Are you ready to deepen your yoga practice and transform your life with a 200-hour yoga teacher training? We’re less than 2 months away from our 8th annual yoga teacher training at Aham Yoga, starting on September 14th, 2024. This is your opportunity to join a community of like-minded yoga enthusiasts and explore the depths of yoga and yourself in a life-enhancing journey.
But this commitment isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s for anyone who has this spark to deepen their interest and lean into their curiosity about yoga. Here are 5 things I wish someone had told me when I first started studying a 200-hour yoga teacher training.
Why Join Our 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training?
1. You don’t have to be “good” at doing (advanced) yoga poses…
I still remember in 2012 when I asked my yoga teacher the same question. Do I need to be good at all poses to be eligible to enroll for the course? Because I couldn’t do arm balances or headstands back then. He smiled back warmly, with this glint in his eyes, and told me kindly. That it was not a pre-requiste to be “good” or “great” at all poses. If I knew a handful of basics it was good enough to get started. From there, I could build up. I was very nervous but went ahead and signed up because I knew I felt ready to jump into the 200-hour yoga teacher training.
After leading 1000s of yoga teachers through this training and others. I can tell you this loud and clear. You do not need to be able to do any fancy poses to be a participant in my trainings. In fact, the course will help improve your physical practice, no doubt but it isn’t required that you should be able to contort your body into all poses. If you can do the basic few yoga poses, you’re ready. Would you like me to make a list of poses as a checklist for you? Let me know if this is something you would like me to create.
Instead, ask yourself are you “consistent”? Do you show up to asana class atleast twice a week? For the past 3 to 6 months? Have you grown in your practice and understanding of some yoga since then? If your answer is yes, you are ready, my friend.
2. You don’t have to become a yoga teacher after a 200-hour yoga teacher training…
This is honestly my pet peeve. Just because you go to university doesn’t mean you end up becoming a professor or a teacher. Similarly, just because you enroll in a “200-hour yoga teacher training” doesn’t mean you have to now teach yoga.
In fact, I recommend that you don’t. Join the course to learn yoga deeply for yourself. You are your own first student. You teach yoga to yourself, because if you can’t understand it – how can others?
So feel free to enroll in my course, and learn it fully and deeply just for yourself. With no pressure to teach it to others. Some of you may naturally feel called to teach asana to others. We have made provisions for this. But don’t hold back because of how modern yoga titles these trainings. Left up to me, we would call these in-depth yoga study programs or yoga student training or yoga academy or some such.
3. Time will fly by…
The course is always on weekends. I know your weekends are precious. Because your weeks are probably full? But one thing is for certain, the weeks will fly by. Every year, I have heard 100s of yoga teachers say, I can’t believe it got over so quickly. Feels like it started 2 weeks ago. This is true. 12 weekends seems like a long time on the calendar. But in the grand scheme of things, these weeks will be insignificant and the hidden truth is – yoga doesn’t take time. It gives you a sense of time. Ask anyone who has studied yoga in-depth. They will tell you this time and time again as a truth of practice.
4. It will enhance you, your life, & your relationships…
Whatever you want to do, yoga will help you do it better. I mean it. This happens because yoga doesn’t just address the needs of your physical body but also that of your subtle body. It works on the energetic body. Which is why your spirits are uplifted after each class. Or at least I hope. When you are rejuvenated from the inside out. You show up differently for yourself and for those around you. Yoga doesn’t change you. It’s a process and journey of self acceptance, discovery and mastery in the most gentle, compassionate and beautiful way possible.
5. It’s a lot of theory too…
Some students worry that they will do poses all day long in yoga teacher trainings. Nope. Not in my trainings. There’s a good chunk of theory. A lot of yoga studies is a blend of theory and practice. But its not poses all day. There are many aspects to yoga beyond yoga poses and we’ll be exploring this in-depth in the training.
I hope this helps give you some clarity as to what to expect in my upcoming 200- hour yoga teacher training course.
Join us from September 14th to December 15th, 2024. We have only 8 spots left, and our early bird pricing is still available. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to deepen your practice and connect with a vibrant yoga community.
Feel free to reach out directly if you have any questions. Let’s embark on this transformative journey together!
Enjoy the sunshine,
Arundhati
