I’m Doing Yoga Teacher Training

Today I’ m sharing some fun news on a decision that I made.

As you can probably tell from the title of this post and the graphic, I’ve decided that I’m doing yoga teacher training! I’m so excited that I’ve made this decision and I’m really looking forward to diving into everything that I’m going to learn about all things yoga.

Before I go more into the training, I thought that I’d share a bit about my yoga journey.

I had a co-worker (now friend) that had recently completed her own yoga teacher training (I actually went to one of her final “practice” classes before she finished) and started teaching at a studio not far from me. She knew I was going through a tough time with some sick family member and a recent breakup, and suggested I try the karma classes on Saturday afternoons. They were budget friendly and since a different teacher teaches each week, I got to “try out” quite a few of the teachers from the studio.

I was so grateful to have an hour each week to get on my mat and not think about anything else that was going on. I was pretty stressed out and it felt so good to have an hour where I didn’t think about hospitals or test results or being newly single. When I was in class the only thing I thought about was the pose and my breath.

That was back in 2012, and soon after I started going more often. 2013 to 2015 I was going to class 2 times per week and then practicing on my own at home a few times per week as well. I found that my favorite kinds of yoga were ashtanga and restorative.

Ashtanga is a set series of poses that you do in the same order every single time you practice. I remember one of the teachers I really liked talk about how it was a moving meditation. I didn’t understand what she meant by that at all in the beginning. Then I slowly started to get it. Because you’re doing the same poses in the same order each time, you start to remember which pose comes next and it just starts to flow. You learn to focus on your breath instead of the people on either side of you.

Restorative yoga is a much slower paced class. You only do 8 or 10 poses during the whole class, and you’re in them for five or ten minutes at a time. When I first heard what restorative classes were, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to go to one – it seemed so boring to me. Then my co-worker/friend talked me into trying one of her restorative classes, so I decided to go. It was anything but boring, and in fact the class was over before I knew it. I left feeling really relaxed and so much better than when I had walked into class. I wasn’t annoyed that I was “stuck” in a pose for so long before having to move onto the next one. Restorative yoga quickly became a favorite of mine after trying my first class.

When I started school full time in 2015 I only went to classes sporadically because of time and budget constraints. I would have loved to go more often, but it just wasn’t feasible. As a result I’ve shifted to more of a home practice. There have definitely been times that I’ve done less yoga, but in the end it’s one of those things that I kept coming back to. Even after a few months of not practicing I would crave the feeling of being in the moment and focusing on my breath.

For the last year or two the thought of doing a yoga teacher training was in the back of my mind. Last summer I considered an intensive training (4 weeks of yoga 5 days per week), but decided in the end that it wasn’t quite the right time. Looking back now I’m so glad that I didn’t do it then because I once again had a sick family member, and there’s no way that I could have committed that kind of time to yoga teacher training then.

A few weeks ago yoga teacher training again popped into my head, and I started considering it seriously. I knew that I wanted to do one that was spread out over a long period of time, so that ruled out any of the intensive trainings that were going to happen over the summer, so I looked forward to ones that started in the fall. I kept coming back to the same one at Passage Studios. I had talked to someone who had done her training there and she said she had a great experience. One of my favorite restorative yoga teachers did his training there. It was all starting to come together, so I decided to fill out the application and see what happened.

I got a phone call from one of the instructors a day or two later, and he filled me in on the details of the training. The more I heard the more it felt like the right thing for me. Over the weekend I finally made the decision the do the yoga teacher training and paid my deposit. I’m really excited that yoga teacher training is finally going to happen. It takes place September to March basically every other weekend, Friday night, and all day Saturday and Sunday. It’s going to be a very busy time, but I know that I’m going to learn a lot – both about myself and yoga.

Have you done yoga teacher training? Have any advice for me?