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The Aquarian Teacher pathway

Deepen your personal practice, broaden your knowledge and skills, serve both Self and community. Take the next step on your path and become a Teacher.

The Aquarian Teacher™ is a comprehensive, experiential program offering progressive levels of certification. Yogi Bhajan equated the 3 levels of KRI approved training to a BA, an MA and a PhD.

This page is the reference. Looking for dates? Find a training – every scheduled run, filtered by place and type.

1. Level One Instructor: Foundations

Once you complete this level and receive your certificate you can start teaching.

Full program detail

The KRI Level One Aquarian Teacher Training Program is a 220-hour professional certification program in Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan®. An interactive course in the theory, practice, and basic skills of a Kundalini Yoga instructor, it includes 180 hours of classroom instruction and 40 hours of independent study: service projects, a 40-day meditation, and White Tantric Yoga. Graduates of Level One earn the title of KRI Certified Instructor of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® and fulfill the Yoga Alliance RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) 200-hour requirement.

Foundations introduces the student to the principles and practices of the self-sensory human, and explores how Kundalini Yoga and yogic lifestyle can harmonize and uplift the human experience and awaken your true potential.

There are six principle components in a Level One program:

Kriya and Meditation: The foundation of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan®
The theory and practice of Kundalini Yoga kriyas (yoga sets), asanas, and mudras. Explore the nature of the mind and its training through Kundalini Yoga meditations, mantras, and pranayam (breathing techniques).

Humanology and Philosophy: The Lifestyle of a Kundalini Yoga Teacher
The history and tradition of Kundalini Yoga, as well as the underlying philosophy behind all yogic practices. The technologies of Kundalini Yoga as they apply to healing and humanology (the science of daily living), including diet, nutrition, and relationships.

Anatomy & Physiology: Essentials of Yogic and Functional Anatomy
Traditional Western anatomy, its purpose and function, including the respiratory, nervous, immune, musculoskeletal, circulatory, endocrine, and digestive systems and their relation to the practice and teaching of yoga. Also Yogic anatomy and the energy systems of the body including the chakras, nadis, pranas and vayus, and the ten yogic bodies.

Consciousness of a Teacher: Virtues and Values of Living in the Golden Chain
The skills and techniques to become an effective instructor, including practical strategies for teaching beginners, ethical guidelines, curriculum development, and the transformational role of the teacher in developing a successful yoga practice.

The Master’s Touch: Cultivating a Connection to the Master
Connect with Yogi Bhajan through DVD classes and study.

The Practicum: Teaching from Day One
Practical experience instructing a yoga class under the supervision of a KRI Yoga Teacher Trainer, receiving written evaluation and student feedback.

Becoming a teacher is not only the study and experience of the yogic teachings and of human nature, it is a lifestyle. To choose a life as a teacher is to have a commitment to the “Self”; to work towards living in a positive state of joy, peace and contentment. When people see you smiling and walking tall, they will come to you. The power of your presence will uplift others and create positive change around you.

Financial assistance is available. Please view our Financial Assistance – Level 1 Policy for further information.

2. Level Two Practitioner: Transformation

There are 5 modules each six days long and to be taken individually. It is suggested that they are taken over at least 2 to 3 years.

Full program detail and the five modules

Level Two is open to KRI Level One Certified Instructors. The 300-hour/2-year certification program consists of five 62-hour modules and fulfills the Yoga Alliance 500-hour requirement. Graduates of Level Two earn the title of Certified Practitioner of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan®.

Building on the foundation of Level One, Level Two Teacher Training is about personal transformation and deepening the core capacities, character and consciousness of a Kundalini Yoga teacher. In this level, the Instructor cultivates the yogic capacities of intuition, neutrality and self-assessment within the five mirrors of consciousness:

  • Conscious Communication – Uplift and penetrate through the power of the word.
  • Mind and Meditation – Conquer the mind and conquer the world.
  • Authentic Relationships – Unfold your true identity in the matrix of conscious relationship.
  • Life Cycles and Life Styles – Discover mystery and mastery through every cycle of life.
  • Vitality and Stress – Cultivate the caliber to guide yourself and others through life’s challenges.

Modules are taken individually, so the practical question is usually “when is this module running” – the training finder filters Level 2 by module.

3. Level Three Teacher: Realisation

A 1000-day commitment to the process of Realisation through engagement with spiritual community, deep meditation and service.

Full program detail, prerequisites and community service

Level Three challenges you to live the life you were meant to live. The Level Three Program is a personal journey to Self-Realisation. In it, we refine our authentic identity as a Teacher and deepen our unique relationship to the Sacred. The program focuses on three qualities: Spiritual Maturity (an authentic, fully integrated presence as Teacher), Meditative Mind (refined through focused Kundalini Yoga and Meditation practice), and Seva (an ongoing attitude of Selfless Service). Graduates of Level Three earn the title of KRI Certified Teacher of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan®.

