Authentic yoga education | grounded, transformative, profoundly human
Yoga education rooted in decades of experience, exceptional teachers and genuine connection, where ancient wisdom meets modern insight to deepen personal and professional growth.
Courses
Choose a course
Training Paths
Choose your path
Our flagship Level 1 programme — a comprehensive, Yoga Alliance accredited foundation for both aspiring teachers and those seeking personal development.
Explore the 200-Hour →Our highly respected Level 2 programme for 200-hour qualified teachers, allowing you to focus on your areas of interest and create your own unique learning pathway.
Explore the 300-Hour →25+ specialist courses a year, from Yin to Trauma Informed Yoga, Elemental Mandala and Yoga Nidra.
Browse all CPDs →Immersive retreats in extraordinary locations, led by our faculty, rooted in community.
View Retreats →200 & 300 Hour
Flagship programmes
200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training
A transformative foundation including 200+ hours of asana, philosophy, anatomy, teaching methodology, pranayama, meditation, chanting and personal practice. Led by Gingi Lee and Charli Van Ness with an intimate cohort of 20.
300-Hour Yoga Teacher Training
A modular programme for qualified teachers to diversify, specialise and go deeper. Nearly 200 hours of electives means you can create your own bespoke learning pathway. Flexible, rigorous, and genuinely transformative.
Why Train Here
What makes us different
A lineage spanning three decades — from one of London's pioneering yoga centres to a thriving international school rooted in lived practice, exceptional teaching, and authentic community.
A school built on the belief that sharing yoga is a profound act of service — and that teachers need rigorous, authentic, deeply human training that builds on their own individual life experience.
Read About Us →From one of London's first yoga centres to an international school of yoga — our roots run deep. A tradition of excellence in teaching, practice, and human connection built over 29 years.
Our faculty bring decades of expertise in their specialised fields — people who don't just teach yoga, but who live it deeply and share it with genuine authority.
With just 20–24 students per course, your unique potential is truly seen, supported, and challenged to evolve.
200-RYS, 300-RYS and YACEP accredited programmes and courses with flexible, modular learning paths. Bursaries are available to support accessibility — contact us to find out more.
Comprehensive training at the crossroads of ancient wisdom and modern life — honouring the depth of the tradition while speaking directly to the world we inhabit.
A collaborative learning community where real change happens through authentic human connection — through vulnerability, co-regulation, laughter, tears, and everything in between.
The ripple effect
By teaching teachers, we are tending to the future of yoga.
The profound ripple effect of yoga travels far beyond our training
centre. A yoga teacher can shape individual lives, communities, and
the way yoga itself continues into the future — meeting people of
all ages and walks of life, often at vulnerable or pivotal
moments.
Our mission is to nurture teachers who are
skilled, confident, and rooted in lived practice. But equally
important is cultivating thoughtful, grounded, emotionally
intelligent human beings — people who can truly hold space, ask
meaningful questions, and meet others with sensitivity, compassion,
and understanding.
Faculty
Our gifted teaching faculty
Founder of The Shala and The Shala School of Yoga. Teaches from the heart with compassion, love and humour.
About Gingi →
Lead trainer on both flagship programmes, with decades of practice and teaching experience.
About Melanie →
Senior teacher across both the 200 and 300-hour programmes, bringing profound depth of knowledge.
About Charli →Testimonials
What our students say
The Shala's training was the most profound experience of my life. Gingi and the faculty don't just teach you to teach — they help you become yourself.
200-Hour Graduate, 2024I've done CPDs with a lot of schools. The Shala is different — there's a rigour and a warmth here that I've never found anywhere else. Worth every penny.
Tom B., Yin Yoga CPD, 2025The intimacy of the group made all the difference. With only 20-odd students, you're genuinely known and seen — and that changes the quality of the whole experience.
Priya D., 200-Hour Graduate, 2023Melanie's anatomy teaching is like nothing else I've encountered — precise, poetic, and genuinely transformative. It changed how I understand my own body.
James W., 300-Hour Module, 2025I came to the Shala as a practitioner and left as a teacher. But more than that, I left as a more complete human being. That is the gift of this place.
Fiona L., 200-Hour Graduate, 2024The Shala community is something I didn't know I needed. The connections I made during training are still the most nourishing relationships in my teaching life.
Marcus O., 200-Hour Graduate, 2022Gingi is an extraordinary teacher. He somehow holds the entire space — every student's journey — with grace, humour, and a wisdom that is genuinely rare.
Aoife C., 200-Hour Graduate, 2025Shala Life
Shala Life
Retreats
Escape 2027
Ulpotha Retreat 2027
14–28 March 2027Ulpotha is one of the world's most extraordinary retreat sanctuaries. This will be our 8th visit to this ancient village in the Sri Lankan jungle, without electricity, where time slows and practice deepens. A setting unlike anywhere else on earth.
RetreatsClasses & workshops with Vahni
Classes and workshops in our West Norwood space are now run by Vahni. Same teachers, same community, same space — a new name with a fresh focus on wellbeing.
Blog
Insights from the blog
The Shala & Vahni | a New Chapter Announcement: January 2026 After nearly three decades — 10,227 days of holding space, teaching,…
Reclaiming the Crone | Womb Wisdom Beyond Menopause by Olivia Fallon For many women, the menstrual cycle is seen as something that…
Ayurveda & the Menstrual Cycle | Ancient Wisdom for Modern Women by Olivia Fallon How the doshas dance through your cycle, and…
Yoga Nidra if you’ve woken up in the night by Melanie Cooper We’ve all had those nights: you wake up in the…
Women’s Wellness | A Cyclical Approach To Honouring Your Body in Yoga by Olivia Fallon For many women, the message we’ve absorbed,…
The Real Reason My classes Started Filling up Again by Jennie Wadsten Sharma There was a time when I kept wondering if…