So you’re thinking about investing a few thousand dollars and a few hundred hours and deepening your practice, perhaps to become a teacher and join thousands of others who are officially certified to teach yoga. It’s a beautiful, special gift. I’m still on a high from my eight-week, 200-hour teacher training, which I completed at Hot Yoga and Massage in Newport News, VA under an incredible teacher. It was one of the most life-changing, thought-provoking, time-consuming experiences of my life, and I wouldn’t trade one single minute of it.
Here are 10 things I picked up on throughout my journey to get my certification:
You get a little taste of everything.
You won’t come out of the training with expert knowledge of chakras or anatomy, especially at the 200-hour level. You’ll get the basics, and it’s up to you to find your niche, find what attracts you, and then do research on your own. Read about it. Attend workshops. Eventually hold workshops. Have conversations with yoga teachers. Watch Youtube Videos. Read blogs. Absorb as much information as you can.
Yoga will become your LIFE.
Think: living, breathing, dreaming, yoga. You’ll find yourself doing seated cat/cow in your chair at work. You’ll teach to your cat, you’ll teach in your car, you’ll teach your poor roommate until she’s sore and can’t do any more yoga lunges and hates you a little bit. Your coworkers will call you out for “showing your yoga.” “I can’t, I have yoga” will become your go-to answer when asked to make plans. People will stop asking you what you’re doing on the weekends because they already know the answer.
You’ll form incredible bonds with your fellow trainees
In the beginning, we were just 11 very different people who came to yoga for different reasons. In the end, we discovered a world where 10 beautiful, young women and one wonderful, fascinating man came together without judgement and without fear and became yoked (get it—yoga=union) by the thread of yoga. We laughed, we cried, we had deep discussions about life, we motivated each other, cheered each other on, supported each other and loved each other deeply.
Here are 10 things I picked up on throughout my journey to get my certification:
You get a little taste of everything.
You won’t come out of the training with expert knowledge of chakras or anatomy, especially at the 200-hour level. You’ll get the basics, and it’s up to you to find your niche, find what attracts you, and then do research on your own. Read about it. Attend workshops. Eventually hold workshops. Have conversations with yoga teachers. Watch Youtube Videos. Read blogs. Absorb as much information as you can.
Yoga will become your LIFE.
Think: living, breathing, dreaming, yoga. You’ll find yourself doing seated cat/cow in your chair at work. You’ll teach to your cat, you’ll teach in your car, you’ll teach your poor roommate until she’s sore and can’t do any more yoga lunges and hates you a little bit. Your coworkers will call you out for “showing your yoga.” “I can’t, I have yoga” will become your go-to answer when asked to make plans. People will stop asking you what you’re doing on the weekends because they already know the answer.
You’ll form incredible bonds with your fellow trainees
In the beginning, we were just 11 very different people who came to yoga for different reasons. In the end, we discovered a world where 10 beautiful, young women and one wonderful, fascinating man came together without judgement and without fear and became yoked (get it—yoga=union) by the thread of yoga. We laughed, we cried, we had deep discussions about life, we motivated each other, cheered each other on, supported each other and loved each other deeply.
You will mess up
Your toes will become your fingers and your fingers will become your toes. You’ll get strange looks in the middle of pigeon when you tell students to put their left knee behind their left shin. You’ll completely skip sun salutations. You’ll speak really fast out of nerves, and before you know it you have ten minutes to guide your students through 15 more poses. Trust me, it’s part of the learning process.
Your personal practice will deepen
Some people go through teacher training simply to deepen their practice, and that’s perfectly okay. And by deepen, I don’t mean you’ll suddenly be able to nail the crow pose you’ve been working on (I’m still trying); I mean you’ll be more mindful of your practice, beyond the physical asanas. You’ll take what you’ve learned in training and apply it, breathing deeper, turning inward and finding yourself in your breath, your intention and your movements, both on and off the mat.
Your toes will become your fingers and your fingers will become your toes. You’ll get strange looks in the middle of pigeon when you tell students to put their left knee behind their left shin. You’ll completely skip sun salutations. You’ll speak really fast out of nerves, and before you know it you have ten minutes to guide your students through 15 more poses. Trust me, it’s part of the learning process.
Your personal practice will deepen
Some people go through teacher training simply to deepen their practice, and that’s perfectly okay. And by deepen, I don’t mean you’ll suddenly be able to nail the crow pose you’ve been working on (I’m still trying); I mean you’ll be more mindful of your practice, beyond the physical asanas. You’ll take what you’ve learned in training and apply it, breathing deeper, turning inward and finding yourself in your breath, your intention and your movements, both on and off the mat.
