Taking Yoga Deeper
Namaste
Welcome to Taking Yoga Deeper 2026. Whether you want to go on to teach yoga, or you simply want to spend a year deepening your practice, this course is a deep dive into both the physical aspects of yoga and breathwork/prāṇāyāma, as well as being an exploration of the philosophy that underpins yoga. The Course Introduction aims to give you an idea of the nature of the weekends and answer some questions you might have. The course comes with a Workbook, extensive notes, 33 hours of video content as well as a summary of the weekly emails at the end of the course. There is also a detailed Course Outline available at our open afternoons for you to take a sneaky peak at.
Below you’ll find information about the weekend and online format, followed by the list of āsana that make up the course. This is not all the āsana that exist but they give you a great vocabulary to take into your teaching or personal practice. There’s also a little look at the first weekend.
We look forward to welcoming you to Hello Sunshine Studio and the adventure that is Taking Yoga Deeper.
Natasha Mathis (Yoga Teacher) and Amy Hodgkinson (owner), Hello Sunshine Studio
Weekend Format
The Weekend sessions run from 11am-6pm and follow the general outline below
11-12.30 Q+A and practice
12.30-1pm Lunch – Natasha is putting together a beautiful menu for across the course
1-2pm Philosophy workshop
2-3pm Practical
3-3.30pm Afternoon tea
3.30-5pm Workshop
5-6pm Practice
The dates of the Weekend (Saturday + Sunday) sessions are:
24 – 25 January
28 February – 1 March
28 – 29 March
18 – 19 April
2 -3 May
30 – 31 May
27 – 28 June
25 – 26 July
29 – 30 August (Hawke’s Bay Yoga Festival, you receive a free weekend pass to this Festival as part of Taking Yoga Deeper)
26 – 27 September
7 – 8 November
28 – 29 November
12 – 13 December
23 – 24 January 2027
Online Format
Across the course there is 33 hours of online video content that covers many aspects of āsana, sequencing, anatomy, at home practice and teaching.
A weekly email includes a weekly meditation recording and space for Q+A.
There is also a group chat that people can use to create conversations and ask the questions that make up the weekly email.
Course Overview Philosophy
Yoga reaches back through thousands of years of Indian history, not so much the āsana that we associate with modern yoga, but the philosophy that underpins this. The course starts with the history and introduces the ideas of Patañjali who is the most widely referenced philosopher of yoga in modern yoga practice. We return to his teachings throughout the course – exploring the 8 limbs of yoga in more detail, and relating them to life in 2026.
This focus on translation into modern life is important because we are not practicing yoga in an ashram in the mountains. More often than not our yoga mat might be rolled out between the coffee table and the couch and we might be in the householder stage of life. The four ashrams of life, as seen in Indian thought, come into play in how we approach yoga and the course. Natasha, is in her ‘Forest Dweller’ stage with no children at home and a chance to focus on her practice. Other people on the course might be raising families, or we might have some who are young and still at the student stage of life. This alters how we practice.
The philosophy sessions explores yoga’s ideas around psychology. This helps unpack why meditation is so central in yoga practice, and why it can be so difficult. Understanding the mind, from a different cultural perspective can be fascinating and illuminating. Blending in western ideas around the mind, trauma, neurodiversity and more, these workshops aim to broaden both your experience and understanding.
Yoga comes from Hinduism and throughout the philosophy workshops and in the practical sessions, there is a chance to explore the intersections of Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and the New Age. You are encouraged to bring all of you onto your yoga mat as you weave yoga into your own belief system. This is where Natasha’s range of experiences and learning come to the fore – raised in Christianity, steeped in Krishna Consciousness, a tarot card reading witch, and a Social Anthropologist – she loves bringing all the threads together in colourful and often lively discussions on how we live in the world.
And it’s here in the philosophy sessions and across several workshops that we explore the way yoga sees the body and energy. The c̣akra have become mainstream within New Age circles and healing, and their origins is in the yoga texts. Here we find a different way of seeing the energy of the body through prāṇa or life force, and the different sheaths of the body. It is through this part of the philosophy workshops that we begin to see āsana and philosophy meet.
