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In the event you’ve spent any time within the yoga world, you’ve probably observed that one of the vital common ways to access what’s described as a “deeper” or “more profound” understanding of yoga is enrolling in yoga teacher training (YTT).

But your love of practicing yoga just a few times every week doesn’t necessarily equate to wanting to check all points of yoga. Most classes don’t go much beyond asana, that are the physical postures. This is only one component of the practice. Once you study to turn into a yoga teacher, you furthermore mght explore the philosophy, the respiratory techniques, the meditations, the self-work, the give up to the practice, and lots of other teachings from the traditional tradition.

Learning is a necessary a part of your yoga practice and ought to be a lifelong process. Even in the event you select to check yoga in additional detail, it doesn’t mean that you should teach it, have to teach it, or should teach it. And there’s nothing improper with that. But before you commit 1000’s of dollars to a YTT program, it is best to understand more about yoga and its philosophy so you’ll be able to discern whether this can be a commitment that you should make.

4 Things You Have to Know Before You Enroll in YTT

There are several essential things it’s worthwhile to consider prior to enrolling in a yoga teacher training.

1. Start With Free Resources

In the event you’re inquisitive about yoga, pause before you set down a deposit on a yoga teacher training. Explore some free resources to see in the event you just like the non-asana points before making a bigger commitment. Read articles, books, and blog posts about various points of yoga. Take heed to yoga podcasts. There are even video lectures on the philosophy and history of yoga available at no cost online. In the event you find that you have got little to little interest in doing this, consider it a pink flag.

Chances are you’ll love the non-asana side and judge to explore it more. Or you might realize that yoga beyond the physical practice isn’t for you. But start small so you’ll be able to truly understand your interest and bandwidth. You possibly can even explore mini-trainings on a selected topic, akin to breathwork. As a substitute of jumping right into a training, you’ll be able to take a two-hour workshop, a weekend course, or an ongoing online program that’s 20 somewhat than 200 hours.

2. Understand That Teaching Yoga is a Commitment

There’s a standard assumption that in the event you’re good at asana, you’ll be good at teaching yoga. This couldn’t be farther from the reality. Becoming a capable yoga teacher demands consistency, discipline, humility, exertions, sacrifice, non-attachment, mindful presence, an attitude of service and lots of other attributes which are more necessary than having the ability to kick into Handstand.

For hundreds of years, people studied, practiced, and committed to bringing yoga into their on a regular basis lives with none pressure to turn into an authority. They studied with a yoga teacher for a very long time—a long time or perhaps a lifetime—with no considered becoming a teacher. They learned the nuances of asana in addition to find out how to engage in on a regular basis yoga. Those that went on to show others were first chosen by their teacher after which became an apprentice, assisted classes, attended lectures, read and reflected on philosophical texts, engaged in thoughtful conversation, and stepped in to substitute when the teacher was indisposed.

It was not an option to enroll in a yoga teacher training and receive a teaching certificate after three months. But the best way the western capitalistic yoga system is currently designed, most yoga students are led to consider that the one approach to turn into a yoga teacher is by enrolling in yoga teacher training.

3. Know That Becoming a Yoga Teacher Takes Time

If teaching is the trail you select to take at the top of your training, you’ll need time to evolve as a teacher. Receiving a certificate doesn’t make you a teacher. Yoga is like several other profession—it requires dedication, patience, time, discipline, and drive to do more and be higher.

Traditionally, yoga teachers were “tested” to prove their competence and skills before they were allowed to show a category—for the sake of the coed and the teacher. Teaching anything is a responsibility, especially when people entrust you with their body and their being. It’s an amazing honor to give you the option to serve.

Ask yourself why you should teach. It’s not about focusing only on those parts of yoga that you simply like or make you are feeling good. Just one in 1000’s becomes a “celebrity” yoga teacher and few even make a living exclusively from teaching yoga. Becoming a yoga teacher isn’t an escape out of your life or a fast ticket to anywhere.

4. Take a Training If It Feels Right for You, Without the Pressure to Teach

In the event you decide to take yoga teacher training for reasons which are best for you, you may approach the top and realize that you simply don’t wish to teach or that you simply would somewhat spend more time studying. In either case, that’s great! Your practice isn’t lesser in any way since you’re not a yoga teacher. The pleasure of being a student of a subject for all times is something we don’t pause and consider enough. Even in the event you decide to teach, it is best to remain primarily a student.

Teach in the event you feel that you simply’re called to achieve this and only in the event you’re willing to place within the work to maintain it true to yoga—and true to you. But only you’ll be able to determine in the event you truly want or have to teach yoga. Feel no shame in the event you opt to never teach yoga. Learn to acknowledge how FOMO, peer pressure, pack mentality, and even capitalism, are subtly at play here.

YTT remains to be a helpful learning experience. You possibly can do a teacher training as a study program and never teach an asana class ever and it could be no less valid. Don’t let anyone persuade you that the one approach to study yoga is to turn into a teacher.

About Our Contributor

Arundhati Baitmangalkar is an Indian immigrant yoga teacher and the creator and host of the Let’s Talk Yoga podcast, a free continuing education resource for yoga teachers. Baitmangalkar has been teaching yoga for 18 years and owns a studio, Aham Yoga, in Seattle. She’s keen about raising the bar for yoga teacher education. She offers quite a lot of online continuing education and mentorship for teachers. She’s also a Bollywood choreographer, former skilled dancer, and the owner of BollyWorks, a house for Bollywood dance. She shares her passion of yoga through her podcast, blog, studio, trainings, YouTube, and Instagram.