Meet Chelsea, she’s our smiley Studio Operations Coordinator who recently graduated from our 200 hour yoga teacher training program. Read all about her life-changing experience!
Let’s get vulnerable!
So, it’s a scary thing finally committing to something you’ve been wanting to do for years, and for me, I kept coming up with reasons I shouldn’t commit to teacher training. Yet again.
What if I want to have a long weekend off?
What if I’m not as good as the other trainees?
My back is hurt, maybe I should wait until I’m fully healthy?
What if I end up hating it?
The list went on and on but thank God for a good support system of friends and family telling me to listen to my gut and take the leap. I can confidently say that my life will never be the same, in all the best ways.
Here are four ways yoga teacher training changed my life (and my yoga practice):
1. I’m best friends with my body now
Let me explain; we, meaning me and my Body, still have the occasional fight, but I listen now, I care, and I want my body to be happy. After a long day I check in with her, see how she’s feeling, and give her a pat on the back for getting through a hard day. I’ve always appreciated what my body and mind can do, but teacher training allowed me to check in with myself regularly, and to create a habit of understanding that in every moment I have the power to create changes to help me feel better and move better. I’m not saying I don’t still have insecurities, but now I have the tools to adjust my mindset toward appreciation and curiosity. We all have good days and bad days, motivated moments and sluggish efforts. and Putting in the work to change our mindset can be hard, but when we are honest about that process, it leaves room for us to connect with others. So, give yourself a high five, get on that mat, and put in the work!
2. My personal practice has never been more fun
I cannot even begin to explain how much I learned in Teacher Training, about poses, anatomy, and functional movement. Almost every single session I left with pages full of notes, and tired muscles from trying new things and feeling how certain poses felt in my body. Throughout the week I would practice and play with what I had learned (shout out to anyone who actually heard me say “Wow! You really can feel it differently this way” during a class), and then come back to training ready for more. My personal practice now has more intention and is just plain fun. I listen to my body. I work extra hard on some days, give myself grace to take it easy on other days, and I use studio props in all kinds of unique ways now. It’s funny how you can do something for so long, and never realize there’s a different way to try it. And it doesn’t have to be making a pose harder, sometimes making the pose simpler is what we need most.
3. I meditate now, regularly.
You read that right, I am now a daily meditator. Now don’t get ahead of yourself and assume I have a cute corner of my house all setup with incense, bright green succulents and a comfy cushion (I’m working on it), but I take moments throughout my day to stop, breath, and listen. I had some major misconceptions about meditation, it always felt like it was such a big thing to tackle, and it didn’t feel accessible to me. Teacher training laid out before me the fact that there are options too numerous to go over in this short post, but it can be as simple as meditating while you use the toilet (maybe use Insight timer instead of checking your Instagram). One of my favorite forms of meditation we talked through was called Loving-Kindess meditation, and if you’ve never heard of it, teacher training is worth it just for this piece!
4. I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned
Even writing this blog post made me excited! Since taking teacher training, I am thrilled with any opportunity I get to share what I learned. I took teacher training with the goal to eventually teach, but even if you take it to simply deepen your own practice, it’s impossible not to impact at least 1 person with your change in mindset or reinvigorated practice. And in the end, that’s what it’s all about, practice, practice, practice. That’s how we experience growth.
Thank you to my fellow teacher trainees for being open and honest, to Larissa Link for putting in so much time and sharing her passion, to The Funky Buddha for offering such a wonderful environment to grow, and to me for showing up and putting in the work.
—Chelsea
Feeling inspired? Check out our Teacher Training Info Page
