admin Alina, I’m Alina. This is my 4-week diary of yoga teacher training. I will be sharing it with you in the coming month. After practicing Yoga for five years, I decided to go deeper and take an RYT200 TT at routes of Yoga. This diary will tell you about my amazing progress, the doubts and emotions I experienced during class.
This is why Icand hose Routes of Yoga as my teacher training over other options:
- The program includes a 200-hour Yoga Alliance Certified Training led by Anton Jager & Daphne Charles.
- It focuses on the common routes in Yoga. It is very beneficial to learn about the origins of all these yoga styles and what they share in common.
- A beautiful location in Ubud on Bali, with a retreat style program.
- The program is very well structured and coveretreat-stylejor styles of Yoga in practice and theory.
- Each participant receives a complete teacher training course manual/workbook.
- Excellent value for money.
- The friendly emails I received from Anton and Daphne before my booking were great.
This Yoga Teacher Training takes place in a stunning location: a spa, saline pool, and Balinese-style accommodation, all surrounded by lush rice terraces Balinese-style.
Finally, Paradise is Here!
After a five-minute drive through rice fields, The Shala is my temporary home for 23 intense days. Palms and friendly staff surround the Shala and greet me with an energizing ginger drink.
Daphne, our teacher, and Anton welcome us warmly to “our” Shala. It is a well-equipped room with a view of rice fields and palm trees. They explained the program to us and outlined the next four weeks. The training program has a very good structure. The training program is very well-structured. It includes workshops, lectures, and teaching sessions that build on each other, making it easier for us to understand and follow. After the welcome, our first practice is a Vinyasa flow. I can’t wait to see more!
Tuning into the Rhythm
The schedule is very tight. We start at 7 am with a 90 to 120 minute class followed by an hour-long breakfast break at the Sh120-minuteThe. The Shala Cafe offers a wide variety of options, including fresh fruit salads.
The first week lays the foundations of each module, including History, Asanas, and Anatomy. The course will cover how to teach later so we can have more time to digest and simmer these concepts.
We discussed the transition from asana to meditation and the mind in theory class, the theory class. This was a subject we had to study because it is our responsibility to help students connect physical postures with mindfulness.
It’s fascinating to learn what Yoga is and how it works.
Connecting with the place and the people
Our group is diverse, ranging in age from 21-60, and we come from many different countries, including Russia, USA Germany, Singapore. We paired up for our first exercise. By touching our pal and ms, we led each other around the room. I realized that even without saying a single word, you can still connect with someone you barely know. It was a beautiful experience.
Build Strength: “Work Towards Your Borders
Daphne’s 110-minute class was a vigorous and hot morning that included lots of muscle building. I was so excited to eat a big breakfast! Daphne’s samuscle-building always moves towards our border without ever intending to touch it or even cross. Never push yourself to the limit! We should work toward it. Use the breath to create space, and maybe the border will move a little bit further.”
It’s easy to forget that the right alignment and modifications are more important than pushing to achieve full expression, which can lead to injury.
We shared our experience later that day after our first Yin Yoga class with Daphne. As the sun began to set and we calmed ourselves down instinctively. Then we spoiled ourselves by eating a traditional Balinese Massage. Highly recommended!
Asana Workshop: Our Foundation
In the first Asana workshop, we were taught about poses in detail. We then practiced these poses in order to observe and experience them, as well as learn how to sequence the poses into different styles, such Hatha, Vinyasa or calming Yin Yoga.
We discussed in the Asana Lab tas hat being a tea cher does not mean that you must be able to perform every pose. You must observe your students and know their bodies.
It is encouraging to know that if you struggle with certain poses at first, you will already have the cues you need to help you. You, at first, can then teach your students. At that moment, however, I felt so distant from teaching. I find it overwhelming to imagine how I will be able to lead a class properly in just three weeks. But I continue to focus on the task at hand, one step at a time.
