Some things only happen in the room.
A year of in-depth Ashtanga study, rooted in the living Mysore tradition. Nine weekends with Andrew Eppler in Norman, Oklahoma, March to December 2027.
Taught by Andrew Eppler · Forty years of practice, thirty-five teaching · Ashtanga Yoga Studio, founded 1999 · E-RYT 500 · RYS 200 · Study with Sanskrit scholars in Mysore
What This Is
A full year in the practice.
This is a year-long study of traditional Ashtanga yoga: the practice, the method, the philosophy, and the tradition it comes from. Nine in-person weekends in Norman, taken as one group from March to December, supported by a deep online library that is yours to keep.
It is rooted in the Mysore tradition, where Andrew has studied for decades, and it includes live study with Sanskrit scholars in India. Teaching methodology is part of the year for those who intend to teach, but teaching is not the purpose of the course. The purpose is to study the practice deeply, in good company.
The shared energy of a group, the encouragement, the questions asked out loud. That environment teaches you things a video never will.
Who It Is For
This year is for you if
- You already practice Ashtanga and want to understand it more deeply
- You want the traditional method, not a generalized approach to yoga
- You want to study the Primary Series, adjustment, Sanskrit, prāṇāyāma, and philosophy in depth
- You are drawn to the tradition behind modern Ashtanga, not only to sequencing classes
- You want to teach one day, and you want to learn it properly, from the practice up
It may not be the right fit if
- You mainly want a quick weekend certificate
- You are looking for a generic vinyāsa or fitness class
- You need a fully online course
What's Included
Your training includes.
- Nine in-person weekends with Andrew Eppler
- Permanent access to the online library: over 165 hours of instruction and 220 pages of original written material, never published, and still growing
- Traditional Mysore-style practice and hands-on adjustment
- The Primary Series, vinyāsa count, and Sanskrit names
- Prāṇāyāma, mudrā, and the subtle techniques
- Indian philosophy read from inside the tradition
- Live study with Sanskrit scholars in Mysore
- A final examination in philosophy with Dr. M.A. Alwar
How The Year Works
One group, March to December.
Nine weekends in Norman, one a month, ten in the morning to six in the evening both days. The group moves through the year together, and the three areas of study, methodology, physiology and the healing arts, and history and philosophy, rotate across the weekends so the year stays well rounded.
Between weekends you work through the online library, keep a regular practice, and read the assigned material. The nine weekends give roughly 144 hours of in-person study, and the recorded curriculum and your own practice carry the year well past two hundred.
If you miss a weekend, you make it up through the recorded curriculum and, where it helps, a live session online. There is no weekend in October, while Andrew is teaching in Europe, and the group resumes in November.
The Weekends
Nine weekends in 2027.
One group, one weekend a month, ten in the morning to six in the evening. The three areas of study rotate across the year.
- March 20 to 21Yoga Methodology
- April 17 to 18Physiology and Healing Arts
- May 15 to 16History and Philosophy
- June 12 to 13Yoga Methodology
- July 10 to 11Physiology and Healing Arts
- August 14 to 15History and Philosophy
- September 11 to 12Yoga Methodology
- OctoberNo weekend, teaching in Europe
- November 13 to 14Physiology and Healing Arts
- December 11 to 12Graduation
Location and Lodging
Where we meet.
We hold the weekends at two places, and each weekend's location is confirmed in advance.
The Magic Forest, 20180 Fulkerson Rd, Noble, OK 73068, is a peaceful retreat we have used for gatherings for thirty years. It offers simple indoor lodging and quiet camping for $30 a night, with fast internet for hybrid sessions.
Yoga on Main, 123 S. Main St, Norman, OK 73069, is our space right in town. More about the Magic Forest.
The Curriculum
What you will study.
The Practice
The Primary Series, vinyāsa count, Sanskrit names, breath, alignment, and hands-on adjustment, learned slowly in the traditional Mysore way.
Breath and Subtle Practice
Prāṇāyāma, mudrā, and the subtle techniques that deepen the practice, taught within the classical tradition.
The Tradition
Śrī Kṛṣṇamācārya, Śrī K. Pattabhi Jois, and the Mysore lineage the modern practice came from.
The Philosophy
The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, the Bhagavad Gītā, and the Sāṅkhya framework, read from inside the tradition.
The Scholarship
Live study with Sanskrit scholars in Mysore, among them Dr. M.A. Alwar, and a final examination in philosophy.
Teaching
For those who intend to teach: observation, demonstration, clear instruction, and supervised teaching practice.
The Scholars
Study within the living tradition.
Through the year you study with Sanskrit scholars in Mysore, among them Dr. M.A. Alwar, Senior Professor at Maharaja's Sanskrit College and a leading authority on Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy. He is Andrew's teacher and mentor and a co-organizer of the Mysore Yoga Conference, and he gives the final examination in philosophy.
This is the Viśiṣṭādvaita reading of yoga that shaped Śrī Kṛṣṇamācārya's teaching, carried in the Nāthamuni Sampradāya of South India. It is what separates studying a sequence from understanding where the practice comes from, and it is the part of this program no one else in the region can offer.
Begin in Mysore
Start the year at the source.
Each January, Andrew leads a month-long immersion in Mysore, India, from the twelfth of January to the eighth of February. If you want to, you can begin the year there, at the source of the practice, and return to Norman for the training in March.
