Treetop Yoga is a boutique studio in Gloucester, on Cape Ann. Since 2018 we’ve been a place where people come to move, breathe, and learn, and where every class is taught by someone who has thought carefully about why they teach the way they do.

Our teachers are educators as much as yoga instructors. Among them are a high school science teacher, students of philosophy and anatomy, restorative and prenatal specialists, and teachers who have led trainings and retreats around the world. This training brings that experience together in one room, for you.

This training is open to everyone, whether you practice at Treetop or somewhere else.

Some people come because they want to teach. Others come because they want to understand why their practice works the way it does, and what sits underneath it. Both are welcome here.

You don’t need an advanced practice or a perfect handstand. You need curiosity, a regular practice you enjoy, and a willingness to show up for seven weekends of learning, practicing, and teaching each other.

Knowledge becomes wisdom only when it is lived.

Everything in this training follows what we call the TREE Method:

• Teach, Thoughtfully. Build a real foundation of knowledge, and always ask why you teach something the way you do.

• Reflect & Root. Make time for self-inquiry and journaling, and stay rooted in the traditions yoga comes from.

• Experience & Explore. Learn in your own body first, then offer that same open invitation to your students.

• Embody. Live the qualities you teach, on the mat and off it.

The training also carries the four pillars that guide every class at Treetop: teach thoughtfully, honor tradition, stay curious, and welcome every body.

We also care about evidence. Where tradition and research say different things, we teach you to tell the difference, so your cues are safe, honest, and grounded in how the body actually works.

There are a lot of teacher trainings out there. Here is what makes this one different.

• Four lead teachers, not one. You’ll learn from four experienced teachers, each leading the subjects they know best, plus guest teachers for specialized topics.

• Built like a real education. Every lesson is planned around clear skills: what you’ll learn, how we’ll teach it, and how we’ll know you’ve got it. You won’t just log hours.

• Accountable to you. We’re accredited by the American Yoga Council, which publishes our promises and asks our graduates to rate how well we kept them.

• Tradition and science, side by side. You’ll study yoga’s philosophy and roots with respect, and learn to separate tested anatomy from teaching myths.

• Teaching for every body. Beginners, athletes, older adults, prenatal students, chair yoga, anxiety and the nervous system. You’ll leave ready to teach the real people who walk into a class.

• Serious anatomy. A full 30-hour anatomy course with David Keil is included.

• Small and personal. Weekends at the studio, practicum in real Treetop classes, and teachers who know your name.

• A manual written for this training. You’ll receive The Treetop Teacher, our own training manual, to keep and teach from for years.

Most trainings are taught mainly by one person. Ours has four lead teachers, because we believe you learn more from several experienced voices, each teaching what they know best.

Erin McKay
Erin is the owner of Treetop Yoga and a high school biology teacher, with a master’s in Conservation Biology. She brings a teacher’s eye for how people learn and a scientist’s habit of asking why. Erin leads the foundations of teaching, vinyasa methodology, the Yoga Sutras, Hindu mythology and theme weaving, chakra-based sequencing, and teaching for athletes, anxiety, and kids. Instructing since 2017, Treetop Yoga 200 hour YTT with Katie Dagle, Sacred Seeds 500 hour YTT with Jacqui Bonwell

Kirsty Yetter
Kirsty teaches the history and philosophy of yoga, the Yamas and Niyamas, the Bhagavad Gita, meditation, and prenatal yoga. Her focus is on living yoga off the mat, in everyday choices and relationships. Instructing since 2017, Completed yoga teacher training in Dharamshala, India, 2011 

Sharon Esker
Sharon teaches the anatomy of postures, alignment, sequencing, and how to teach beginners well. She also helps trainees find their own teaching voice, so you leave sounding like yourself, not a script. Instructing since 2017, Treetop Yoga 200 hour YTT with Katie Dagle, Sacred Seeds 500 hour YTT with Jacqui Bonwell

Megan Ghirardi
Megan teaches restorative yoga, props, hands-on assists, the ethics of touch, and nervous system regulation. Instructing since 2010, Megan completed her 300-hour training at Down Under.

Some subjects deserve a specialist. Throughout the training, guest teachers lead dedicated workshops in their areas of expertise.

Melissa Abbot: Sanskrit, Mantra & Chanting
An introduction to the language of yoga: Sanskrit pronunciation and meaning, what mantra is, and how chanting is used in practice.

