TEACHER TRAINING · OCTOBER 2026

THE JOY
STUDY

An eight-month training in the science and practice of emotion in learning — for teachers, coaches and clinicians who want to work with more than technique.

The Joy Study teaches you how to work with the whole person — giving you the knowledge and tools to address what really drives outcomes: emotion. This is an education that builds on your professional expertise with rigorous science and first-hand experience. By the end, you'll design, deliver and assess emotion-centred teaching in your own field — sessions that don't just transmit skills, but change how learning feels and how far it goes.

Enroll Here

01 Movement

How the body makes space for joy

Curriculum

  • When you feel light, joy is never far away. Learn the physiology of effortless movement, and how embodied expectations create muscular tension. 

    Live sessions explore how rhythmic movement can relax the mind and body, and how simple coordinations liberate the neck and hips. Assignments explore lightness in learning and everyday life.

    Learning Goals

    • Design warm ups to increase feelings of lightness

    • Identify signs of rigidity, and offer intervention

    • Practice movement as a means of relaxation and joy

  • Play is the exploration of affordances. Becoming playful is the skill of asking ‘what could I do with this?’ again and again. Playing with objects, environments and words trains this skill.

    Live sessions explore what interrupts play, namely self-judgment, and how play also offers a means of learning and discovery

    Learning Goals

    • Design opportunities for play in your teaching

    • Identify unsuccessful play, and offer interventions

    • Practice play as a means of discovery and creativity

02 Communication

How bonds are formed and reformed

  • Conflict is the price of honesty. Build the confidence to say difficult things by learning how to repair ruptures in relationships.

    This module teaches the theory and practice of conflict resolution. Learn to identify conflict patterns of withdrawal and confrontation, and explore a variety of strategies for repair.

    Live sessions will inspiration from the mindful debates of the Buddhist Nalanda school; a challenging and highly enjoyable approach to exploring conflict – without taking it personally.

    Learning Goals

    • Correctly identify the two types of rupture, and their sub-types

    • Build confidence applying repair strategies

    • Practice disagreement in the form of debate

  • Teachers often give generic feedback, words that could apply to anyone. This module uses research from phenomenology to discover what a student is thinking, feeling and imagining.

    Live sessions teach how to use interviews and interventions to work with a student’s felt sense. Assignments explore the use of the felt sense in decision making.

    Learning Goals

    • Learn how to ask questions that invoke direct experiences

    • Learn how to cue in response to these experiences.

    • Explore your own felt sense in relation to challenges and fun

03 Mind

How attention creates satisfaction

  • A quieter kind of joy has remarkable wellbeing and performance benefits. Learn the conditions that produce peace of mind.

    Live sessions and assignments teach simple mindfulness practices for easy access to serenity.

    Learning Goals

    • Recognise signs of disquietude in yourself and others

    • Lead a short, accessible and enjoyable meditation session

    • Integrate peace of mind practices into your work

  • Attention has a powerful effect on learning. This module explores three principles of attention, and how to practice with them to improve enjoyment, satisfaction and outcomes.

    Live sessions and assignments teach the development and use of concentration, sensory clarity and equanimity.

    Learning Goals

    • Identify signs of low concentration, sensory clarity and equanimity, and offer interventions.

    • Integrate mindfulness skills within your curriculum and learning environments.

    • Practice mindfulness skills through meditation and movement exercises.

04 Design

How to create affective learning

  • We regulate emotions by being in them. Challenges are emotionally rich, offering opportunities to experience joy, frustration and other strong emotions. This module uses challenge as a means of facilitating personal and social learning.

    Live sessions explore group challenges, and the allocation of prestige. Assignments help you to develop and communicate what you value as a teacher and human.

    Learning Goals

    • Observe how shame, pride and hubris affect movement, learning and social behaviour

    • Design a variety of safe-enough, inclusive challenges

    • Clarify your values, and how to communicate them

  • Engagement is the level of absorption in a task. Meeting basic needs increases engagement, producing higher energy and intrinsic motivation.

