Teacher Training
Our Vision
The ShaGa Teacher Training Program believes in research, creativity, agency, autonomy, and expansive knowledge. The program not only supports students to develop a high level of skill, curiosity, and perception, but also a strong sense of personal responsibility, integrity, and an openness to discover the unique work they will bring into the world when it is rooted in a deep commitment to personal transformation. Our integrated curriculum allows students to develop a balanced, grounded approach to the full expression of their passion into their lives and their healing. The ShaGa practice and principles are built on presence, truth, honesty, curiosity, sensitivity, and deep listening. These principles apply to all teachers and students and serve as foundations of the program.
The program trains teachers according to the highest standards of excellence and cultivates an atmosphere for students to develop themselves while building on their individual expertise. The program also aims to support its students after their certification. The ShaGa movement language is a living practice that is constantly evolving. For all teachers, it is encouraged to take at least 1 intensive within a two year period to ensure their continued personal development. Each annual intensive adds different layers of information and provides mentorship to teachers to continually progress their teaching practice.
The program asks each student to develop in a unique way that honors agency and individuality. The training strives to preserve the uniqueness of each student and to allow each student to develop their own voice as a ShaGa teacher through an in-depth understanding of themselves through the practice.
The program commits to providing its students with an encouraging, challenging, and engaging atmosphere for learning. The curriculum is designed to be attentive and sensitive to the individual needs of each student and provides assistance to address each individual’s personal goals.
The curriculum is divided into five areas of growth:
Healing Sciences
Movement Practices
Embodiment Practices
Philosophy
Energy Fields
"I know from my personal experience that in the very beginning of this teaching, I did not listen to my body. For years I only knew to dance through my pain, ignore it, or keep going because that’s what a dancer would do. With ShaGa I could use the sensations of pain and frustration as an engine without wishing it would go away. It is the opportunity to share what we all have experienced like vulnerability, weakness, desire, and delicacy. We all experience these true moments but rarely get the opportunity to unlock them and use them to our advantage like we can through ShaGa."
– Isabelle Frame, ShaGa Teacher
2022 Teaching Training
The ShaGa Teacher Training will begin in September 2022 and consist of outdoor as well as online classes. The program is for professionals who have significant experience in ShaGa and wish to deepen their practice while developing their personal voices as ShaGa teachers for the benefit and wellbeing of themselves and others.
The course of study is divided into five areas of growth that share a core of movement research and discovery. The study will be done in an intimate group of no more than 6 students, enabling personal dialogue and direction by ShaLeigh.
Learning Plan
1 Week Intensive: Recommended for continuing students. Required for new students
High Res Track: 6+ classes per week for 10 consecutive weeks or Low Res Track: 100 credit hours completed within one year
20 hour Teaching Practicum to be completed within one year
The initial 100hr training period can be completed in 10 weeks for Hi Res students. For Low Res students who prefer more flexibility, your course times can be scheduled throughout the year to fit your availability. Upon acceptance into the program, Low Res students will have a maximum of one year to complete the certification. Please note that all new students will be required to attend the ShaGa Intensive before final acceptance into the program.
As this study is done in an intimate group, all ShaGa Teachers and Students will collectively design the course schedule once student’s select their preferred High or Low res Track. Students will receive their official course schedule once the program ensues.
Training Program (100+ credit hours)
ShaGa Intensive
A week-long, daily 2 hr ShaGa practice to enable students to learn how to deeply research key concepts. The Intensive will be taught by ShaLeigh.
1 week of daily class
Recommended for continuing students, Required for new students
Repertory & Methodics Practice
Learning excerpts from different choreographic works by ShaLeigh with an emphasis on the application of ShaGa to movement phrases and sequences. The classes will be taught by ShaLeigh.
1 class per week recommended (1 hr credit)
10 credit hours required
Private Sessions
Over the course of the program, students will take two private ShaGa sessions with ShaLeigh to advance their personal approach and practice.
2 private sessions (5 hr credit/each)
10 credit hours required
Mover Classes
Practicing ShaGa with a focus on working with dedicated practitioners of movement. The classes will be taught by ShaLeigh.
2 classes per week recommended (1 hr credit per class)
20 credit hours required
Lectures
Enabling the students to study the most fundamental elements of ShaGa through readings, videos, discussions, and lectures. Classes will be taught by ShaLeigh.
1 class per week recommended (1.5 hr credit)
15 credit hours required
Research Assignments
Over the course of the program, students will be given research assignments to deepen their basic understanding of the following areas: Somatic Practices, Somatic Experiencing, Pathology, Pain & Trauma Recovery, Intrinsic Movement, Integral Anatomy, Experiential Anatomy, Proprioception, Sensory Awareness, Vipassana, Philosophy, Ideokinesis, Neurophysiology, and Empowerment of Identity.
1 assignment per week recommended (1 hr credit per assignment)
10 credit hours required
Community Classes
Practicing ShaGa with members who are not movement practitioners with an emphasis on accessibility, language, and basic principles. The classes will be taught by ShaGa Teachers.
