25 Reasons to Take a Teacher Training

The process of becoming a yoga teacher is not just about instructing yoga. Get ready to ignite some changes in your life.

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Since 1990, YogaWorks has trained thousands of yoga teachers including some of the most celebrated modern day yogis. Go to www.yogaworks.com/25years to join the celebration.

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So you’re thinking about doing a yoga teacher training — great! Now you just have to buckle down and commit. Here are some great reasons why:

  1. You’re ready for change. You will not be the same person after you graduate. Trainings ignite change in a person’s life, and not always in ways you expect or anticipate. 
  2. You want to deepen your practice. Look, you’re not going to walk away from your training knowing everything. It’s impossible to crush it in 200 hours. But if you’re ready to dig deeper into anatomy and philosophy and learn more about how your body works—do it.
  3. You’re looking to make some of the best friends you’ve made since college or high school. These folks will watch you grow and change and before you know it, they will become family.
  4. You want to face your demons. You will unearth some of the most negative self-talk and judgements and you will have the chance to let them go.
  5. You want to take it past the physical. Yoga is so much more than asana (poses) and you’re going to find out how and why.
  6. You want to read some of the oldest, most meaningful yoga texts. Don’t skip the reading assignments. They’re really important.
  7. You want to figure out how to be a better friend/family member. Teacher training teaches you how to listen in a deep, intuitive way.
  8. You want to share yoga with others. The best way to share something is to learn how to teach it.
  9. You want to learn alternative ways to heal bodies and hearts. Yoga teacher training is especially useful for people in physical and psychological therapy.
  10. You want to learn about Ayurveda. (Trust me. You do want to learn about this.)
  11. You want to learn how to help people with your hands. Providing hands-on adjustments can be really scary. But you’ll learn how to gently guide bodies into safe and supportive postures.
  12. You want to understand where yoga came from. This is key. It’s hard to share a practice with such deep roots when you don’t understand where it came from and how it became what it is in the West.
  13. You want to become a better partner. So much of leading a yoga class is clearly and simply explaining what you expect from your class. Imagine being able to do that during a heated moment with your life partner!
  14. You want to learn to hold space for everyone. Holding space is the key to being a good yoga teacher. Learning to do this will make you a better professional, a better parent, a better friend, a better partner, and a better family member. To be able to be truly present in conversations is exactly what the world needs more of.
  15. You want to bust yoga myths. Thanks to the Internet, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. A good teacher training will help you understand what is factual and what is less than factual.
  16. You want to be more open-minded. If you think life is black and white (or struggle to see it any other way), a teacher training will highlight how grey everything truly is.
  17. You want to figure out what it is that you have to offer the world. By truly listening during a teacher training, you will start to understand what it is that you are here to do. This isn’t something most people figure out in a lifetime … Which makes training a helpful shortcut.
  18. You want to learn from some of your favorite teachers. The best way to get close to your favorite teachers is to take a teacher training from them.
  19. You’re ready for a life of integrity. It’s a lot harder to gossip about people you love when you know that your students are looking up to you.
  20. You want to try different styles of yoga or meditation. This is an effective way to learn what the entire scope of yoga has to offer.
  21. You want to learn more about how to live a life of balance. This is by far one of the most rewarding parts of a teacher training.
  22. You’re ready to own your life. Do you blame things on others a lot? This won’t be as easy to do after you graduate.
  23. You want to see how diverse the world really is. When you teach, you are not teaching to a room full of athletic models. Learning to speak to everyone in the room is learning to understand that the world has a lot of very special people in it.
  24. You want to make an investment in the future of your whole self. Teacher trainings aren’t cheap (I took out a personal loan to afford mine in 2012 and I’m still paying it off). But there isn’t a single part of me that regrets it. And I know I never will.
  25. You want to fall in love with yourself. After you learn how hard you’ve been on yourself, you’ll figure out how to love yourself.

So. What are you waiting for?

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Since 1990, YogaWorks has trained thousands of yoga teachers including some of the most celebrated modern day yogis. Go to www.yogaworks.com/25years to join the celebration.

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Photo by Sasha Juliard

Written by Tatum Fjerstad