Our Amazing graduate Lena asked herself this question and found herself on our Level 1 Yoga Teacher Training! This is her blog post sharing her experiences on the course, which she has kindly allowed us to share. Thanks Lena for this very well-written and inspiring guest post!!! Take it away…
Well, if you would have asked me that question a few years ago, I would have given you the straight, honest answer ‘No’. However, as life happens and brings along changes all the time, yoga became a very significant part of me. Moving to a new city and starting all over again, I knew it was time for me to use this chance and listen to my heart. And I did just that booking myself into a 200 Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) in Bali….
Now, it didn’t just happen like that. I have to tell you (and you might think it’s a bit intense) it took me three whole months of research, consideration, and decision making to finally book my spot. Three months – that’s a long time one may think. Why did it take me that long? There are a few reasons:
• little did I know that there are THOUSANDS of such Yoga Teacher Training out there – all around the world;
• it is quite an investment and I wanted to make sure my saved up money is well spent;
• timing wise, there are quite a few options from weekend sessions throughout the year, to one month intense trainings or online options with retreat visits.
So if you are anything like me and are currently researching like crazy to find THE yoga teacher training for you, I wanted to write this post in hope to help you a little finding what you are after. Let’s go through a few questions here:
Why do you want to do a Yoga Teacher Training?
For me, I came to a point when I knew that I wanted to teach Yoga. I wanted to become that someone helping others through yoga in finding their inner stillness, being happy, and enjoying life as it comes. Yet, that might not be you. You might just want to deepen your practice, do something completely new or out of your comfort zone. Maybe you want to meet like minded people. Maybe you want to travel and learn new skills while doing so. Whatever it is, stay true to your intention as that will play an immense role in choosing your training.
What’s your budget?
Now that’s a big one. You will find that there are trainings out there which include accommodation, food, and even airport pick ups for a very reasonable price. At the same time, you can also stay in some really fancy resorts with luxury features which of course comes at a cost. I had quite a tight budget, but I also wanted to get out of my environment and use this time as an opportunity to visit a country I haven’t been to. Bali was a perfect solution. Accommodation and food is quite cheap plus if traveling outside of main holiday season, you can get some good deals on flights.|
What to expect?
As you probably know, yoga is not all asana (something I realized even more so during my Yoga Teacher Training). So be prepared to fill your mind with more than just some poses. A good training will teach you a fair amount of philosophy, anatomy, alignment, meditation, and pranayama just to name a few. Yes, I came across trainings that are highly physically focused, but then again think about your intention. If you do want to teach, you probably want to know more than doing beautiful poses and truly understand the meaning of yoga. This is where your intention is sooooo important.
To give you an idea…
Below I am summarizing a bit what my training looked like mainly because I know what it feels like searching for a training and reading through as many feedbacks / recommendations as possible to make up my mind. My training was with Santosha Yoga Institute. They’ve been holding trainings for more than 10 years and have an incredible team of teachers.
The training was a four-weeks intense course held on the beautiful island Nusa Lembongan. It is a 30 minutes ferry trip from the mainland off Sanur. The Yoga Shala is literally right on the beach, which was a big point for me as I LOOOOVE surfing and always wanted to surf in Bali. So there was a two-in-one. Each week we would have one day off (except the second week when we had two days off) and the other days we’d been fully drawn into studying yoga. A day would usually look like this:
Towards the end, we’d have a lot more teaching practice and preparation for the assessments. We had two teaching assessments, one assessment on meditation, and one on pranayama. During the course we also had to prepare a sequencing assignment and do quite a bit of reading. So never a dull moment for sure!
The cost of the training was $2,790 AUD (incl. an early bird discount). There was accommodation available on site and plenty of other options close by. I can only recommend staying on site as you are just a few steps away from everything – the shala, the Café downstairs (belongs to Santosha and was kind of a main hub for the students to come together), and of course, the ocean.
My accommodation fee was covering an entire month at $550 AUD having my own room incl. bathroom and drinking water. Food is available from very cheap to higher priced and I guess here it really comes down to what you fancy. The fruits are so delicious that you probably could survive eating just that, but if you really want to satisfy that big hunger you will have a great selection available. And of course, there are a lot of vegan options around. Like A LOT.
I went there in April/May, which is dry season in Bali. We had beautiful, sunny days every single day except for a bit of rain on our final day. We were 20 students in our group from all over the world and believe me, you’ll get to know each other very well over those few weeks. On our days off, some would just chill (yes, the training is challenging – physically, mentally, and emotionally), surf, go on trips, hire a scooter and visit the neighbour island Nusa Ceningan, snorkel, or study.
I personally used the days off to sleep, eat, and surf. There are surf schools very close by and next to offering lessons, they have a good range of surfboards to hire.
The four weeks went by super fast. After the second week we were in such a rhythm with our daily schedule, that each day felt like flying by. Yet, I have to say each day we learnt a lot. Not just about yoga, but more so about ourselves. There were a lot of AHA moments, tears, laughters, and many incredible stories that even if you are not going to be a yoga teacher afterwards, you will bring home a life learning experience that you won’t get anywhere else.
To me this training was incredible and I left with so much excitement, that I kind of felt overwhelmed. I wanted to teach right away. Of course, this is only the very first step into becoming an experienced yoga teacher, but I honestly have to say it was a step taken with great confidence, enthusiasm, and curiosity. And yes, if I was to turn back time, I would definitely do it again.
Please get in touch, if you have any questions regarding this particular training. I am happy to provide feedback. You can also comment below, if you want to know more.
Of course, if you want to get in touch about yoga or YTT in general, I’d also be happy to hear from you ????
Namaste xx
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Thanks so much Lena for sharing your experience on our Level 1 RYT-200 Training so openly and thoughtfully! Those that wish to read more of Lena’s fantastic writing on travel, yoga (and delicious baked goods!) visit her site here: meyouhappiness.com
Article in its original form on meyouhappiness here.
Ready to change YOUR life? Find out more about the Level 1 RYT-200 Yoga Teacher Training in Bali here. We can’t wait to share the journey with you ❤️
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