“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Heading out the door? Learn this text on the brand new Outdoors+ app obtainable now on iOS units for members!
>”,”title”:”in-content-cta”,”sort”:”hyperlink”}}”>Obtain the app.
The primary time I walked right into a yoga studio, I used to be in search of a unique health routine. Nothing extra.
It was 2018 and I used to be residing in San Francisco. I shortly fell in love with a category at CorePower Yoga known as Yoga Sculpt, which was a mix of yoga, weights, and cardio. Appreciating the impact it had on my thoughts in addition to my physique, I fell arduous sufficient for it to coach as a Yoga Sculpt teacher. By that summer season, I used to be instructing two courses per week.
I’d additionally fallen for the studio, the place I felt a deep sense of neighborhood. I started spending all of my free time there, and after I was requested to take a administration function, I went all in. I’d simply misplaced my job as a content material supervisor, so the timing couldn’t have been extra aligned.
I hadn’t deliberate on enrolling in one other coaching whereas I used to be adjusting to my function on the studio and instructing twice per week, however by some means I discovered myself enrolling in an eight-week 200-hour yoga trainer coaching (YTT) via CorePower.
From the second I made that call, it appeared like every part in my life began to alter at an unprecedented tempo. Abruptly my days have been consumed by yoga.
My 200-Hour Yoga Trainer Coaching
The coaching required us to satisfy three evenings per week for 3 hours. It was fast-paced, however our two lead trainers and their assistant coaches reassured us that we have been precisely the place we have been alleged to be and inspired us to belief the method.
My Introduction to 200 YTT
The first focus of the 200 YTT was to discover ways to educate CorePower’s set sequence, which is a “Degree 1” energy vinyasa yoga class consisting of a collection of the identical poses taught in the very same order every time. Our curriculum was designed to assist us memorize the set sequence in addition to study cueing and respiration formulation, hands-on changes, yoga philosophy, chakras, primary Sanskrit, anatomy, prenatal yoga, and the enterprise of yoga.
With no time to lose, we dove straight into training tips on how to educate. The sequence was damaged down into 11 sections, every containing a number of poses. Having discovered formulation for cueing and breathwork in my Yoga Sculpt coaching, I felt assured in my skill to steer college students via a number of of the essential poses, together with Solar Salutation A and B. However I wanted to observe having a newbie’s thoughts as we explored instructing much less acquainted poses and transitions and discovered the underlying why behind the order of the sections.
We completed memorizing the sequence within the first three weeks of the coaching.
By week 4, we went deeper into anatomy and changes. I used to be additionally required to look at courses, which implies I sat in the back of the room and took cautious notes on the cues, pacing, and general expertise as one other trainer led college students via their observe. I began to note delicate issues I hadn’t been conscious of earlier than I started coaching, like have been the lights too dim or too vibrant? Was the music too distracting or simply proper? I discovered myself being overly vital of sure issues.
Later within the coaching, we practiced instructing in small teams. We acquired suggestions from our trainers on “glows and grows,” or issues we did effectively and issues we may enhance upon. That suggestions was important for serving to us enhance, though when it was my flip to show, I at all times felt like my coronary heart would beat out of my chest. It’s a sense that I typically nonetheless expertise after I stand in entrance of a category, though it dissipates after I keep in mind to focus much less on myself and extra on my college students.
Non secular Sparks Fly
Given the limitation of 200 hours, we targeted totally on asana, or the bodily postures. However we additionally coated some non secular and philosophical features of yoga within the coaching, and that’s what most captured my consideration.
Throughout week 5, we discovered in regards to the chakras, that are the seven vitality factors in our physique that run alongside a central channel. And every week, we have been anticipated to show in homework and studying assignments on yoga philosophy, together with the yamas and niyamas. Our publicity to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra got here from studying the translations included in the back of our manuals, though we have been assigned to learn The Inside Custom of Yoga by Michael Stone, a psychotherapist and trainer of yoga and Buddhism, and that provided some extra perception into yoga philosophy.
There was one lecture that I vividly recall. In it, our trainers referred to “little s and massive S.” The “little s” is what we understand as our self—our self-image or ego. The “huge S” is our true nature or pure consciousness, which a number of the lecturers translated as our spirit or soul. To this present day, this is likely one of the ideas I depend on most for self-reflection.
We utilized what we have been studying by participating in a Karma Yoga Venture. My fellow trainees and I volunteered at a homeless shelter and helped put together meals and handed them out, an expertise that offered us the chance to attach with one another and the bigger neighborhood whereas demonstrating that a part of residing your yoga is being of service to others.
