When you get so much out of doing something it makes you want to do it more. It makes you wonder why you are just learning this now. You'd think that learning to breathe properly, how to think positively, how to stay focused, how to be patient, be present, be aware would be of greatest importance. How is it, that we have had this knowledge available to us for centuries and it wasn’t taught to us when we need it most, during our formative years?
Reason no.#1 Knowledge is Power
Learning in itself is like a breath of fresh air. But wouldn’t it be great to learn how to breathe for fully and regularly? How about to be able to control your breath so that it doesn’t control your thought waves? Or even how to change a a negative thought into a positive one?
There is so much to learn in Yoga.
Philosophy which takes you to higher spiritual understanding.
Theory of yoga practice so you learn to practice safely, intentionally and effectively.
How to be calm and still even when there is chaos around you.
Understanding the energetics of the body
Understanding the mechanics of the body
Understanding the hidden workings of the ego and more.
Reason no.#2 Our Future
Why learn to teach yoga? Do it for the next generation who will lead this world before you know it. It’s a knowledge all parents and teachers could do with to give their kids a leg up on life. Show them how to evolve. Kids just soak it up as part of life, and it is life. So…
Reason no.#3 Live a Successful Life - Heal
Can you imagine success as being able to heal yourself and helping others do the same? How about helping people to feel joy or peace?
‘Success’ means moving forward, to advance. Being successful means that we have learned our this lesson and now we are ready for the next one, the one your soul chose to experience to evolve. We have sorely neglected our personal and spiritual development in pursuit of material gains only to gain fear of loosing them. This causes anxiety not peace.
But thankfully, times are changing. We have been shaken. We have been rocked. We have been shifted and now realize there is more to this life than material gains and status. We have lived in the darkness long enough. It’s time to live a life that is evolving purposefully.
Do what makes you feel good. Good things come to those who do good. It’s a law of karma.
Reason no.#4 Develop Compassion for Yourself and Others
Yoga develops awareness of yourself and others. It broadens your perspective and shows you what you could not see before. It illuminates the hidden. Yoga gives you insights into secrets of the universe and the human psyche.
Yoga develops sensitivity, in a good way, so you can sense more about yourself and your fellow humans and animals needs, like how they may be feeling or why they acted a certain way. So instead of taking their behavior personally, you don’t react, instead you see, and offer compassion. That heals!
Reason no.#5 Discover Your Strength. Develop Confidence
Yoga makes you strong, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. It also develops focus and discipline so you can do more in your life by staying on task and seeing things through to completion. Yoga tests your ability to stay positive even it appears that life is not going your way. Yoga makes you strong enough to accept what you cannot change and also develops the strength that it takes to change the things you can but are hard to, even if you know it’s for the best. I don’t need to give examples here, we all know these struggles.
Reason no.#6 Increase Love Energy
Once you practice yoga regularly and open up to the flow of energy your freedom soars. You just cannot have it any other way anymore. Because of this, you do it. You get on the mat, you sit on your meditation cushion because you need the peace that comes with the practice. Once you taste the feeling of calm insight and vibrant energy that comes through you with practice nothing else will do. Because of this, you must share it because you are tired of watching others suffer while you are healing. It’s a knowledge that cannot remain secret anymore. It must be shared. Practicing yoga becomes a way of life. When you emanate love, other feel it and respond to it and heal too. They want what you have - love for oneself.
Are you with me? Decreasing negative energy (purifying) through yoga practice increases your ability to love. Love attracts love. Love heals. Love is what we are when you purify the mind, body and heart.
Reason no.#7 We need more Light Leaders.
More of us are awakening now but we still need to be guided. Not by our political leaders, but by our own inner knowing. We can learn from those who have learned to do this. Some call them masters. Some call them gurus. A guru is one who points you toward the light. We all have access to our own inner guru. How do we access it though?
Yoga, to me, is a lighthouse that shines on the very aspects of my life I need to focus on to heal, to advance, to learn and grow. It’s a way to get real with myself. A pointer to what needs doing next and what type of attention it needs. We can find this divine connection within us, to guide us. All we need is someone who knows the way to keep us moving in that direction.
So now back to why I took teacher training. Obviously I cared about myself enough to go on the healing journey, but I also cared about others too. How could I end my suffering if others are still suffering. Yoga has done so much for me and I wanted to make a difference in the world. Yoga is my way to do that.