Char Willingham: Teaching Beyond the Pose
Trauma-informed principles, inclusion, and nervous system awareness for yoga teachers, from the founder of Char Yoga Fitness & Wellness and CalmWired.

Stephanie Reed: Breathwork
How and why we work with the breath, different approaches, and what it takes to facilitate safely. Trainees then stay to experience a full breathwork workshop.

Ashley Mitchell: Room to Belong
Every choice a teacher makes, from playlist and lighting to cues and sequencing, shapes who feels welcome. Ashley’s session looks at those choices from the student’s side of the mat, so you can stay fully yourself while making room for everyone.

(More guest instructors to be added)

Treetop is an approved American Yoga Council (AYC) studio school. We chose AYC on purpose, and here’s why.

We wanted more than one great teacher. Yoga Alliance requires lead trainers to teach 150 of a program’s 200 hours. Our community has several experienced teachers with different strengths, and we wanted you to learn from all of them. AYC lets us do that.

We wanted proof of learning, not just hours. Hours in a room don’t show whether someone is ready to teach. With AYC, we used Bloom’s taxonomy to map out what you’ll learn, how we’ll teach it, and how we’ll assess it. That’s competency-based education, the way good teaching works in any classroom.

We wanted to be held accountable. AYC programs publish their core competencies as public promises. Graduates rate the program on each one, and those ratings are visible to future students. Programs that fall short are reviewed.

The field is moving this way. Yoga Alliance has announced that, starting in 2027, its credentials will no longer rest on training hours alone and will require an assessment. We’re glad to already be there.

What it means for you: your AYC certification is yours for good. It doesn’t expire if you stop paying dues, and trainees can get yoga teaching insurance through AYC at a reduced rate while in training.

[Read more about AYC]

Each weekend builds on the last, moving from the roots of yoga to the craft of teaching to stepping into the room as a teacher.

1. Foundations (Jan 8–10): what yoga is, ethics and scope of practice, inclusive language, consent, cueing, sun salutations, and meditation basics.

2. Roots of Practice (Jan 22–24): yoga’s history and philosophy, the Eight Limbs, the Yamas and Niyamas, dharma and karma, and pranayama.

3. The Craft of Teaching (Feb 6–7): the language of teaching, Sanskrit, mantra, and chanting.

4. Support, Safety & the Nervous System (Mar 5–7): restorative yoga, props, hands-on assists, the ethics of touch, trauma-informed teaching, and Yoga Nidra.

5. The Art of the Class (Mar 19–21): sequencing, peak poses, theming with philosophy and mythology, chakra-based sequencing, and breathwork.

6. Teaching EveryBody (Apr 10–11): beginners, mixed levels, prenatal, older adults, chair yoga, and inclusion.

7. Becoming the Teacher (May 15–16): finding your voice, teaching athletes, kids, and students with anxiety, the business of teaching, and your final assessment.

Six Tuesday evening Zoom sessions fill in between weekends with discussion, sequencing workshops, and Q&A.

Good teaching starts with knowing how the body works. That’s why a full 30-hour anatomy course with David Keil is part of this training.

David is the founder of YogAnatomy and author of Functional Anatomy of Yoga, one of the most respected anatomy teachers in the yoga world. His course covers 15 modules, from the skeleton, muscles, and connective tissue to the nervous system, breath, and each major joint: foot and ankle, knee, hip, pelvis, spine, shoulder, and wrist.

You’ll complete 20 hours online at your own pace. The other 10 hours happen in person, where we work through David’s questions and activities together and apply them to real poses and real students.

You learn to teach by watching good teaching and getting your hands involved. Between weekends, you’ll spend practicum hours in Treetop classes, observing how experienced teachers read a room and offering hands-on assists.

Every trainee receives The Treetop Teacher, a manual written specifically for this training. It covers philosophy, anatomy and alignment, sequencing, breath and meditation, teaching special populations, ethics, and the business of teaching.

Each chapter ends with Growth Ring Reflections, a short set of questions that ask what surprised you, what challenged you, and how it will change the way you teach. It’s a book you’ll keep coming back to long after graduation.

• Paid in full: $2,800 for the first five registrants, $3,200 after that

• Payment plan: $3,350 in four payments (fewer if you register close to the start date)

Includes all seven weekends, Zoom sessions, the David Keil anatomy course, practicum, The Treetop Teacher manual, and AYC certification on completion.