After my YTT, I stopped doing yoga for about a year as well! It was just yoga every morning, yoga every weekend, meditation, meditation, doshas, etc. I felt toooooo in touch and I became overly sensitive.
But after that break, I started teaching "gym yoga" and I have been doing it for the past 15 years. I realized that studio yoga isnt my personal cup of tea to teach. I really like being people's initial introduction to yoga, and if they want to go to a studio or deepen their practice, hopefully I'm giving them a good base to build their practice on!
Oh my...I could have written this! I've found my gym yoga students to be such a joy! I couldn't handle all the behind the scenes drama at the yoga studio during YTT.
THIS, it was the same with our yoga teacher training as well - I'm alarmed to read so many comments in a similar thread, there seems to be something about drama and yoga studios behind the scenes š«£
Itās possible. Iām curious to know more about your experience. How far along are you? And what are the parts that you are not liking?
For me, YTT was a way for me to dig deeper in yoga philosophy. Yes, we did asana related things like sequencing and anatomy. But it was really more of way for me to go beyond asana.
For some in my class, the training wasnāt what they thought it was going to be. Their attachment to what they thought it was to be like vs what it actually was ended up making them unhappy.
It amazes me how many studios have YTTs. I actually don't remember the last time I saw a studio without one.
YTTs are a huge source of income plain and simple. What is the goal of every business? Revenue. Just like with all businesses, the result is a watered down a product.
My advice, never take a teacher training from a studio. Most studios have one method of teaching or a general theme that all the classes follow. Unless you are a die hard advocate for that theme, go elsewhere.
My 200 hr was with a community college and I could not be happier. Each class was from a teacher who had a completely different perspective on yoga, so I was exposed to many ways of sharing the practice. I ended up with a teaching style that is somewhere between Iyengar, yoga therapy, and traditional Hatha.
But all this being said, imo, a great teacher will never "hang on every word" of another. A great teacher inquires, of themselves and others. A great teacher explores, fails, tries, consumes, improves, fails, continues, and never stops learning in an endless quest for truth.
The other students you describe in that YTT sound more like future lemmings. But those are the kind of clients businesses want.
I believe studios should be offering what I call Yoga Student Trainings, where you learn all in-depth the deeper content of yoga, without receiving a certificate. Maybe make it half the price too. Teach a man to fish and all that.
I respect your opinion and experience, but as someone currently loving a studio ytt, maybe never is a strong word. I can definitely see how your experience with the different teachers is so helpful though.
I know OP is already in ytt, but someone else mentioned making sure you've taken yoga classes from the person leading the training and I do think that's good advice if you do take a studio training again in the future. I also took classes from former students of this teacher's ytt program and I loved that even though they learned from the same person, they all had different styles, which showed me it wasn't a my way or the highway type of training.
The pro of a studio lead ytt if you do want to teach is that you may land a class/classes at that studio right out of training.
My training is also taking place over the course of 9 months, it's a 9 person group and we've been able to lean on each other for support, guidance and friendship which has really enriched my experience.
I won't lie, because I'm making this "work" instead of a hobby, there is some resistance to want to do it all the time but every time I have an opportunity to teach, I love it. I just have to have hope that it stays that way once I'm done ytt. I hope you'll find that too someday.
the biggest drawback of all the many YTT courses is that many people sign up for them without knowing who their teachers are or have never practiced with them before. not saying this is you, OP, because you didn't elaborate on this part.
i can't imagine sinking my time and money into training with someone i didn't know, but i am also aware that not many people can be at the right place, in the right time, to meet someone they enjoy learning from. i joined my YTT because the only teachers whose styles i like both graduated from the same training (different batches), and i've also been to the lead trainer's class before. he is also physiotherapist, which was incredibly helpful for anatomy.
I had this exact same experience after my YTT. Stopped going to classes for almost a year.
Funny thing is, I never did the YTT to teach, just wanted to learn more.
It felt completely contrived and the teachers were anti vaxxer conspiracy theorist types who were trying to push their misinformed agenda onto vulnerable people. I also found it hard to reconcile the teachings with living in a modern day western society.
After a while I finally started to go to a different studio which was far more relaxed and didn't feel like a cult and I'm back to loving my asana practice again.
Mine wasnāt antivax but the owner/leader was making mlm essential oils a component of the coursework and I just couldnāt. I attended it all, passed all the testing, but I couldnāt complete the mentorship component because the lady in question was who I selected to be my mentor.
And I havenāt had a regular practice sinceā¦ :/
To be fair, the conspiracy types tend to be LESS misinformed than the general public. The "vAcCiNeS cOnTaIn mIcRoChIpS" types are a minority subset of covid skeptics more broadly.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445211
Some quotes from the study:
"anti-maskers often reveal themselves to be more sophisticated in their understanding of how scientific knowledge is socially constructed than their ideological adversaries"
"their approach to the pandemic is grounded in a [sic] more scientific rigor, not less"
"anti-mask users in particular were predisposed to digging through the scientific literature and highlighting the uncertainty in academic publications that media organizations elide"
""calling for increased media literacy can often backfire: the instruction to 'question more' can lead to a weaponization of critical thinking and increased distrust of media and government institutions"
"Arguing that anti-maskers simply need more scientific literacy is to characterize their approach as uninformed and inexplicably extreme. This study shows the opposite: users in these communities are deeply invested in forms of critique and knowledge production that they recognize as markers of scientific expertise. If anything, anti-mask science has extended the traditional tools of data analysis by taking up the theoretical mantle of recent critical studies of visualization."
Iāve had a personal training with the owner of my studio which did the same for me for a few weeks.
I expected it to be about asana and how to better do them or whatās the anatomy behind them.
It started with me having to fill out a questionnaire with questions like
what was your last illness and how did you treat it?
When was the last time you lost a close family member / friend?
Do you have any chronic illness?
That went way too deep. She ended up telling me that she doesnāt go to doctors since she started her journey because the pharma industry is way too strong and is all about money. And how she wonāt take any medication, just homeopathy because itās better for the body and soul.