When deciding whether to take a teacher training you must first consider with whom. If the teacher draws you in, resonates with you, and offers you a deal you cannot refuse you don’t have to decide. If you are allowing the mind to weigh pros and cons, perhaps it isn’t right for you or not at this time. This is when you must follow your heart, or your intuition. No training will be a mistake. But the training that fits you well will be a catalyst to great strides in personal development and success as a teacher.
What if you don’t want to teach yoga? As said before, Yoga opens you up to love and healing. That is the best thing you could do for yourself and others. They feel your energy and respond.
What you should know about diving deeper into yoga
It will change you. It will make you let go of what no longer serves you. It will help you loose those who drag you down and haven’t a hope in coming up with you when you rise. It can be painful but also very liberating. At worst, you evolve. At best you help others evolve too. It’s a win win, but you must be willing to go for the ride of a lifetime and let go of the past.
Being a successful yoga teacher requires you to stay on top of your own development. You do not what to let it slip because your career depends on it. Of course you will have forgiven ups and downs but it’s a commitment to yourself, to keep at it and to share it with others, that you must take seriously. You must practice it to be able to share it well!
When selecting which training to take, check in with your gut, your intuition and your heart. Who do you want to learn from? A good training can be translated into any style. They all stem from the same place. I would recommend doing a Hatha training before anything else. It is the sources of all other yoga styles, except Kundalini which is advanced energetic yoga. From there you can branch out to other styles. As long as it feels good in your body, it’s a great place to start. Once you understand the basic fundamentals, philosophy, and theory and also have some opportunity to practice teach, you can take mini courses and other trainings later to advance your knowledge and to get inspiration.
Go with what feel good and right. Do it for yourself first. And do it for others too.
‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ Ghandi
How I became a Yoga Teacher
When I was 25 years old I had taken a 12 week yoga series with a teacher in Toronto whom I cannot remember well, but it was Hatha yoga. Then while in LA, I was off on a journey to find myself, living at a hostel with other self-seekers and we had an impromptu yoga class using a video. And Viola! There is was, my light post. I was to do yoga, I certainly was. But I was also to have a child. Not planned either, but, I faced my truth bravely and accepted the challenge. And I’m not saying anything about choosing not too because I once did that too.
Even though the intervention to my birthing experience was damaging to my body, both my daughter and yoga healed me.
Now this is not an instant type of healing, it is very gradual, like how your body replaces it cells over 7 years, healing takes time. My daughter showed me how to parent, how to love myself more and how to love others with complete acceptance. Yoga taught me the same and both contributed to the healing of physical and emotional trauma that kept me feeble and depressed.
So now, I will tell you about why I took the Yoga teacher training that I did. As a part of my healing journey I learned how to do Thai Yoga Massage on a whim. I went to the Yoga show for my birthday and found a 3 day intro to Thai Massage. Love it. Then followed it with the certification course. Such a valuable education it was, for understanding the body, the meridians and about healing, but also it attracted me to my yoga teacher.
I was living in Guelph, On. Canada at the time and was looking for a studio to offer Thai massage at. Rita, the studio owner, liked having Thai massages. She was starting a Yoga teacher training. She asked me to be her first teacher trainee in exchange for massages. How could I say no?
I was a single, unemployed Mom, I wanted to heal, I wanted to learn and I wanted to work. But most of all I wanted to help people.
Rita is not a typical yoga teacher. She was in her 60’s at the time, had suffered physically and had learned a therapeutic style of hatha yoga from Esther Myers in Toronto (Vanda Scarvelli Inspired- Iyengar taught). Rita also did TTC at the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas. The knowledge from both these styles of yoga offered me the healing I needed.
I had gradually come to appreciate the slow, methodical, deliberate and gentle style of yoga she taught. All with the Hatha yoga principles of course, but with milder approach that lead to comfort and ease in the body rather than pushing and pain. (Which is what i was used to as a previous Competitive gymnast)
It took quite some time to adapt to the milder yoga practice but over time, I healed. I was able to teach therapeutic yoga because of this. But I also advanced in my yoga practiced with the healing and enjoy the more challenging asana (poses), and now love teaching them too, to the appropriate group, of course.
I didn’t stop there. I went to Sivananda Yoga Ashram and took their 200 hr training and gained the spiritual teachings and practices that help me to evolve mentally and spiritually as well. I then continued to study Yoga therapy with several renowned Yoga therapists and Mukunda Stiles, Joseph Le Page, Gary Kraftsow, Dr. Epstein to mention a few. I was grandfathered into the International Association Of Yoga therapists early on before they developed the 800 hr standard of training. I still take courses whenever I can. Right now I am learning a lot from Tiffany Kruikshank of Yoga Medicine.