You learn by practicing
Don’t let your personal practice fall by the wayside as you become absorbed in the training. There’s a reason my teacher asked us to attend or observe five classes a week. You’ll pick up on various teachers’ ways of cueing poses, and you’ll start to incorporate those into your own teaching. After you learn the sequence, you won’t look at a yoga class the same. You’ll be hyper aware of the lighting, the music, the flow, the heat, if the teacher is distracted, the energy in the room and so much more.
Human bodies are fascinating
I’m the last person you want to be learning anatomy from, but it’s definitely an essential part of yoga teaching, and you’ll start to look at the human body much differently after a few hours of class. The body is this fascinating vessel, and each one is so unique and moves in so many different ways. You’ll learn why some people are gifted with open hips or flexible hamstrings and how a stretch in the hips can change your entire spinal column. You’ll learn how to adjust people properly to avoid injuries, and you’ll learn why some bodies just aren’t meant to move in those poses, and that’s okay.
Pay attention to the business of yoga
There were times when all of us would go into deep discussions about running a business. Because that’s what you are, after you graduate. You’re a business, an independent contractor. You’re liable if someone gets hurt. You’re responsible for getting all the licenses. You’re trusted by your students to guide them through practice safely. There’s a lot that can happen in that one hour class. And there’s a lot that happens behind the scenes, especially if you’re thinking about opening a studio. My advice: make sure your teacher is an experienced business man or woman and has spent several years running the place. And think about what you’re worth. After all, you’re dolling out a few thousand dollars for this training, not to mention the cost of books, equipment, gas to and from the studio, etc.
Your priorities will change
This is one of the most natural shifts I’ve found throughout yoga training. If you’re serious about adopting yoga as lifestyle, you’ll change your eating and drinking habits, you’ll open up your mind to the beauty and optimism of the world. You’ll find yourself giving others advice that sounds pretty darn good and you won’t know where it came from (although you’ll still have a hard time taking your own advice). But that’s not to say that you’re a bad person if you occasionally do the late night McDonald’s run or the day-long tailgate. You’ll find a balance, and you’ll realize what’s important to you.
Don’t let your personal practice fall by the wayside as you become absorbed in the training. There’s a reason my teacher asked us to attend or observe five classes a week. You’ll pick up on various teachers’ ways of cueing poses, and you’ll start to incorporate those into your own teaching. After you learn the sequence, you won’t look at a yoga class the same. You’ll be hyper aware of the lighting, the music, the flow, the heat, if the teacher is distracted, the energy in the room and so much more.
Human bodies are fascinating
I’m the last person you want to be learning anatomy from, but it’s definitely an essential part of yoga teaching, and you’ll start to look at the human body much differently after a few hours of class. The body is this fascinating vessel, and each one is so unique and moves in so many different ways. You’ll learn why some people are gifted with open hips or flexible hamstrings and how a stretch in the hips can change your entire spinal column. You’ll learn how to adjust people properly to avoid injuries, and you’ll learn why some bodies just aren’t meant to move in those poses, and that’s okay.
Pay attention to the business of yoga
There were times when all of us would go into deep discussions about running a business. Because that’s what you are, after you graduate. You’re a business, an independent contractor. You’re liable if someone gets hurt. You’re responsible for getting all the licenses. You’re trusted by your students to guide them through practice safely. There’s a lot that can happen in that one hour class. And there’s a lot that happens behind the scenes, especially if you’re thinking about opening a studio. My advice: make sure your teacher is an experienced business man or woman and has spent several years running the place. And think about what you’re worth. After all, you’re dolling out a few thousand dollars for this training, not to mention the cost of books, equipment, gas to and from the studio, etc.
Your priorities will change
This is one of the most natural shifts I’ve found throughout yoga training. If you’re serious about adopting yoga as lifestyle, you’ll change your eating and drinking habits, you’ll open up your mind to the beauty and optimism of the world. You’ll find yourself giving others advice that sounds pretty darn good and you won’t know where it came from (although you’ll still have a hard time taking your own advice). But that’s not to say that you’re a bad person if you occasionally do the late night McDonald’s run or the day-long tailgate. You’ll find a balance, and you’ll realize what’s important to you.
Weird shit will happen
And you’ll totally embrace it. As long as you remove all judgement and criticism, you’ll have a good time with a weirdness.
A few examples of the weird shit I experienced:
And you’ll totally embrace it. As long as you remove all judgement and criticism, you’ll have a good time with a weirdness.
A few examples of the weird shit I experienced:
- Chanting meditations and giant energy balls bouncing off the wall
- Climbing on top of one another to do hands-on adjustments
- Frolicking through fields with llamas, goats, horses and great danes
- Figuring out what you were in a past life
- Getting into heated discussions about pronouncing the long a and the short a in Sanskrit