Saturday 17 May 2014

Going to a Residential Yoga School? Know These 3 Practical Things

Becoming a yoga trainer is a life changing experience and the only way you can make it happen as it is supposed to be is by learning the right things in the right manner. Opting for a yoga teacher training only because it suits your schedule and falls in your budget isn’t really a good decision unless you are sure about the authenticity of your yoga retreat’s teachings.

Any yoga teaching class can make you learn to do different postures and other yoga techniques but when you want to become a yoga teacher, you need to learn yoga inside out. The teacher training plays the key part in improving your understanding of yoga. And you should not compromise on this part for any reason, since what you learn reflects in what and how you teach. In fact, many people don’t hesitate even in getting yoga teacher training abroad and fly from their native places to world famous retreats for the purpose. India, being home to the most famous retreats in the world, attracts many practitioners to learn yoga here and get a yoga certification in India.

Going to a residential yoga retreat for yoga teacher training is a big commitment and to make it a pleasant and learning experience ensure a few things about your yoga retreat in accordance to your needs.

Know About the Style: It is important to learn the style that you want to teach in. Some yoga retreats offer teachings in several different styles and let the students decide what style they feel is best suited to them. Focusing on one style is crucial to understand and go deep in that style. Choose your style and make sure that your yoga retreat practices it.

Know What Your Yoga Retreat Teaches: Yoga teaching has two aspects. One is the learning of different physical postures to attain physical fitness and improve body strength. The other is the spiritual aspect, in which a practitioner learns how to become a better being through meditation and yoga. Know your needs and choose how much of which aspect you would want to learn. Once you zero in on a few retreats, check their routine and understand from them what their basic premise of teaching is – fitness or spirituality. This way you will avoid any unpleasant surprises during the course.

Know the Teacher: Before you commit to the program, get to know you teacher better. You can talk to previous students of the school, search on the internet or better, reach out to them and have a conversation to understand their teaching style better. This way your teacher can learn about your needs and goals and guide you accordingly. If you feel that your interactions with the teacher didn’t go as planned you can look for some other retreat. After all, more than the retreat’s name, it’s the teacher and your comfort with him/her that is more important.

Beside these, there are several other ways to know better about a retreat. One effective way is to learn from the experience of its past students so that you can have a good idea about what to expect from the program and what are its expectations from you. A yoga teacher training program is a big decision that involves significant time and money and most importantly a practitioner’s faith in the practice. Hence, a decision should be taken only after extensive research.

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