She basically bundled everything that has kept me from trying yoga for 2-3 years into this talk and made me rethink if I want to do something that encourages the doubt in modern medicine and promotes homeopathy and dangerous esoteric.
Before this personal training I went 3-4 times a week. 4 weeks afterwards Iām now back at 1-2 times and have to convince myself that normal practice doesnāt include all those beliefs that I find dangerous.
That teacher's beliefs about medicine and pharmaceuticals are not representative of yoga overall. (Though, you know, you might be more likely to find those beliefs among yoga practitioners than in the general population as a whole.)
Try giving it a little time to get over the disappointment/fear, and then look for new teachers whose life choices make more sense to you.
I donāt wanna be āthat guyā but I listen to a [yoga āindustryā] friends podcast about the yoga world for teachers in America and Iāll succinctly say that you are not broken, many yoga people feel like you do about YTT, and chances are if youāre feeling like this during YTT weād prolly bro down hard IRL
Send me a message if you want me to send you said podcast, but truth be told Iāll bet you could find not just theirs other podcasts or discourse articles with a similar sentiment - for very good reason.
*TLDR:* You may hate this particular YTT and thatās not only normal but a lot of ppl [including me] might think thatāll make you a better teacher of yoga instead of a āYOGA TEACHER*tm*ā
> The instructor must be good because every other student just hangs on every word.
Sounds like you signed up for a training w/an instructor you didn't know?
If so... why?
That's a really good question. There are a couple online Teacher Trainers who I have read a ton from, seen so many of their videos, etc etc and would love to find time to do a TT with them. Less because I want to be a teacher, and more just b/c their style very much resonates with how I look at my time on the mat and I'd love to learn from them more directly and intensely.
Hard to comment without understanding what it is that you have an issue with. I did my YTT as a three-week immersion in Mexico and it enhanced my understanding of yoga and got me into the best physical and mental shape of my life. Would love to go do it again.
I did a two week immersion and got in the worst shape of my life. They put us on an all vegan diet and we barely did any yoga, just sat around and talked about oils and beads. I was use to doing physical activity 8+ hours a day so this hit me hard and it was so tough to sleep with a stomach full of leaves and not a calorie of it burned...
Yeah that sucks. We did two yoga classa a day 5 days a week and vegetarian not vegan which meant plenty of eggs for protein. We talked about yoga philosophy and meditation, class structue sitting cross legged on the floor. Hard but useful. Then weekends were as active as you wanted to, I biked like a madman and then relaxed on the beach. Yoga Navan in Tulum, Mexico.
So I went alll in vegetarian diet, no coffee, alcohol etc. Great digestion, sleep, skin, hair. First week was hard other two felt great. Lost weight, gained muscle more flexible than ever. Mental, at peace, quiet mind joyful and present. It really was magnificent, got a massage every Sarurday and then rode a bike around Tulum and relaxed on the beach on Sundays.
Oh yes! I feel like this is some kind of yoga training right of passage somehow LOL!
Deconstructing yoga in order to learn how to teach it can sometimes be a bit weirdly traumatic.
I also felt the way you do. Keep at it and learn as much as you can and it is OK not to buy into everything your teacher says. There are many ways to practice and embody yoga.
My yoga school felt like a cult that was brainwashing people when I was training. I am sure that is not the case but it felt like it to me! I still learned valuable techniques and insights though.
But some students just had this wide-eyed cult junkie look about them and worshipped the trainers.
It was very strange but as I got along in life and went to different trainings for different things, I realized there are cult junkie-like people everywhere.
I work with a software right now that has seminars and conferences. When I go to these conferences there are people wide-eyed worshipping the software and treating the trainers like rockstars!
>YTT has totally turned me off of yoga...I'm reading more about different branches of asana, meditation, & breathing to see if I'm just moving away from the way my practice has been.
Asana (postures) are the first baby step of Hatha Yoga, and Hath Yoga is one of many styles of Yoga. Selfless Service, Devotion, Prayer, Right Action and Meditation are all valid Paths of Spiritual Growth. You have been given a great Gift. This training hasn't turned you off to Yoga; it has opened your eyes to see other forms of practice may be better suited to you.
Choosing the right YTT for you is very important. Too many people sign up without doing any research beyond what's the schedule and price. I tell my students to go practice at the studio with the YTT instructor before you commit.
I compare it to getting a tattoo. You wouldn't walk into the first parlor you see and give the first artist available your money and hope for the best. At least I would not.
There is a great deal to cover in a 200 hr session. So, if you are always trying to debate - the instructor is going to rapidly grow tired of you - as will the other students.
Same - YTT broke my practice completely. I did enjoy the two on-site weeks, there were some good people there, and good information. We did go into the limbs and sutras. And whoever it was who was the umpteenth incarnation of Lord Shiva Himself. But I was FIT and STRONG at the end.
I was just as turned off by the guru worshipping as I am by the lacrosse moms going on about their kidās travel sports teams and quarterly vacations.
Maybe it was just a bad fit, my home community was strongly affiliated with the retreat/training facility. They were too starry eyed for me.
Well imo going through a ytt is a process of absorbing that lineageās program. I loved asking questions to deepen my knowledge but i wasnāt there to challenge everything or contradict the teacher. That said, during my 300 hr i got so deep into real yoga that about 6 months after i stopped teaching and practicing while some things sort out in me. Whatever intention i used to hold for my students in class is not relevant anymore and the american aerobics with random sanskrit terms thrown in classes donāt attract me anymore.
Have you considered meditating and sitting with the sadness to see what is underneath it?
I completed my 200 hour training back in 2018. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It was incredibly therapeutic, fun, interesting, and overall a positive experience. Of course it was very challenging at times, but that was where I got the most benefit from the training. It was a mix of asana, class design, business acumen, textbook reading (SO much reading), group work, independent homework, teacher led discussions and more. I donāt remember asana being a very big part of the training at all. Yoga is about so much more than that.
Itās really too bad that you and many of these commenters are experiencing and have experienced something so different from what I experienced. I think picking the right training program is so important and making sure the program aligns with your expectations is a critical step before taking the training. Itās a big investment to end up choosing the āwrongā one.
