Yoga Teacher Training
“You are medicine.
Medicine for someone.
You will help heal that person. You.
Maybe two people. Maybe 20. Maybe 10,000.
Only you. You are the bringer of medicine, and who brings the medicine is as important as the medicine itself. Because if the wrong person brings the medicine the wounded person will not accept it. It has to be you.”
~ Max Strom
Welcome to the Inner Axis Teacher Training
As one teacher training graduate described the heart of teaching Inner Axis:
“You want to be an Inner Axis teacher because you want to be a teacher of transformation. You want to teach something with a deeper and more profound impact than a workout on a yoga mat or a stretch class. You want people to feel more comfortable in their bodies and experience a shift in their mind and emotional state. You want your classes to be accessible to everyone; all ages, abilities, and walks of life. And most of all, you want to help your students reduce their stress levels, profoundly relieve anxiety, depression, grief and PTS. This is what the Inner Axis System can do.”
For whom?
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If you want to be an impactful yoga teacher.
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You want to expand and deepen your current yoga teaching knowledge;
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Or if you simply have the desire to enrich your personal practice and knowledge with Max’s 30+ years of experience in teaching yoga and breathwork.
Whatever your reason, you will find this training inspiring, immediately useful and indispensable to your journey in yoga and in life.
Course description
For a total of 28 days you will be immersed in all the aspects that make up the Inner Axis Yoga and Well-being System.
Structure of the Training
The teacher training is structured into three segments and follows a hybrid format that combines in-person and live online learning. Combining the best of both worlds, this method offers a rich and effective training experience.
Segment One
Inner Axis Yoga and Movement with Max
Segment one will take place in-person in Hamburg, Germany. The segment is 15 days long, with one day of rest in the middle. In the heart of this beautiful German city we will immerse ourselves in the unique system of Inner Axis. There is none like it. This part of the training includes lectures, breathwork, and movement practices. You will participate in posture labs, analyzing postures and working directly with each other’s bodies. Throughout this segment, you will also dive into the art of teaching. This training does not only teach you how to instruct yoga postures to students, but also how to speak, stand, encourage and inspire your students — see them as human beings and not only body postures that need to be adjusted. In this Axis Teacher Training, Max reveals his techniques on all aspects of teaching. His aim is not to train you to become qualified yoga instructors, his aim is to train you to become teachers, leaders and speakers so that you facilitate a practice that goes beyond the mat, beyond the classroom, and beyond the body.
We will practice together every day. Our daily schedule is comprised of sections on techniques, teaching methodology, posture lab, sharing, and Q&A.
What will I learn?
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• Max Strom’s spectrum of breathing techniques
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Breath-initiated movement; the prime mover
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Techniques for alleviating stress, anxiety, and depression
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Yoga postures; alignment, strengthening, and stretching
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Clear and safe verbal cues
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Adjustments, techniques and common issues
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Hands-on and hands-off assists
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Understanding sequencing
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Working with beginners, elders, and the hyperflexible
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Emotional healing
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History of Yoga and the Axial age
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Philosophy of living
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The importance and power of ethics
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Meditation and focus techniques
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Enhancing your communication skills and building confidence
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Skills for effective teaching and leadership
To support your learning and help you get the most out of the training, there is some required reading, along with a few short writing assignments. To get the most out of this training there is some required reading and you’ll be asked to complete and some short writing assignments.
Segment Two
Breathe to Heal with Max Strom
This part takes place at a beautiful retreat center in Austria, in the lower Alps near Salzburg. Living together as a community we go in depth into Max Strom’s breathing techniques which are widely used by therapists, doctors, yoga teachers and healers from all walks of life. See full description HERE.
(*For those of you who have already taken the 40-hour Breathe to Heal Facilitator Training: your previous attendance will count toward this 200-hour training and the tuition will be adjusted accordingly.)
