A YogaFit teacher training workshop will be held this Saturday and Sunday in Southern Pines.

Fitness trainers, massage therapists, group exercise instructors, and enthusiasts have the opportunity to participate in the best yoga training program worldwide.

This two-day workshop gives instructors the tools to create dynamic, user-friendly, fitness-oriented yoga classes.

The training includes correct physical execution, transitions and modifications to yoga poses, sequencing, class formats, effective ways to communicate the mind/body connection, and methods of developing safe teaching skills for 40-plus poses.

Trainees begin with level 1, which is designed for beginners teaching yoga, practicing yoga, and learning yoga.

For experienced yoga instructors, this workshop is designed to offer new skills to teach yoga classes in the mainstream health club or gym environment, focusing on the physical fitness benefits of traditional yoga poses. There are no prerequisites, only the desire to learn and commitment to attend.

What makes YogaFit especially unique is the company's mission to bring yoga to the masses, according to a news release from the organization.

When only 10 percent of the U.S. population belongs to a health club, YogaFit plays an active role in getting people moving and requires every YogaFit level 1 trainee to perform eight hours of practice teaching in a community service setting before receiving a certificate of completion.

YogaFit trainees will bring the practice and benefits of yoga to neighboring communities, such as seniors in long-term care homes, cancer patients and survivors, disabled persons, incarcerated persons, terminally ill persons, children, mentally challenged individuals, and those who served in the military, just to name a few.

YogaFit is also dedicated to community service via community outreach programs from their corporate headquarters in Torrance, Calif., and partner studios across the world.

To gain a certificate of completion, participants in the YogaFit teacher training must donate eight classes to a group of people who normally would not have the opportunity to take yoga.

YogaFit is a practical, user-friendly style, which is accessible, understandable and doable by individuals at any level of fitness, the news release said. The YogaFit style tightens and tones the entire body, enhances balance, improves flexibility and builds core strength by combining traditional fitness training, focused breathing and strength building through yoga poses.

"If you can breathe, you can practice yoga," says Beth Shaw, founder and president of YogaFit.

YogaFit has trained more than 90,000 fitness professionals and yoga instructors at facilities in the United States and internationally, and has been instrumental in the practice of yoga becoming a primary part of health club, gym and spa programs throughout the world.

Taught by YogaFit-trained instructors with in-depth experience and skills in both yoga and fitness, the YogaFit method is the only nationally recognized CEC partner for ACE, and been a member of IHRSA since 1997. It is also the only yoga instruction certified by TSI (NYSC, WSC BSC, PSC) Fitness Clubs. Team YogaFit has 50 national trainers currently.

Anyone interested in registering for the training in Southern Pines can visit the YogaFit Web site at www.yogafit.com or call toll-free (888) 786-3111, extension 222 or 223.