I am delighted to say that I am halfway through my 200 hour yoga teacher training program at YogaHub. The course began in September 2015 and runs for one weekend a month until June 2016.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience to date although at certain points it has been challenging. Here are a couple of valuable lessons that I have learnt during the training process.
Learning and development begins outside your comfort zone
On the first Friday evening of the course I was extremely nervous and I honestly had no idea what was ahead of me.  I walked into the yoga studio to see one other lad and over 20 girls in the room. Being a typical Irish man with limited confidence around unfamiliar women, I thought to myself at that point “Jesus Mike, what have you let yourself in for”.
Every weekend of the course presents new tasks and challenges which rocket launch me out of my comfort zone. Naturally, I have discovered that I take away the most knowledge and satisfaction when I have been pushed outside this comfort zone.
Confidence & Competence grow with time
When I first walked into the yoga teacher training course I was worried that I had less knowledge, experience and ability than anybody else in the room. Once I got to know everybody it was evident that we all shared the same worries. As each weekend progresses I can see everybody else is believing in themselves more, including myself. The more the trainees work together, the more our confidence and knowledge develops.
We spend a large proportion of the sessions working in teams, teaching each other and providing constructive criticism on our individual techniques. This is hugely beneficial and I can honestly say at this point that I can now visualise myself becoming a yoga teacher after this course.
Your practice is irrelevant, it is about the student
Though the practice log (personal yoga practice diary) is a vital part of our training, our own practice does not have to be spectacular in order to teach. I always understood that I had to be able to do every single yoga posture in the book in order to be a great yoga teacher. During our training, our teachers constantly highlight that our practice doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be an excellent teacher.
The focus is on observing and assisting other students through their own practice. Our job as a yoga teacher is not an opportunity to display our own advanced postures. We are trained to leave our ego outside the door before we ever attempt to teach a yoga class.
All teachers are unique
All of the teachers that run the teacher training program at YogaHub are excellent. They are extremely knowledgeable and approachable but they are all very different in how they teach yoga. Throughout the course we work with various teachers at different points of the training and it is so beneficial to learn from individual styles and perspectives. Through realising that every teacher is completely different, I have been inspired to believe that I can teach yoga my way and bring my own unique twist to it. We are schooled and guided through correct alignment in postures but we are encouraged to build our own script for sequencing our classes going forward.
I’m going to teach yoga
I commenced this program thinking I wanted to complete the training to deepen my own practice. I didn’t really think I would have what it takes to become a teacher at the end of it all. As the course has progressed I have changed my mind completely. Yoga has given me so much in my life as it is helps me every single day to overcome physical and emotional pain. Though I may not be the most flexible guy in the world, this training program consistently confirms that I have the ability to get out in to the world and teach. The more I get to know the teachers running the course, the more I learn that they themselves had the same worries before they embarked on their yoga teaching journeys. Their support and guidance has allowed me to build my belief and confidence that I will be a very capable teacher at the end of my 200 hour course.
Conclusion
I have learnt so much in the first half of this training course and I couldn’t be more delighted that I signed up to do it. My 200 hour yoga teacher training glass is half full and I look forward to what the other half has in store.
