The Special Yoga Centre is a UK Centre of Excellence offering a comprehensive package of unique teacher training courses for all those working in the mainstream and special educational needs arenas. Our courses are also suitable for child-centred practitioners such as Occupational Therapists, Paediatricians, Speech Therapists, Child Psychotherapists and Children’s Yoga Teachers, as well as parents and carers of children with special needs.

Through our renowned teacher training programmes we are expanding our network of yoga therapists nationwide, enabling more children to receive the significant benefits of yoga and equipping them with a therapeutic tool that they can use throughout their entire life.

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Our trainings are taught exclusively by Jo Manuel and consist of the following:

Yoga for the Special Child (YSC)
Sonia Sumar’s Yoga for the Special Child (YSC) programme has been running successfully in Brazil since its inception there in 1970 and in the USA since the early 1990s. The programme was founded by Sonia in response to her child being born with Down’s syndrome. Jo Manuel has trained extensively under the guidance of Sonia Sumar and is the only other YSC teacher, beside Sonia’s daughter, accredited to teach these deeply profound and life-changing works.

Jo set up the SYC in order to give YSC a home and the centre is now recognised as the UK’s leading authority on yoga therapy and all associated children’s teacher trainings. This seven day intensive programme provides the essential tools for teaching yoga to babies, infants and children with special needs. Using hands-on techniques and video instruction, you will be guided through each stage of the special child’s development. All of our yoga therapists have taken the Yoga for the Special Child training.

Yoga for Children with Developmental Challenges (YDC)
This training can be taken independent of or in partnership with the Yoga for the Special Child programme. YDC introduces a balanced therapeutic approach for children challenged by autism, PDD/anxiety disorder, LD and motor planning issues, AD/ADHD, general developmental delays and degenerative conditions.

Yoga for Children
The training is split into two weekends, both of which need to be attended in order to complete the course. It is open to all yoga teachers and trainee teachers from any background.

Yoga for Teens
These one day workshops are suitable for qualified yoga teachers. It’s aims are to give yoga teachers a set of skills required to teach yoga to teenagers.

Yoga Therapy in the Classroom: Get Ready to Learn
We are introducing a highly successful yoga therapy programme for special schools in the UK where children will receive yoga on a daily basis in the classroom - ‘Get Ready to Learn: yoga therapy in the classroom’ (GRTL).

The GRTL programme has been developed by one of the USA’s leading child development practitioners, with rigorous research and evaluation, and was launched in the USA in early 2009.

At the programme’s core is the proposition that the benefits of yoga therapy have a profound impact on children’s lives, not only inside the classroom, but also in the world at large. The GRTL research and evaluation is clearly demonstrating that children who receive yoga on a daily basis progress at a higher and more rapid rate across many areas of their learning, development and personal / home lives. The provision of a calm, organised mental state, is key to a child’s ability to learn.

CLICK HERE to view upcoming courses