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Ever thought about becoming a yoga teacher?

For those who have been personally touched by yoga, there will come a time when the idea of becoming a yoga instructor will pass through your mind. And so you begin searching for a yoga teacher training program that will best serve you. Yoga teacher training (YTT) at first glance looks like a life changing experience. But what no one ever tells you is the challenge that awaits. 

“Teaching is not an imposition of the teacher’s will over that of the pupil, not at all. Teaching starts with freedom and ends with freedom.” ~ Vanda Scaravelli

1. You need to do your research

This is incredibly important. Before choosing a yoga teacher training program, you need to make sure it is of the style that suits you. For example, if you know nothing about Bikram yoga, you probably shouldn’t be doing YTT for it. Choose the discipline that resonates most closely with your heart, (i.e. the yoga you know and love). The easiest way to do this of course, is to ask members of your studio where they have completed their training and what their experience was.

If you don’t dig deep enough, you will never find the program that is tailored to your wants and needs.

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2. You will never be “ready”

Sure, you might think you have done your research, read the yoga history books, and are mentally and physically ready for what you are signing yourself up for. However, regardless of your level of experience and understanding of yoga philosophy, you are not going to slide through the training program. No one does. There is a new challenge every single day, and not just because you are met with a pose you haven’t yet mastered.

3. The struggle is real

YTT is a mind and body struggle. Firstly, you are going to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of education. You are going to be meditating, studying, and doing yoga throughout the day. Lessons are going to require consistent work to master. Because there will be things you don’t immediately understand or cannot do perfectly from the beginning, you are going to sometimes think you’re not good enough.

It is usually around Week 2, when you feel like the practice is getting worse. All the toxins have been pushed out during the brutal endurance of Week 1. But by Week 3 and 4, you have reconnected with yourself, in a new place. Thus, the diamond in the rough yoga teacher who understands perfection is not absolutely necessary!

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4. You will make friends – really incredible friends

People who struggle together, laugh, cry, and groan together too. Yoga unites souls, because you are gradually chipping away at your own outer shell to let the light shine through. The heart-opening experience makes you feel extremely close to the program instructor as well as the other students around you. At YTT, you meet people who may become instructors at the studio where you want to work, as well as people you continue to practice with throughout the years to come.

YTT friendships last forever.

5. The challenge is humbling

Again, no matter how much you think you know about yoga and yourself, there is so much more you don’t understand. Yoga Teacher Training is incredibly humbling, because you suddenly grasp how much ego you had put into your practice before. Ego, though, doesn’t fly at YTT! Ego is shot down, because it doesn’t serve you. You start over and become more open and accepting of the transformative abilities of yoga. You become an empty cup that never feels full. And that is a wonderful thing to be as a teacher.

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Yoga teacher training is something you cannot truly prepare yourself for…

The program will be both eye-opening and as challenging as it is fun. You will find periods of intense enlightenment, friendships, and a true appreciation for the beauty that is yoga.

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