Advanced Training Hits Different
And a poem for Daylight Savings
This morning I waited for the sun to arrive Watched as it rose behind tree tops and peaked! Hide and seek A special game we play Take in a sun-beamed breath and begin my day
I’ve fallen behind on my Sunday publishing schedule… How fitting for a day that I am falling back for Daylight Savings Time. 🙃
My weekend took me to an unexpected place — one that I wanted to go to but was so filled with doubt I didn’t take the leap until an offer came around on Friday afternoon that I couldn’t refuse.
I began 300-Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training with the Pranakriya School of Yoga Healing Arts.
First up: Deepening the Asana Experience - Asanas for Meditative Posture 2.
It was certainly a jump into the deep end, but would I have it any other way? Maybe not.
I thought I would dive straight from my 200-Hour training into the next level, but after graduating in May, I found myself completely spent. Between teaching, balancing other work commitments, and the sheer amount of material to process from those intense nine months, I realized I didn’t need to rush into more training. I take time to thoughtfully prepare for each class I teach, and my students continually inspire and teach me in return. It felt like this was a good enough for now, and I could resume more intensive study next year.
And yet, there’s this itch… for more. I want to learn more because it helps me grow in my own practice and because I want to draw from a deeper well when I teach.
Pranakriya Yoga is said to be one of the most solidly grounded, transformational and logically structured yoga teacher training programs in the United States. The lineage is breathing new life into hatha yoga practices that are being diluted or sadly lost in the West. Both the 200-Hour and 300-Hour teacher trainings are led by highly skilled teachers and offer a sense of adventure, spirit of curiosity, and warmth of community. But I have to say… Advanced training hits different!!
The small class size allowed for deep exploration and discussion, valuable sharing, and personalized attention. The collective wisdom in the room was astounding. How lucky am I to spend a weekend with such wise, powerful women?
For me, the 200-Hour training had lots of unknowns, jitters, and awkwardness to wade through (not to mention tears). I wasn’t a teacher yet and learning can be messy — we have to crawl before we walk!
I don’t know if I can speak for all of the 300-Hour program, but at least for these first 20 hours, the confidence of my classmates who were all seasoned teachers was contagious. It was exciting to expand my practice to poses I have never been in before (more about Peacock in a future post! 😉). I felt more at ease throughout the weekend and totally focused — able to sleep well, socialize at lunch, and overall “feel like a normal person.” I know I should not interpret any part of my practice as an achievement or abstaining from practice as a failure, but it felt good to be able to do everything that was offered this weekend. I didn’t even have to microdose pranayam!
Thank you for taking interest in my yoga teacher training journey. I hope I can help inspire prospective teachers, or current teachers wishing to expand their studies, by offering a peek into my own experience. I selected a reputable, affordable non-profit school that produces teachers I enjoy practicing with. Weekend intensives allow me to strike a balance between being a devoted practitioner and stayed grounded in my day-to-day life as a “normal person in suburbia.”
I hope my sharing inspires others to reflect and journal about their own experiences with yoga — the light and the dark of it. The tears and the smiles along the way. If you feel the yoga in your heart, let it touch you there. Let it change you. Maybe your stories are for your eyes only, or maybe you’ll be compelled to share with others someday. Yoga has traditionally been shrouded in secrecy, leaving many students searching for guidance in their own journeys especially when the path goes to unexpected places. By sharing our stories, we can offer each other insight, support, and reassurance that we are not alone in facing the challenges this journey may bring.
If you gain a useful insight from my writing, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription or leaving a tip as a gesture of gratitude to be funneled to my yoga tuition fund!
The truth is, it doesn’t matter how many people read this or if it helps me make a living. Perhaps I am creating the very thing that I needed when I got lost, and telling my story is helping me find my way again. That’s priceless.
May your yoga be victorious 🙏