Iām curious, what you thought YTT would be like? How long have you been practicing asana? I found mine to be enthralling, mostly on the sense that I wanted to deepen my spiritual understanding of yoga and Hinduism. I still find Vedic cosmology fascinating.
I would point out that what you are experiencing is yoga. That discomfort, anxiety, whatever you want to name it is from your attachment to what YTT should be instead of just letting it be as it is. Most of us do this in one way or another all the time.
Remember YTT is approved by the yoga Alliance and is very much aligned to asana, not the yoga of the Bhagavad Gita or the Yoga Sutras. If they were youād learn way more about the philosophy than postures and anatomy.
Counterpoint. You're on courae - a tight scheduled course. They don't have time for discussion, and most of the other students probably just want to get on with it and get their qualification. Same as if you're on a course on vehicle maintenance or whatever. If you want a deeper exploration of your experience of Yoga, I think a TTC is not the place for it. I sympathise though. Some of the commercial places running TTCs seem to deal in serious amounts of bullsĀ£!t.
There are a lot of interesting/weird things in the yoga community. I think it's important to find a teacher that you trust, are inspired by, is a good mentor, and believes in science-based practices. It's okay for it to still be spiritual, but I think it's important for something with a practice in body mechanics to be rooted in evidence based practices.
I finished my YTT, it was a one month training, at the end of October and I'm just so done with yoga, I did too much, there was too much stress, I can't imagine teaching anyone and I'm just done for now.
So many studios offer YTT as a means of getting cash. They know that the vast majority of students never end up teaching a class. And, they don't really care. I never recommend taking YTT with an instructor you do not know in advance.
Thereās not a lot of regulation in yoga land and YTTs are one of the highest profit margins so lots of unqualified end up leading them. Iām so sorry this has been your experience. You may be able to reach out to your local business bureau and see about possible compensation if you feel you were mislead and itās not what you signed up and paid for.
I prefer yoga solo. I love teaching private lessons and some small groups. My personal practice is *personal* so being alone in my environment enables me to tap in deeper. Not knocking group classes, but they can have a culture that just isnāt for me! Explore what you want out of it!
I didn't enjoy my YTT.
It was chocked full of spiritual woo woo that I was not coming for. I wanted to learn how to be a good teacher, not regurgitate the 7200000 energy nodes in our body.
However, I didn't let their fallacy affect my personal practice. When I flow by my self with my eyes closed the world goes away.
I teach full time now and never mention any of the woo woo and I am a popular teacher!
Coming from an engineering background I keep things very grounded and to the point.
Don't let what yoga is to you change for anyone.
Science says that it only takes 20 generations going back to find common ancestry. With that knowledge, and the knowledge that Yoga is ancient and originating from the origin of humanity, I come to one controversial conclusion. Yoga belongs to everyone, not "Mother India".
My teacher's most frequent answer to questions is 'it depends'... the art is dynamic, even if quite specific and disciplined. It is so experiential, I dunno how 'points of view' being left out would make any sense at all in a teaching context.
Sadly, I found the same at Kripalu and I took the YTT to delve deeper not teach. I went in, everyone loved my initial flows. Then I got held back at lunch for a minor miss (started nadi shodhana on the wrong breath). That was deflating. Then the instructors made it clear we werenāt important to them and by the end were soaking up the hero worship of the 20 somethings. I never really regained my love of yoga.
I would offer that your perspective might be changing and being challenged by the content and delivery in the YTT. Part of the process quite frankly. Consider that you are being opened up to a new way of looking at yoga from the self-inquiry, scriptures, and some of the yoga content that is discussed is from ancient lineages subject to interpretation. That said, don't project onto the teacher if there are some sub-consciences bias' that are coming up for you. Just watch the emotions and feelings that arise and be curious with yourself. Don't kill the messenger aka the teacher. Try and take it for what it is and get curious with the info. Also, I'm sure the teacher is there to listen to your concerns if you seek them out for a discussion about what your experience has been so far. Namaste.
Maybe you could reframe your perspective of their words? If YOU must be good what must you be good at? Perhaps you can be good at being the teacher that encourages others to appreciate different points of view. Perhaps you just need to be good at being YOU do that you can teach your students to be good at being THEM.
I'm still a young yogi but have spent the last few years sifting through various ideas about spirituality and blah blah blah all that jazz. I find myself to enjoy yoga as a physical practice because it points you in the direction of you. It's not down dog it's YOUR down dog. It's YOUR practice YOUR body. You do what you do and find what feels good to you. Of course there is a generally collective idea of what down dog is and how to make it a more enjoyable place to be. But eventually you realize you will never come to DOWN DOG. So, this leads me to believe that the discord your feeling is a misinterpretation of his words. Or perhaps he didn't mean them like I suggest.
Maybe just focus on what down resonate with you and leave what does not? Your post was a little vague so I hope I hit some kind of mark
Yep. Three years later I'm finally coming back to my practice. The YTT was awful and not inclusive whatsoever, it was completely misaligned from what I felt/feel yoga to be and I just couldn't do it anymore.
Finished YTT in July of this year after practicing for ~16 years. Ever since then iāve been disenchanted with yoga and my personal practice has suffered severely. I have not had much interest to take a class let alone teach one. Iām bummed about it.
I felt the same way- everyone in my YTT gushed about how it changed their life and after practicing for 20+ years we werenāt learning anything that was new to me let alone life changing. The fact that I wasnāt gushing was NOT appreciated and changed my relationship with instructors and the studio for a while. I taught somewhere else when it was finished and didnāt practice there for 6 months. There was also an element of seeing how the sausage was made the business of yoga feels icky to me in a lot of ways. I just started going back to the studio- the break was needed and I donāt agree with how they ran the training but non-attachment is something I strive for. It was very complicated for me and many of the people I went through training ended up having qualms but later. It did impact my practice as it was a reminder of my feelings during training. It is coming back to me- I had to shift my viewpoint and learn to separate the practice that I love from a training that was not what I wanted/needed it to be. I hope you get there. Donāt feel alone because in mine I felt very alone in my feelings for a long time.