Sometimes, the philosophy is going to feel daunting. There is Sanskrit words to get your tongue around and ideas that might seem incredible different to what western science has taught us, but that’s the beauty of the course. It’s an exploration and Natasha teaches from a place that encourages beginners mind all the way through. There are no silly questions (only the ones you don’t ask). There is no rigid ideas that you need to adhere to, to do the course. You are welcome, as you are, as long as your mind is open to new, fascinating, and sometimes ancient ideas.
Āsana, sequencing and anatomy
Not surprisingly, this is a huge part of the course. The aim is for you to be confident in your practice of each of the āsana by the end of the year (including the ones that you can’t do), and for our to-be teachers to feel like they can take their first steps into teaching. The āsana are broken down and as you learn them, there is a strong focus on anatomy, and how different people’s experience of their body can be. You’ll hear this story but it might help you understand what can happen in the course itself:
I was teaching my very first group of teachers and it just happened that they are exactly half curvy and half – not. We were doing some practical work on foot distance on the mat to accommodate boobs and bellies. One of my more fabulously vocal curvy crew shook her head and said ‘they need to be curvy for a night’. Next thing you know there were couch cushions, sweat shirts, extra layers, all being stuffed under t-shirts to make temporary boobs and bellies. Amidst gales of laughter, said not-curvy teachers, learned what it was like to move their curves around a yoga mat and āsana.
Workshops
Amongst the āsana and philosophy are some fascinating workshops that help you weave yoga into more practical 2026 focused ideas. These include:
- the pelvic floor workshop – expect a lot of laughter and the use of a towel, hopefully not linked
- trauma awareness, consent, and what arises in yoga classes
- neurodiversity and yoga practice
The workshops on the c̣akra are spread throughout the year and work together with ideas about somatic practice, trauma, and our growing awareness of memory within the body.
There is also a weekend dedicated to Buddhism as when it branched off the Hindu tree, the Buddha took many of the ideas of yoga into his teachings. Putting this together with our understanding of how the mind works, we are working towards a meditation practice suited to the individual which could mean different practices for each person on the course.
There is also space within the course for adding in your areas of interest. Particularly in the weekly emails, Natasha aims to give you all sorts of ideas for further study, practice and thought.
Mantra
Across the course Natasha uses mantra chanting and this might be something you’ve never done before. It’s not a sing along. Instead it is a form of meditation and devotion, common across India and found in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Natasha has chosen a range of mantra, some of which are relatively secular, and these open the door to an exploration of energy and sound. You will be practicing with the idea of the power of your words from the very start of the course – particularly when you look at the concept of ahiṃsā (non-violence) as this begins with how we talk to ourselves. It’s an adventure and mantra are part of it.
Some FAQ’s
Couldn’t we start after lunch?
Sharing kai is an important part of the course for a few different reasons. The first is, it’s nice. It’s a chance to be social with each other, to get to know each other and to nourish more than just our body. Enter that Natasha spent a long time on the fringes of the Hare Krishna movement. There she learnt some pretty mean cooking skills. Let’s just say there are some jealous people in Palmerston North, where her old yoga studio was, calculating that you get 26 of her lunches across the course and a whole lot of cacao as well.
Natasha shares some of the ideas around prāṇa or energy when she feeds you. This isn’t about being vegetarian or vegan which can be a huge part of yoga. It’s about love. When food is cooked with love, it transforms and Natasha loves to cook for people. Expect simple, heart filled, nourishing kai that is vegan to make it easier to cater to different dietary needs.
Someone said there is cacao?
Cacao is part of traditions from South America so what is it doing in our yoga course? It’s nice. That’s the first answer Natasha will give you. Rather than being part of ceremony, Natasha uses cacao to nourish those late afternoon slumps you might experience across the weekend. It also opens up discussions about cultural appropriation which are important in the context of yoga practice and many modern takes on ancient traditions – including cacao.
Why are we combining the to-be teachers with the not-to-be teachers?
You might start the course off a little undecided about teaching, or you might start out thinking you want to teach and finding out part way through that you don’t really. The course is designed so that those who want to go on to teach are given opportunities to put together sequences, to co-teach with Natasha and other to-be teachers, stepping slowly up towards the front of the mat. What’s lovely is the supportive environment that grows for the to-be teachers and that allows those who don’t want to teach to really explore their relationship with yoga on and off the mat. It’s the same course, seen from two different angles.
