I am doing a Yoga Teacher Training! | Part I

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, this won’t be a big surprise. I’ve been planning to do a yoga teacher training for over a year and in August it’s finally time. In this blog post I will write about why I decided to do a yoga teacher training, how I chose the training and how a training is organized!

Yoga Lehrer Ausbildung

Why I decided to do a Yoga Teacher Training

When I was about 17 years old (wow, that’s already six years ago), I discovered Yoga. In the following four years I practiced unregularly, without a particular routine. However, for over two years I have been practicing Yoga very consistently, meaning about 3-6 times a week. My focus shifted from intense weight lifting to lots of Yoga with some functional training and cardio once a week. If you’re only starting with Yoga now or are nor sure on how to begin, make sure to read my blog post on how you can start with Yoga.

I love Yoga so much because it is way more than just the practice on the matt. Unfortunately, many people experience it as a workout at first which misses the intention of the practice completely. Yoga is only 10% what happens on the matt – the rest happens in your daily life. Before I make this too long, back to topic. Since I’ve been practicing Yoga passionately for a while now and can’t imagine my life without it anymore. I want to share my passion and get other people excited about Yoga, too.

Yoga is for everyone

I wholeheartedly believe that Yoga is for everyone. I often hear people say things like “Yoga is not for me”, despite they have only been to one Yoga class. For me, a Yoga lesson is really dependent on the Yoga teacher and preferences are different when it comes to the teaching style. In addition, it depends on the type of Yoga. There are plenty different forms of Yoga out there, e.g. Vinyasa, Hatha, Ashtanga, Kundalini, Yin and many more. Some people prefer dynamic movements with a lot of flowing. Others, however, enjoy meditative and slow movements with a lot of breath work much more. For all these different preferences there is a Yoga style which fits the needs. The only thing you have to do is try and find it!

To answer the question why I will do a Yoga Teacher Training, there are two points. One the one side I want to learn more about the Yoga philosophy – just for myself. I think it’s incredibly fascinating how many dimensions and aspects Yoga has to offer and how much there is to learn. As someone who enjoys learning I think it’s exciting how many levels the science of Yoga addresses and how it enables you to learn more about yourself. On the other side I also want to share my passion and teach Yoga. Though I am not planning to become a full-time Yoga Teacher, I still want to host a few lessons a week. I don’t know yet if I will do it directly after the training or if I will still need some more time. But the intention is there 🙂

How to choose the right training

Which criteria you use to select a training depends on your personal preferences and how much time you’re able and willing to spend. There a different models, e.g. in Germany there a often offers for trainings which last about a year and only take place on weekends.

Another option (the one I am going for) is to take a compressed 200h training which takes about 3-4 weeks full-time. It is very important that, if you want to go for this option, you check whether you would recieve a certificate of the Yoga Alliance afterwards. The Yoga Alliance Certificate is internationally accepted. I personally will do my Yoga Teacher Training in Bali, but of course you don’t have to travel to far to do it. I know plenty of options in Spain as well and if you have a look into it you might be able to find a training in your home country.

Bali Yoga Lehrer Ausbildung

For the 200h trainings there a different models offered. Some schools offer an all-inclusive package which means that the training, food and accommodation are already included in the price. This is more expensive, however you don’t need to worry about where to sleep and what to eat during the training. If that is not what you’re looking for, some schools also offer just the training itself.

Lastly you should really know your own preferences. What should the focus of your training be? Is a meditative practice in the training important to you? Which topics should be specifically addressed during the training? What are you interested in learning? If you look around the training’s website, you should be able to find answers on these questions. With a little research and ratings from former students you will be able to find a suitable training for yourself.

How does a Yoga Teacher Training look like?

This questions is hard to answer in a general way. I am also excluding trainings which last for a longer period of time here since I focused on 200h trainings which run for about 3-4 weeks during my research.

When you take a look at the websites you different offerings the training differs a little or a lot and also the time schedule doesn’t always look the same. Often you can find an example of a daily schedule, which gives you an impression on how the day is structured. Each day should contain different units like a personal practice, yoga philosophy/ theory and teaching practice. To give you an impression on how such a schedule can look like, here are two schedules compared:

How my schedule will look like
Another training’s schedule

As you can see, there are slight differences in the schedule. However, don’t worry too much about it. Every 200h training has to fulfill the 200h and also cover a certain amount of topics.

Which criteria did I set for my training and what did I decide for?

For me it was really important to experience yoga with a spiritual component. Meditation had to be actively included in the daily schedule for my training. It is really important to me since I meditate regularly already and want to deepen my practice. Furthermore I wanted a training where I really learn teach. This should be part of every teacher training, however there are still differences.

You only know 100% if you’ve made the right choice when you experience it. However, I am content with my decision and trust my intuition. Where exactly I will do my training, how I experience it and what I learn I will tackle in Part II of this series – stay tuned 🙂

5 1 vote
Article Rating
Follow:
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Instagram