Before my teacher truing, I did all kinds of research first – schools, teachers, the type of yoga to learn, tips on what to expect… and many more! And I read a lot of inspiring stories of how people enjoyed their training and what they went on to do afterwards. This was one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to take the first step…

But – what I forgot (or avoided) to research was the bad experiences and the challenges that many had to face. And in many ways, I don’t think I was prepared for how intense the training would be! 🙂

I thought it would be helpful to share some tips that I found worked for me when things where getting a little challenging and difficult.

I have kept these tips very general so no matter how long your course is or what type of yoga you are learning to teach, you can hopefully find something that will guide you through this 🙂

Mt Top 10 Tips:

Be prepared to start from the beginning!

You may have done yoga for years – or maybe you have only explored it in the last year/few months… no matter where you are in your journey, remind your Self that you are starting again… you are learning not just how to do your asanas, but how to inspire and teach others in doing it. The best place to start is right at the beginning. Remember your yoga journey so far – but be prepared to be a student.

Leave your ego at the door…

And this follows on nicely from the point above. Sometimes our ego may kick in saying “I know this…” or “I know more than this student” etc… or anything else ego loves to do lol!

YOGA IS NOT A COMPETITION. I put this in capitals as a huge reminder… Ego can make it difficult for us to accept that we need to be open and non-judgemental. Learn at your own pace. Learn from others. You might know more about one area than another student, yet they can also teach you more about something else… Everyone is a teacher in the yoga room, as well as a student 🙂

So leave your ego at the door, enter your yoga room with a clear mind and if it does show up again, breathe deeply and use an affirmation to release it!

Surrender to the process…

What you resist will persist – this is what one of my teachers says all the time and it’s true. Don’t resist anything that comes up… whether they are emotions, people who trigger anything in you, anything at all – just don’t ignore it. Confront it within your Self – find a way to use yoga to release it and meditate on the process. Trust that in time, you will realise what the lesson/reason is. Surrender to the process.

Everyone else will be going through their own stuff too…

Yu won’t be alone. Even the students who seem the most confident and “advanced” in their knowledge and practise may surprise you… everyone will got through their own “stuff”… yoga teacher training will bring up these things and it’s OK! But knowing that you are not the only one does sometimes help to remind us yogi students that the journey never ends…. we will always be learning, even long after the course has ended.

Group dynamics…

No matter whether you are in a small or large student group, the dynamics of a group can sometimes bring up things in people and how they relate to others during the training – even when everyone is totally wonderful. There will be the loud students, the introvert students, the cliques of friends forming etc… Have you been noticing this? And if something does bug you about the dynamics, what is it? The important thing is to bring awareness within your Self… group dynamics often bring up many things from the past, especially in a classroom setting. So, be aware and remember that you are here to be challenged and learn.

We also all learn differently and at a different pace in a group – so there may be times where you think other students in the group understand it immediately, while you may be struggling… If you are finding that the dynamics of the group is challenging, just remind your Self to let go of your expectations of people and be your Self. And to focus on working on what you need to explore/study more.

Self-care is important…

As you go through your yoga teacher training, you may realise that you need to make more space to take care of your Self… to digest the knowledge and processes that are going on within you. Make time to nurture your Self – by doing yoga/meditation – and anything creative too!

Cultivate your own yoga practise…

As you are in teacher training, please stay disciplined in your yoga practise. Develop and maintain a routine that will grow… where you can actually put your course information into practise.

Channel your emotions into developing your practise…

And as you develop your own yoga practise, remember that you can use these tools to channel your emotions… not just for you, but for developing class structures/themes/etc to share with your students in future.

Journal your experiences…

Writing things down and releasing your experiences on paper is a powerful tool – even if things don’t make sense when you are writing it, you never know how it might help you in future when you are reading it again. We sometimes only spot patterns and improvements in time! Maybe you could use your journal after each class or when you are doing your own home practise.

Stay focused on why you started in the first place!

If you are feeling like you are losing sight of what you are doing or getting confused in the process, take a moment to remember why you are here… What brought you here to this course? What is it you want to do afterwards? You could use your journal to write this down as a list or an affirmation letter for your future plans 🙂