What to Look For in a Yoga Teacher Training
Choosing a yoga teacher training that’ll open up your body, mind, and heart.
If you have even the smallest inclination for doing your yoga teacher training, that’s your sign to go ahead and do it! Doing a yoga teacher training will be one of the most transformative experiences of your life. Even if you don’t want to be a teacher, you still have so much to gain from the experience. The knowledge you will cultivate during a yoga teacher training is priceless and the lessons learned can be carried with you beyond the mat and out into the world. A good yoga teacher training is like the school you wished you could have gone to growing up. It teaches you how to be human.
There are so many yoga teacher trainings out there, so how do you find the best one? You don’t want to just choose the first program that comes up on a Google search. A yoga teacher training is a big investment of time, money, and energy. It can also be a rigorous and intense experience; you may find yourself engaged in study for up to 12 hours a day, five to six days a week. However, yoga teacher trainings involve more than just moving and studying. They invite you to peel back the layers of yourself and expand physically, mentally, and spiritually. Therefore, if you’re not in an environment where you feel safe to open up, you’ll miss out on the alchemy that can take place – and this alchemy that takes place outside of the books and off the mat is the most valuable gift you’ll receive on the journey.
It’s important to find a yoga teacher training that resonates with you. In order to allow yourself to be vulnerable and open to receiving, you need guides you feel connected to and trust. Want a yoga teacher training that goes beyond theory and gives you empirical and experiential knowledge? You’ll want to to look for a yoga teacher training that is and does these things:
Educational
The first thing you should do when looking for a yoga teacher training is make sure that the course is legit. Go over the course’s curriculum to see what’s being offered. Yoga teacher trainings should cover some aspect of history, philosophy, anatomy, and asana. The course should source from yoga’s ancient history and give you a comprehensive look into the fundamentals, that way you understand the lineage and feel prepared to safely hold space and guide others (if you’re planning on teaching). To check the credentials of the training, you can see if it’s a Registered School (RYS®) with Yoga Alliance. Soul School is Yoga-Alliance Certified, which means our training and syllabus meet Yoga Alliance® Standards. Yoga Alliance is considered to be the governing body of yoga, and though it’s not the be all and end all of determining a training’s quality, becoming a certified member will improve your credibility in the industry and give you better access to liability insurance.
So you’ve made sure the training covers the basics. Check! But the depth of what you want a yoga teacher training to offer doesn’t stop at the syllabus. A good yoga teacher training doesn’t just teach you about yoga or how to teach, it helps guide you into living a more spiritually aligned life. Yoga is a lifelong practice and your training should give you the tools to set you up for self practice. It should take you deep into the heart of yoga and guide you toward embodying the practice in all areas of your life. Not sure if the training does this? Check out the testimonials to see what other people are saying and how their experiences went!
Intentional
The best way to get a feel for if a yoga teacher training is right for you? Look into the souls who will be guiding you. Facilitators who practice what they preach, teach from experience, and guide with intention are the most inspiring and proficient teachers. When you can see that a facilitator honours the roots of the practice and aligns their actions with the values they’re sharing, you’ll be more confident in their ability to create a container and guide you. Ultimately, yoga is a business built on soul interactions, and to fully receive the wisdom being shared, you need to feel aligned with the souls guiding you. Take classes with the instructors if you can to get a feel for how they teach and their approach. You can take a class with the Soul School guides at Oblong Yoga House in downtown Toronto whenever they’re in the city!
It’s also important to get clear about your own intentions surrounding why you want to do your yoga teacher training. What are you hoping to gain from the experience? Set the intention beforehand. There are endless amounts of teacher trainings out there that offer and specialize in different things, so figure out what it is you’re looking for. For example, Soul School’s 200 hr yoga teacher training also offers a Reiki Certification and Embodiment Course.
Creates a sense of community
What you’ll remember the most from your yoga teacher training is the community. The Sanskrit names of the asanas may slip your mind from time to time and you may never perform Nauli Kriya again when you get home, but the people and the memories you shared together will stay with you forever. You’ll know you’ve had a life changing experience when you enter your yoga teacher training with a group of strangers, but leave as a family. The genuine connections you make with your instructors and the other students will serve you well beyond your training. A yoga teacher training program that cultivates connection will provide you with a supportive community to grow with as a practitioner, teacher, and human. Our own Soul School graduates have built lifelong friendships, and many have gone on to teach at our studio.
Transports you
Yes there are advantages to doing a yoga teacher training online or in your city, but a whole different kind of magic happens when you can be fully immersed in the training. Intentionally traveling to a destination to do a yoga teacher training can support, enhance, and enrich your practice, helping you to fully embody the experience. One of our favourite places to host our Soul School trainings is at The Yoga Farm in Costa Rica. The Yoga Farm is a rustic yoga center and sustainable living project located on Costa Rica’s southernmost Pacific coast. Surrounded by the sea, the land, and the philosophies of permaculture, you’ll reconnect with mind, body, and nature, fully expressing the lessons being learned in your training. Staying with the people in your training and your guides also makes it easier for you to feel connected and supported throughout the course of your training. You can share meals and go on excursions together on your days off.
A good yoga teacher training will leave you with more than a certificate!
Looking to expand your yoga knowledge, deepen spirituality, and connect with community? Join us at our next 200 hr YTT in the fall! Details to come.