About Going Pro Yoga Academy
A system built one pose at a time.
Going Pro Yoga Academy started as a six-week course for a small group of teachers. It grew into a library of 180+ poses, a way to sequence them, and a set of programs to keep learning.
This is how it happened.
Read the story
The story
It started with one small group.
A few years ago, three teachers — Michael Henri, Byron de Marsé and Paul Teodo — ran a six-week course online. We called it Going Pro.
The idea was simple. Help teachers who had finished their 200-hour training and still had questions. Which cue do I give first? How do I build a class that flows? What is actually happening in the body?
The first group was small. What surprised us was how much people wanted it. Some were brand new. Some had stopped teaching for a while and were finding their way back. All of them wanted the same thing: to feel sure of themselves in front of a room.
So we recorded the sessions. Then we kept going.
Michael and Byron sat down together and took poses apart, one at a time. They asked the same question over and over: what is the smallest number of words that will help someone find this shape?
Some days they finished two poses. It took months. At the end they had a whole library: every pose broken down the same way, in an order that makes sense.
In our own words
Where it all started.
A short film from the early days. Michael and Byron on what we were trying to build, and why. Six and a half minutes.
What it became
Three cues. Then a whole way of teaching.
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First, the cues
That work became the SmartCue System. Every pose gets three kinds of cue: what to say first to get into the shape, what to say next to make it steady, and what to say last to refine it. Simple enough to use in your very next class.
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Then, the order
We gave every pose a level: 1, 2 or 3. Now teachers could see how a class is built: which poses prepare the body, and which ones need that preparation first. Sequencing stopped being guesswork.
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Then, the depth
More followed. We built whole programs the same way: anatomy at 200-hour depth, Yin through the lens of Chinese medicine, fascia, philosophy, and the craft of teaching itself. Different subjects, one structure underneath, each of them leading back to the cues.
Wondering if it fits where you are? Read this if you have just finished your 200hr →
Why it matters
Structure does not make you robotic. It sets you free.
Here is the part we did not expect.
When teachers stopped hunting for words, something opened up. They had room to be themselves again: room for their voice, their presence, their humour, the creative part of teaching. The structure did not take that away. It made space for it.
Yoga teaching has been made to feel mysterious for a long time. We don’t think it needs to be. The body can be understood. The poses can be understood. How you talk about them is a skill, and a skill can be taught.
That is all Going Pro Yoga is. The skill, written down, so you don’t have to guess.
We teach teachers because teachers reach people.
A teacher who feels sure of herself helps a whole room. Those students go home to their families, their friends, their own students.
That is the point. Yoga has given us a great deal. This is how we pass it on.
Who’s behind it
The creators of Going Pro Yoga.
Michael Henri
Co-creator · Physiotherapist
A physiotherapist and biomechanics specialist who came to yoga from the science side. He built the SmartCue System by asking one question of every pose: what is the clearest, smallest thing a teacher can say to help someone find it?
Byron de Marsé
Co-creator · Master teacher
A master teacher with more than 10,000 hours in the room. The classes and sequences in the library are his, recorded in audio and video, and they are yours to borrow, adapt and teach in your own classes.
Build your craft
Teach with confidence.
Everything built for the next generation of teachers is inside: the SmartCue System, the pose library, the classes, the programs.
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