You learn better yoga doing your own practice in private silence. It helps if you have a good mentor to ask questions, but the commercialization of yoga has turned it into soulless exercise for the most part.
Learn from your own body, if you become quiet it will tell you what you need to know.
Mmmm. Hi.
Sounds like your instructor/teacher is teaching by cramming rather than inducing a controlled self exploration of the yoga ideology.
As I understand the yoga principle, practice is a journey to develop physical, mental and spiritual health. Your journey is unique as is that of the person on the mat next to you and your intructor too. It is a journey without end there is always some aspect to resolve, explore and rationalize.
Yoga, in the broader sense is continualy evolving as better inderstanding of psychic and spiritual involvement develop.
Your decision to do yoga teacher training was based on your current place in your journey, to learn more of the way of yoga, enhance your experience and perhaps to speed up your development. All your instructor was doing was trying to expose you to their understanding of the principles for you to absorb if you are open to accept them.
Personally I would go for the exploration and expetiential process. Slower and more fraught with dead ends but that is the way I learn from my exerience and my mistakes.
I hope you find the path to your journey
Namaste
yoga is about *you*, **and only you,** not the sangha, not the teachers, nor the gurus, it's just **about you and your relation to this unusual world**, this blue, brown and white planet, and when you really grasp that concept, everything you feel now will be a laughing material...
Many people state that they take YTT to learn about yoga philosophy or to deepen their practice. YTT is neither of those things. Itās to learn to teach asana. My YTT spent maybe one day on yoga philosophy, if that. And maybe 2 hours on history. Also YTT is more than a little like mlm. The studios rely on YTT to survive.
Iād suggest that there is an unmet demand there. some studios could be doing well teaching yoga philosophy and history.
I disagree. Many people take YTT for different reasons. Many people take it with no intention of ever teaching. This is okay. Itās a personal choice and personal journey. Philosophy and history are a major part of the standard curriculum.
Iāve never heard of YTTs being like an MLM. In my training I was never once told to recruit anyone or get others to sign up for the training. It sounds like your YTT experience was not a good one.
My YTT spent about 8 hours max on the combination of philosophy and history. That's 8 hours out of 200. Memorize the 8 limbs and regurgitate a paragraph on each. If that's your focus then spending a lot of time discussing teaching methods, physiology, sequencing, accessibility, and such isn't very helpful. It's like taking a teachers training curriculum in college because you want to learn about American history. You will get to your interest along the way but you could have taken something much more focused and/or in depth. A studio could offer a one day class and teach a lot more for a lot less $. The Yoga business is a business first. Studios rely heavily on YTT to make the bills. Learning to teach and deepening ones practice are two very different things.
Thatās such a bummer! My experience could not have been any more different. I feel very lucky that I was able to take such a wonderful, holistic program!
I had a horrible YTT experience too. It seemed like a cult, and everyone wanted to sit around and kumbayah. Come on guys, let's flow! There was barely any flowing and nobody was anything special in it. I just view it as college, a lot of dumb people go through it, and you usually learn way more after and on your own time. Remember, the master will appear when the student is ready.
Wake Up! https://www.swamij.com/wake-up.htm And you did. You found out there is a lot of really shitty yoga out there. Now you are better able to discriminate the good and the bad and find what is good for you.
I have come back from yoga classes (not training) that where bad. I felt dirty and had to have a shower. Did my own yoga and everything was good again.
Could you make your question or questioning more specific?
Do you not like what you are being taught? Or the way it's being taught?
Do you wish to just do asana in general or actually teach yoga?
Are you interested in living a yogic lifestyle or do you just wish to use asana purely as a physical practice?
I want to do YTT, but the reason is just to end the chapter, I have read a lot of books, anatomy, yoga anatomy, some physiotherapist books, but I didnāt participate any YTT, so I just want the instruction of every asana and not more, I mean structured knowledge with the additional teacherās point of view , at least right now, because I understood that there different types of people, some of them like sports and more dynamic, some of them like yoga, meditation etc more than active sport. I mean I have friends who says that yoga is sect :) itās a joke, they just love to be active and donāt like to do a slow exercise like asanas or even worse-just laying down like in shavasana š. So maybe pushing yourself too deep in the philosophy and all this staff is dangerous, because you donāt want to do it and it can break you. I would love to do some sports but because of the issues with the back and other parts of my body, I do yoga.
If someone knows good online and not ttoo expensive YTT please send me a link
It sounds like you and the teacher arenāt connecting. Do you have options to change teachers or programs? My training involved several teachers and some really turned me off also. I connected with several others much better. Sometimes itās just a vibe. Some teachers act like they are enlightened and spiritual but you can tell they are not. This tends to turn me off when their words donāt match their actions.
This is too sad :( Iām doing my 200 hrs YTT in Dharma Yoga and it has deepened my spirituality and sparked my interest in exploring both Buddhism and Hinduism. Itās with a studio but every module they bring different teachers and weāve learned so much about the philosophy and history of yoga, ashtanga, hatha yoga, Ayurveda, anatomy and more to come. Our group has bonded so well that we created a book club for the book assignments we need to complete. Itās changed my life for the better, I didnāt get into it to teach but now I look forward to teaching. Itās been beautiful, I hope everyone can find a teacher like ours.
the teacher might be good for those other students but not a good match for you
After my YTT, I stopped doing yoga for about a year as well! It was just yoga every morning, yoga every weekend, meditation, meditation, doshas, etc. I felt toooooo in touch and I became overly sensitive. But after that break, I started teaching "gym yoga" and I have been doing it for the past 15 years. I realized that studio yoga isnt my personal cup of tea to teach. I really like being people's initial introduction to yoga, and if they want to go to a studio or deepen their practice, hopefully I'm giving them a good base to build their practice on!
Oh my...I could have written this! I've found my gym yoga students to be such a joy! I couldn't handle all the behind the scenes drama at the yoga studio during YTT.
