yoga Studio and connected with the Samskriti Foundation in Mysore. Graduates are eligible to register with Yoga Alliance.
Reading list
Required
I provide the reading material. The downloadable PDFs are my own writing, drawn from my study with the scholars in Mysore, and these are the versions of the texts I want you to study.
- Key Concepts of Patanjali Sutras, from my study with Dr. H.V. Nagaraj Rao
- Key Concepts of the Bhagavad Gita, from my study with Dr. M.A. Alwar
Recommended
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Swami Satchidananda
- The Living Gita, Swami Satchidananda
- Roots of Yoga, Mallinson and Singleton
- The Concise Book of Muscles, Chris Jarmey
- The Practice Manual, David Swenson
About the certificate
Becoming a yoga teacher is the work of many years. It grows out of long practice and a lot of attention paid to other people, and a 200-hour certificate is an early step. The Yoga Alliance registration is useful and widely recognized.
What the year gives you is a thorough education in āsana (posture), methodology, adjustment, and the philosophy and culture behind the practice. Many who come already teach and have practiced for years, and most still find something new here. Others are newer to yoga and come to build a practice they can keep.
Questions
Do I need to be advanced?
No. A regular practice, or the willingness to build one, is enough to begin.
Can I join if I don't plan to teach?
Yes. Many people come for their own practice and understanding. The path to RYT 200 is there if you want it.
What if I miss a weekend?
Attend by Zoom, or make it up with the online materials. You have twelve months, so a gap is easy to absorb.
Can I start in any month?
Yes. Begin with any weekend on the schedule and complete nine within twelve months.
Is the online curriculum included?
Yes, with full tuition and the payment plan: 165 hours of recorded teaching and 220 pages of written material, yours the day you register and yours to keep. A drop-in weekend does not include it.
Where are the weekends held?
At Yoga on Main in Norman and at the Magic Forest in Noble. Each weekend's location is confirmed in advance.
Is lodging available?
Yes, at the Magic Forest: simple indoor lodging and camping for $30 a night.
Does this lead to RYT 200?
Yes. When you finish, you are eligible to register with Yoga Alliance as a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, RYT 200. Ashtanga Yoga Studio is a Registered Yoga School, RYS 200.
Can I try one weekend first?
Yes. You can drop in on a single weekend for $335 before deciding on the full program.
Location and Lodging
Where we meet
Weekends are held in two places, and each weekend's location is confirmed in advance.
The Magic Forest, 20180 Fulkerson Rd, Noble, OK 73068, is our land in the country. We have held gatherings there for thirty years. There is simple indoor lodging and camping for $30 a night, and the internet is fast enough for anyone joining by Zoom. More about the Magic Forest.
Yoga on Main, 123 East Main St, Norman, OK 73069, is our studio in town.
Schedule
One weekend a month
The training is nine weekend modules. Each one runs Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm, about sixteen hours in all. Together with the online library, that takes you well past the two hundred hours the certification requires.
Begin with any weekend on the schedule and complete your nine within the twelve months that follow. If you miss one, attend by Zoom or make it up with the online materials. You are welcome to sit in on extra weekends to revisit a subject, and graduates can come back to any weekend for $150.
Dates shift a little around holidays and travel.
2026
- SeptemberNo weekends, travel in India
- October 17 to 18Yoga Methodology
- November 14 to 15Physiology and Healing Arts
- December 12 to 13History and Philosophy
2027
- January 12 to February 8200-hour Immersion in Mysore, India
- February 27 to 28Yoga Methodology
- March 20 to 21Physiology and Healing Arts
- April 17 to 18History and Philosophy
- May 15 to 16Yoga Methodology
- June 12 to 13Physiology and Healing Arts
- July 10 to 11History and Philosophy
- August 14 to 15Yoga Methodology
Tuition
Full Tuition
$2,500
Paid in full
Payment Plan
$600down
Plus 8 monthly payments of $275. $2,800 total, due on each training weekend.
Drop In
$335per weekend
A single weekend module, no commitment
Full tuition and the payment plan include the online library. The $108 final examination in philosophy with Dr. M.A. Alwar is a separate fee.
Not sure it's the right fit? Tell me where you are and what you're looking for, and we can talk it through. I reply within a day or two.
Prefer another format? Train online · Immersion in Mysore, India · Compare all three
andrew@ashtangayogastudio.com · WhatsApp +1 405 503 7779
Photographs by Andrew Eppler. Portraits of Andrew by Santiago Pinto.