Kundalini Yoga teacher training: not just for teachers
A Kundalini Yoga teacher training sounds like it's for people who want to teach. Some who join do. Many come for something else. They want to understand the practice from the inside, and a weekly class isn't enough anymore.
I know this path from both sides. I fell in love with the practice in Barcelona, trained, and later started teaching in my living room in Zürich. Today I teach our training together with Daniela and Pedro, in collaboration with Imagine Academy.
So here is what a Kundalini Yoga teacher training actually involves, who it's for, and how to find the path that fits you.
Table of contents
Who is a Kundalini Yoga teacher training for?
Not a better version of yourself
The practice as a mirror
What you learn in the 200-hour training
Three ways in: 50, 200 and 300 hours
Why we do it together
Frequently asked questions
Who is a Kundalini Yoga teacher training for?
Mostly, three kinds of people find their way to us.
Some want to become Kundalini Yoga teachers. Some already teach another style of yoga and want to understand Kundalini Yoga properly, not just borrow a few kriyas. And some simply want to go deeper into their own practice, with no plan to ever stand at the front of a room.
No prior Kundalini Yoga experience is needed for the 200-hour training. And if you don't know yet which of the three you are, that's fine too. It often becomes clear along the way.
You don’t need to become someone else. You’re invited to remember who you already are.
Not a better version of yourself
So many paths lead into the same trap: keep improving, keep evolving, keep becoming someone slightly more enlightened than yesterday. It's a quiet, tiring kind of striving that never really arrives anywhere.
The training offers something else. Not a better you, but less of the self-focus altogether. What's left underneath is much simpler. We are already part of something bigger.
That's what nine months together move us toward. Not a title, and not a technique to master. Everyone who walks through this training brings their own colour, and none of it needs to look a certain way.
The practice as a mirror
There is a moment in every practice when something wants to quit. The body gets tired, the breath gets hard, and an old voice says this is too much, or not enough, or not for me.
What happens in that moment is the whole teaching. The practice shows you, in real time, how you relate to everything in your life. Do you push through with force and call it discipline? Do you give up at the first sign of resistance and call it listening to your body?
None of this is about getting it right. It's about being honest enough to see the pattern when it shows up, on the mat and off it. A teacher training is nine months of learning to see clearly, in yourself first. Only then can you hold space for anyone else.
What you learn in the 200-hour training
The 200-hour Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training runs over nine months, from October to July. Pedro brings the philosophy, Daniela the asana, and I bring mantra and the Sikh tradition, and all three of us teach across the whole curriculum.Together, we bring 60 years of combined experience in practising and sharing Kundalini Yoga.
What it includes:
Practice: kriyas, meditation and mantra, and shared sadhana together online
Philosophy: where Kundalini Yoga comes from and its roots in the Sikh tradition
The chakra system: the focus of the first year
Teaching: how a class is built, and teaching rounds where you practise leading
Format: four in-person weekends in Zürich, online modules, an online Q&A every two weeks, and a summer retreat in Kiental with live musicians and a graduation ceremony
The training is taught in English.
Three ways in: 50, 200 and 300 hours
Not everyone is ready for nine months. And not everyone needs that to go deeper.
50-hour Foundation Training
The 50-hour Kundalini Yoga Foundation Training is three weekends at Gobinde Studio, taught in German. It's for anyone who wants to understand what they practise: the philosophy, the mantras, how a class is built, and how to share the practice with the people around you. Some come to practise on their own at home. Some are yoga teachers who want to bring Kundalini Yoga into their classes.
200-hour Teacher Training
The full path, as described above. For becoming a teacher, or for understanding the practice from the inside.
300-hour Teacher Training
For those who have finished a 200-hour training, or experienced yoga teachers who have done the 50-hour Foundation. The focus moves to the ten bodies and Kundalini Yoga philosophy. Part of it is a karma yoga project: twelve voluntary classes in prisons, refugee houses or underserved communities. The practice turns outward, toward service.
Why we do it together
The practice works better in a group than alone. That's true in a weekly class, and even more in a training.
Every summer the whole sangat meets in Kiental, usually 60 to 80 people: trainees, former students and people from outside. Four days of practice in the mountains with live music. For many, that's where it all comes together.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need experience to do a Kundalini Yoga teacher training?
No previous experience in Kundalini Yoga is needed for the 200-hour training. A regular practice helps, and coming to a few classes beforehand is a lovely way to feel whether it’s right for you. But the inner call alone is enough. Many have come to us in exactly that way.
Do I have to teach afterwards?
No. Many people do the training to deepen their own practice. What you do with it afterwards is yours.
Can I do the training online?
Partly. There are online modules and a Q&A every two weeks. But the in-person weekends and the summer retreat are part of the training, and that's where much of it happens.
How long does it take?
The 200-hour and 300-hour trainings each run over nine months. The 50-hour Foundation Training is three weekends.
Which language is the training in?
The 200-hour training is taught in English. The 50-hour Foundation Training is in German.
A final note
A Kundalini Yoga teacher training isn't really about becoming a teacher. It's about meeting yourself, honestly and over time, together with others. Whether you teach afterwards or not, you leave understanding the practice from the inside.
Not sure yet whether the training is right for you?
The best way to find out is to feel the practice first. At Gobinde Studio in Zürich, we practice Kundalini Yoga together every Monday and Wednesday evening, in the studio and online. No experience needed.
Judith Ender has been practising Kundalini Yoga since 2007 and founded Gobinde Studio in Zürich in 2012, which she still runs today. There she creates a space where you can step off the merry-go-round of your thoughts, take a deep breath and come back to yourself.