Applied Anatomy for Yoga with Jamie Elmer
“I have known my friend Jamie Elmer for 26 years and she has been on the faculty of my advanced teacher training teaching staff for 16 years. I am not exaggerating when I say that she is a clear genius when it comes to seeing bodies and knowing how to heal them. It is remarkable to watch her identify alignment issues and then give clear and concise adjustment cues through her zoom classes. And she will teach you how to do it too.” ~ Max
Esteemed movement-therapist, Jamie Elmer, will take you on a 6-day live online journey into Applied Anatomy. You will learn in detail how to practice safely and effectively, and teach others how to do so.
Jamie will cover how to manage your student’s most common pre-existing injuries, for example frozen-shoulder, torn hamstrings, knee injuries, lower back issues, etc. This section will take place online, divided over three weekends.
Jamie will lead you through a practice every day. The daily schedule consists of lectures on applied anatomy for movement, teaching methodology, practice lab, safety in practice and in the classroom, sharing, and Q&A.
In addition, you will receive:
- Access to the recordings of the Functional Anatomy segment for 6 months after completion of the training. This is an amazing resource to revisit as often as you like and allowsing you to take inrevisit the knowledge again at your leisure.
- Access to Jamie Elmer’s online platform with an extensive library of practices and detailed tutorials on postures.
- The opportunity to join from the comfort of your own home.
In total, Max will teach 21 days of the course, with 7 days of the course taught by Jamie Elmer. Max will also give a follow-up 4-hour online class on December 9, 2026.
Faculty
Max Strom
E-RYT 500, YACEP, author, speaker
read biography
Having been on the cutting edge of breathing and breath initiated movement for over 26 years Max shared his teaching in over 25 countries and 150 cities around the world as a teacher, speaker and author. He wrote 2 books; A Life Worth Breathing, and There Is No App For Happiness, and he has been the keynote speaker at many conferences around the world.
Max has been teaching yoga since 1994 and built a very successful yoga studio in Los Angeles CA, before he decided to expand his reach and started teaching all over the world. Combining yoga, breath work, Qi Gong and movement therapy, Max developed the groundbreaking system Inner Axis, designed to alleviate crippling anxiety, depression, PTS and sleep problems. His field-tested method focuses on the causes rather than the symptoms and his system is known to produce rapid results.
Max brings his experience in teaching thousands of students and teachers into his teacher training and is renowned for being an exceptional communicator and creating safety in the classroom. In his Inner Axis Teacher Training Max reveals his techniques on all aspects of teaching. His focus is not to train his students to become qualified yoga instructors, his focus is to train his students to become teachers, leaders and speakers so that they facilitate a practice that goes beyond the mat and beyond the classroom.
Jamie Elmer
Movement Therapist, E-RYT500, YACEP
read biography
For two decades, Jamie has been a passionate teacher in the healing arts. Her background in anatomy, kinesiology, physiology, Pilates and yoga enables her to provide well rounded care and help you become pain free and physically balanced.
Jamie has taught yoga, Pilates, gait therapy and movement therapy full time for over twenty years.
A former professional modern dancer, Jamie has spent a lifetime either creating or correcting injury. Jamie’s own injuries at a relatively young age guided her toward a career in helping others heal their physical injury and pain.
Jamie has a bachelor’s degree in Dance Anatomy from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), is a graduate of over a dozen yoga teacher certifications, Long Beach Dance Conditioning’s Pilates program, Duke University College of Integrative Medicine’s Movement Therapy for Seniors program and is a certified Brourman Gait Therapist.
Jamie currently works in private practice, retreat settings, and teacher training programs in the US, Mexico and Europe.
www.movementtherapyco.com/
movementtherapyco.vhx.tv – Streaming platform
Valerie Moselle
E-RYT 500, YACEP, RPYT/Author, Educator, Steward of Yoga, Breath and Somatic Meditation
read biography
Valerie Moselle is an author, advanced yoga teacher, and founder of Luma Yoga, an award-winning studio and wellness center in Santa Cruz, California. A 20-year veteran of teaching, Valerie’s superpower is in helping new teachers understand and apply functional anatomy and core concepts from biomechanics and kinesiology to yoga and breath work.
