Planning to teach yoga?

Becoming a yoga teacher is a great opportunity and a promising career. With yoga becoming so popular these days, it is no question that a lot of individuals are interested to take on the challenge of mastering yoga practice. Yoga is a healthy workout that strengthens our body, mind, and spirit. It is a great factor to add to your life if you want to live more peacefully and positively.

Becoming a yoga teacher is presented as a way of doing something you love while earning an income. You can be doing anything in your life—whether you are an entrepreneur, an employee, a student, or a homemaker—and still be a yoga instructor at the same time. Yoga is more about learning to cultivate your fitness and healthy lifestyle in order for you to face your other responsibilities better. Plus, it would be meaningful to teach yoga classes wherein you will be guiding people who are as passionate about yoga as you are.

However, like every other thing in the world, yoga teacher also has its disadvantages. Many people recognize it for its benefits and the advantages it brings, but it does not prevent the fact that there are also some negative sides to it. However, just because it has some cons does not necessarily mean you should not want to become a teacher of yoga anymore. You just have to familiarize yourself with the two sides of yoga teacher training for you to make a proper decision on whether or not you see yourself teaching yoga full time in the future.

What is yoga teacher training?

Yoga teacher training course is the process that you must go through in order to become a registered yoga teacher. Here you will be taking a 200-hour yoga teacher training course wherein you will be learning and practicing yoga from top to bottom. It is a rigorous training program that will get your mind and body tested to their limits right from memorizing the history and Sanskrit names of the yoga poses up to actually executing the movements yourself.

Once you have completed the full 200 hours of teacher training, you will be given a certification that would prove that you are a registered yoga teacher by the standards set by Yoga Alliance. It seems like a long time to take but once you have surpassed the challenges brought about by the teacher training course, you will finally be teaching yoga to your own students in yoga classes.

What are the pros and cons of yoga teacher training?

As discussed above, yoga teacher training isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. You have to know the pros and cons so that you will make an informed decision on whether you want to pursue the path of becoming a yoga teacher. The teacher training program is no joke, so it would not be so great if you only find out later on that you do not totally like it and then give up in the middle of it.

Advantages of yoga teacher training

First, let’s begin by looking at the benefits of training to become a yoga teacher. What are the things that you will be getting, experiencing, and learning along the way?

1. Finding your inner voice

One good thing about yoga teacher training is that you will be learning to hear your inner voice. No, it’s not some sort of magical thing where you actually hear your voice. Yoga is known for stretching and breathing but it is also about relaxation and meditation. Teacher training allows you to dive deep inside yourself and learn how to communicate with yourself. In turn, you will find peace and establish an intrapersonal connection. It’s important to know how you speak from the inside before you speak with other people on the outside, which is an essential thing in becoming a yoga teacher.

2. Developing your communication skills

As previously mentioned above, your verbal skills will be improved during yoga teacher training. Being a teacher, you will be guiding yoga students in the future so you will learn how to perform effective communication. If you are not used to speaking in front or delivering what you want to say well, then taking the teacher training course will definitely help you become better at them. Yoga requires gentle, straight-forward speech which means you will be needing to talk concisely without sounding too aggressive or impatient.

3. Learning more complicated yoga movements

Practicing yoga involves the execution of many different poses. If you only know the basic yoga asanas before engaging in yoga teacher training, do not worry. The training program will be teaching you how to do the other poses especially the ones you didn’t think you can ever do such as headstands, complicated backbends, and others. There are many courses and sessions to choose from when you are learning about yoga but regardless of which one you choose you will be walking away from the teacher training knowing a lot more than you did when you entered it.

4. Meeting like-minded individuals

Yoga is a very personal practice but it is also considered to be a very social one. You might be feeling slightly intimidated at the thought of being in a yoga studio filled with strangers, especially if you are some sort of an introvert, but this actually opens a door to making new friends. Yoga’s ability to leave a positive impact on your life goes as far as being something that pulls people together. Yoga classes will make you meet people from all walks of life but in spite of the differences, you will see that they have the same goals as you. Yoga helps build new relationships—between yoga teachers and the students and between one yoga student and another.

5. Having a deeper understanding of yoga

This is basically a given but it should still be mentioned. Learning how to teach yoga will make you develop a better understanding of it. It is the best way of absorbing yoga into your mind, body, and soul. Taking the teacher training course will further teach you how much our body needs yoga to live. This is more than just getting the certification, this is about cultivating your yoga skills and taking it to the next level.

6. Teaching the art and wisdom of yoga practice to other people

If you have greatly benefited from a yoga class, then surely the people you care about can try it too. Learning how to teach yoga will allow you to share your knowledge and experience with others. If you have family members, friends, or colleagues that you think may need yoga in their life, you can teach it to them. After all, what’s even more meaningful than utilizing your skills on people who are close to you, right?

Disadvantages of yoga teacher training

Now that you know about the benefits of yoga teacher training, it’s time to familiarize yourself with its downsides. Just to be clear, this is not to discourage you from joining the teacher training program. This is just to give you an idea of what to expect so there wouldn’t be any surprises along the way.

1. Teaching practice

Just because you have finished full 200 hours of yoga teacher training does not always guarantee that you have perfected the art of being a yoga teacher. You can complete the course and still have to learn a lot. This is why you have to consistently practice yoga even by yourself. Apply it to your weekly routines because the application is one of the most effective ways of learning. You can also ask a yoga instructor to mentor you as you practice teaching yoga so they can give constructive feedback on your progress.

2. Adjusting your priorities

If you are the type of person who doesn’t organize their schedule, enjoys committing to a lot of activities, or enjoying a lot of “good time”, be prepared to make a huge adjustment. Yoga practice is a “learn at your own pace” type of workout but getting into teacher training will certainly take up a lot of your time. Training to become yoga teachers takes a lot of hard work, time, and dedication. You have to learn how to manage your schedule otherwise you will find yourself feeling overwhelmed or worse—quitting.

3. Transitioning from student to teacher

It’s fun learning about yoga but not everyone can easily transition from being a yoga student to becoming a yoga teacher. This is especially evident to those who are used to being followers rather than leaders. Teaching training courses do not easily transform you into a great and successful yoga teacher. It has a certain learning process that may take time for some of us sometimes. That is why do not feel dejected if you do not succeed at it right away.

4. A not-so-regular income

Yoga-teaching is a promising career but it does not always promise you a great income. There will be moments that you will not be earning that much due to lack of students signing up for your yoga class or other reasons. This is why you need to establish connections with some students for them to be your regular private clients and you can always teach yoga on the sides instead of full time. This way, you can have other regular-paying jobs while still being able to continue your passion for teaching yoga.

5. It’s physically exhausting

Yoga is generally good for our bodies but as you train to become a yoga teacher, expect that your body will be pushed to the limit. Practicing yoga should not be underestimated just because they are mostly slow, passive movements that mainly revolve around stretching. Yoga will be engaging a lot of your muscles and body parts which is why there will be plenty of moments that your body will feel worn out and sore. You will get the hang of it as you practice it consistently, but as human beings, it’s inevitable for us to feel exhausted. You just got to learn how to maintain yourself properly in order to cope up with it.

Are you ready to get that yoga teacher certification?

Knowing the pros and cons of the teacher training sessions will help you have a better perspective towards it. Do you think becoming a yoga teacher is the right path for you? Or is it something you should be reconsidering? Whatever it is that you decide on, what’s important is that you are taking this matter into consideration. Yoga is indeed a good and life-changing exercise and it would be a great opportunity to learn it, embrace it, and teach it to students in classes.