A typical day runs 6:00–8:00am yoga and meditation, 8:30–9:30am breakfast, then a class or activity from 9:30am to 1:00pm. After lunch there's yoga nidra or deep relaxation, then rest time from 2:00 to 4:00pm, another class or activity 4:00–6:00pm, dinner 6:00–7:00pm and an evening activity 7:00–7:30pm. The centre notes the schedule can shift depending on what each training group needs.

You get one and a half days off a week. People use them to swim in the lake (a 10-minute walk down to the beach), hire kayaks in town, take market trips, go sightseeing, or join dance events. There's also a seva element: students help a local NGO programme working with the indigenous community.

What separates this from larger, more commercial teacher trainings is the scale and the setup. Twelve people maximum, meals cooked and shared at the owners' home, and a syllabus that includes Ayurveda as a working part of daily life rather than a side module. Past students mention Batya's cooking class and her ceremonial cacao recipe as a highlight, and several say the modules on getting in touch with yourself were as useful as the teaching technique.

The lead teachers are Batya and Eran. They teach in English and run Shamana Atitlan; the centre has 60 reviews averaging 5 stars. Their background is in Ayurvedic practice, kirtan and yoga teacher training, and they've been listed as Insight Timer teachers. Reviews from Canada, the US, Germany and Switzerland describe being taught to cue and sequence postures, then actually teaching in front of the group twice before certification.

San Marcos La Laguna sits at about 1,560m on Lake Atitlán in the Guatemalan highlands, ringed by volcanoes. Most of the village is car-free, connected by stone paths through gardens. It's a small place with yoga shalas, meditation centres, vegetarian cafés and healing spaces, and it's a common base for retreats. Days are usually 17–24°C, though nights can drop to around 8°C because of the altitude. July falls in the wet season, though the centre notes July and August often see a dry break in the rains.

What's included

- 22 nights accommodation - Three vegetarian meals daily (breakfast, lunch, dinner) - All classes and workshops - Study materials - Kirtan, sound healing and mantra chant - Temazcal (Mayan sweat lodge) - Mayan fire ceremony - Ceremonial dance ritual and cacao ceremonies - Sharing circles - Seva with a local NGO programme - Wi-Fi - Towels, housekeeping and coffee/tea

What's not included

- Flights - Airport transfers - Travel insurance - Laundry (Q50 per load) - Personal expenses - Kayak rental and scuba diving

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