What They Don't Tell You About Becoming a Yoga Teacher

So you've completed your 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training, you've taken the incremental 50 hour of "extensions" classes to hone your teaching skills, you've auditioned for a position at a studio and in a yoga community that you love, and now, miraculously, you've been given a position as a yoga teaching intern in that community. Now what?

Well, turns out getting a position as a yoga teaching intern means a few things. First off, when you think you've finally made it to the coveted teacher position after all those hours spent in the classroom and on the mat, you still have to prove yourself, before you become an official yoga teacher.

At CorePower Yoga, where I'm currently teaching yoga, the Yoga intern teacher process consists of a 30 class internship. During these 30 classes, you are still being evaluated as a teacher and are compensated as a "teacher-in-training" rather than as an official teacher. When I first learned about the internship process and started doing the math on how long it would take me to finally reach official teacher status (pending my internship review of course), I realized that I would have invested almost 300 hours and over 6 months of "training" before becoming an official yoga teacher.

Additionally, while I choose not to focus on the monetary investment involved in becoming a yoga teacher (because I have pursued yoga teaching out of love rather than return on investment), it should be stated that in order to become a yoga teacher, I did have to invest significantly in the cost of the Yoga Teacher Training Program (both my 200 Hour Certification and 50 hours Extensions Program). After teaching as an intern for about 2 months, I still haven't even recouped the cost of the Extensions Program.

I share all this information not because I'm bitter about the process or the cost but because it is important to understand the investment in both time and money that is required to become a yoga teacher. While this process has been an investment, over the course of my training and internship, I've come to value the importance of all this training in the classroom, on the mat, and on-the-job.

As a yoga teacher, I have a responsibility to my students. I have a responsibility to provide them with a safe, enjoyable, and challenging practice and I wouldn't be able to do so without the extensive training programs required.

Without the proper training, I would not understand the importance of creating an intelligent sequence --a sequence that warms up and builds strength and flexibility in the right muscles/muscle groups in the right order, I would not understand the significance of using breath to guide movement, build heat, and find focus, and I would not understand the impact of landing a theme that helps bring together the mindful and physical aspects of a yoga practice.

My 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training helped me build my foundation as yoga teacher. It taught me how to cue breath and postures to effectively guide my students safely into the poses and how to provide hands-on-assists to deepen their practice of these postures. Not only did my 200 Hour Yoga Teacher training help me learn about the physical practice of yoga, it has helped me cultivate my connection to the mindful and philosophical aspects of yoga. This connection to yogic philosophy has not only helped me guide my students through a more meaningful practice, it has helped me find ways to live a more meaningful life for myself.

The Extensions Program, was truly an extension of my 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training, and had an increased emphasis on teaching and connecting with students. It was during this course that I had to push myself outside of my comfort zone and begin teaching people outside of the yoga teacher training community. As my fellow teacher trainees and I group-taught beginners as well as more advanced practitioners, we were forced to learn how to read-the-room and customize our classes for the bodies, minds, and hearts in the room. It was this portion of my training, where I began to truly appreciate the importance of the teacher and the connection the teacher must have with his or her students.

And now, as I'm getting close to finishing up my teaching internship, I've realized just how important all the hours spent in training, on my mat, and on-the-job truly are.

I still remember the first few classes I taught as an intern. Teaching a class all alone to a room full of yogis is so much different than teaching just one segment of a class with a group of teachers.

When you are the teacher, you have to own the seat of the teacher and you have to own your classroom in a way that you weren't expected to or required to through any phase of teacher training or extensions.

The first few months of teaching have taught me the importance of accepting my feelings of vulnerability and imperfection. When I first I stood up in front of a class, I noticed that not everyone would follow along perfectly with every cue and I would beat myself up if I messed up a cue or stumbled over my words.

At the beginning, I let these little imperfections lead to negative self-talk. I'd leave some classes feeling dejected and let down because I didn't think I was good enough or because I would obsess over this small mistake or that small mistake.

As I've continued teaching though, I've continued to attend classes not only for myself and for my own practice but to continue learning from other teachers. As I've taken the perspective of a new teacher on the mat, I've learned that no matter what, as a teacher not every student is going to follow every cue perfectly and that it is only human to stumble over your words or make a mistake here or there -- apparently, I'm not the only one who makes mistakes.

The most important thing as a teacher is to prepare for class. If I know my sequence, have practiced it in my body, and embody what I want to teach my students, I can take myself out of my own head and spend that energy focused on my class and my students. The more time I spend critiquing myself in class, the less energy and time I'm spending creating a connection with my students.

I believe the key to becoming a great yoga teacher is to continue to train my mind, body, and heart through preparation before class and connection with students throughout class. The more I connect with my students, the more I will be able to customize my classes to their needs and their bodies.

My almost 300 hours and 6 months of training are just the beginning of becoming a yoga teacher. Each class I teach and each class I take will continue to help me become a better yoga teacher. The training will never be over and each moment spent training is worth the investment.

Hope to see you on the mat!