Welcome to the Deeside Yoga Institute.
This space has been created to support yoga teachers who are looking for depth, coherence, and professional maturity in their yoga teaching career. The training offered here is educational and sits firmly within a clear scope of practice. All our courses are designed to help teachers think well, teach safely and work with integrity over the long term.
Here at the Deeside Yoga Institute we offer a structured pathway of study that includes 50-hour modules, continuing professional development, and a comprehensive 300-hour online teacher pathway.
These trainings draw from Yin Yoga, Restorative practices, functional anatomy, nervous system education, pain science, breath and somatic awareness all held with an ethical teaching framework.
Rather than teaching techniques in isolation, the emphasis is on integration. You will study how movement, stillness, load, pacing, breath and attention interact with your students bodies and nervous systems and how these elements show up differently for your students. You will also develop the skills needed to design classes that are responsive, adaptable and appropriate for mixed groups.
Our courses are delivered through a blend of pre-recorded lectures, live online sessions, practice labs, written manuals, and reflective work. This allows time for learning, questioning, and integration, rather than rushing through content or chasing outcomes.
Our 300-hour pathway brings these strands together through mentoring, practice teaching, and guided reflection.
Language, choice, boundaries, and decision-making are treated as core skills, not add-ons. You will not be taught to promise healing, regulation, or transformation. Instead, you will learn how to create clear, supportive conditions for yoga practice, and recognise when something sits outside your role as a yoga teacher, referring responsibly and when appropriate.
We offer:
• A modular 300-hour online teacher training pathway
• 50-hour specialist trainings and CPD modules
• Live and pre-recorded learning formats
• Detailed manuals and study guides
• Practice-based learning and reflective assessment
• Mentoring and integration support
This school is for teachers who want to build sustainable, thoughtful teaching careers. If you are interested in education that values clarity over certainty and responsibility over performance, you are in the right place.
Advanced Teacher Training Courses
I’m Gem Maryan, an E-RYT 500 yoga teacher, teacher trainer, massage therapist, and trainee yoga therapist, with over 20 years of personal practice and more than 14 years of teaching experience.
My early background was in strong, structured practices including Ashtanga and Hot Yoga. Over time, my work shifted toward more nuanced, adaptive approaches as my body, my students, and life experience asked different questions. I have been teaching Yin Yoga since around 2011 and training teachers since 2018.
What shapes my teaching now is clarity, safety, and scope. I teach yoga as an educational practice, grounded in functional anatomy, pain science, nervous system awareness, and ethical teaching language. I care deeply about how we teach, not just what we teach, and I do not promise therapeutic outcomes.
My perspective has been further shaped by ongoing yoga therapy training and personal experience caring for my father following a major stroke and advanced vascular dementia. That time changed how I understand capacity, rest, overwhelm, and responsibility, both in practice and in teaching.
Through Deeside Yoga Institute, I offer teacher trainings and continuing education for teachers who want to work with care, clear boundaries, and professional integrity.
Testimonials
This Yin Yoga Teacher Training truly surpassed all of my expectations. The depth of knowledge, honesty, and good humour Gem brought to the teaching made the learning both grounded and accessible. The hybrid format worked beautifully, allowing me to absorb the live sessions and revisit the material at my own pace. It was a privilege to learn in this space.
Keely (Yin Yoga Trainee, 2026)
The training was not just about imparting knowledge but also great preparation for starting to teach Yin confidently. Great ideas about how to structure classes – very pragmatic training, encouraging you to apply your knowledge in a practical way.
Sonya McKinlay (2023 Yin Training)
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Gem’s yin yoga teacher training exceeded my expectations. It covered everything I needed to know how to begin sharing yin yoga to others. Gem has so much insight and wisdom and delivers this authentically with passion and precision. There was the perfect balance of yin practice, theory and teaching/planning classes. This course has given me the tools and resources to confidently start teaching yin yoga. Thanks Gem!
Emma Savill (2023 Yin Training)
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I am grateful for this learning opportunity with Gem. I wished this training hadn't ended because it was so lovely to meet and come together to deepen our Yin side of practice. Gem is a great teacher with many years of practice and teaching. Her knowledge and understanding of anatomy and theory are for the benefit of others, which is like a treasure in this modern world. I highly recommend this training with Gem if you are keen to deepen your Yin practice and teaching.
Yuki Sakuma (Yin & Ashtanga Teacher)
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I absolutely loved my training with Gem. She is a fantastic teacher with so much experience, which she gladly shares with so much love & respect. I was unsure about doing the whole course online, but I think it could be a more effective way to learn! I felt more focused & comfortable in my own home, and although it was online, we all got to know each other & it felt very relaxed. The course is packed with learning, but you never felt overloaded or rushed. I feel that my own personal teaching style has evolved from doing this course as well as learning about Yin, I honestly loved it and feel so grateful for the experience.
Jules McKinnon