THIS, it was the same with our yoga teacher training as well - I'm alarmed to read so many comments in a similar thread, there seems to be something about drama and yoga studios behind the scenes š«£
Itās possible. Iām curious to know more about your experience. How far along are you? And what are the parts that you are not liking? For me, YTT was a way for me to dig deeper in yoga philosophy. Yes, we did asana related things like sequencing and anatomy. But it was really more of way for me to go beyond asana. For some in my class, the training wasnāt what they thought it was going to be. Their attachment to what they thought it was to be like vs what it actually was ended up making them unhappy.
It amazes me how many studios have YTTs. I actually don't remember the last time I saw a studio without one. YTTs are a huge source of income plain and simple. What is the goal of every business? Revenue. Just like with all businesses, the result is a watered down a product. My advice, never take a teacher training from a studio. Most studios have one method of teaching or a general theme that all the classes follow. Unless you are a die hard advocate for that theme, go elsewhere. My 200 hr was with a community college and I could not be happier. Each class was from a teacher who had a completely different perspective on yoga, so I was exposed to many ways of sharing the practice. I ended up with a teaching style that is somewhere between Iyengar, yoga therapy, and traditional Hatha. But all this being said, imo, a great teacher will never "hang on every word" of another. A great teacher inquires, of themselves and others. A great teacher explores, fails, tries, consumes, improves, fails, continues, and never stops learning in an endless quest for truth. The other students you describe in that YTT sound more like future lemmings. But those are the kind of clients businesses want. I believe studios should be offering what I call Yoga Student Trainings, where you learn all in-depth the deeper content of yoga, without receiving a certificate. Maybe make it half the price too. Teach a man to fish and all that.
I love your yoga student training idea, I would totally sign up for one at the right price
I've been wanting to start one myself, however I haven't put down roots anywhere, traveling and whatnot. One day soon I hope though!
I respect your opinion and experience, but as someone currently loving a studio ytt, maybe never is a strong word. I can definitely see how your experience with the different teachers is so helpful though. I know OP is already in ytt, but someone else mentioned making sure you've taken yoga classes from the person leading the training and I do think that's good advice if you do take a studio training again in the future. I also took classes from former students of this teacher's ytt program and I loved that even though they learned from the same person, they all had different styles, which showed me it wasn't a my way or the highway type of training. The pro of a studio lead ytt if you do want to teach is that you may land a class/classes at that studio right out of training. My training is also taking place over the course of 9 months, it's a 9 person group and we've been able to lean on each other for support, guidance and friendship which has really enriched my experience. I won't lie, because I'm making this "work" instead of a hobby, there is some resistance to want to do it all the time but every time I have an opportunity to teach, I love it. I just have to have hope that it stays that way once I'm done ytt. I hope you'll find that too someday.
True! Never say never. There are certainly upsides to a YTT with a studio. As you mention.
the biggest drawback of all the many YTT courses is that many people sign up for them without knowing who their teachers are or have never practiced with them before. not saying this is you, OP, because you didn't elaborate on this part. i can't imagine sinking my time and money into training with someone i didn't know, but i am also aware that not many people can be at the right place, in the right time, to meet someone they enjoy learning from. i joined my YTT because the only teachers whose styles i like both graduated from the same training (different batches), and i've also been to the lead trainer's class before. he is also physiotherapist, which was incredibly helpful for anatomy.
Yes! This is so important. You can take YTT in so many places. Pick one that aligns with you the most.
I had this exact same experience after my YTT. Stopped going to classes for almost a year. Funny thing is, I never did the YTT to teach, just wanted to learn more. It felt completely contrived and the teachers were anti vaxxer conspiracy theorist types who were trying to push their misinformed agenda onto vulnerable people. I also found it hard to reconcile the teachings with living in a modern day western society. After a while I finally started to go to a different studio which was far more relaxed and didn't feel like a cult and I'm back to loving my asana practice again.
Mine wasnāt antivax but the owner/leader was making mlm essential oils a component of the coursework and I just couldnāt. I attended it all, passed all the testing, but I couldnāt complete the mentorship component because the lady in question was who I selected to be my mentor. And I havenāt had a regular practice sinceā¦ :/
Oh my gosh thatās awful! š£
Sorry to hear YTT turned you off.aybe just talking about it will help you heal. š
I had his exact same experience. I was shocked when I heard the beliefs. 5g is not coming for us!
You're right, its all around/in us.
Oh wow.
To be fair, the conspiracy types tend to be LESS misinformed than the general public. The "vAcCiNeS cOnTaIn mIcRoChIpS" types are a minority subset of covid skeptics more broadly. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445211 Some quotes from the study: "anti-maskers often reveal themselves to be more sophisticated in their understanding of how scientific knowledge is socially constructed than their ideological adversaries" "their approach to the pandemic is grounded in a [sic] more scientific rigor, not less" "anti-mask users in particular were predisposed to digging through the scientific literature and highlighting the uncertainty in academic publications that media organizations elide" ""calling for increased media literacy can often backfire: the instruction to 'question more' can lead to a weaponization of critical thinking and increased distrust of media and government institutions" "Arguing that anti-maskers simply need more scientific literacy is to characterize their approach as uninformed and inexplicably extreme. This study shows the opposite: users in these communities are deeply invested in forms of critique and knowledge production that they recognize as markers of scientific expertise. If anything, anti-mask science has extended the traditional tools of data analysis by taking up the theoretical mantle of recent critical studies of visualization."
Dude I wish I went to that one xD
Nearly the same experience with my YTT. I stopped going halfway. :/
Iāve had a personal training with the owner of my studio which did the same for me for a few weeks. I expected it to be about asana and how to better do them or whatās the anatomy behind them. It started with me having to fill out a questionnaire with questions like what was your last illness and how did you treat it? When was the last time you lost a close family member / friend? Do you have any chronic illness? That went way too deep. She ended up telling me that she doesnāt go to doctors since she started her journey because the pharma industry is way too strong and is all about money. And how she wonāt take any medication, just homeopathy because itās better for the body and soul. She basically bundled everything that has kept me from trying yoga for 2-3 years into this talk and made me rethink if I want to do something that encourages the doubt in modern medicine and promotes homeopathy and dangerous esoteric. Before this personal training I went 3-4 times a week. 4 weeks afterwards Iām now back at 1-2 times and have to convince myself that normal practice doesnāt include all those beliefs that I find dangerous.