Valerie trains teachers to see students as individuals each poised to derive unique benefits from modern postural practice. She is known for classes that inspire a playful exploration of breath, movement, strength, and surrender. A student of yoga for nearly three decades, Valerie has studied and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, India, and the U.K. She works in close collaboration with international Breathe to Heal teacher Max Strom coaching teachers around the world.
Take a look at her book ; Breathwork: A 3 Week Breathing Program to Gain Clarity, Calm, and Better Health
http://bit.ly/BreathworkBook
Valerie lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and two daughters, where she serves as the Director of Luma Yoga, and of the Luma Yoga Teacher Training and Practice Enrichment program, found on her website:
Faculty
Max Strom
E-RYT 500, YACEP, author, speaker
read biography
Having been on the cutting edge of breathing and breath initiated movement for over 30 years Max shared his teaching in over 25 countries and 150 cities around the world as a teacher, speaker and author. He wrote 2 books; A Life Worth Breathing, and There Is No App For Happiness, and he has been the keynote speaker at many conferences around the world.
Max has been teaching yoga since 1994 and built a very successful yoga studio in Los Angeles CA, before he decided to expand his reach and started accepting invitations to teach in cities all over the world. Combining yoga, breath work, Qi Gong and movement therapy, Max developed the groundbreaking system Inner Axis, designed to alleviate crippling anxiety, depression, PTS and sleep problems. His field-tested method focuses on the causes rather than the symptoms and his system is known to produce rapid results.
Max brings his experience from teaching tens of thousands of students and teachers from many cultures, into his teacher training and is renowned for being an exceptional communicator and creating safety in the classroom. Max is from the USA and currently based in the Netherlands. He teaches in English.
Jamie Elmer
Movement Therapist, E-RYT500, YACEP
read biography
For two decades, Jamie has been a passionate teacher in the healing arts. Her background in anatomy, kinesiology, physiology, Pilates and Yoga enables her to provide well rounded care and help you become pain free and physically balanced.
Jamie has taught yoga, Pilates, gait therapy and movement therapy full time for over twenty-five years.
A former professional modern dancer, Jamie has spent a lifetime either creating or correcting injury. Jamie’s own injuries at a relatively young age guided her toward a career in helping others heal their physical injury and pain.
Jamie has a bachelor’s degree in Dance Anatomy from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), is a graduate of over a dozen yoga teacher certifications, Long Beach Dance Conditioning’s Pilates program, Duke University College of Integrative Medicine’s Movement Therapy for Seniors program and is a certified Brourman Gait Therapist.
Jamie currently works in private practice, retreat settings, and teacher training programs in the US, Mexico and Europe.
www.movementtherapyco.com/
movementtherapyco.vhx.tv – Streaming platform
Daily schedule (example)
The teacher training will take place in 2 segments of 14 days each. The first segment will take place in person, the second segment will have 7 days of online live stream Functional Anatomy training and is followed by 7 days of in person training with Max. In total Max will teach 21 days of the course and 7 days of the course will be taught by Jamie Elmer.
We will practice together every day. Our daily schedule is comprised of sections on techniques, teaching methodology, yoga philosophy, practice lab, applied anatomy for movement, sharing and Q&A.
For this training we will be using a hybrid format of in person and online learning. These methods have proven to be complementary when used to their advantage. What you will get:
- Access to the recordings of the Functional Anatomy segment until 6 months after completion of the training. An amazing resource to revisit as often as you like and allowing you to take in the knowledge again at your leisure.
- Access to Jamie Elmer’s online platform with an extensive library of practices and detailed tutorials on postures.
- No costs for accommodation for 1 week of the training and the opportunity to join from the comfort of your own home.
Inner Axis teacher’s code of ethics
As a teacher of Max Strom’s Inner Axis System, I represent and honor the following:
- I present myself as a leader, teacher, and in service to students.
- I maintain clear and professional boundaries with students.
- I will not use shaming, anger, or force as a teaching method.
- I will provide a safe environment, and cultivate respect, kindness, honesty, and humility in my students and myself.
- I will discourage competition between students.
- I represent myself honestly and provide only guidance and services that I am qualified for.