This time of year, with many annual Yoga Teacher Training Programs about to start in September or October, I am asked over and over again, “Should I go to Yoga School?” Honestly, if you are really asking, well… the answer is an unequivocal YES!
The first chapter, and the first verse of the Yoga Sutras presents this opportunity "AND NOW BEGINS THE STUDY OF YOGA." This implies that only once you are ready to be a dedicated student of Yoga, only then will you actually begin your studies. No one else can decide that for you.
Yoga School Or Yoga Teacher Training
Yoga School is an enormous commitment and initiation, the Sanskrit word for which is Diksha. Our lives are full of all sorts of initiations. As teachers, we never drag a student across this threshold of initiation. The old adage of “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear” certainly applies here.
The student must step towards the teacher. You must voluntarily apply yourself to meet this challenge.
So you might wonder, what is the main subject of Yoga School? What do we actually learn about in a Yoga Teacher Training Program? (I know it seems quite mysterious what goes on behind closed doors for 180 hours.)
In Yoga, We Use The SELF To Study The Self.
As we become experts in our own humanity, we learn to brighten the way for others. The most challenging part of any Yoga Teacher Training is that you are encouraged to become your own best teacher. It is like publically declaring to the world at the top of your lungs, "MY SELF-CARE IS VITALLY IMPORTANT!"
If you are asking yourself if you should do a teacher training program, you have already started down the path of beginning the most important dialogue of your life. On some level, something inside you has switched gears and instead of only worrying about what everyone else is doing, or what people will think about what you are doing, you have made a clear decision to care about you.
Make this commitment to studying life by studying yourself today! Love your day, love your life, love yourself!