Kat's Movement Mission | Thoughts on Yoga Teacher Training

I often get asked by lovely folks about doing a Yoga Teacher Training. What are the pros and cons? When am I ready to do a teacher training? Which one should I do?

Do you love yoga?

It’s not surprising that I get asked as when we love something, we learn so much more and can get so much out of it by learning to teach. Most of our MFML teachers are senior teachers, who run teacher trainings and of course they are all very different in their styles of yoga, meditation or mindfulness.

Countless Options

Because of the countless options for teacher training, I thought it might be nice to have a think back to my training. And we’ve created this blog post with some fascinating responses from our favourite teachers on their views of trainings.

My Training

I trained as a yoga teacher back in early 2000, when I had been practicing regularly for about five years, and I was hungry to learn more. I didn’t think that I wanted to become a yoga teacher, after all, I was training at the same time at a top London law firm, but yoga had been my passion for years so I just wanted to learn.

I chose my teacher training simply because it was the very first training available in London (hard to believe now, I know!) and I couldn’t take additional time off work to train. I also wanted a non-dogmatic training in relation to styles of yoga. I practiced Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga, but I knew that I didn’t want to limit my learning to these styles, to me, breadth of learning was important.

The training was tough, it was on weekends, and I’d go back to work on Monday more exhausted than I’d been on Friday, but it was a wonderful time to delve deeply into the world of yoga, especially yogic philosophy.

A good deal!

I was so lucky that my peer group included many teachers who are now very senior teachers and really respected souls, including fabulous Zephyr. A wonderful part of the training was ‘forcing’ myself to teach, even though I didn’t want to become a teacher. It meant that I started an evening yoga club just for my friends, who I never saw enough of. The deal was that they came to my house and I taught a yoga class, and they brought bits and pieces for dinner. Those were wonderful days and really deepened my friendships as well as my practice and knowledge.

I’d really recommend a teacher training for anyone who loves yoga, has been committed to their practice for a number of years and wants to deepen their understanding, not just for those who want to become teachers!

It’s a calling

I’d say that being a yoga teacher is a real calling, it’s a very special thing to do, perhaps you don’t know if it’s your calling until you try? There are so many schools of yoga – some are in weekends and might be fitted around your day job. Some teacher trainings are run more like holiday camps abroad, and of course that might suit you too! Others are really very tough undertakings which will take you through a journey of self-understanding. The journey, I think, can be really enlightening.

Find out more

When I was in fabulous Suryalila, I spoke to Vidya, the Founder of Frog Lotus International about her teacher training and what’s important in a teacher training. Do check out our film on YouTube of Vidya and I having a relaxing chat about teacher training, and I share more about my experience of teacher training.

I can’t recommend the process of a teacher training enough – it’s a wonderful way to delve deeply into yoga. And of course if you’re looking for a teacher that resonates with you, there’s no better place to look to find all the top teachers in one place than MFML.

I do hope you enjoy our blog post, and you find it helpful!

And I look forward to hearing your thoughts in a discussion on the Movers Group!