Mar 1, 2021

Yoga Teacher Training: What I Learned

This past weekend, I finished my 200 hour yoga teacher training course through New Yoga Now in Savannah, which is something I have always wanted to do. I made the decision to finally go through this program in October, because I wanted to deepen my yoga practice and learn more about the human body - and I obviously wanted to be able to share my love for yoga with others!

While I knew my yoga practice would deepen tremendously throughout the course, I didn't realize that it would transform my life in a lot of other ways. I felt like it helped me to become more focused on my goals, more connected to my body, and most importantly, it made me more aware of my presence in the world. A lot of the reading that we did during my training involved ancient philosophy, and incorporated some more modern interpretations of this philosophy, a lot of which focused on how to interact with the world in a positive way.

There were a couple things in the course that really stood out to me: the first two limbs of yoga and two different books that we read.

There are eight limbs of yoga, but the first two focus on how we relate to ourselves and how we relate to the world. The first limb is called Yama, which is how we better ourselves. This promotes non-violence, truthfulness, generosity, and balance. The second limb is niyama, which helps us to interact with the world in a positive way. The niyamas focus on purity, contentment, sincerity, dedication to study and the universe. My favorite of these practices is the yama focusing on balance and moderation - brahmacharya. Throughout my life, I feel as though I have moved through patterns of aggressive discipline to a total lack of responsibility and over indulgence in pleasure (whether this was drinking, shopping, binging tv shows, etc.), and this was something that I was already working on trying to fix in my life. I also found it interesting that many of the yamas and niyamas reflected some of the tenets of the Catholic faith that I had learned growing up (I was raised in the Catholic church although I no longer practice and consider myself to be more spiritual than religious). I like the idea of universality in these life practices, and I began to keep these in my mind constantly, practicing yoga on and off the mat. Going forward, I want to try to keep these practices at part of my life. I can easily become frustrated by certain situations, or stressed out when things aren't going my way. Yoga in general teaches a mindset in which we can become detached from these things, which promotes more calmness.

Two books we read also had a major impact on my life were The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz and The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh. I would highly recommend both of these books to anyone. The Four Agreements is a fairly short read, and basically explores how we can re-condition ourselves to live in a way that we are more at peace with ourselves and the world. The book explores four different agreements: be impeccable with your word (basically to speak the truth), don't take things personally, don't make assumptions, and always do your best. Although these may seem like really minor things, they are actually really practical ways to take more control of your own happiness. The one that I have worked at the most is not taking things personally. As a perfectionist and people pleaser, I tend to not take criticism well, and I tend to easily be offended by the words and actions of others. This agreement has made me try to be more aware of everyone's unique situation, while also realizing that the only affirmation I really need comes from within.

The other book, The Miracle of Mindfulness, gave a lot more insight to something I had already been trying to be conscious of: mindfulness. This book helped me to think about it in a new way. There was one example that talked about if you are washing the dishes, actually pay attention to the dishes and enjoy what you're doing, rather than immediately rushing to the next thing on your list. I tend to have a hard time being present in the moment, because I usually do have so much going on, which is one reason I struggle to meditate. I liked this book because it gave me little mindset changes and tips to help me to be more present in the moment.

Overall, I think that I began to be more aware of the way that I was behaving, and tried to focus on putting more love and kindness into the world. I began looking inward more than I had in a while, and I think it made me better able to focus on other goals in my life - primarily the LSAT. This also acted as a way for me to release a lot of my tension and stress, which was something that I really needed because in the past I have had a tendency to take that out on other people. I am really grateful to myself for making the decision to go on this journey, and I'm excited to begin sharing more yoga with others!