I am not going to lie, the yoga trip I had planned in India went completely wrong …

I went to India to do a 200hr Yoga teacher training course, 2 days into the course I realised this really wasn’t for me. The Yoga course was always something I wanted to do and I thought it was the right time to do it, as I had just left my job at a commercial gym to pursue the next step of my journey growing my business.

The people I met on the course were amazing, really lovely people, from countries all over the world, everyone with completely different backgrounds, some had been travelling, others working and studying. All united with Yoga.

Days at the yoga Ashram consisted of yoga practice twice daily,  meditation in the evenings, and anatomy, philosophy, chanting and asana clinic in the day. The teachers were pretty good; the food was tasty, a variety of curries, all vegetarian; accommodation could have been better, but at least we had a swimming pool.

Sounds pretty good, right …..For me the core principle of yoga was the problem. I had little background in yoga other than the practice of yoga positions ‘asanas’ and I do enjoy that aspect. But really the yoga positions are only the external layer of yoga, the true principle behind yoga is a lot deeper. Trying to connect the mind, body and spirit, on your path to enlightment.

 

It’s very spiritual and this is where the struggle came.

 

Anyway I won’t go into too much detail, but after a couple more days, I decided to leave the course and move locations.

 

I moved to to Palolem beach and was a lot happier, being able to wake up to the sea and a stroll along the beach front. Swimming in the warm indian ocean, dolphin watching and walking to neighbouring beaches.

 

The highlight for me had to be watching the beautiful deep orange sunsets each day on a at the far end of the bay (a secluded beach bar) and I will never forget these evenings.

 

As for regrets, I don’t regret leaving the yoga ashram, its something I always wanted to do and wouldn’t have known that its not for me  if I hadn’t had tried the course. Maybe one day, I will come back and do a yoga teacher training course, but for now, I would prefer to work on my own yoga practice first and gain some experience before teaching others.

For the time being I want to focus on my true passion ‘handbalancing’ and become as knowledgable as I can in this area.

 

My final thoughts for the Yoga Teacher training: I feel like the Yoga course is a little bit like the Personal training course. You can complete it quickly, with very limited knowledge and are certificate qualified to teach and have clients. However, really you know nothing from the course. It’s all about what you have done prior and post course.

At the end of the day anyone can become a teacher.

‘The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.’ William Arthur Ward

I only aspire to be a great teacher and this requires time and self practice.