3 Things They Don’t Teach You at Yoga Teacher Training

Yoga teacher training covers a lot. During my 200-hour training, we covered everything from historical mythology to asana, philosophy, anatomy, business ideas, pranayama, the environment, and everything in between. I felt ready and thrilled to get out there and share all my potentially profitable new abilities and knowledge with my feature learners. There were a couple of things, though, that still amazed me once I began teaching. These three big ones stand out in my mind.

1. Prepare yourself for the silence.

This was mentioned while in my coaching, mainly in a brief discussion on how to manage silence and noise during meditations. I’m sure most ambitious yoga instructors (having taken numerous yoga sessions themselves) would take note of the point that silence is often a big part of the exercise. But I still think it should get a mention. A big mention, in fact-because there is such a big, big silence in some of the time between instructions.

I became a little bit overwhelmed.

I have always loved silent, and I often search for it out, so I thought this would be a non-issue for me. But I found that the first rare occasions I trained a category and the unavoidable silent moments arose (whether organized or unplanned), I experienced my existence being attracted away. I became a little bit overwhelmed.

I discovered that when you’re at the head of the course, you are the one holding the silent, so you have to be better be comfortable with it. It’s quite different from the silence you search for, or the silence you sometimes get yourself in with your loved ones. It’s something you will get used to over time as you teach more sessions. I did, and I now enjoy those moments, but I also wish I had been better psychologically ready.

2. Preparing for sessions is so much fun.

When I began my yoga teacher training, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to teach at all. I had been exercising yoga for about ten years and had never really had a single wish to teach. I just took the course to improve my own exercise and for personal development, which is a common motive for many individuals.

Looking back again, I think it was unavoidable that I was going to fall in love with teaching yoga. A big contributor to that certainty was the point that I found I love preparing my sessions. I observed the same from many of my same amazed and pleased colleagues as we developed our very first yoga sessions at the training, and it continues to be a major source of fun and growth for me.

3. Be adaptable in your lessons and be open to exceptional invitations.

As you start out in your teaching profession, you may find some unconventional offers to teach coming your way. On the day we covered the business part in my teaching, we discussed about the importance of making our opportunities by offering sessions however and wherever we could-whether that means outdoor sessions at a local recreation area, becoming a travelling yogi, or transforming our living room into small personal studios. But what about when you are welcomed to teach in a way you’re not acquainted with?

As you begin to teach, be as convenient as you can. If you enjoy planning for sessions as much as I do, you’ll find all kinds of difficulties and opportunities to push through. Don’t shy away from what you don’t know. If you have the time and will to learn it, you’ll most likely do well.