You might ask why it’s like this and it’s because in Natasha’s previous courses there were people who discovered, sometimes mid-course, that they simply didn’t want to teach. So she designed a course that was Taking Yoga Deeper and then a one week add on for teachers. This course, combines those two courses meaning that the course can run over weekends, be more inclusive and give everyone the best of both worlds.
You might already wonder – what then? You are mentored for the six months after the course if you are a teacher. That means, regular emails, some great tips and advice on getting started and managing classes, and a chance to do some professional development in that first 6-12 months. That’s why the course runs every two years so Natasha can stay focused on you.
And for those who aren’t the to-be teachers, we’re going to have some fun weekends planned to keep you all in touch, warmed up for your ongoing practice, and learning.
An extra note – one thing you’ll hear Natasha do throughout the course is encourage you to go to other classes and teachers. This is for those who are going to be teachers, and everyone else. Having one teacher for the course has some big advantages when it comes to managing the course, but Natasha loves it when people come back with ideas from elsewhere. She is a magpie when it comes to cues, styles, āsana themselves and that’s how she’s kept fresh with her teaching for 20+ years.
The style question
Everyone: What style of yoga do you teach?
Natasha: Eclectic.
This is a question Natasha loves to wax lyrical on because now that there is everything from goat yoga to kundalini, who knows what yoga is anymore?
The style for the course is Hatha which simply means breath, but Sanskrit is never simple and Hatha refers to the base of yoga. You learn what we might call in the studio Slow Flow, so you can speed it up once you are confident to more Vinyasa style yoga like our Power Flow, or slow it down to Yin pace. During the course there are workshops on these two styles to help you out, as well as some work on yoga Nidra – which translates to sleep.
Do I need to be ‘good’ at yoga?
No. Absolutely not – including those who might like to teach.
You possibly want more of an answer than that so…Natasha started yoga a long way from her toes and probably the least likely person to ever become a yoga teacher. That was 1993. In 2005 she started teaching by accident – cover was needed for a Sunday yoga class and she ended up loving it. In 2006 her first studio opened and the rest is history. Being ‘good’ at yoga, sometimes makes it harder to teach because you don’t naturally understand how hard it can be to get into a pose. Likewise, if you want to take yoga deeper and not step up to the front mat, you’re here not to necessarily get the Instagram version better at yoga, but something far more profound. This is a year dedicated to your practice, to you, to being, to soaking in yoga, good food, great vibes, and beautiful people. Whether you can do Bakāsana doesn’t matter.
What happens if I can make a weekend?
We know life happens and you might have to miss a weekend or two. But as much as possible we highly recommend you be able to attend all of the weekends that you can.
Is the course accredited?
This is a really important question that we talk about at the open afternoon. Natasha has experience with the big international body; Yoga Alliance. After a disastrous training in India that was accredited she went through the process of trying to get an adequate response from Yoga Alliance, to no avail. At the time she was setting up her yoga school and ended up deciding not to accredit. Instead, the course over provides in terms of what Yoga Alliance would set as perimeters, and the detailed notes and workbook are perfect to present to anyone asking questions about qualifications later on. There is also a further certificate available once our to-be teachers have taught 100 hours, along with proof of mentoring and professional development.
So, what are Natasha’s qualifications?
Blessings all
This is an important question to ask. My yoga journey started in 1991 with the Hare Krishna crew and then continued in 1993 with the Massey University Meditation Society. Teaching wasn’t anywhere on my radar.
Long story short; I started teaching in 2005 and opened my first yoga studio in 2006. Since then I’ve taught over 10,000 hours of yoga. My first group of teachers were from within my own classes and persuaded me to teach them. I didn’t feel at all ready but a beautiful year of Wednesday night classes later and I felt well ready to do it again. I didn’t officially train in yoga until I’d taught about 4,000 hours as there just wasn’t the training available in Aotearoa that suited making a living at the same time. For this reason, I’ve only taught one residential training in the ensuing years with five of us living together in a rented house at Foxton Beach for a month. It was intense and I wouldn’t do it again. I prefer the long and slow process of a year of soaking in the practices and ideas.
