Stretch & Stabilize Training
This YACEP Certified, weekend training is for yoga and group fitness teachers who want to support a broader range of students. Drawing from several movement traditions, the training follows the familiar rhythm of a yoga class while introducing functional conditioning practices that build strength, mobility, and resilience.
Strength without mobility creates restriction. Flexibility without strength creates instability. Stretch & Stabilize trains both.
For over a decade I worked with high level athletes, including the Olympic men’s and women’s Canadian Rugby teams and athletes training through the Canadian Sport Institute. While working with these students, I noticed their bodies didn’t bend and twist in the same way I was used to. It became a personal mission to try and figure out how to help support these student’s bodies, and in that pursuit, this class was born. It was a labour of love working with a dear friend and teacher Alicia, to develop the concepts around this class, and it has morphed over the years into this wonderful style that serves students of all ages and mobility levels.
Overtime this class became the place to go to if you were stressed, if you were recovering from an injury, lacked mobility, or needed to focus on joint integrity. We blended principles from FRC®, Modo Yoga Fit, Pilates, Barre and postural Yoga while maintaining the same breath focus that calmed the nervous system. Over the years, the original sequence has been tweaked and adjusted, expanded on and further developed. It’s now at a place where I get to train others on how to teach this non-yoga inspired movement class to carry these ideas and concepts into their own studios and communities.
CREATE ACCESSIBLE PRACTICES
Redefine How
You Teach Bodies
Key Learning Takeaways
- Integrate 5 different movement philosophies into your teaching today
- Learn new cueing strategies that will change the way your students move
- Develop new sequences to start teaching immediately
- Refine your understanding of how breath affects the body’s ability to build strength and maintain flexibility
Your Target Student Audience
- Elite Athletes looking for millisecond advantages
- Yoga students who have injuries due to hypermobility
- Men who often feel left out of the movement world due to lack of flexibility
- Runners, Cross-fitters, Weight resistance trainers, Pre-and post Pregnant mothers, anybody with a body
Who this Training is For?
- Yoga teachers, Pilates and barre instructors
- Personal Trainers & Group fitness coaches
- Movement educators who want to broaden the way they support their students.
- Physiotherapists and rehab/prehab specialists
- Students who wants to deepen their knowledge of how to care for their own body
40%
OF ADULTS AVOID YOGA BECAUSE THEY AREN’T FLEXIBLE ENOUGH
1 in 3
ATHLETES EXPERIENCE MOBILITY LIMITATIONS
60%
YOGA PRACTITIONERS IDENTIFY AS HYPERMOBILE
0
CLASSES TEACH HOW TO BUILD STRENGTH INSIDE OF FLEXIBILITY
40%
OF ADULTS AVOID YOGA BECAUSE THEY AREN’T FLEXIBLE ENOUGH
1 in 3
ATHLETES EXPERIENCE MOBILITY LIMITATIONS
60%
YOGA PRACTITIONERS IDENTIFY AS HYPERMOBILE
0
CLASSES TEACH HOW TO BUILD STRENGTH INSIDE OF FLEXIBILITY
40%
OF ADULTS AVOID YOGA BECAUSE THEY AREN’T FLEXIBLE ENOUGH
1 in 3
ATHLETES EXPERIENCE MOBILITY LIMITATIONS
60%
YOGA PRACTITIONERS IDENTIFY AS HYPERMOBILE
0
CLASSES TEACH HOW TO BUILD STRENGTH INSIDE OF FLEXIBILITY
What You'll Learn
This 15-hour training blends lecture, discussion, movement practice, and teaching application. Each section builds from foundational concepts into practical teaching tools you can immediately apply in your classes.
Yoga Alliance Continued Education Provider
Darci Nyal, E-RYT 500, holds a YACEP designation with Yoga Alliance which means at the end of the program, you’ll receive a certificate that can be used to continuing education requirements.
This module establishes the context for the Stretch & Stabilize class—what it is, where it comes from, and how it is approached. We will explore the relationships that shape how movement is experienced and the gap this class was designed to fill, along with how different movement systems contribute to the way strength, mobility, and control are understood in a group setting.
Key areas of exploration include:
- Why this class was developed and who it is meant to support
- The movement philosophies that inform this work
- The relationship between flexibility, mobility, stability, and control
- How movement capacity shifts based on context
- Understanding how ‘intent’ informs the practice
- Foundational Principles of S&S
- Overall experience = personal autonomy + breath + structural integrity
- How challenge is integrated = repetition + variation + intensity + time
These concepts provide a consistent reference point for both teaching and practice. They allow movement to remain adaptable while still offering enough structure to support clarity, progression, and a wide range of bodies within the same class.
