I’ve been teaching yoga for almost five years, and still to date: the yoga teacher trainings I participated in were some of the most life-changing, positive experiences of my life. There are many reasons to do a yoga teacher training; some students come into it with the intention of teaching but mostly, with the intention of deepening their own practice. All true yoga teachers are devoted students first, and that is ultimately how you become a good teacher (of anything) in the first place.

We have our annual yoga teacher training coming up this October at Ahimsa, so I thought I could share four reasons why any devoted yogi should take a ytt (yoga teacher training):

You will learn things about your body that you didn’t realize could exist. Taking a YTT really levels up your asana practice. You will learn so much more about anatomical alignment, energy, and how to utilize your physical body in the most practical and functional way. The physical body really is a vehicle to understanding ourselves on a much deeper level, and during a yoga teacher training you will go much deeper into this idea than you ever can in a traditional group yoga class setting.

You will go past the physical, and into the spiritual. This is the main reason most devoted yogis take a YTT. You hear the little bits and pieces of yogic wisdom that yoga teachers share during their classes or even in conversation, and you are wanting to learn more and more about what all of this is about. The truth is, yoga is a practice of self-realization, and during YTT you begin to touch on the very expansive philosophy that allows for a person to begin to see past their human personalities, physical bodies, and into the heart of all of us. The truth is, a YTT is just the beginning. You can barely touch on how large these teachings are in just one training. But, it is an incredibly important beginning. It is the beginning of an incredibly eye-opening journey of what lies beneath all of us, and the entire World as we know it.

You will form a community unlike any other. You spend a lot of intimate time and energy with your fellow trainees and yoga teachers, and the communities that are built during this time are some of the most powerful and beautiful relationships you will ever experience.

You will get to know yourself more. What most people don’t totally realize about YTT, is that it is much more of an inward journey that one may think. The whole purpose of a YTT is not to teach someone how to teach Trikonasana— but more-so, experience Trikonasana in the most deep and powerful way possible, so that they can then share that experience with others. You can’t be a great teacher just from reading this information in books. It has to come from experience, and during a YTT you will have a wildly inward journey of realization that comes directly from within.