Choosing a Yoga Teacher Training
If you have been practicing yoga for several months or more, you may have decided that it is time for choosing a yoga teacher training that will turn your practice into the life-long study of a yoga teacher. They say the best way to really learn something well is to teach it, and this could not be more true of yoga. There are numerous philosophies and practices as well as different styles and approaches, so you will want to choose a program that rounds out your current level of expertise, or perhaps introduces you to a hole other branch of yoga that you have not previously explored.
Choosing a yoga teacher training program is a very personal decision. Some people will respond to a more vigorous physical training like those offered in Bikram or Ashtanga yoga teacher trainings, while others seek the spiritually uplifting practices of meditation, pranayama (breathwork), or mantra chanting, often called Bhakti yoga. Some practitioners will be drawn to a Kundalini teacher training, learning how to draw the energy up into the seven primary energy channels along the spinal column, while still others are happy to toil away doing chores at an ashram during their training to learn the boons of karma yoga, or the yoga of selfless service.
Some of the best yoga teacher training programs will offer a little taste of several different branches of yoga, as well as discuss ancient teachings of yogic philosophy as they pertain to modern life. Great yogis and sages like Patanjali, Paramahansa Yoganana, Babaji and myriad more offer timeless teachings that are just as important to learn now as they ever were. Learning about the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras is just one way to deepen a purely physical practice to help a teacher learn the more esoteric and subtle secrets of yoga that lead to a balanced heart, mind and body.
While choosing a location is important, as well as finding a yoga teacher training that can meet your personal scheduling needs, it is of utmost importance that you find a program that leaves you feeling confident enough to pass on what you learn to others. You can enjoy the spa-like atmosphere of a destination teacher training in places like Bali, Hawaii, Thailand, Australia, of the Bahamas, but aside form feeling refreshed as from a vacation you should feel enlightened and somewhat ‘full’ of new information that may take many months to process completely.
When choosing the best yoga teacher training, look to the end goal. If you can afford just a short weekend training, start with that, and perhaps save up for the month long all-inclusive in Tahiti. Your yoga practice will guide you to the right place with the right people. Since we are all connected at the deepest levels, as the word ‘yoga’ teaches, meaning ‘to yoke together or bind to’ – you are bound to your destiny as a practitioner and student of yoga. You may not even need to choose the right yoga teacher training, it will probably just choose you.
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