Beware Of Yoga Teachers Uninterested In Your Dharma
Do you know what the difference is between a 200 hour yoga teacher training course that takes place over one month or one that takes place over 4 years?
In fact there is absolutely no difference in terms of knowledge acquired. Both cover the same amount of material and lead to the same 200 hour qualification, however the intensive course can be a lot more transformational in nature. This is due to the fact that you live a yogic lifestyle during one month with other students and your teacher, compared with the longer course where you train for a few days over a period of years.
If this is the case why is it that some teachers who have chosen the longer path feel the need to judge and discredit the intensive path, aren't we all striving for the same goal?
When I took my initial 200 hours I was ready to teach, I didn’t want or need to spend 4 years sporadically studying for my qualification, I chose to commit all at once with an intensive course and my life was transformed. My Swami told me that once I had completed my initial 200 hours I really became a student of yoga and since that moment my thirst for knowledge has never decreased.
Six years later I have my own studio, retreat house, I have over 3000 hours of teaching experience, I have completed further training with a diverse range of teachers and I run my own TTC one month intensive teacher training course. One of my students arrived this year full of fear and doubt that she would never be good enough to teach even after completing her TTC. It is normal to have some fear, but this was more than that. I couldn’t understand where this self doubt was originating from. Finally she revealed that her yoga teacher had told her that a one month intensive yoga course is not good enough and that she would need to do lots more training afterwards to be able to teach a class.
As yoga teachers it our responsibility to guide students with humility and compassion and to never consciously stand in the way of their Dharma because of our own ego or insecurities.
No teacher has the right to make a judgement about something they know nothing about and in doing so they demonstrate an immaturity and lack of understanding as to what it means to be a yoga teacher. Yoga recognises that we are all different and as such we all learn differently, what might work for one person might not work for another yet that diversity makes the practice of yoga so complex and interesting.
Suffice to say after having worked through the anxiety caused by her previous yoga teacher my student is now flourishing on her intensive TTC and transforming before my eyes into a very competent teacher.