Our coaching additionally required us to attend courses at completely different studios. I hadn’t anticipated this to be such an integral a part of my understanding of yoga philosophy, however l will always remember attending a category at Love Story Yoga within the Mission District of San Francisco the place we chanted mantras in Sanskrit earlier than we started shifting our our bodies. On the time, as a result of it was so completely different from CorePower’s teachings, the chanting felt very on the market for me. Little did I do know a seed was being planted in my soul.
Studying to Educate Poses
The eight weeks went shortly. Along with the lectures and homework, I took round 60 studio courses throughout that point.
Within the final week of our 200-hour coaching, my classmates and I ready for last written exams and took half in a “Convey a Newbie” evening. As lecturers in coaching, we have been anticipated to facilitate an inclusive and well-rounded class atmosphere for somebody who had little to no expertise with yoga. We guided the scholars into poses with none of us messing up our cues or forgetting any sections. Afterward, the newcomers gushed in regards to the class, which we took as a mirrored image of how well-prepared we have been to show.
The instructing instruments have been particular to CorePower’s sequence, which I discovered to be an clever manner of studying tips on how to safely ship cues and adapt the observe to the wants of scholars in a supportive method.
On the day I acquired my 200-hour certificates, my classmates and I commemorated the event by taking images in enjoyable poses. I celebrated with headstand, a pose I used to be proud to observe as a result of I had not too long ago discovered how.
However I knew my yoga journey was nonetheless at the start. My 200 YTT had given me the instruments to show a secure and complete asana class, however I used to be nonetheless largely at midnight and interested by yoga scriptures, philosophy, pranayama (breathwork), and meditation.
Just a few years later, I moved to South Lake Tahoe, California. As earlier than, I discovered a neighborhood at a yoga studio the place I taught some courses. It was a boutique studio, and with out the foundations and requirements of CorePower, I discovered myself turning into extra artistic and exploring a unique instructing voice.
As my skill to steer others via asana progressed, I knew that I nonetheless had a lot extra to study. I felt a void. I used to be additionally instructing however barely training so the voice of imposter syndrome crept in. I continually requested myself, do my college students really feel related with the observe of yoga past the bodily? Ought to I be doing extra to share that with them? Can I name myself a yoga trainer after I can’t even preserve a constant private observe?
On the identical time, I knew that I used to be being pulled elsewhere.
My 300-Hour Yoga Trainer Coaching
The subsequent chapter in my story started with a Google search. One evening I typed “birthplace of yoga” on my keyboard and the small city of Rishikesh popped up. I spent hours watching YouTube movies in regards to the place often called the “yoga capital of the world.”
I felt instantly drawn to this vacation spot and started in search of yoga colleges that have been primarily based there. The Himalayan Yoga Affiliation (HYA) appeared to align with every part I used to be in search of. Over 27 days, I’d practice for 300 hours in hatha, Ashtanga, pranayama, meditation, Ayurveda, anatomy, alignment, and yoga philosophy.
“That is it,” I believed. “I’m lastly making it occur.”
My Introduction to 300 YTT
Many of the nervousness I felt in regards to the coaching was soothed by the truth that one other yoga trainer I knew had agreed to hitch me on the journey to India. On March 1, 2023, the 2 of us and the remaining college students in our 300-hour yoga trainer coaching have been welcomed by our 4 lecturers with a hearth ceremony. It ended with kirtan, an act of devotion which entails chanting mantras in Sanskrit. It took just a few songs for us newcomers to really feel snug singing, clapping, dancing, and chanting with one another, since we’d solely met just a few hours prior. It was a fantastic technique to immerse ourselves within the coaching.
The next day, we have been instantly thrown into the deep finish with a jam-packed schedule and what felt like data overload. We began simply after daybreak with nasal cleaning practices, akin to jala neti and sutra neti, adopted by pranayama, meditation, and hatha yoga. These practices bolstered that yoga isn’t only a bodily observe however a complete system of practices that features bodily postures in addition to respiration methods, cleaning practices, and way of life changes.
By late morning, I used to be famished. In between philosophy and anatomy courses, we took a break for a strictly vegetarian lunch with plenty of lentils, potatoes, veggies, and rice. There was chai, however I missed espresso. I typically struggled to focus throughout the post-lunch class, wishing I may take a nap or sip an espresso.