My teaching is very eclectic as some of you will know. (Please make sure you’ve done a class or three with me before you decide to take the course.) I’m a little irreverent and funny on the yoga mat, yet the sacred is everything in my life so it’s an interesting brew. What I bring to teaching is huge curiosity for where each of you will take the course as the workshops are as much about your questions as they are about the material that we need to get through.
And that’s important. We might have all the learning styles present on the course. We might have some people who’ve studied in India and some who might be early in their yoga journey. Bringing you all along for the ride is my job, my pleasure, my challenge, and I feel very privileged to have that opportunity.
The Āsana List
Surya Namaskar (and variations)
- Tāḍāsana – ताडासन…mountain
- Ūrdhva hastāsana….upward salute or hands
- Uttānāsana उत्तानासन …forward fold
- Ardha uttānāsana …half way standing forward fold
- Āñjaneyāsana आञ्जनेयासन …low lunge
- Parivṛtta āñjaneyāsana…revolved low lunge
- Utthan Pristhāsana…lizard pose
- Aṣṭa candrāsana…eight point crescent
- Parivṛtta aṣṭa candrāsana…revolved eight point cresent
- Kumbhakāsana…plank
- Adho mukha śvānāsana अधोमुखश्वानासन…downward facing dog and
- Caturaṅga daṇḍāsana चतुरङ्ग दण्डासन…4 limb pose or crocodile.
- Urdhva mukha śvānāsana ऊर्ध्वमुखश्वानासन…upward facing dog
- Bhujaṅgāsana भुजङ्गासन …cobra
- Śalabhāsana शलभासन …locust
- Śalamba bhujaṅgāsana षलम्ब भुजङ्गासन …sphinx
- Ashtanga namaskara अष्टाङ्ग नमस्कार…eight limbed prostration
- Utkaṭāsana उत्कटासन…chair (awkward)
- Parivṛtta utkaṭāsana…revolved chair pose
Balance
- Vṛkṣāsana वृक्षासन…tree pose
- Naṭarājāsana नटराजासन…king of the dancer
- Garuḍāsana गरुडासन…eagle
- Ardha Chandrāsana अर्धचन्द्रासन…half moon pose
- and Parivṛtta Ardha Chandrāsana…revolved half moon pose
- Utthita Hasta Pādāṅguṣṭhāsana उत्थित हस्त पादाङ्गुष्ठासन…extended hand to big toe pose
- Ardha Baddha Padma Paścimottānāsana…half bound forward fold (balance)
- Trivikramāsana त्रिविक्रमासन…standing splits
- Tulāsana तुलासन…scales
- Bakāsana बकआसन…crane (arms straight)
- Kākāsana काकआसन…crow (arms bent)
Core and spine
- Navāsana or paripūrṇanāvāsana परिपूर्णनावासन…boat
- Uṣṭrāsana उष्ट्रासन…camel
- Matsyāsana मत्स्यासन…fish pose
- Setu bandha sarvāṅgāsana सेतु बन्ध सर्वाङ्गासन…bridge
- Ūrdhva dhanurāsana ऊर्ध्वधनुरासन…upward bow
- Halāsana हलासन…plough
- Karṇapīḍāsana कर्णपीडासन…knees to ear pose
- Jāṭhara parivṛtti āsana ञठरपरिवर्तनआसन̄…belly twists
- Maricyāsana मरीच्यासना…seated twist
- Dhanurāsana धनुरासन…bow pose
- Parsva dhanurāsana…side bow
- Ardha pincha mayūrāsana मयूरासन – dolphin pose (or half feathered peacock pose)
- Viparīta karaṇī विपरीतकरणी…inverted pose
- Kapotāsana कपोतासन…pigeon pose
Standing base poses
- Utthita trikoṇāsana उत्थित त्रिकोणासन…extended triangle
- and Parivṛtta Trikonāsana…revolved triangle
- Vīrabahdrāsana वीरभद्रासन…warrior 1 and 2
- Vīrabahdrāsana वीरभद्रासन and 3
- Utthita pārśvakoṇāsana उत्थित पार्श्वकोणासन…side angle pose
- Parivṛtta baddha pārśvakoṇāsana…bound side angle
- Pārśvottānāsana पार्श्वोत्तानासना…intense side stretch
- Prasārita Pādottānāsana प्रसारित पादोत्तानासन…wide leg forward fold
