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| 52 yoga classes in 9 months? Piece of cake! (NOT) |
This is a call for all the yoga teachers out there to come clean about how much work was actually required to get their certification. Because it's A LOT.
My friends keep asking when I'll be done (hopefully it's because they are eager to come to my yoga class - wherever that may be). My casual acquaintances wonder why they haven't seen me on the social scene lately, and when I explain, they nod their heads because they have NO idea what's involved. The only people who truly know how much time and energy are my fellow yogis-in-training, and I'm assuming, those who have been there before us. My husband might have a vague idea, but he's a "husband", so you never can be sure how much attention he's actually paying.
In any case, the end is in sight. To the left, you can see my Class Log - a log of all the yoga classes I've attended as a student. It has since been completed (note that my 24th Level 1 class was unfulfilled at the time of the photo), and I am truly grateful for this time on the mat. I have to say that while daunting at first (at times it seemed that the sheet would never be filled!), my attendance at these classes of various levels, styles, and teachers really kept me motivated to stick with this teacher training. It is important to reinforce the idea that you never stop being a yoga student. Experiencing different levels and styles of classes (my prior experience was with mixed-level hatha classes), really helps a teacher trainee to discern the difference between the amount of instruction needed for a beginning student, an inconsistent student, a faithful student, an advanced student, and more. I didn't think I'd like Restorative yoga, but I know it has a place in my practice. I thought Iyengar would be foreign to me, but it turns out that one of my favorite teachers of all times (Diann!) teaches with quite of bit of Iyengar tendencies.
All of this time spent on the mat (over 60 hours, mind you!) doesn't even count towards my 200 Hours of training - it's sort of an "added bonus". However, this bonus is worth more than any of my yoga teacher classroom hours, simply because I have been able to see and experience the theory put into practice. I get to be absorbed in the moment on my mat - doing the basic, first exercises that brought me to seek teacher training in the first place - all the while reinforcing my learning of the posture names, the intro and exit from postures, the sequencing of postures, and the language of teaching yoga. It's the "hook" that got me where I am today, and even though my Class Log is now full, it's still the hook that keeps me coming back for more!
"Yoga is the giver of untold happiness" - Bhagavad Gita
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