How the Stretch & Stabilize method translates into a teachable class.
This section focuses on how the principles of S&S are applied in a group class setting. Participants will learn how to guide movement, structure experiences, and support a wide range of students through clear instruction and thoughtful pacing.
Key topics include:
Understand who your students are and why they are drawn to your class
Break down the wireframe of S&S class sequence
Review teaching approach including applicable cueing styles
Review of the base sequence and discussing how themes are integrated
Explore your ‘Why’ as a teacher
Explore the mechanical principles that influence mobility and joint stability.
Participants develop a clearer understanding of how range of motion is shaped by joint structure, muscular restriction, and neurological factors. Movement LABs help bring these ideas into practical context.
Key topics include:
- Review the applicable research and theory specific to the 3 Core Principles of S&S
- Nervous System, trust and the stretch reflex
- Breath and pressure management
- Core stability and trunk stability
- Summary of muscles, joints, joint movements, joint degrees of movement, contraction types and more
- Common terms used and how the are integrated into class cueing
- Applied Techniques
- PNF
- CARs
- PAILs & RAILs
- Progressive Isometric Loading
- Tempo work
- Pulses
- Hover work
- Unilateral loading
- Pelvic/Trunk organisation
- Muscle Slings
Learning S&S through live classes, observation, and teaching practice.
Participants experience multiple Stretch & Stabilize classes taught by Darci throughout the weekend. These classes serve as a live demonstration of this style, allowing participants to observe pacing, cueing, sequencing, and the relationship between strength, mobility, and breath within a full class structure. Participants will also practice guiding short movement segments so the concepts explored during the training can begin translating into their own teaching.
Key topics include:
- Observing class structure and pacing
- Applying variations to base sequence based on intent
- Practicing cueing and guiding mobility work
- Receiving feedback through collaborative teaching exercises
INVEST IN YOU
What's Included
Trainees leave this training with practical tools for teaching strength-based mobility work and integrating the Stretch & Stabilize philosophy into their own classes.
This includes:
Ready-to-use class sequence
Practice teaching and collaborative feedback
Comprehensive teaching manual with resources to support continued learning
15-hour Yoga Alliance Continuing Education certificate (YACEP)
INVEST IN YOU
Join the Next Training
The next Stretch & Stabilize training takes place in Whitehorse and is open to yoga teachers, movement educators, and curious practitioners who want to deepen their understanding of strength-based mobility work.
Join the waitlist and you’ll be notified when the next training begins.
Early Bird savings available until May 1st.
DARCI NYAL, E-RYT 500
Meet the Teacher Behind the Training
Darci Nyal is the founder of Amitié Yoga, an E-RYT 500 instructor with an FRC® Certification. She has spent over a decade teaching yoga, movement, and teacher trainings across Canada. Her work blends traditional yoga practices with modern movement science, with a focus on helping students build strength, mobility, and resilience in their bodies.
Darci’s teaching style emphasizes playfulness, curiosity, and practical tools that teachers can immediately bring into their own classes.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. This training is open to yoga teachers, movement educators, personal trainers, and curious practitioners who want to better understand strength-based mobility work. Some teaching experience is helpful but not required.
Yes. Participants who complete the training receive permission to teach the Stretch & Stabilize class format in studios, gyms, or community settings.
Yes. This training is registered as 15 hours of Yoga Alliance Continuing Education (YACEP). Participants will receive a certificate upon completion.
No. The training introduces the concepts step-by-step and focuses on practical applications you can begin exploring immediately in your own practice or teaching.
Please bring comfortable clothing for movement, yoga mat, a notebook, and a water bottle. A printed manual will be provided.
To keep the training interactive, spaces are limited to 12 participants.
If you are unable to attend, cancellations made 14 days prior to the training will receive a full refund minus stripe processing fees at 4% of the total amount paid. After this time, your registration can be transferred to a future training or a person of your choice.
Yes. Stretch & Stabilize trainings are offered periodically. If this training fills, you can join the waitlist for the next offering.
No. This training is designed for yoga teachers and movement educators who want to expand their understanding of strength-based mobility work. It does not qualify participants to diagnose, treat, or rehabilitate injuries.
Yes. The sequences and concepts shared in the training are intended to support your teaching. You are welcome to adapt and integrate them into your own classes while maintaining your own voice and teaching style.
Participants are encouraged to work at their own pace and modify movements as needed. This training focuses on exploring concepts rather than pushing physical limits, and observing can be just as valuable as participating.