- Parighāsana परिघासन…gate pose
Floor base poses
- Sukhāsana सुखासन…open cross legged
- Siddhāsana सिद्धासन…adept pose
- Svastikāsana स्वस्तिकासन…auspicious
- Padmāsana पद्मासन…lotus
- Daṇḍāsana दण्डासन…staff pose
- Upaviṣṭa koṇāsana उपविष्टकोणासन…seated forward angle pose (forward fold)
- Kūrmāsana कूर्मासन…turtle pose
- Paścimottānāsana पश्चिमोत्तानासन…intense back/west stretch (forward fold-legs together)
- Jānu śīrṣāsana जानु शीर्षासन…head to knee pose
- Parivṛtta jānu śīrṣāsana …revolved head to knee
- Ākarṇa Dhanurāsana आकर्ण धनुरासन…shooting bow pose
- Garbha piṇḍāsana ङर्भ Pइण्डआसन…embryo in the womb
- Baddha koṇāsana…bound angle pose
- Supta baddha koṇāsana बद्धकोणासन…reclined bound angle pose
- Vajrāsana वज्रासन…thunderbolt
- Vīrāsana वीरासन…hero
- Supta Vīrāsana…reclining hero
- Bālāsana बालासन…child’s pose
- Bhekāsana भेकासन…frog
- Anāhatāsana अनाहतआसन…heart pose
- Gorakṣāsana गोरक्षासन…cowherd
- Siṁhāsana सिंहासन…lion
- Biḍālāsana बिडालासन…cat
- Bitalāsana बितिलासन…cow
- Vyaghrāsana व्याघ्रासन…tiger
- Triang mukhaikapādā paschimottanāsana…one leg to the side forward fold
- Eka Pāda Rājakapotāsana एक पाद राजकपोतासन…one legged royal king pigeon
- Gomukhāsana गौमुखासन…cow face
- Krauñcāsana क्रौञ्चासन…heron
- Hanumanāsana हनुमानासन…monkey pose or splits
- Supta pādāṅguṣṭhāsana सुप्त पादाङ्गुष्ठासन…reclined big toe
- Pavanmuktāsana पवनमुक्तासन…wind pose
- Ānanda bālāsana आनन्दबालासन…happy baby
- Pūrvottanāsana…upward plank
- Utthita Vasiṣṭhāsana उत्थितवसिष्ठआसन…side plank (and variations)
- Camatkarāsana …wild thing pose
Inversions
- Salamba sarvāṅgāsana सालम्ब सर्वाङ्गासन…supported shoulder stand
- Salamba śīrṣāsana सालम्ब शीर्ष आसन …supported head stand
- Adho mukha vṛkṣāsana अधोमुखवृक्षासन …hand stand, downward facing tree
Weekend 1
Mantra
Throughout the course, we work with many of the Shanti mantra – or mantra for peace. This one sets the intention for the course with a focus on working together to learn as we each play the role of student and teacher
ॐ सह नाववतु।
सह नौ भुनक्तु।
सह वीर्यं करवावहै।
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु
मा विद्विषावहै।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Oṁ Sahanā vavatu
sahanau bhunaktu
Sahavīryam karavāvahai
Tejasvi nāvadhītamastu
Mā vidviṣāvahai
Oṁ Shāntiḥ, Shāntiḥ,
Shāntiḥ.
May it protect us both
May it nourish us both
Let us generate energy together
May what we attain be bright
May we not quarrel
May there be peace
This mantra comes from the Krishna Yajurveda Taittiriya Upanishad (2.2.2)
Gayatri Mantra
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Om Bhur Bhuvaḥ Swaḥ
Tat-savitur Vareñyaṃ
Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dhiyo Yonaḥ Prachodayāt
Om – the primeval sound
Bhur – the physical body/physical realm
Bhuvah – the life force/the mental realm
Suvah – the soul/spiritual realm
Tat – that (Source)
Savitur – the Sun, Creator (source of all life)
Vareñyam – adore
Bhargo – effulgence (divine light)
Devasya – supreme
Dhīmahi – meditate
Dhiyo – the intellect
Yo – May this light
Nah – our
Prachodayāt – illumine/inspire
Day 1 of Weekend 1
Our first day is a little different to the rest of the course, as we settle in to each other’s company.