There have been two yoga asana courses a day, they usually weren’t precisely a stroll within the park, which meant I went via lots of Tiger Balm. The coaching ended at 7 p.m. with alignment and Ashtanga, and at evening I used to be bodily and mentally exhausted. I used to be studying what felt like a lifetime’s price of knowledge and my physique was nonetheless making an attempt to regulate to the bodily observe.
I discovered myself fully overwhelmed.
My favourite class was the late-morning philosophy lecture. Our trainer had an aura about him that lit up your complete room. He taught ideas about yoga that I had by no means heard of earlier than and that additionally utilized to a number of Jap religions, together with Hinduism and Jainism. I used to be fascinated by samsara, the wheel of life, the place we’re all repeatedly experiencing beginning, dying, and rebirth. I discovered about moksha, which is breaking free from the cycle of samsara and attaining the very best type of human life wherein our Self or Soul turns into one with the divine. It was one other huge S second.
These ideas of divinity and reincarnation opened my eyes to new methods of considering life. I couldn’t assist however marvel if these ideas could be taken significantly in my courses again dwelling. How would my college students reply?
A Utterly Completely different Understanding of Yoga
The coaching in India uncovered me to features of yoga I had identified nothing about. Maybe this could have been no shock, since I got here to India with the intention to discover extra of the non secular aspect of yoga.
First, there was the bodily observe of yoga. Most Hatha courses within the West are slower-paced and beginner-friendly. The hatha courses at HYA felt like boot camp. I didn’t know you could possibly do a push-up in Wheel Pose till, effectively, I did a push-up in Wheel Pose.
I had solely practiced Ashtanga a handful of occasions previous to my coaching in India. It consists of a number of collection of set sequence of poses, starting the first collection adopted by the intermediate collection. My 300-hour YTT coated the intermediate collection of Ashtanga yoga, which focuses on backbends. However having little or no background within the main collection, I confessed to my trainer that I felt fully misplaced.
Shocked, he requested, “Didn’t you do the first collection in your 200-hour trainer coaching?” I used to be embarrassed to confess that I hadn’t. Just a few others within the 300-hour had the identical expertise, and fortuitously our trainer was variety sufficient to interrupt down the poses within the main collection for the primary few weeks earlier than shifting on to the intermediate collection.
Apart from being pushed to the bodily restrict with the asana practices, I used to be blown away by how very important pranayama, meditation, Ayurveda, and yoga philosophy have been to the custom of yoga and people who practiced yoga in India. We discovered a complete pranayama sequence, and I witnessed the development of my respiration as the times glided by.
We have been additionally uncovered to completely different meditation methods and have been requested to learn portion of the Yoga Sutra. Our trainer had us chant every sutra in Sanskrit earlier than diving into its that means.
All the pieces appeared so disciplined, from the schedule to the foundations. There was how and what and why it is best to eat, in keeping with Ayurveda, which is the sister science to yoga. There was additionally what was thought of the perfect occasions to observe pranayama and meditation.
The yoga way of life in India was an entire 180 from the yoga way of life I used to be used to within the U.S.
Studying to Educate Yoga
Whereas we discovered numerous new expertise and an enormous quantity of knowledge, we didn’t discover ways to educate any of it. In reality, we didn’t educate in any respect. I requested my trainer if we have been going to obtain suggestions or observe instructing. “That’s what your last examination is for,” he mentioned.
Closing exams at HYA took a complete week. There have been written assessments for anatomy and philosophy, and verbal assessments for pranayama, meditation, hatha, and Ashtanga. The hatha examination additionally required us to show a brief class that included joint actions, Solar Salutations, ahead bends, twists, and inversions.
For the Ashtanga examination, we have been break up into teams to show your complete intermediate collection. Fortunately, we have been allowed to have our notes in entrance of us. It was our first time instructing since we’d discovered the collection. I can’t think about how this could have gone with out my notes. With gratitude, I handed.
The Trainer—and Scholar—I Am Right this moment
My two YTT experiences have been equally transformational however in fully alternative ways. Every has made me not solely a greater trainer however a a lot better scholar.
Yoga within the West has introduced me nothing however optimistic experiences and opened my eyes to aware residing. However throughout the 4 weeks I spent increasing my observe in India, I got here to grasp that yoga is a steady bodily and non secular observe that’s continually unfolding effectively past the partitions of any studio. With that understanding, my observe and I each underwent a real metamorphosis. One wherein life itself grew to become the college.
RELATED: I Discovered Yoga in India. Then I Did My Yoga Trainer Coaching at CorePower.