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EMPOWER Yoga Teacher Conf Chicago Logo

EMPOWER your

Yoga Teaching

+ Life

in Chicago!

A yoga conference for teachers and students!

TBD Sept 2023  |  Chicago, IL

Unfortunately, this event has been cancelled due to low attendance. Sign up for our email list to learn about our next events.

Want to feel more confident in your yoga teaching and business?

Teaching yoga is one of the most rewarding jobs, especially since it allows you to have a flexible schedule {pun intended!} and impact and transform people’s lives.

Here’s the bad news: it can be really hard to STAND OUT as a yoga teacher and GROW YOUR BUSINESS.  That means teaching memorable classes, creating a yoga experience that feels safe and inclusive for everyone all while discovering new opportunities and ways to generate income.

Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into teaching yoga (unless you’re okay with small class sizes).

But before you invest in another yoga teacher training or hire a yoga mentor, I have a proposal for you….

Join the YOGA TEACHER CONF – EMPOWER

Affordable workshops and a community just for Yoga Teachers!

Start or Grow Your Yoga Business

You know there’s a way to grow your business and make money teaching yoga but you just don’t know where to start or how to do it.

Our business classes will help you see what is possible, discover new ways to generate income and create a sustainable yoga business.

You’ll leave with a specific game plan that you can execute immediately!

Stand Out As A Yoga Teacher

Create yoga experiences that people want to come back for over & over again, even if you are new to teaching or don’t feel like you have found your voice as a teacher.

Our teaching skills classes will help you learn new creative sequences and tools to help re-inspire your teaching and stand out from the crowd!

Self-Care & Personal Practice

Your personal practice is often the first thing that disappears as a yoga teacher. Reconnect with your Self to inspire your students on a deeper level. 

You won’t just learn about self-care, you’ll practice self-care at the Haji Healing Outpost. Join our brave space of fellow yoga teachers and connect deeply with your personal practice and feel accepted just as you are.

At the Yoga Teacher Conf I found people to help support and guide me as I try to figure out how to transition out of corporate life (project management) into that of yoga and wellness.

Deb Long
200-RYT

Your Yoga Teacher Journey Never Ends

As yoga teachers we give so much of ourselves and our energy to others and our own energy gets depleted. We end up burned out, overwhelmed, and not able to put much into our classes.

Invest in your own self-care and feel empowered to create more impact in your student’s lives.

Schedule

Yoga Teacher Conf – EMPOWER

The only conference just for yoga teachers

These were all of the classes from our 2022 conference. This will give you a good idea of what you can expect in 2023!

Friday

Room 1:

Self-Care

2:00PM - 4:00PM

Registration Opens

4:00PM - 5:00PM

Opening Yoga Class
with Crystal Gray & Allison Rissel

5:00PM - 6:45PM

Catered Welcome Social

7:00PM - 8:30PM
Empower Yourself to Overcome Imposter Syndrome

with Amy Zellmer

Room 2:

Teaching Skills

2:00PM - 4:00PM

Registration Opens

4:00PM - 5:00PM

Opening Yoga Class
with Crystal Gray & Allison Rissel

5:00PM - 6:45PM

Catered Welcome Social

7:00PM - 8:30PM
Living Your Yoga According to the 8 Limbs

with Kali Om

Room 3:

Business for Teachers

2:00PM - 4:00PM

Registration Opens

4:00PM - 5:00PM

Opening Yoga Class
with Crystal Gray & Allison Rissel

5:00PM - 6:45PM

Catered Welcome Social

7:00PM - 8:30PM
WE HEAL TOGETHER :: Building and Sustaining Community Healing Spaces

with Aya-Nikole Cook

Saturday

Room 1:

Self-Care

8:30AM - 10:30AM
All About Chakras!

with Kalpana Nimkar

11:00AM - 12:30PM
Practice Self Care at the Haji Healing Outpost
12:30PM - 1:30PM

Lunch on Your Own

2:00PM - 4:00PM
Practice Self Care at the Haji Healing Outpost
4:30PM - 6:00PM
Practice Self Care at the Haji Healing Outpost
7:00PM - 8:30PM

Ten Gates to Heaven Essence of Sound Bath
with Jimmy Chan

Room 2:

Teaching Skills

8:30AM - 10:30AM
Hands On Adjustments & Modifications

with Crystal Gray

11:00AM - 12:30PM
Bliss Within: A Retreat on Yoga Nidra

with Swami Yatidharmananda

12:30PM - 1:30PM

Lunch on Your Own

2:00PM - 4:00PM
Asana: Metaphor for Life

with Hansa Knox Johnson

4:30PM - 6:00PM
The Heart of Yoga: Teaching Pranayama

with Nancy Gerstein

7:00PM - 8:30PM

Ten Gates to Heaven Essence of Sound Bath
with Jimmy Chan

Room 3:

Business for Teachers

8:30AM - 10:30AM
Considerate Conduct for Yoga Teachers

with Nicole Sopko

11:00AM - 12:30PM
The Art of Private Yoga

with Jen Pansa Rohr

12:30PM - 1:30PM

Lunch on Your Own

2:00PM - 4:00PM
Leadership for Yoga Teachers

with Rebecca Sebastian

4:30PM - 6:00PM
Uplevel Your Online Yoga Teaching

with Ashton August

7:00PM - 8:30PM

Ten Gates to Heaven Essence of Sound Bath
with Jimmy Chan

Sunday

Room 1:

Self-Care

8:00AM - 10:00AM
Celebrate Your Wins

with Leticia Apablaza

10:30AM - 12:30PM
Ayurveda for Self-Care

with Swati Mhaske

12:30PM - 1:00PM

Closing Ceremony

Room 2:

Teaching Skills

8:00AM - 10:00AM
AstroYoga Flow: Align Your Practice with Cosmic Order

with Emily Ridout

10:30AM - 12:30PM
Restorative Yoga with Just Your Blanket

with Tami Galbreath

12:30PM - 1:00PM

Closing Ceremony

Room 3:

Business for Teachers

8:00AM - 10:00AM
Create Inclusive Teaching Environments

with Dr. Stacie CC Graham

10:30AM - 12:30PM
The Intersection of Mindfulness and Spirituality with Business and Financial Success

with Ashton August

12:30PM - 1:00PM

Closing Ceremony

*Class available for Yoga Alliance CEU’s   Note: class times are subject to change. 

Schedule

Yoga Teacher Conf – EMPOWER

The only conference just for yoga teachers

These were all of the classes from our 2022 conference. This will give you a good idea of what you can expect in 2023!

Friday

Friday: 2:00PM - 4:00PM

Registration Opens

Friday: 4:00PM - 5:00PM

Opening Class

Friday: 5:00PM - 6:45PM

Catered Welcome Social

Friday: 7:00PM - 8:30PM

Empower Yourself to Overcome Imposter Syndrome
"Self-Care"


Living Your Yoga According to the 8 Limbs
"Teaching Skills"


WE HEAL TOGETHER :: Building and Sustaining Community Healing Spaces
"Business for Teachers"

Saturday

Saturday: 8:30AM - 10:30AM
All About Chakras!
"Self Care Class"

Hands On Adjustments & Modifications
"Teaching Skills Class"

Considerate Conduct for Yoga Teachers
"Business for Teachers Class"
Saturday: 11:00AM - 12:30PM

Practice Self-Care at the Haji Healing Outpost

Bliss Within: A Retreat on Yoga Nidra
"Teaching Skills Class"

The Art of Private Yoga
"Business for Teachers Class"
Saturday: 12:30PM - 1:30PM

Lunch Break

Saturday: 2:00PM - 4:00PM

Practice Self-Care at the Haji Healing Outpost

Asana Metaphor for Life
"Teaching Skills Class"

Leadership for Yoga Teachers
"Business for Teachers Class"
Saturday: 4:30PM - 6:00PM

Practice Self-Care at the Haji Healing Outpost

The Heart of Yoga: Teaching Pranayama
"Teaching Skills Class"

Uplevel Your Online Yoga Teaching
"Business for Teachers Class"
Saturday: 7:00PM - 8:30PM

Ten Gates to Heaven Essence of Sound Bath

Sunday

Sunday: 8:00AM - 10:00AM
Create Inclusive Teaching Environments
"Business for Teachers Class"

Celebrate Your Wins
"Self Care Class"

AstroYoga Flow: Align Your Practice with Cosmic Order
"Teaching Skills Class"

Sunday: 10:30AM - 12:30PM
The Intersection of Mindfulness and Spirituality with Business and Financial Success
"Business for Teachers Class"

Ayurveda for Self Care
"Self Care Class"

Restorative Yoga with Just Your Blanket
"Teaching Skills Class"

Sunday: 12:30PM - 1:00PM

Closing Ceremony

*Class is available for Yoga Alliance CEU’s

Note: class times are subject to change.

