The journey of the self through yoga teacher training

Sharing the teachings of yoga with others is a wonderful and rewarding path. As teachers, you get the privilege of holding space for others and facilitating their well-being and personal growth. Doing so not only fills up the cups of your students but also fills up your own cup.

The journey from student to teacher on the yogic path is a fulfilling and enriching process that deepens personal awareness. Many come to yoga teacher training to step out as a teacher, but the biggest and sometimes unexpected reward along this path are the insights that are gained about the self in all areas of life.

Through the asanas, you learn about how your body moves, where there is tightness, where there is softness, and where you might need to modify. You gain acceptance of how different and unique every body is. You go even deeper when you study yoga anatomy and find fascinating information about the joints, muscles, and systems of the human body and how yoga can benefit it in its entirety.

You learn how to breathe, and I mean really breathe. This one thing alone can have far-reaching benefits in your life. This goes further when you learn all the many pranayama techniques and how you can direct prana, the life force energy, in and around the body to go beyond one’s normal boundaries or limitations and attain a higher state of vibratory energy and awareness.

Adding in meditation, relaxation, and yoga nidra you start to embark on the ultimate goal of personal integration of the body, breath and mind to something much deeper and greater within us. You might begin to have more awareness of those habits and belief systems that are no longer serving you or moments of complete clarity when your mind comes to stillness.

Underpinning all of this are the philosophical teachings of yoga in the ancient texts of the Yoga Sutras. This is where a deep internal journey really starts to begin. From our attitudes to personal disciplines, actions, and distractions, and what disturbs our minds. Not a stone is unturned on this journey to the self. It is through the teachings in the Yoga Sutras that big transformations can formulate and lead us on a more aligned path.

There are many more enriching and fascinating topics that you learn during the study of yoga, more than can be said here. Starting a yoga teacher training course is just the beginning of something that will last a lifetime. As they say, “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self” (verse 6.20 of the Bhagavad Gita).

At Yogic Wisdom, we offer a 350-hour diploma course in yoga teacher training and further study in yoga therapy. In these courses a deep understanding of the rich tradition of yoga is gained and you are taken on an inspiring journey inward to the self.

Further information is available on the website.