The Mysore immersion is a separate program, with its own enrollment and tuition. It is an invitation, not a requirement, and it makes a rare way to begin a year of study.
See For Yourself
Watch the film before you decide.
My trainings are shaped by, and made in cooperation with, my teachers in Mysore. Mysore Yoga Traditions, the feature documentary I directed there, is the clearest window into that work. It draws on interviews with the scholars, elders, and practitioners this program is rooted in. If you want to understand the perspective behind the training, start there.
On What Yoga Is
So what is Yoga? I have been turning this question over for forty years, and my answer has not really changed.
Yoga is a vehicle for life. It bends, it adapts, and it has changed across thousands of years. Not because it was corrupted, but 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, demanding, but not the whole of 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 speak and think and treat one another. Not only in how we move through a sequence. The postures matter, but they are not the point. Internal stability and joy are the point. I try to teach this perspective in my trainings.
Certification
What it takes.
Completing the year is not about perfection. It is steady participation, sincere study, and showing that you understand the foundations of the practice.
- Attend the nine weekends, or make up any you miss
- Submit essays on the Bhagavad Gītā and Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras
- Pass an oral examination with Andrew
- Memorize the Primary Series and the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga
- Write a personal reflection on what yoga means to you
- A final examination in philosophy with Dr. M.A. Alwar, a separate $108 fee supporting the Saṃskṛti Foundation
Certification is issued through Ashtanga Yoga Studio, with a certificate from the Saṃskṛti Foundation in Mysore. Ashtanga Yoga Studio is a Registered School with Yoga Alliance, RYS 200, and completing the program provides the training required to register as an RYT 200.
The Texts
What you will read.
Required
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Swami Satchidananda
- The Living Gita, Swami Satchidananda
Recommended
- Roots of Yoga, Mallinson and Singleton
- The Concise Book of Muscles, Chris Jarmey
- The Practice Manual, David Swenson
These give you an accessible foundation. The live and recorded philosophy sessions bring in the traditional Sanskrit commentary.
Your Teacher
Andrew Eppler
Forty years of practice. Thirty-five years of teaching. Andrew trained in Mysore under Śrī B.N.S. Iyengar, who, in his hundredth year, is the oldest living teacher of Ashtanga Yoga. He is E-RYT 500 and the director of Mysore Yoga Traditions. His teaching honors the tradition while remaining genuinely open to the people in the room.
- Founder of Ashtanga Yoga Studio in Norman, established 1999
- Director of Mysore Yoga Traditions
- Director of the Mysore Yoga Traditions documentary
- Founder of the Mysore Yoga Conference
- Decades guiding students of every age, body, and level
From Students
What students say.
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, and how to adjust āsanas, 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 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.
Questions
Good things to know.
When does the year begin and end?
The group begins March 20, 2027, and meets one weekend a month through December, with no weekend in October while Andrew is teaching in Europe.
Do I need to plan to teach?
No. Many come to deepen their own study of the practice. Teaching methodology is part of the year for those who want it, but it is not the purpose of the course.
Do I need to be advanced?
No. You need to be steady, curious, and willing to practice.
What if I miss a weekend?
You make it up through the recorded curriculum and, where it helps, a live session online.
Is the online library included?
Yes. Over 165 hours of instruction and 220 pages of original written material, yours to keep, and it keeps growing.
Can I begin in Mysore?
Yes. The January immersion in Mysore is an optional way to begin the year at the source. It is a separate program with its own enrollment and tuition.
Where are the weekends held?
At the Magic Forest and at Yoga on Main, both near Norman. Each weekend's location is confirmed in advance.
Is lodging available?
Simple indoor lodging and quiet camping at the Magic Forest, $30 a night, with fast internet for hybrid sessions.
What about certification?
Ashtanga Yoga Studio is a Registered School with Yoga Alliance, RYS 200. Completing the program provides the training required to register as an RYT 200.
On the Certificate
What 200 hours can and cannot do.
Becoming a yoga teacher is the work of many years. Real teaching comes from long practice, careful attention to other people, and study that does not end. No certificate produces that, and we will not pretend otherwise. We offer the Yoga Alliance 200hr credential, which is useful and widely recognized, and a certificate from the Saṃskṛti Foundation, which sits at the center of Mysore's scholarly community.
What the training gives, in our experience, is a thorough education in āsana, 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 find it just as meaningful. Whether or not you plan to teach, you leave with a deeper and steadier practice of your own.
The 2027 Group
Apply to study this year.
200-Hour Ashtanga Yoga Training · Norman, Oklahoma · March to December 2027
Early Enrollment
$2,800
Paid in full by February 15
Standard Tuition
$3,100
Paid in full after February 15
Payment Plan
$500down
Then $300 a month for nine months. $3,200 total.
A $500 deposit reserves your place. The $108 final examination in philosophy with Dr. M.A. Alwar is a separate fee.
The group is small, and it begins together on March 20. Apply, tell me about your practice and what you are looking for, and we will talk before you enroll. The first conversation is free, and it is with me. Early enrollment closes February 15.
Also available: the online course · the January immersion in Mysore, India
andrew@ashtangayogastudio.com · WhatsApp +1 405 503 7779
Photographs by Andrew Eppler. Portraits of Andrew by Santiago Pinto.