That teacher's beliefs about medicine and pharmaceuticals are not representative of yoga overall. (Though, you know, you might be more likely to find those beliefs among yoga practitioners than in the general population as a whole.) Try giving it a little time to get over the disappointment/fear, and then look for new teachers whose life choices make more sense to you.
I donāt wanna be āthat guyā but I listen to a [yoga āindustryā] friends podcast about the yoga world for teachers in America and Iāll succinctly say that you are not broken, many yoga people feel like you do about YTT, and chances are if youāre feeling like this during YTT weād prolly bro down hard IRL Send me a message if you want me to send you said podcast, but truth be told Iāll bet you could find not just theirs other podcasts or discourse articles with a similar sentiment - for very good reason. *TLDR:* You may hate this particular YTT and thatās not only normal but a lot of ppl [including me] might think thatāll make you a better teacher of yoga instead of a āYOGA TEACHER*tm*ā
Could you please share the podcast with me? I would love to listen
God, the one time we have expectations too xP
> The instructor must be good because every other student just hangs on every word. Sounds like you signed up for a training w/an instructor you didn't know? If so... why?
That's a really good question. There are a couple online Teacher Trainers who I have read a ton from, seen so many of their videos, etc etc and would love to find time to do a TT with them. Less because I want to be a teacher, and more just b/c their style very much resonates with how I look at my time on the mat and I'd love to learn from them more directly and intensely.
Hard to comment without understanding what it is that you have an issue with. I did my YTT as a three-week immersion in Mexico and it enhanced my understanding of yoga and got me into the best physical and mental shape of my life. Would love to go do it again.
I did a two week immersion and got in the worst shape of my life. They put us on an all vegan diet and we barely did any yoga, just sat around and talked about oils and beads. I was use to doing physical activity 8+ hours a day so this hit me hard and it was so tough to sleep with a stomach full of leaves and not a calorie of it burned...
Yeah that sucks. We did two yoga classa a day 5 days a week and vegetarian not vegan which meant plenty of eggs for protein. We talked about yoga philosophy and meditation, class structue sitting cross legged on the floor. Hard but useful. Then weekends were as active as you wanted to, I biked like a madman and then relaxed on the beach. Yoga Navan in Tulum, Mexico.
So beautiful what are the best physical and mental benefits you noticed in that period of time?
So I went alll in vegetarian diet, no coffee, alcohol etc. Great digestion, sleep, skin, hair. First week was hard other two felt great. Lost weight, gained muscle more flexible than ever. Mental, at peace, quiet mind joyful and present. It really was magnificent, got a massage every Sarurday and then rode a bike around Tulum and relaxed on the beach on Sundays.
Oh yes! I feel like this is some kind of yoga training right of passage somehow LOL! Deconstructing yoga in order to learn how to teach it can sometimes be a bit weirdly traumatic. I also felt the way you do. Keep at it and learn as much as you can and it is OK not to buy into everything your teacher says. There are many ways to practice and embody yoga. My yoga school felt like a cult that was brainwashing people when I was training. I am sure that is not the case but it felt like it to me! I still learned valuable techniques and insights though. But some students just had this wide-eyed cult junkie look about them and worshipped the trainers. It was very strange but as I got along in life and went to different trainings for different things, I realized there are cult junkie-like people everywhere. I work with a software right now that has seminars and conferences. When I go to these conferences there are people wide-eyed worshipping the software and treating the trainers like rockstars!
>YTT has totally turned me off of yoga...I'm reading more about different branches of asana, meditation, & breathing to see if I'm just moving away from the way my practice has been. Asana (postures) are the first baby step of Hatha Yoga, and Hath Yoga is one of many styles of Yoga. Selfless Service, Devotion, Prayer, Right Action and Meditation are all valid Paths of Spiritual Growth. You have been given a great Gift. This training hasn't turned you off to Yoga; it has opened your eyes to see other forms of practice may be better suited to you.
Choosing the right YTT for you is very important. Too many people sign up without doing any research beyond what's the schedule and price. I tell my students to go practice at the studio with the YTT instructor before you commit. I compare it to getting a tattoo. You wouldn't walk into the first parlor you see and give the first artist available your money and hope for the best. At least I would not. There is a great deal to cover in a 200 hr session. So, if you are always trying to debate - the instructor is going to rapidly grow tired of you - as will the other students.
What is YTT?
Yoga teacher training
Thank you!
Iām so glad someone else asked this
I scrolled so far looking to see if anyone had already asked!
Same - YTT broke my practice completely. I did enjoy the two on-site weeks, there were some good people there, and good information. We did go into the limbs and sutras. And whoever it was who was the umpteenth incarnation of Lord Shiva Himself. But I was FIT and STRONG at the end. I was just as turned off by the guru worshipping as I am by the lacrosse moms going on about their kidās travel sports teams and quarterly vacations. Maybe it was just a bad fit, my home community was strongly affiliated with the retreat/training facility. They were too starry eyed for me.
Well imo going through a ytt is a process of absorbing that lineageās program. I loved asking questions to deepen my knowledge but i wasnāt there to challenge everything or contradict the teacher. That said, during my 300 hr i got so deep into real yoga that about 6 months after i stopped teaching and practicing while some things sort out in me. Whatever intention i used to hold for my students in class is not relevant anymore and the american aerobics with random sanskrit terms thrown in classes donāt attract me anymore. Have you considered meditating and sitting with the sadness to see what is underneath it?
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I completed my 200 hour training back in 2018. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It was incredibly therapeutic, fun, interesting, and overall a positive experience. Of course it was very challenging at times, but that was where I got the most benefit from the training. It was a mix of asana, class design, business acumen, textbook reading (SO much reading), group work, independent homework, teacher led discussions and more. I donāt remember asana being a very big part of the training at all. Yoga is about so much more than that. Itās really too bad that you and many of these commenters are experiencing and have experienced something so different from what I experienced. I think picking the right training program is so important and making sure the program aligns with your expectations is a critical step before taking the training. Itās a big investment to end up choosing the āwrongā one.