Attendance in three of the four Melas within the 1000-day experience is required, including the Opening/Orientation and Closing/Graduating Melas. Melas are held during the summer once a year in Espanola, NM and Europe.

Prerequisites

  • Level One Certified
  • Level Two Certified (completion of all five Level 2 modules)
  • Taught 500 hours of Kundalini Yoga since Level 1 graduation
  • In compliance with the current Code of Ethics & Professional Standards of a Kundalini Yoga Teacher
  • Two items from Meditation & Personal Practice, or one from Meditation & Personal Practice plus one from Community Service

Meditation and Personal Practice

Completion of any of: Long Ek Ong Kars (40 days, 2½ hours before sunrise), Kirtan Kriya (40 days, 2½ hours in white), Master’s Touch (40 days, 2½ hours), Full Aquarian Sadhana (40 days), a physical exercise kriya (60 min+, 40 days), another 40-day 2½-hour meditation, attending or watching 40 of Yogi Bhajan’s classes with a student’s consciousness, or Sahej Paath (any language).

Community Service

Engagement in and service to the 3HO community for at least 2 consecutive years, for example as a Seva Team Leader at Solstice or a Yoga Festival, organising local events like White Tantric Yoga or an Akandh Paath, community potlucks or Full Moon Meditations, Seva Projects like Free Kitchens, publishing newsletters or translating KY/3HO materials, or holding a role of responsibility in a national or local 3HO organisation.

For more information go to the Kundalini Research Institute (opens in a new tab) website.

Specialty trainings

Not KYTANZ programs – like Level 1 to 3, each is delivered by a trainer qualified to teach it. Scheduled runs appear on the training finder; where nothing is scheduled, the finder shows who can run it.

Yoga Therapy

The full training is 14 in-person segments plus 7 online segments, fully integrated, with the in-person segments in sequential order. The first 3 in-person segments shift a Kundalini Yoga teacher toward becoming a Kundalini Yoga Therapist, taking the trainee deep into the consciousness of Kundalini Yoga as Therapy; the subsequent segments are assessment and application focused, deep into clinical practice.

Any Kundalini Yoga teacher can take the first 3 in-person segments in any order without enrolling in the full training. After that, trainees enrol in the full program to benefit from supervision and the integrated process of developing skills, sensitivity, experience and consciousness over the 3-year, 1,000-hour training. Selected later segments can also be taken standalone, provided the first segment (Foundations: Principles and Practices of Kundalini Yoga Therapy) has been completed – these are posted on the website 3 to 5 months before they run.

Example segments: Kundalini Yoga for the Recovery of Trauma (PTSD), Yoga Therapy for the Structural System, Prana as Medicine, Kundalini Yoga for autoimmune disorders, Cold Depression, and more. All online segments are open to any Kundalini Yoga teacher, whether or not they enrol in the full training.

The Foundations module (4 days) is open to all Kundalini Yoga teachers and is the first module to complete before any further modules. It covers the key principles Yogi Bhajan established to teach Kundalini Yoga therapeutically, the structure of a therapeutic class, the psychology of health recovery, and the teacher’s identity as Kundalini Yoga Teacher, Therapist and Yogic Healer. It can be taken alone or as the start of the full program; attendance for the full duration is required for a certificate of completion.

Sat Nam Rasayan

Sat Nam Rasayan means “deep relaxation in the true identity”. It is an ancient meditation technique and healing art in the tradition of Kundalini Yoga – entering a state of Sat Nam Rasayan means becoming nothing and operating from the state of shuniya, where the mind becomes transcendent and healing can occur.

Traditionally this art was taught to heal others. It helps release tendencies and limitations in body, mind and emotions, activating the body’s own self-healing powers. It is free from dogmatism, religion and belief systems, and works for any interested person wishing to sharpen the senses and learn a meditative healing technique, not only yoga practitioners and therapists.

Sat Nam Rasayan works on a subtle level through the projective meditative mind, accessing and balancing the five elements and the pranic body, by holding a neutral, contemplative state of awareness and allowing resistances to change and release.

21 Stages of Meditation

The 21 Stages of Meditation, as outlined by Yogi Bhajan, range from Upset and Boredom through to Humility, Graceful Enlightenment and the Sage, culminating in Stage 21, the Infinite Pulse. By articulating each stage, the practice puts into words the states of consciousness traversed by those using meditation to enhance their lives in pursuit of happiness and peace of mind. Each stage’s meditation follows the natural structure of that stage, and the experience of one supports progress in the next – stages can be explored individually, though practising a full journey in sequence and community adds intensity.

The course is delivered as three journeys, each its own two-day process: First Journey, the Crystallized Self – recognising and crystallizing a sense of Self separate from commotion and sensory impulse, working through the first four blocks (upset, boredom, irritation, frustration). Second Journey, the Expressive Self – developing sensitivity to the Self while engaging in relationships and life, so integrity is maintained in action. Third Journey, the Transcendent Self – recognising all that we are as the formless presence of the infinite Self, becoming spontaneous, creative and flexible as realised human beings.

