Yoga Is Medicine · East Lansing, Michigan
Original Hot Yoga Teacher Training
A Serious Study of Original Hot Yoga
An in-depth, lineage-based training program in the Ghosh–Bikram–Original Hot Yoga tradition, led by Ann Chrapkiewicz at Yoga Is Medicine.
Yoga Is Medicine is an Original Hot Yoga Association Approved Studio Partner.
Enrollment for 2026–2027 Is Closed
The 2026–2027 application period is closed, and our current Teacher Training is underway. We are having an excellent time learning, practicing, and working together.
The next potential training would likely begin in 2028, though dates have not yet been set. If you are drawn to deeper practice, the Dialogue, and the work of teaching this yoga well, please join the interest list below. When the next program takes shape, you will be among the first to receive the details.
We will announce future dates, tuition, structure, and application requirements when they are confirmed. Each training is intentionally limited to a small group, allowing Ann to offer intensive one-on-one attention to each participant’s physical practice, personal development, and questions as they arise. If you feel drawn to this work, please join the interest list now so we can keep you informed as the next group begins to take shape.
Ready to Share What You Love?
Have you ever imagined being part of the leadership that takes this yoga into the future? Have you dreamed about learning yoga—and teaching yoga—as a full-fledged academic and practical subject?
How about guiding others through the same practice that has transformed your own life? How about deepening your foundation for teaching in ways not seen in other trainings?
The Yoga Is Medicine Teacher Training is a deep immersion into the science, history, philosophy, psychology, art, and practice of teaching Original Hot Yoga. Led by Ann Chrapkiewicz, the program is designed for practitioners and teachers who are ready to work toward profound transformation in their understanding and sharing of this yoga.
Ann’s approach to Original Hot Yoga is committed to preserving and carrying forward the tradition while deepening the study of this yoga across a variety of disciplines.
A Training Built to Approach the Depth of this Practice
This is not a quick certification. Yoga Is Medicine Teacher Training is a serious, lineage-based study of the Original Hot Yoga practice and of what it takes to teach it with steadiness, clarity, care, and real presence.
How You Will Learn
Learn the Dialogue deeply.
Study its language, pacing, observation, anatomical purpose, and energetic application.
Learn the body in context.
Connect each posture with anatomy, breathing, physiology, modifications, and the actual variation of human beings.
Learn to teach people, not abstractions.
Practice corrections, communication, interpersonal finesse, attention, and the realities of a live yoga room.
Learn to think with care.
Read research, distinguish evidence from claim, and communicate this yoga accurately and responsibly.
Four Connected Realms
The Yoga Is Medicine Teacher Training is organized around four connected realms. Together, they keep the program grounded in serious study, personal development, and real experience.
- Knowledge: What does a teacher need to understand about the practice, the body, the Dialogue, and the room?
- Skills: What does a teacher need to be able to do with language, timing, observation, and practice?
- Wisdom: What does good teaching look like when real people—not abstractions—are in front of you?
- Self: Who is a teacher becoming through the work?
Serious Study, Shared Joy
This training is for curious, serious-minded, committed students. We take the intellectual, physical, and practical work seriously; we practice with discipline, ask good questions, and expect the work to change how we understand yoga, ourselves, and the people in front of us.
It is also a small, close community. As we practice, study, teach, and spend time together, there is room for the physical, personal, interpersonal, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the work. Participants encourage one another, work through challenges, celebrate breakthroughs, and form bonds that can be deeply transformative.
There is great care and a lot of joy in the room. We work hard, support one another generously, and laugh—a lot.
What the Training Has Included
The program is built around intensive in-person immersions, preparation, practice, and live online meetings. The curriculum is broad and deeply interconnected. Open a section below to explore the study areas, learning structure, and mentorship more closely.
Across the program, trainees study a wide range of topics with direct relevance to the Original Hot Yoga method:
- Instructional Dialogue
- Posture theory and principles, including modifications
- Anatomical and physiological purposes and effects
- Embodied anatomy and physiology, studied posture by posture
- Breathing techniques specific to the postures
- The anatomy of breathing in Original Hot Yoga
- Neurophysiology
- Linguistic and observational analysis
- Teaching methodology
- Ghosh lineage history and philosophy
- The state of yoga research
- Cultural considerations, including the history of yoga in North America
- Power dynamics in the yoga world and teaching settings
- Personal development and self-discipline for leadership
- Interpersonal finesse of teaching
The aim is to develop curious, knowledgeable, broad-minded, disciplined, lineage-grounded instructors who can lead Original Hot Yoga classes with clarity and care.