Welcome and cacao
Cacao and yoga? Welcome to western yoga modes where we tend to mix and match a bit. In this case, cacao is a beautiful way to start our journey together. We won’t be ceremonial, more just giving ourselves a chance to enter the Taking Yoga Deeper space for the first time. Do the introductions, set our intentions and practice some yoga together before sharing our first lunch. The Shanti Mantra is the basis for the course intention so we start there.
Philosophy 1 – History and Herstory
Yoga’s roots are deep in the soil and history of India and so we take a journey to how yoga came to be in the West and how we navigate cultural appropriation throughout the course. As we start this journey we talk about how to blend the ideas from India with both modern life here in Aotearoa, and our own ancestral stories and faith.
Practical 1 – Gayatri Mantra and Surya Namaskar
It’s all about the sun as we explore the Gayatri Mantra and Surya Namaskar. Welcome to getting our mind and our tongue around Sanskrit. The Gayatri mantra is a very old chant to the sun and Surya Namaskar is a sequence of poses, also dedicated to the sun. We are going to start our first breakdown of āsana and talk about mantra and why they are part of the course.
Workshop 1 – How yoga sees the body
These afternoon workshops vary throughout the course from longer philosophy sessions, to anatomy and physiology. This first workshop starts to explore how yoga sees the body. We touch into the c̣akra for the first time and talk about how they came to form the basis of much of the New Age understanding of energy, often forgetting to mention they are part of the wider Indian teachings. We head deeper into these later in the course.
Practical 2 – Nāḍī sadona and the anatomy of the breath
When we start to talk about energy, we start to talk about prāṇa and a great way to explore one version of prāṇa is through the kai that we had for lunch, the other is to practice prāṇāyāma. Modern breathwork has its roots in yoga and we begin to work with the breath, building these practices as the course goes on.
Day 2 of Weekend 1
Q+A and practice
This is our first Q+A session and it might surprise people how many questions they have from Day 1. We explore Whatever time is left is for an āsana or prāṇāyāma practice leading us into lunch.
Philosophy 2 – Introducing Patañjali
Modern western yoga heavily references Patañjali. What do we know about this character and why have his teachings stuck around? What are we going to use from those teachings as we move through the course?
Practical 3 – Surya Namaskar continues
The āsana that make up Surya Namaskar often look simple but as we break them down we start our first serious anatomy explorations, very much focused on how our body moves on the mat. For our to-be teachers, we are starting to think about how we cue people to move their body.
Workshop 2 – The energy body continues
Sheaths, c̣akra, nāḍī…by the end of this session those words will be dripping off our tongues, or we might be in need of a nap.
Practical 4 – Nidra
It’s the end of the first weekend and our brains are likely to be full so we’re going to make a nest, the crystal singing bowls are coming out and we taking our first Nidra journey together. Nidra translates as sleep and is a powerful tool in our yoga toolbox. The deep relaxation and the chance to let the yoga soak in is just what we need.
You made it this far – now what?!
- The 13 in-person weekends at Hello Sunshine Studio
- Lunch + afternoon tea on both days of each of the weekends.
- Asana (poses) workbook
- Extensive notes (more than 200 pages!)
- Yoga Anatomy textbook
- Weekly email updates with notes
- Monthly videos that complement + take deeper what you learn on the weekends
- Whatsapp group with Natasha, Amy + all Taking Yoga Deeper participants
- Weekend pass to the Hawke’s Bay Yoga Festival in August 2026.
- Opportunity to practice teach at Hello Sunshine Studio
I’m keen – now what?
1. Attend the Taking Yoga Deeper information sessions at Hello Sunshine Studio. There are two to choose from: Friday 10 October 11am – 12.30pm. Or Monday 13 October from 7.30pm – 9pm. The information session is free to attend and is your opportunity to ask questions of both Natasha + Amy and to see if this course is right for you!
2. Click the button below to pay your deposit of $950 – if you have any further questions please email Amy info@hellosunshinestudio.nz or have a chat to Natasha or Amy in the studio. The remaining $3000 will be invoiced to you in early January.