Whether you already teach Kundalini Yoga, practise a different meditation style, or have been teaching for years, the course is designed to be taken repeatedly – each pass meets you in a different place in your life.

Conscious Pregnancy

Yogi Bhajan left an extensive array of inspiration and practical yogic tools for a conscious pregnancy. Yogic teachings encourage a woman to care for herself and prepare for motherhood through a daily practice of meditation, yoga, chanting and prayer, and by keeping herself in peaceful, uplifting environments.

During those months [of pregnancy] she is required to be in circumstances which are very secure, respectable, and comfortable, and in which she can have a lot of understanding around her. We always know how to raise the rose bush, but we have never tried to study how to raise our children. Our children are actually raised within those nine months of pregnancy and development. Those are very important days of life of the child.

~Yogi Bhajan, “The Ancient Art of Self-Healing”

Gong

The gong as a healing instrument. Gong training runs are scheduled by qualified trainers as interest builds – the training finder shows current dates and who to ask.

Karam Kriya

Karam Kriya is an approach to communication, self-inquiry and consultancy that explores the relationship between numbers, consciousness and human experience.

Central to Karam Kriya is the use of numbers as a framework for exploring patterns within the mind, communication, relationships and life experience. The approach also draws upon concepts familiar within Kundalini Yoga, including the Ten Spiritual Bodies, and applies these through inquiry, self-reflection and what is described within Karam Kriya as the healing conversation.

Kundalini Breathwalk

Kundalini Breathwalk is a mindful walking practice that combines conscious breathing, rhythmic movement, meditation and attention.

Practised while walking, Breathwalk coordinates particular breathing patterns with the natural rhythm of the steps. Some practices may also incorporate mantra, mudra or focused awareness.

Breathwalk offers an accessible way to bring meditation and conscious movement into everyday life. Rather than requiring a particular level of flexibility or the ability to sit for extended periods, the practice takes meditation into movement and the outdoors.

A Kundalini Breathwalk practice may include:

  • conscious and rhythmic breathing
  • walking at a comfortable, steady pace
  • coordination of breath and footsteps
  • mantra or mental focus
  • mindful awareness
  • periods of integration and reflection

Different Breathwalk practices use different breathing rhythms and meditative focuses. The pace and intensity can be adapted according to individual capacity, making Breathwalk accessible to a wide range of people.

The Breathwalk training is a 90-hour program (24 hours face to face over 3 days, 66 hours home study) open to all KRI-certified Kundalini Yoga teachers.

Five key components are experienced, learned and taught: Awaken (simple coordinated arm movements, postures and conscious breathing), Align (correct alignment technique for walking), Vitalise (a specific breathing pattern, using segmented breathing and mantra, coordinated with your walking rhythm), Balance (slowing the pace to expand the senses), and Integrate (“innerwalk” exercises connecting mind, body and environment).

The curriculum: 24 hours face to face, 40 hours self-practice (a 40-day Breath Walk sadhana of your choice), 16 hours reading course materials, 4 hours of practical teaching plus 4 hours documenting it, and two 1-hour group calls with the lead trainer.

Children’s Yoga

Children’s yoga training in Australia and New Zealand is delivered through Radiant Child® Yoga (RCY), a comprehensive 30-hour training program designed for anyone interested in teaching children yoga. Developed in 1998 by founder Shakta Khalsa, it was one of the first children’s yoga trainings available in the world, and holds the vision of creating a world of peace through the union of yoga and children. Participants include yoga teachers of all traditions, schoolteachers, paediatric therapists, parents and grandparents. Previous yoga experience is helpful although not required.

General information

  • 30 hour weekend training, generally Friday through Sunday
  • 27 in-class hours, 3 at-home practicum, total: 30
  • Certificate of completion given after at-home practice
  • All levels of yoga experience accepted: novice through experienced
  • Approximately 50% discussion/lecture, 50% practice/experience
  • The course has been recognised for CECs with public schools, therapy organisations, and Yoga Alliance

Levels 1-2 cover: guidelines for teaching children of all ages from babies to teens; yoga songs and games that children love; practical tips for keeping the class focused and engaged; breathing practices and meditation with children; using yoga sets with children; keeping yourself centred when working with children; powerful yoga and meditation for you as the teacher; collaborative practice creating a unique yoga presentation; practical tools for any situation that arises when working with children; setting up children’s yoga classes as a business; yoga for ADD, autism and SPD; and adapting yoga for schools.

Level 3 covers: conscious communication skills such as deep listening and engaging cooperation; yoga for yourself and your children; yogic teachings about children, including the four phases of a child’s life; the development of the child’s energy field and chakra systems; meditation practice to become fully present to yourself and your children; and processes to align with your vision for your life work.

The training qualifies as credit hours for RYT certification through Yoga Alliance, and a certificate is given upon completion.

Level 1, 2 and 3 Training is certified by the Kundalini Research Institute.