The curriculum includes:
- Standing and Floor Postures Instructional Dialogue
- Alternative models and principles of anatomy and physiology, including Gil Hedley’s Integral Anatomy
- Anatomical and physiological purposes and effects of Original Hot Yoga postures and sequence
- Breathing techniques specific to Original Hot Yoga postures
- Cultural considerations: the history of yoga in North America and the Ghosh–Bikram–Original Hot Yoga lineage
- Yoga physiology, including neurophysiology
- Understanding and communicating yoga research
- Perspectives on coaching, awareness, and presence
- Theory and practice: corrections, modifications, and special circumstances
- Personal development and self-discipline for leadership
- Yoga schools, yoga studios, Yoga Alliance, and yoga pants: the role of marketing and branding in a healing practice
- Translating media and student testimonials
- Linguistic and observational analysis of a yoga class
- Power dynamics in the yoga world and teaching settings
- Emotion, energy, and embodiment
- Interpersonal refinement of teaching
Most yoga teacher trainings include an anatomy section. Our approach brings anatomy and physiology back into the room, posture by posture. Rather than treating the body as a generic collection of terms, muscles, and diagrams to memorize, we study the directions, actions, sensations, variations, and questions that are actually alive in this practice.
Integral Anatomy is part of this work, alongside a focused mini-course on the anatomy of breathing in Original Hot Yoga. We look closely at the muscles, organs, mechanics, and techniques of breathing, as well as the way breath organizes attention, effort, and rest throughout the series.
The aim is not to reduce the body to a list of technical words. It is to cultivate attention, curiosity, and language that honor the complexity—and, yes, the wondrousness—of the human body, and then help students encounter that for themselves. This particular sequence and lineage give us a powerful vehicle for that study.
The program has been organized around an intensive, three-immersion format, with preparation and live meetings before and between immersions. It combines group practice, study, independent reflection, teaching observation, posture laboratories, and sustained conversation.
This creates room for the standing and floor posture Dialogue, anatomy and physiology, breathing, teaching practice, modifications, observation, history and lineage, research literacy, ethics, communication, and mentorship to be studied in relationship with one another.
The next program’s final schedule, contact hours, and requirements will be announced when they are confirmed.
Yoga Is Medicine’s complete Teacher Training pathways have included group and private mentorship after the core training, along with opportunities for continued practice and Original Hot Yoga Association internship status.
Ann’s mentorship program includes mentorship meetings, private mentorship conversations, and analysis of observed or recorded classes. It is distinct from the Original Hot Yoga Association post-training internship.
The exact pathways and inclusions for the next program will be shared when future dates are announced.
Who May Be a Good Fit?
This training is designed for dedicated Original Hot Yoga practitioners who feel called to teach, lead, deepen study, and/or be spokespeople for this yoga method. It is also open to already-trained yoga teachers who wish to use the training as a continuing-education intensive in the Ghosh–Bikram–Original Hot Yoga tradition.
People come to this work with different intentions: some are preparing to teach; some want to deepen their understanding of the practice; and some are already teaching and want to return to the foundations with more precision and support.
Previous program prerequisites have included:
- 350 total Bikram Yoga classes practiced, or a weekly Original Hot Yoga practice for at least two years
- Steady, still, and mindful practice
- Demonstrated curiosity about self and others
- A positive, encouraging, and supportive attitude toward all practitioners
- Willingness and discipline to maintain a beginner’s mind
- Commitment to supporting the Ghosh–Bikram–Original Hot Yoga lineage—keeping it strong, carrying it to the next generation, and supporting others who do so
You do not need to be certain that you want to teach in order to be a good fit. A serious desire to understand the practice and the work of teaching more deeply is a meaningful place to begin.
Already-trained yoga teachers have also used the training as a continuing-education intensive in the Ghosh–Bikram–Original Hot Yoga tradition.
The next program’s application requirements will be shared when its dates and structure are announced.
Learn with Ann
Ann Renee Chrapkiewicz has practiced and taught this yoga for more than twenty years. Her curriculum grows from years of studio teaching and mentorship, workshops, reading groups, tutorial-style teacher training, small-group apprenticeship, and continuing-education programs.
Her approach is grounded in years of deep practice, academic work, studio teaching, Integral Anatomy study, lineage mentorship, and continued study in the Ghosh–Bikram–Original Hot Yoga tradition.
Ann also co-authored Hope for Autoimmune Disease: 15 Personal Stories of Living Better with Bikram Yoga, a collection of first-person stories from practitioners around the world.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The 2026–2027 training is underway, and its application period is closed. The next potential program would likely begin in 2028; dates have not yet been set. Join the interest list above and we will keep you informed as future details take shape.
We will keep your inquiry on file and contact you when future Yoga Is Medicine Teacher Training information is available. You are also welcome to include questions or hopes in the form.
Contact Yoga Is Medicine with any specific questions, or submit the interest form below and we will be in touch.
Join the Future Teacher Training Interest List
Please tell us a little about your practice, your teaching experience if any, and what is drawing you toward this work. There is no current application or commitment—this is simply the best way to hear from us when future information is ready.
Have a question that does not fit the form? Contact Yoga Is Medicine.
Page updated October 2026.