The Yoga Teacher Conf is an inspiring and uplifting experience – completely worth your time and money to connect with other yoga students and teachers, and continue to grow on your personal path.

Kim Nicks - 200 RYT

The Haji Healing Outpost

We don’t want you to just learn about self-care, we want you to PRACTICE self-care.

On Saturday, indulge in a variety of self-care practices to help nurture you as a teacher.

Community Shamonic Reiki

If you have been feeling sluggish, run down, blocked and burdened or otherwise in need of a pick me up, this is for you.

Candle Dressing Station

Infuse a candle with prayer adding herbs & crystals. Take it home and burn it as a prayer for 4 days.

Acupuncture

Recline in our zero gravity chairs as practitioners place up to five small, sterilized disposable needles into specific sites on each ear. The NADA protocol helps restore your nervous system so you can relax and let the healing begin.

Self-Care Station

Indulge in a variety of self–care tools like self massage, coloring, foam rollers, blankets, rest, tea and more.

Haji Healing Salon

All services provided by the practitioners from Haji Healing Salon, a sanctuary space on the south side of Chicago activated by our tribe of teachers, healers, mystics and the community we serve. Learn more at www.HajiHealing.com

Cost: $33 for unlimited Saturday services

Your Speakers Include…

Kaya Mindlin

Crystal Gray

Crystal Gray, E-RYT 500, is a yoga teacher for yoga teachers. She specializes in leading yoga teacher trainings and retreats. Crystal is the founder of the Yoga Goddess Academy whose mission is to help yoga teachers learn how to empower students through yoga and make it as accessible as possible.

Besides teaching yoga, her and her family live on their 20 acre organic vegetable farm outside of Chicago, Illinois.

 

Sheela Bringi & Brent Kuecker

Swati Mhaske

Swati is an Ayurveda Physician with a Bachelor of Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery from India with honors and also holds a Masters in Pharmaceutical Medicine from India. She is the founder at HemaVeda Ayurveda at Crystal Lake IL, where Swati practices Ayurveda and Panchakarma.

Aya-Nikole Cook

Aya-Nikole Cook

As a wellness professional Aya has made a name for herself, while creating expansive practice space and employment opportunities for over 50 healers since 2015 at the Haji Healing Salon in Chicago. Aya has been featured on the cover of Yoga Chicago and on the pages of Voyage Chicago, The Red Eye, Southside Weekly, Block Club Chicago and the Hyde Park Herald. She’s been a guest on multiple podcasts, interviewed by Jen White for WBEZ, featured on channel 5 NBC news and contributed to the new book YOGA AS RESISTANCE by Dr Stacie C.C. Graham. In 2022 Aya was named a Black Creativity Innovator by The Museum of Science and Industry for her innovative wellness practice with Haji Healing Salon.

Kalpana Nimkar

Kalpana Nimkar

Kalpana Nimkar, PhD is a retired corporate professional with a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry. She is also a certified yoga teacher, wellbeing coach, reiki practitioner and Ayurvedic wellness counselor.

Raakhi Siva Mohan

Nicole Sopko

Gopi Om (Nicole Sopko) practices and teaches yoga with a firm but gentle insistence on respect for this indigenous tradition. Her classes are for anyone who wants to learn about yoga as a complete, traditional system. She welcomes people from all backgrounds to learn how these time-tested practices and their philosophy can be integrated into modern life.

Gopi is the Vice President of Upton’s Naturals, the President of the Board of the PBFA, and a student at Hindu University of America.