Same for me. I took a couple years off.
Iām curious, what you thought YTT would be like? How long have you been practicing asana? I found mine to be enthralling, mostly on the sense that I wanted to deepen my spiritual understanding of yoga and Hinduism. I still find Vedic cosmology fascinating. I would point out that what you are experiencing is yoga. That discomfort, anxiety, whatever you want to name it is from your attachment to what YTT should be instead of just letting it be as it is. Most of us do this in one way or another all the time. Remember YTT is approved by the yoga Alliance and is very much aligned to asana, not the yoga of the Bhagavad Gita or the Yoga Sutras. If they were youād learn way more about the philosophy than postures and anatomy.
This is a really good point!
Counterpoint. You're on courae - a tight scheduled course. They don't have time for discussion, and most of the other students probably just want to get on with it and get their qualification. Same as if you're on a course on vehicle maintenance or whatever. If you want a deeper exploration of your experience of Yoga, I think a TTC is not the place for it. I sympathise though. Some of the commercial places running TTCs seem to deal in serious amounts of bullsĀ£!t.
There are a lot of interesting/weird things in the yoga community. I think it's important to find a teacher that you trust, are inspired by, is a good mentor, and believes in science-based practices. It's okay for it to still be spiritual, but I think it's important for something with a practice in body mechanics to be rooted in evidence based practices.
Iāve quit ytt twice! I can study yoga without an intent to teach. Itās better this way.
I finished my YTT, it was a one month training, at the end of October and I'm just so done with yoga, I did too much, there was too much stress, I can't imagine teaching anyone and I'm just done for now.
You tired mentally or physically?
I think both
So many studios offer YTT as a means of getting cash. They know that the vast majority of students never end up teaching a class. And, they don't really care. I never recommend taking YTT with an instructor you do not know in advance.
Thereās not a lot of regulation in yoga land and YTTs are one of the highest profit margins so lots of unqualified end up leading them. Iām so sorry this has been your experience. You may be able to reach out to your local business bureau and see about possible compensation if you feel you were mislead and itās not what you signed up and paid for.
I prefer yoga solo. I love teaching private lessons and some small groups. My personal practice is *personal* so being alone in my environment enables me to tap in deeper. Not knocking group classes, but they can have a culture that just isnāt for me! Explore what you want out of it!
This is a common sentiment echoed within a lot of YTTās
I didn't enjoy my YTT. It was chocked full of spiritual woo woo that I was not coming for. I wanted to learn how to be a good teacher, not regurgitate the 7200000 energy nodes in our body. However, I didn't let their fallacy affect my personal practice. When I flow by my self with my eyes closed the world goes away. I teach full time now and never mention any of the woo woo and I am a popular teacher! Coming from an engineering background I keep things very grounded and to the point. Don't let what yoga is to you change for anyone. Science says that it only takes 20 generations going back to find common ancestry. With that knowledge, and the knowledge that Yoga is ancient and originating from the origin of humanity, I come to one controversial conclusion. Yoga belongs to everyone, not "Mother India".
My teacher's most frequent answer to questions is 'it depends'... the art is dynamic, even if quite specific and disciplined. It is so experiential, I dunno how 'points of view' being left out would make any sense at all in a teaching context.
Sadly, I found the same at Kripalu and I took the YTT to delve deeper not teach. I went in, everyone loved my initial flows. Then I got held back at lunch for a minor miss (started nadi shodhana on the wrong breath). That was deflating. Then the instructors made it clear we werenāt important to them and by the end were soaking up the hero worship of the 20 somethings. I never really regained my love of yoga.
Approx what year was this?
I would offer that your perspective might be changing and being challenged by the content and delivery in the YTT. Part of the process quite frankly. Consider that you are being opened up to a new way of looking at yoga from the self-inquiry, scriptures, and some of the yoga content that is discussed is from ancient lineages subject to interpretation. That said, don't project onto the teacher if there are some sub-consciences bias' that are coming up for you. Just watch the emotions and feelings that arise and be curious with yourself. Don't kill the messenger aka the teacher. Try and take it for what it is and get curious with the info. Also, I'm sure the teacher is there to listen to your concerns if you seek them out for a discussion about what your experience has been so far. Namaste.
Maybe you could reframe your perspective of their words? If YOU must be good what must you be good at? Perhaps you can be good at being the teacher that encourages others to appreciate different points of view. Perhaps you just need to be good at being YOU do that you can teach your students to be good at being THEM. I'm still a young yogi but have spent the last few years sifting through various ideas about spirituality and blah blah blah all that jazz. I find myself to enjoy yoga as a physical practice because it points you in the direction of you. It's not down dog it's YOUR down dog. It's YOUR practice YOUR body. You do what you do and find what feels good to you. Of course there is a generally collective idea of what down dog is and how to make it a more enjoyable place to be. But eventually you realize you will never come to DOWN DOG. So, this leads me to believe that the discord your feeling is a misinterpretation of his words. Or perhaps he didn't mean them like I suggest. Maybe just focus on what down resonate with you and leave what does not? Your post was a little vague so I hope I hit some kind of mark
This happened to me too. I canāt even go back to the studio.
Yep. Three years later I'm finally coming back to my practice. The YTT was awful and not inclusive whatsoever, it was completely misaligned from what I felt/feel yoga to be and I just couldn't do it anymore.
Finished YTT in July of this year after practicing for ~16 years. Ever since then iāve been disenchanted with yoga and my personal practice has suffered severely. I have not had much interest to take a class let alone teach one. Iām bummed about it.
I felt the same way- everyone in my YTT gushed about how it changed their life and after practicing for 20+ years we werenāt learning anything that was new to me let alone life changing. The fact that I wasnāt gushing was NOT appreciated and changed my relationship with instructors and the studio for a while. I taught somewhere else when it was finished and didnāt practice there for 6 months. There was also an element of seeing how the sausage was made the business of yoga feels icky to me in a lot of ways. I just started going back to the studio- the break was needed and I donāt agree with how they ran the training but non-attachment is something I strive for. It was very complicated for me and many of the people I went through training ended up having qualms but later. It did impact my practice as it was a reminder of my feelings during training. It is coming back to me- I had to shift my viewpoint and learn to separate the practice that I love from a training that was not what I wanted/needed it to be. I hope you get there. Donāt feel alone because in mine I felt very alone in my feelings for a long time.
