BWY Teaching Diploma Course
All Teaching Diploma Courses follow a national syllabus but may differ slightly in the way they are managed. Generally, most courses are timetabled once a month and some courses include residential study weekends. The timescale of the course is somewhere between 2 and 2½ years. There will be written assignments for completion at home as well as presentations within the peer group to aid development of teaching skills.
Applicants need to have maintained class practice with a recognized teacher for two years prior to contacting a Diploma Course Tutor.
The application process includes attendance at an Introductory Day plus an interview with the Diploma Course Tutor. This usually happens at least three months prior to the commencement date of the course. Some tutors will only accept applications from people who have taken part in a Foundation Course prior to applying to attend an Introductory Day, so it is wise to contact the tutor and enquire. Places are limited and highly sought-after so it is important to contact tutors early to express your interest.
Future BWY Teaching Diploma Courses
Where applicable, this listing displays courses in adjacent counties of neighbouring BWY regions. You may find other courses listed on BWY
East Midlands,
West Midlands,
Wales and
South-West
region websites.
There may also be other courses listed on the BWY national website
Teaching Diploma Course page (opens in new window)
BWY Teacher Diploma Course – North Hampshire
Date: 17 April 2011 to March 2014
| 9.30 am–4.30 pm
Venue: Winchfield Village Hall, Station Road, Winchfield RG27 8BX
Tutor: Michael Hutchinson and Fiona Wells
For more information, contact 
01256 761353 or send large SAE to ‘Hafod’ Burney Bit, Pamber Heath, Tadley RG26 3TN
For more information, contact
01252 675672
Course Information
Monthly meetings on Sundays, with one residential weekend a year at a retreat centre near Henley-on-Thames.
Applicants should have completed a BWY Foundation Course 1 or equivalent, be attending Yoga classes regularly and intent on starting their own class, have time available for study at home and be open to learning and self-development.
Following interview, selected applicants will receive pre-course materials and will be required to attend an induction day on either 23 January 2011 or 13 March 2011.
Michael Hutchinson is a DCT and the BWY representative on the Zinal teaching faculty this year (2010). He studied with Paul Harvey to Postgraduate level in Viniyoga, has attended many courses with T.K.V. Desikachar in the UK and at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) in Chennai and is now registered as a Teacher with the Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation. In 2009 Michael spent a third two-week course of study at the KYM with Mr Desikachar, his family and his associates. He is also a poet and a physicist.
Fiona Wells was first introduced to Yoga over 30 years ago whilst still at school; she has been teaching Yoga since 1993 and Yoga for Pregnancy since 1995, she is also a qualified school teacher and taught Science either full or part-time in comprehensive schools for 10 years.
Having done a degree in Physiology and Biochemistry, she remains very interested in the working and anatomy of the human body through the stages of life.
Fiona practiced Yoga through her own two pregnancies and discovered how beneficial to women this could be, but it was when she trained with Francoise Freedman (founder of Birthlight) that she fully realized the extent that Yoga could enhance the joy of pregnancy and also provide fantastic tools to ease labour and birth. Further study with Francoise at Birthlight gave Fiona the qualification to teach Postnatal Yoga and Baby Yoga; she has been running Mother with Baby Yoga and Infant Massage Courses since 2000.
BWY Teacher Diploma Course – Oxfordshire
Date: Course starting on 25th September 2011
| 10.00 am–5.00 pm
Venue: Thrangu House Buddhist Centre, 42 Magdalen Road, Oxford OX4 1RB
Tutor: Maarten Vermaase
For more information, contact 01865 351650
For more information, contact
01865 865915
Details are now available for the next course, planned to start in September 2011 at the beautiful Buddhist Centre in Oxford. The course is expected to last for 2.5 years over approximately 42 Sundays.
For ‘early bird’ bookings there will be pre-diploma worksheets and tuition to help you prepare for the course.
Minimum entry requirements: BWY Foundation Course or equivalent.
Dutch born Maarten Vermaase is a DCT for the British Wheel of Yoga and has practised and studied Yoga since the early 1970s. He studied Hatha Yoga under Robert Van Heeckeren, and Tibetan Buddhist meditation, Yoga and healing Exercises with numerous Lamas and teachers from the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions. In 1999, at the suggestion of his teacher Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, he started the Mahasiddha Yoga Group. He teaches extensively in Oxford and London, and runs regular workshops, retreats and BWY Meditation Modules for groups nationwide.