This past weekend, I had my last yoga teacher training sessions where I completed a 235 hour yoga teacher program through Devanadi, a yoga school in Minneapolis. This means that I am now a certified yoga teacher! I seriously can’t believe it. I spent the last 8 months learning about all aspects of yoga and my life will never be the same.
That may sound a little dramatic to some people, but it is true. My yoga teacher training gave me so much more than just the postures and sequencing. It taught me how to incorporate yoga into my life and in the process I found who I was and who I wanted to be.
The program brought so much change over the last 8 months…
- I know more than I ever imagined that I would learn in a yoga teacher training including not only postures and sequencing, but also breath work, meditation, ayurveda practices, and so much more.
- I now have a meditation practice.
- I’ve found a community of like-minded yogis that are my people, my friends and my cheerleaders for life.
- I learned how to not only practice yoga in terms of postures and breath but also the yogi way of life.
- The training gave me the confidence to be courageous in my yoga practice and also in life.
Most of all though, it really helped me to find myself. After women have children, they tend to lose themselves. I was starting to fall down that path where I wouldn’t associate to much besides being a mom. Now don’t get me wrong, being a mom is the best job in the world, but I am better at that job now that I have taken yoga teacher training. Being able to focus on myself and grow as an individual to determine what is important to me is something I will be forever grateful for.
My last weekend of training was amazing because I got to teach a 75 minute class that I created.
The class theme given to me was “playful balancing poses” which really fits me. Yoga has brought so much joy to my life and I want to share that with others. I was the first one to teach my class on Friday and it went so well! Despite not being able to practice or prepare as much as I had hoped, I was able to teach a good class. This was great to build my confidence as a teacher to know that I actually can teach! I can build a class, teach it and modify where necessary based on my students needs.
The rest of the weekend was spent taking classes from my other fellow yoga students, a workshop and graduation ceremony. I ended up taking 5 classes this weekend and taught one, so it was lots of yoga! We also did an Acro-Yoga workshop that was awesome! I loved the challenge and got the chance to fly in the air in yoga poses, it was so awesome! I will definitely be seeking that out to take again.
We ended the weekend with a large group where we all got to share something about our experience where we all laughed and cried. I seriously love the crap out of my fellow yogis. I am so lucky that I have made life long friendships from this new community I am now part of.
Deciding to take the leap and commit to yoga teacher training for 8 months was not easy.
It took courage and support from my family (especially my husband). He knew how important it was to me and how much I needed it. I want to share with you all that if you have something in your heart that you really want to do, DO IT! We are all full of excuses and reasons we shouldn’t do something. Instead encourage you to focus on the reasons you SHOULD do something. We all deserves the opportunity to grow, learn and find ourselves if we are lost (don’t let your to-do list hold you back.) Take the leap. You can do this.
My question today is one of my favorite quotes:
If you knew you wouldn’t fail, what would you try?