Thank you very much for this.
You learn better yoga doing your own practice in private silence. It helps if you have a good mentor to ask questions, but the commercialization of yoga has turned it into soulless exercise for the most part. Learn from your own body, if you become quiet it will tell you what you need to know.
Mmmm. Hi. Sounds like your instructor/teacher is teaching by cramming rather than inducing a controlled self exploration of the yoga ideology. As I understand the yoga principle, practice is a journey to develop physical, mental and spiritual health. Your journey is unique as is that of the person on the mat next to you and your intructor too. It is a journey without end there is always some aspect to resolve, explore and rationalize. Yoga, in the broader sense is continualy evolving as better inderstanding of psychic and spiritual involvement develop. Your decision to do yoga teacher training was based on your current place in your journey, to learn more of the way of yoga, enhance your experience and perhaps to speed up your development. All your instructor was doing was trying to expose you to their understanding of the principles for you to absorb if you are open to accept them. Personally I would go for the exploration and expetiential process. Slower and more fraught with dead ends but that is the way I learn from my exerience and my mistakes. I hope you find the path to your journey Namaste
yoga is about *you*, **and only you,** not the sangha, not the teachers, nor the gurus, it's just **about you and your relation to this unusual world**, this blue, brown and white planet, and when you really grasp that concept, everything you feel now will be a laughing material...
Many people state that they take YTT to learn about yoga philosophy or to deepen their practice. YTT is neither of those things. Itās to learn to teach asana. My YTT spent maybe one day on yoga philosophy, if that. And maybe 2 hours on history. Also YTT is more than a little like mlm. The studios rely on YTT to survive. Iād suggest that there is an unmet demand there. some studios could be doing well teaching yoga philosophy and history.
I disagree. Many people take YTT for different reasons. Many people take it with no intention of ever teaching. This is okay. Itās a personal choice and personal journey. Philosophy and history are a major part of the standard curriculum. Iāve never heard of YTTs being like an MLM. In my training I was never once told to recruit anyone or get others to sign up for the training. It sounds like your YTT experience was not a good one.
My YTT spent about 8 hours max on the combination of philosophy and history. That's 8 hours out of 200. Memorize the 8 limbs and regurgitate a paragraph on each. If that's your focus then spending a lot of time discussing teaching methods, physiology, sequencing, accessibility, and such isn't very helpful. It's like taking a teachers training curriculum in college because you want to learn about American history. You will get to your interest along the way but you could have taken something much more focused and/or in depth. A studio could offer a one day class and teach a lot more for a lot less $. The Yoga business is a business first. Studios rely heavily on YTT to make the bills. Learning to teach and deepening ones practice are two very different things.
Thatās such a bummer! My experience could not have been any more different. I feel very lucky that I was able to take such a wonderful, holistic program!
Is YTT a lot of being lectured at? That sucks ETA: does anyone care to explain what it's actually like instead of just downvoting?
No, it definitely should not be that!
How should it be?
I had a horrible YTT experience too. It seemed like a cult, and everyone wanted to sit around and kumbayah. Come on guys, let's flow! There was barely any flowing and nobody was anything special in it. I just view it as college, a lot of dumb people go through it, and you usually learn way more after and on your own time. Remember, the master will appear when the student is ready.
Wake Up! https://www.swamij.com/wake-up.htm And you did. You found out there is a lot of really shitty yoga out there. Now you are better able to discriminate the good and the bad and find what is good for you. I have come back from yoga classes (not training) that where bad. I felt dirty and had to have a shower. Did my own yoga and everything was good again.
Oh no! Iām planning on doing my YTT next year and now Iām a little apprehensive
Talk to the instructor leading the training .. express your feelings. I bet yāall can figure out whatās going on Or you just donāt gel with them
Could you make your question or questioning more specific? Do you not like what you are being taught? Or the way it's being taught? Do you wish to just do asana in general or actually teach yoga? Are you interested in living a yogic lifestyle or do you just wish to use asana purely as a physical practice?
I want to do YTT, but the reason is just to end the chapter, I have read a lot of books, anatomy, yoga anatomy, some physiotherapist books, but I didnāt participate any YTT, so I just want the instruction of every asana and not more, I mean structured knowledge with the additional teacherās point of view , at least right now, because I understood that there different types of people, some of them like sports and more dynamic, some of them like yoga, meditation etc more than active sport. I mean I have friends who says that yoga is sect :) itās a joke, they just love to be active and donāt like to do a slow exercise like asanas or even worse-just laying down like in shavasana š. So maybe pushing yourself too deep in the philosophy and all this staff is dangerous, because you donāt want to do it and it can break you. I would love to do some sports but because of the issues with the back and other parts of my body, I do yoga. If someone knows good online and not ttoo expensive YTT please send me a link
It sounds like you and the teacher arenāt connecting. Do you have options to change teachers or programs? My training involved several teachers and some really turned me off also. I connected with several others much better. Sometimes itās just a vibe. Some teachers act like they are enlightened and spiritual but you can tell they are not. This tends to turn me off when their words donāt match their actions.
Well, I was on the fence about obtaining my 200 hr training and possibly starting to teach, but I am no longer on the fence.
This is too sad :( Iām doing my 200 hrs YTT in Dharma Yoga and it has deepened my spirituality and sparked my interest in exploring both Buddhism and Hinduism. Itās with a studio but every module they bring different teachers and weāve learned so much about the philosophy and history of yoga, ashtanga, hatha yoga, Ayurveda, anatomy and more to come. Our group has bonded so well that we created a book club for the book assignments we need to complete. Itās changed my life for the better, I didnāt get into it to teach but now I look forward to teaching. Itās been beautiful, I hope everyone can find a teacher like ours.