Anonymous
Save your time and money-- 200 HR YTT in Greece
I had an extremely disappointing experience for a myriad of reasons. I am going to be very direct in this feedback to hopefully help others save their time and money. The biggest thing to note is that a participant started exhibiting symptoms of a psychotic break/psychosis (paranoid delusions and auditory hallucinations, which can be fatal) and the faculty did absolutely nothing…for days, citing “what can we do we’re in Greece.” After 4 days of this being an issue and many people raising concerns, including the hotel staff at the retreat, they finally removed her from classes and gave a bullshit speech about how everything is taken care of and manipulating yoga jargin to defend their lack of action. We went on to find out that even after this they had still not contacted her emergency contacts. Cannot even begin to process how appalling this is. They could not care less about anyone's safety and wellbeing, and went against everything they claimed to preach. Absolutely delusional and not in touch with reality, we were met with faculty reacting saying "everyone has their own personalities" and "yoga training can be stressful and things come up," followed by no action. One of the program participants begged the partcipant for her mother's contact, and when they got ahold of her, she knew nothing of the situation. Worrying about her and being met with a lack of action greatly took away from the experience. Another major issue was the mixed messaging in teaching. Liz and Meg were the faculty at this training. Multiple key things Liz would teach us *not to do* were regular patterns of Meg’s. Meg’s teaching was extremely scattered and her energy was disregulating and off-putting. It did not feel like she was an experienced teacher, and seemed very frustrated with students as well as herself. Liz was extremely passive aggressive and constantly contradicted herself, but at least I learned something from her. I could not say the same for Meg. The food situation was also ridiculous. For a program focused on all day movement, not having the option of 3 meals a day or even fruit out in the morning before classes was not adequate. Liz made it clear she didn’t want to pay 11 euro more per day so we could be properly fed. Not to mention having barely any protein and fiber at the meals... Additionally, there was another retreat that overlapped with ours at the end, and they very clearly had 3 meals… After Liz got feedback about the food situation early on, she completely dismissed it and did everything possible to not make a grocery store trip. She constantly made passive aggresive comments about it, until she finally got a few students to go in her place and shop for everybody. They had to pay 25 dollars each for the taxi. On our one full day off. Liz had plenty of time off since she and Meg did not teach at the same time. Additionally, we were deceived about class size. Since going over the cap would bring in more money, they of course did, then threw those extra people *across the bay* in separate housing, without so much as a warning. They had to walk back and forth constantly (including in the dark) and pay the *same price as those staying on the premises*, with no heads up. Then to add insult to injury, we were told there were just way too many of us to get personal alignment corrections..After advertising so much about teaching proper alignment, the reason many people came. In conclusion, I’d advise spending your money and time anywhere else
Response from Soma Yoga InstituteSep 14, 2026
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are genuinely sorry that this training left you feeling disappointed, concerned, and unsupported. We understand that witnessing another participant having an experience that felt unusual or concerning to others, while also experiencing frustrations around food, accommodations, and instruction, would significantly affect your experience of the training. We take concerns like these seriously, and while we may have a different understanding of some of the circumstances described, we do not want to dismiss the impact the experience had on you or the concerns you raised during the program. Regarding the participant whose experience became a concern for some members of the group, our faculty did take the situation seriously and continued assessing and responding as circumstances developed. Because this involved another participant’s private health information and personal circumstances, we cannot appropriately discuss the details of what occurred, the conversations that took place, or the actions ultimately taken in a public forum. We understand that observing behavior that felt unfamiliar or concerning can be unsettling for others in a group setting, and we are sorry that this affected your experience of the training. We also appreciate the feedback regarding the consistency of instruction between faculty members. Different teachers naturally bring different approaches and teaching styles, but students should still experience a cohesive curriculum and clear educational standards. Feedback of this nature is important to us as we continue refining how faculty are oriented and supported within our trainings. We also hear the concerns regarding meals. The program included the meal plan communicated for the retreat, but we recognize that individual nutritional needs vary significantly, particularly during an intensive physical training. Based on feedback from this group, this is an area we are reviewing for future international programs. We do want to clarify the statement regarding accommodations across the bay. The students who registered after the primary accommodations were full were informed before purchasing that the remaining rooms were located across the bay and required approximately a ten-minute walk. They were asked whether they were comfortable with those accommodations before completing their registrations. These additional spaces were offered because several prospective students reached out with a strong desire to attend after the primary lodging was full. Our intention was to make participation possible for those students, not to misrepresent the accommodations or increase enrollment without their knowledge. We are disappointed that your overall experience was so different from what we work to create at Soma Yoga Institute. Intensive residential trainings involve many moving pieces, and while not every aspect of a program will meet every participant’s expectations, student safety, meaningful education, and integrity in how our programs are represented remain deeply important to us. We appreciate the feedback and will continue using both positive and critical student experiences to improve future trainings. — The Soma Yoga Institute Team