    This module offers learning strategies that meet those needs whilst relating to emotions of joy, interest and love.

    Live sessions show you how to use errorless learning, relevance realisation and social design to increase feelings of competence, autonomy and relatedness.

    Learning Goals

    • Identify six types of motivation, and their causes

    • Practice teaching tasks for increasing engagement

    • Design engagement strategies in your own learning environments

Live sessions

Learn, participate and explore amongst a group of peers every two weeks.

14-day challenges

Observe and experience emotions like joy, serenity and pride first hand.

Joy Practice event — March 2027

Joy Study attendees are invited to a weekend workshop in Croatia for a heavily discounted price.

Teaching labs & co-design

Practice, design and test new skills with a cohort of movement professionals.

Portfolio

Collect your insights, designs and feedback into a single document to keep.

Move, Observe, Design

Engage with theory through movement practices, observations in the real world and creative design tasks.

HOW IT WORKS

“I would absolutely recommend this training to anyone who teaches movement. It not only deepens your understanding of movement and pedagogy, but also supports you in creating more thoughtful, embodied learning environments.”

Karl Baaré, parkour and high school teacher

“Flynn is highly skilled in supporting other people making sense of their own thoughts If you work with him, you will get high commitment, high quality material and precious insights on mundane and on deep topics of life."

Mariana Hilgert, dancer and movement teacher

"Flynn doesn't just give you information. He supports you in cultivating wisdom. He provides a learning environment where you can grow and find your own answers."

Simon Maurer, psychologist and movement teacher

HOW YOU’RE ASSESSED

No exams. You'll build a portfolio — all of your assignments, challenges, feedback from Flynn, yourself and the other participants live in there. There’s no certificate — it’s just about becoming more aware, capable and connecting as a teacher.

  • A monthly payment of 183 EUR or a flat payment of 1464 EUR are the options given. Both are processed through Stripe.

    Monthly payments begin on the day that you enroll through Stripe, and finish after eight total payments.

    Invoices are sent automatically for monthly payments, and flat payments need to ask for one.

  • An average of 3-5 hours per week is spread over daily practice, observation tasks, assignments and meetings.

    Meetings are held every other Saturday at 10am CET for 2.5-3 hours starting October 3rd. An additional meeting can be set up if there is a need.

    A weekly ‘campfire’ offers the opportunity to work alongside the cohort to complete the assignments and practice the skills.

  • If enough people join the cohort, two meeting options will be given for individuals with timezone differences and scheduling priorities. Meetings will also be recorded, and feedback sessions can be organised on an individual basis for a nominal fee.

  • No. Emotions are the real foundation of movement and learning, and studying them makes an excellent starting point.

    There will be some movement practices, but nothing more than you are willing to give is demanded from you.

  • Anyone working with human movement.

    The Joy Study has worked with dozens of different professions, including physiotherapists, a psychiatric doctor, music teachers, climbing instructors, primary school educators, personal trainers, parkour coaches, and more.

    Because the Joy Study works with universal principles, it attracts a diverse group of participants who are united by the desire to do good in the world.

  • Yes, under three conditions:

    • Teams with multiple participants will receive a 10% discount with each additional member, up to 30%. Two team members will both receive 20% discounts, three members 30%.

    • Participants from lower GDP countries receive relative pricing, calculated with an AI.

    • Two scholarship spots are available for 50% off the asking price. Please email me explaining why you qualify for a scholarship position.

  • No-questions-asked refunds are available for the first two weeks. Given extraneous circumstances, payments may be paused.

  • LGBTQI+ has a home in the Joy Study. Religious and political beliefs are also welcome in the Joy Study. However, beliefs that justify or encourage harm to others will not be tolerated.

    You are encouraged to report behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable. This will lead to action with appropriate transparency.

    In the event that someone is asked to leave, they will receive a refund representing the percentage of the course they have yet to complete.

FAQ