1 class per week recommended (1 hr credit)
10 credit hours required
Toolbox Classes
Developing the student’s personal voice as a teacher of ShaGa through discussion, experiential learning, and personal transformation. Classes will be taught by ShaLeigh.
1 class per week recommended (1.5 hr credit)
15 credit hours required
ShaGa Mindful Movement & Meditation
Learning mindfulness-based principles to heighten ability to listen deeply, enhance self-awareness, and self-regulation.
1 class per week recommended (1 hr credit)
10 credit hours required
“Now that I’m just training in ShaGa, my body is more capable. I can find a better path to do things that is less painful and more mindful. I used to wake up with a lot of pain in my hips that would stay with me most of the day. Now with the increase of taking more classes, my body is starting to change for good. I wake up with less pain and more mobility, even the amount of energy is more. I’ve found more mobility in my joints and the arthritis pain is less. This is one of the best things that has happened in my life, my career, and my continuous learning.”
– Steven James Rodriguez Velez, ShaGa Teacher
Teaching Practicum (20 credit hours)
The practicum is divided into two phases:
1. Teaching Laboratory
The practice of co-teaching ShaGa with ShaLeigh, ShaGa Teachers, and fellow students through the application of language, layering, and a deepening of the material. Each student will practice co-teaching a population of regular participants.
10 classes total upon completion of The Training Program
2. Teaching Internship
Students will give 6 open ShaGa: Community classes as well as 4 open ShaGa: Mover classes. These classes will be supervised by ShaLeigh and the ShaGa Teachers. To complete the teacher training program, each student will be incorporated into the existing teaching schedule of ShaGa classes so they can teach a population of regular participants.
10 classes total upon completion of the Teaching Laboratory.
At the end of the Teaching Internship period, students will be awarded a certificate from the ShaGa Teacher Training Program.
Upon Completion
You will receive an official ShaGa Teaching certificate. You will also receive your own ShaGa email-account, as well as a set of digital photographs of yourself teaching for use in your practice as a Teacher. We will also include your personal profile on our website. You will be given access to our online event database, have administrator rights to our ShaGa Facebook and Instagram pages, and you will be invited to join our private Pro-Group on Facebook, which serves as a community-building forum for all teachers to communicate with each other regarding any questions they might have, new discoveries, problems they encounter, or things they would like to share.
The Program aims to support its students after their certification. The ShaGa movement language is a living practice that is constantly evolving. For all teachers, it is encouraged to take at least 1 intensive within a two year period and mandatory to take 1 intensive within a four year period to ensure continued development. Each annual intensive adds different layers of information and provides mentorship to teachers to continually progress their teaching practice. After completing the Training Program, you will be able to attend ShaGa Intensives at a 50% discounted fee. You will be making an annual financial contribution toward the administrative service of the Program to remain an actively certified teacher. This fee supports our organization for providing discounted training, website maintenance, email accounts, and advertisements for classes and workshops. The annual contribution is $100.
The practice of ShaGa and the ShaGa Teacher Training have allowed me to go deeper into myself and to find more liberation than I have been able to do through years of therapy, cognitive observation, self-care practices, and yogic and Buddhist studies. I came into my ShaGa Teacher Training not as a dancer or a mover. I always felt that dance and movement was for others to understand and experience, and this created a world to which I did not belong. ShaGa has taught me, not just on an intellectual level, but in a visceral, tactile, physical, and emotional way that I do in fact belong, and that nothing is separate from me. The ShaGa Teacher Training is for anyone who wants to deepen their sense of connection to themselves, to others, and to the world in which they live.
-Bart Westdorp, ShaGa Teacher
Application Process
Admission Criteria
A rich experience in ShaGa – Community classes, Movers classes, Mindful Movement & Meditation classes
Significant prior movement and/or healing training in any modality
Good knowledge of English
Must be at least 22 years old
Experience in teaching recommended
2022 Deadline
All applications are due by Monday, September 5th at 11:59 p.m.
We do not accept late or incomplete applications.
ShaGa Training Commitments
Dedicated Personal Daily Practice
Completion of 5 Volunteer Community ShaGa Classes
Completion of 100 Course credit hours
Completion of 20 Teaching Practicum hours
Admission Process
Submit Completed Application, $25 Application Fee, and Letter of Recommendation
Successful applicants will be contacted for a Personal interview with ShaLeigh Comerford
Please note that applicants contacted for a Personal Interview will pay an additional fee of $25
New applicants must complete the Shaga Intensive and will receive notification upon completion of their acceptance into the Teacher Training Program.
Tuition
ShaGa Intensive: $225 USD
100hr Teacher Training Program: $2000 USD
20hr Teaching Practicum: $500 USD
*Tuition is due 2 weeks before the start date of each Training Period. Flexible monthly payment options are available upon request. Requests for Partial Scholarships are available to individuals who identify as queer, transgender, non-binary and/or intersex, Black, Indigenous, and other LGBTQI+ people of color (QTIBIPOC) as well as people who have disabilities.
