When is it right to do your yoga teacher training?
I have begun to observe that often in a student of yoga, there is a certain subtle tipping point. A point where their vessel of self, becomes so full, that it is palpable to those around them. Something has changed.
You seem different. People tell you that. There’s a certain glow, a new energy or fresh perspective that has overcome you. The way you move, certainly, but the way you move through your life, has been altered.
Here’s what seems true for most people I know. Choosing to take a leap and do yoga teacher training most often does feel like a leap. A mighty one. Even for those most devoted practitioners. Most of us do not feel ready. Or worthy. We can’t imagine ourselves sitting up the front of the class and teaching it. We might not even want to. Ever.
Add to that the fact that there is no quantifiable means to test for when you are ready. There is no quiz with neat questions that provide you with neat answers of guidance. You cannot qualify against particular categories like number of years practice because, well, my 5 years of practice was different to yours and certainly the ability to get a foot behind a head is just proof of the ability to get a foot behind a head.
These are some cosmic hints that you may be nearing the point of readiness to do your yoga teacher training:
You have realised that your truest and best friend is your breath and you never go to yoga without it
You are experiencing more FULL, on more levels. More joyFULL, easeFULL, soulFULL
You are sneaking home from nights out to hook up with yoga glo, or snuggle up on the couch with your Bhagavad Gita
You seem to be using most of your holidays to do yoga courses, or go on retreat, or meditate
What you are unpacking on your mat when you practice is flowing into your life off the mat.
Your postures may be kick ass and that is great, but you realise that you practice is not about the bendiness of your body
Your teachers are naturally spending time with you, answering your questions, bringing you resources to quench your thirst for knowledge, telling you of upcoming workshops and yoga adventures. They are investing in the possibility of your growth as student and likely they have been planting the seed for some time, knowing that you have the potential to become a yoga teacher. If you are not sure, ask them.
At the end of this list, if you feel no surer one way or the other, that is ok, in fact it is perfect. Yoga is about coming home to the heart. Your heart. The heart is a faithful messenger and it will whisper at you. Stay with your practice, keep devoting to the things that are working for you, keep coming home to the heart.
Perhaps sometime into the future, its messages will become a soft roar.
If you read this list, or ask yourself the question “am I ready to do my yoga teacher training?” and there is a soft roar (even in the presence of some freak out, and a lot of doubt), then this, I think is the sure fire time to start exploring the idea.
Riss Carlyon is a E-RYT-500 who set out to do her yoga teacher training with the intention of deepening her practice and no dream to become a yoga teacher. Some years on, she quit her corporate career to open a yoga studio and is now training yoga teachers to live their bliss through the Inna Bliss Yoga, Level 1 Yoga Teacher Training program, commencing this coming August.
