Learning Never Stops

I became a 200-Hour Certified Yoga Teacher in 2013. Since then, I’ve completed a handful of other certification programs, taught over 2,500 hours of Yoga in the form of classes, workshops, and certifications. Through all of my experience taking and teaching Yoga, there is one common thread: I’m still learning.

I have wanted to take a 300-hour advanced yoga teacher training (AYTT) to obtain my 500-Hour status with Yoga Alliance, but I felt like that was not good enough of a reason for me to enroll in one. I didn’t want my motivation to be a status but rather for the pure joy of learning. I did my own studies by reading yoga-related books and articles, and I became a regular listener of podcasts for Yoga Teachers.

I’m not sure if the reason why I didn’t enroll in a 300-HR YTT is because I truly wanted my reason to be a calling toward a certain program or if it was because I was afraid of committing 300 hours of my life to another YTT. YTT’s are hard. It causes you to grow in ways that you may not have wanted to because during YTT’s, you’re faced with… YOU. You have to do the work to go through a transformation so that you’re able to grow in your journey to your authentic-self. It gets messy. There are often tears shed by classmates (or even by you). But at the end of the program, you’re not the person that you were when you walked into your first session of a 200-Hr YTT.

It is exhausting to go through that much transformation while completing all your reading and writing assignments, and learning how to teach yoga in front of your classmates. I think this is what I was nervous about: All the reading and writing and practicing and… LEARNING. But I also didn’t want to not learn (if that makes any sense).

I was thisclose to registering for a 300-Hour AYTT twice. One time, I was supposed to meet with my future teacher and had my tuition ready to send to her. I was excited about enrolling in her program, but it turned out that I had schedule conflicts that I just couldn’t resolve. This happened two years in a row. So I inquired about another AYTT. The second studio is a well-known studio in the Southeast Region of the US. They even offered to waive my application fee because I would’ve had to make housing arrangements each time I attended the sessions because it was a few hours away from where I lived. In the end, I decided not to enroll in any of the programs… Until now.

Due to COVID-19, Yoga Alliance has granted all RYS (Registered Yoga School) to temporarily offer their programs online, preferably via livestream. So, I started doing some research on yoga schools that I didn’t consider previously due to them being out of state or out of the country. I wanted a program with flexibility with an option to take classes online and offline… and then I found one.

I enrolled in an AYTT program based out of Surat Thani, Thailand and Bali, Indonesia. It’s crazy to think about going through an entire 300-Hour program without physically being present, but I’m really excited to start my program this morning! I won’t know how I need to schedule out my e-learning yet, but what I do know for sure is that I’m going to dive in head first, with the mindset that I will learn something everyday. Learning has to happen daily so that we can be better and do better.

Learning never stops.