Reflections : 200hr Yoga Teacher Training (YTT)
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November 2016, I was boarding a flight to the United States after working in the Sichuan province of China the previous few months, blithely unaware of the roller coaster my life would be taking. What I did know as I was leaving a life I had built in China was that I would not be residing in the United States for very long, this was more than a premonition or a longing to escape. Roughly five months later I clutched my passport and waved goodbye as I began trekking towards Rishikesh, India, an ancient city nestled in the base of the Himalayas.
Over the course of five weeks, I completed an intensive 200-hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, India, a city regarded as the birthplace of India. My time was magickal, difficult, full of unlearning and relearning, sweaty, and soul enriching. Before I go on, let's back it up a few years to a cold February night in Iowa where I rolled out a borrowed mat in an eighty-degree room.
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February 2015, I had just returned from spending a month in Turkey and had taken on a demanding course load in the name of "doing it all". A close friend had recently discovered a local hot yoga studio and after listening to her rave about it, I agreed to go. It had been a really hard year personally and she seemed happier, more relaxed, so what did I have to lose? Answer: Everything
On a borrowed black mat in an eighty-degree room, I felt myself start to breathe again and felt the tectonic shifts of trauma begin to shift. Over the last three years, I have shown up almost every day on my mat finding that same first breath, grounding, and new life. I would not be who I am today if it were not for engaging in a communal practice, alongside my personal practice at home and in the woods. My teachers (bless them) has saved me in the darkest of times by reminding me to breathe, correcting my hyperextended arms, and the words they part in savasana.
On that plane ride home in November 2016, I knew I would be returning to my yoga community and within weeks, I knew that I was ready to deepen my practice with a 200hr YTT and began my research. Holding the knowledge that yoga had originated in India and having previously traveled there a year prior, I started researching intensive's there. (Note: An intensive is a teacher training that takes place over the course of a month rather than a YTT that takes place on nights and weekends over several months at a studio local to where you reside) In February, I picked a school and applied, immediately I started saving money for the program and booked a round-trip flight.
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to be continued