Hansa Knox Johnson

Hansa Knox

IAYT Yoga Therapist, past president of Yoga Alliance, board member of the Standards and Accreditation Committees for IAYT and lead trainer of the PranaYoga & Ayurveda Mandala yoga teacher and yoga therapy program. She has been training teachers since 1998.

Meet Your Hosts

Allison Rissel

Allison Rissel

Allison is passionate about helping yoga teachers become professional and powerful leaders. She is the founder of the Yoga Teacher Conf, the ONLY conference just for yoga teachers. The Yoga Teacher Conf helps elevate, educate and inspire yoga teachers around the globe through affordable continuing education, community support and connection.

Allison is a C-IAYT yoga therapist with over 2,000 hours of formal yoga training and has been teaching since 2006 so she’s very familiar with yoga teacher burnout. Allison is an extroverted optimist and she loves hiking, skiing and connecting in nature with her husband, Sean.

Ava Taylor

Crystal Gray

Crystal Gray, E-RYT 500, is a yoga teacher for yoga teachers. She specializes in leading yoga teacher trainings and retreats. Crystal is the founder of the Yoga Goddess Academy whose mission is to help yoga teachers learn how to empower students through yoga and make it as accessible as possible.

Besides teaching yoga, her and her family live on their 20 acre organic vegetable farm outside of Chicago, Illinois.

This conference is for you if you:

  • Desire to learn more about yoga but you’re not sure who to learn from
  • Want to help your students
  • Want bigger yoga classes
  • LOVE talking about yoga!
  • Want to meet other teachers who are super passionate about yoga.

This conference is NOT for you if:

  • You’re unwilling to do the work yourself
  • Not open-minded to new styles or teachers.
  • Only asana focused.
  • Believe there’s only one right way to practice or teach.
  • Believe you have nothing new to learn
Have additional questions?

Find your answers in our FAQ’s

What is the Yoga Teacher Conf?

The Yoga Teacher Conf elevates, educates and inspires yoga teachers around the globe through affordable continuing education, community support and connection. We offer in-person and virtual conferences. We are a community that vibrates and resonates with the collective energy of co-creating, of support, of increasing and attracting knowledge, deeper learning, and abundance.

We also offer conferences in DENVER and ONLINE.

Who is the Yoga Teacher Conf for?

The Yoga Teacher Conf is for all yoga teachers, yoga therapists and studio owners who love to teach yoga and inspire their students on a transformational journey. We invite all yoga professionals to join us and be inspired in their personal, professional and spiritual growth. If you love learning about yoga and desire to be a better teacher then join our community! 

I’m not a yoga teacher. Can I still attend?

Of course! If you have a willingness to learn and be a part of a community of yogi’s we invite you to join us. However, all sessions are specifically designed for yoga teachers. We recommend that you have a strong personal practice in order to get the most out of the conference.

When is the next Yoga Teacher Conf?

Currently, all conferences are paused. Sign up for our email newsletter to learn when our next event is happening!

Are tickets refundable or transferable?

Tickets are non-refundable or transferable.

If you are unable to attend the Conf due to a positive COVID test, we will refund your ticket minus 5% for processing fees.

Refunds will be given within 7 days of the end of the Conf.

What if I want to purchase a ticket for someone else?

You can purchase a ticket for them. In the “Additional Information” section on the check-out page, please list their name and email address so they get access to all conference materials. 

Where can I stay?

Book a room at the Conf venue for only $119/night: The Renaissance Chicago North Shore Hotel.

Click here to book or call: (847) 498-6500

This rate only applies to those who book before September 9, 2022.

Is this conference in-person or virtual?

This is an in-person conference at the Renaissance Chicago North Shore Hotel.

Where is the conference located?

The conference is located at the Renaissance Chicago North Shore.

933 Skokie Blvd
Northbrook, IL 60062

View our DENVER conference!

Will any classes be offered virtually?

At this time we are not planning on offering any virtual classes. You can access some of our other on-demand conferences! 

Click here for INSPIRE!

Click here for ELEVATE!

What is your COVID policy?

In accordance with county, city & state health mandates, as of May 13, we are NOT requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.  We will also not require masks.

I still have questions!

Send us an email to info@yogateacherconference.com and we’ll get back to you within three business days.