Please note that there may be some affiliate links included. Read more about those here.
Well, 2019 is coming to a close, and it has been a wild year. I may share more about what happened, how we got here, and what my 2020 Powersheets and goal setting are unearthing… maybe not…So much of what has happened and, likely, what will still happen has been immensely personal. In February 2019, moving from our dream house near the beach wasn’t even a dot in our consciousness. Yet fast forward to June 2019: our house was sold for full list price and we were installed in our new lives in Virginia. It was a shock to us even. We managed to completely confuse nearly all of our friends and family. Mischief managed.
The two biggest changes in my personal life (the result of a lot of hard work, deep reflection, commitment to goals, and sacrifices in other areas), were returning to the workforce full time in a job I love and sitting for my 200 hour yoga teacher training.
These were MASSIVE life changes. They took a lot of bravery and the support of many in my life, but especially Mr. Family Trip. I don’t think I have driven far enough down the road to get an accurate rear view look at 2019, but I do feel ready to share some of my thoughts on yoga teacher training for anyone considering it.
Getting my yoga teacher certification had been a long time goal of mine, as in years of a goal. I simultaneously wanted to learn more about this practice I had been devoted to for over a decade (read more about my yoga retreat here and my 108 sun salutations experience here) and felt a calling to share with others the mind-body connection and life-lightness that yoga can provide (bear in mind, at two different points in my life I was positive I was going to be a minister, so inspiring and leading others in spiritual matters has always been in me).
Yet yoga teacher training is a massive commitment both in terms of money ($2,000 – $3,000 for tuition alone, not including materials, books, and extras) and in time (200 hours away from my family is time I can never get back). As a mom working part-time at the beginning of 2019 doing contract freelance projects with a variable income as well as with two kids at home, the time and money spent on yoga teacher training seemed like a luxury I couldn’t afford. It felt self-centered and self-absorbed to do this, especially as I didn’t have a sure path to recovering the costs.
But as the end of 2018 hit, I knew I was in a season of change, that something needed to change. After a lot of discussions with Mr. Family Trip, I took the leap and finally completed my yoga teacher training.
I am so glad I did it, but there are certainly some things I want to share for anyone considering it.
Here is what you should know (& consider) about yoga teacher training:
1- Not all trainings are equal.
I picked a training course that worked with my schedule. Full immersion wasn’t possible with my kids, and location really mattered so I could be home after training days were complete.
But I wish I spent more time attuned to the type of course I was registering for. It turns out that curriculum is teacher-created (as loosely approved by Yoga Alliance) and is wildly diverse. While I do not regret for a moment the group of people in my class, I do wish that I had taken a training that prepared me more for the style and type of yoga I desire to teach.
I really love power yoga, hot yoga, and vinyasa flow yoga. Getting deep into asanas and challenging my body helps me discipline my mind. This is the practice I want to share with my community. Yet I signed up for a yoga teacher training course that was more about the eightfold path and the spiritual/therapeutic side of yoga. Again, I didn’t realize trainings were so different from each other.
While this particular training helped me through personal discovery (there was a LOT of journaling and the vast majority of our weekends together were spent on letting go of the past, managing expectations, and spiritual living), I felt really ill-equipped to properly sequence and put together flows when I was done. Yet, there are trainings out there that would have given me that, at the cost perhaps of the self-reflection and dharma talks.
Which leads me to believe that the yoga community would be well-served to create a two-track system. Instead of labeling everything as a “yoga teacher training,” there should be “dig deeper” 200 hour coursework (such as “living the yoga lifestyle” or “yoga off the mat”) and separate teacher trainings. #WhenIRuletheWorld
2- Yoga teacher training is REALLY expensive, and you probably will not pay it off for a long time.
There are so many hidden costs along with tuition. There are books, materials, and other fees. There are yoga classes you need to take towards your certification. If you want to become licensed with the Yoga Alliance (nearly a necessity to teach at a yoga studio), there is another hundred dollars required, plus renewal fees.
Then recall that yoga teachers are not exactly in high demand (there are a lot of us!), so getting a class after you have completed your training is tough to do. And even at that, most boutique studios require a year-long internship (that you PAY FOR, to the tune of another couple of thousands) before you can actually teach and earn money on the schedule.
