By Marci Narum

Yoga changed Brenda Stone’s health and life 10 years ago—so much that she wanted to make the same happen for other people too. She opened Yoga for You, in 2011, and now she is helping people become certified yoga instructors. Last fall she began a teacher training program, the first program of its kind in Bismarck.

“I was contacted early last year by Yoga Center of Minneapolis. When they called me they had just started a program in Fargo.”

Fifteen students began taking the year-long course in October. Brenda and four other yoga instructors lead the classes.

“This is one weekend a month for one year and we teach in my studio in Bismarck. The training is about 13 hours a weekend for a whole year. It adds up to 230 hours of certification through Yoga Alliance. Many of the students in the class want to become a yoga instructor in a classroom, other studios, or fitness clubs; some just want to enhance their own yoga practice.”

Brenda is offering another teacher training session later this fall. It will be a nine-month program two nights each week. In the meantime, she is organizing the first ever North Dakota Yoga Conference at the Ramada Inn in Bismarck, October 6-8. Visit ndyogaconference.com or call 701-255-8499 for information.