Know that yoga teachers get $15-$30 per class, with incentives built in at some studios for more bodies in the room. So unless you are an incredibly resourceful person with an ability to create a following across YouTube channels and monetize your yoga teaching that way, this is not a lucrative profession for roughly 98% of certified teachers. I estimate I spent around $2,300 all-in for my yoga teacher training. I was fortunate to get a job teaching two Vinyasa Flow classes a month at the local Y (the result of a long-standing relationship with the Y as a group fitness instructor and dumb luck of timing) at $25/hr. Allow me to do the math: I am looking at 92 classes before I even make back the money spent on my training; that doesn’t include actually earning on the investment.
All said: don’t do this for the money. Again, I have no regrets, and it did change aspects of my life for the better. But if you are looking to do yoga teacher training as the start of a brand new career path, I urge you to consider a slow-approach towards that career and to really sit down and look at the numbers. It’s possible, but it will require more resourcefulness than just the 200 hour teacher training module.
3- Plan on giving it more than 200 hours.
As with any learning opportunity, the more you put in, the more you get out. But there will be bare minimums for outside work required to pass your yoga teacher training. Again, all trainings are different, but mine required anatomy work each month, reading one book each month with accompanying preparation for an in-depth discussion, one group project, and other journaling and writing assignments outside of class. So plan on 200 hours of studio time, but more hours outside. (The good news is that you generally have up to a year to complete and turn in all assignments.)
4- Actually teaching afterwards will still require a lot of work and persistence.
Be ready! I highly recommend taking the training at the studio you have already been practicing at, wish to teach at, and have a relationship with. After training is complete, you will have to be somewhat aggressive and resourceful when it comes to actually teaching. I would not expect that once your training is complete, offers will fall in your lap or even be readily available. Be persistent, be patient, and set yourself up to be in the space where you want to teach.
5- You will learn so much about yourself: it will be draining and it will be incredibly exhilarating.
My yoga teacher training was surprisingly draining each day we were together. We didn’t do much that was tough physically (my Body Attack training was the polar opposite experience) but we spent a lot of time sitting on the floor (the back!) and meditating for long stretches (such a challenge!). We also spent a lot of time probing deep into who we are, what we wanted, what challenged us, what we needed to let go…and getting feedback on our teaching and leadership….
I loved all of that. It’s kind of my thing. It was the growth I had been searching for!
But as you consider your yoga teacher training, understand that at the end of the days and at the end of the experience in total, you will need to exercise a lot of self-love and find quiet space. Really plan to carve that out during your yoga teacher training journey. I found it really hard to do anything other than sit in quiet after a day of training. My heart and head needed space.
6- You will be with people so different from you, and you will learn so much from them. Your fellow trainees may be the best reason to do a teacher training.
I loved my tribe. These yogis brought so many new perspectives, challenged me, supported me, loved me and will always be a highly treasured part of my life story. We are all so different, with vastly diverse backgrounds, life views, motivations and goals. Yet we shared space and stories and tears that I daresay none of us has shared with others. It was sacred, what happened in that room.
7- Be prepared to try new experiences and new things: be open-minded!
One of the most amazing things about yoga is how it totally opens us up. As I shared with my flow class at the Y this past Saturday: it is on our yoga mat where we begin to learn how to live letting the outside world in and the inside of us (our authentic selves) out. But to open up you have to be ready to experience the gifts the world wants to offer.
Things we tried as a team: new healthy dishes/ayurvedic eating, kombucha (I still don’t get it), chanting, ancient tea ceremonies, kirtan jams, different breathing techniques, third-eye and intuition stimulation, chiropractic adjustments based on chakra connections, chakra cleansing, wild abandon dancing, sound baths… and I am sure I am missing things.
I won’t say I loved all of the actual experiences themselves but I will undoubtedly say that I loved HAVING them. It is so easy to scoff at something you don’t know or haven’t tried, but some of these experiences were incredibly powerful, even life-changing. It was beautiful to have had them, especially in the sacred space my tribe and I had created together.
All said, I am incredibly grateful and proud that I completed my 200 hour yoga teacher training. The memories, the growth, and the profound lifestyle change that yoga offers is an incomparable reward. To have the blessing of circumstances and resources to be able to dig deeper into a self-actualization journey, and to now have the piece of paper that officially qualifies me to share that spiritual opening with others, is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life (not exaggerating)
My life story is surely richer because of my time spent doing this. It was a huge part of my 2019, and, I believe, opening myself up to possibilities, the great beyond, and God through my teacher training is the biggest part of what radically changed my life this past year.
I highly recommend yoga teacher training to you if you have been considering it for a long time, as I had. Heed my advice, and chose wisely, build in the time, finances and self-love, yet then go, and do it.
Take the trip.