When I started practicing yoga regularly I began to notice some unusual cravings which included the greens (I'd never been big on veggies, but suddenly I wanted them at every meal and even for snacks), inversions (I wanted to be upside down, all the time) and above all knowledge (I wanted to know everything I could about yoga, faster than I was getting it from the once-a-week class offered at my local gym). I began to toy with the idea of going to teacher training, because I needed to learn more, faster.
At first glance the idea was absurd, for many reasons, ones that may be familiar to you if you have given any thought to teacher training.
1. Timing Seems Always Wrong
It would make a lot of sense to say, "Not right now." I have a four year old, a two year old and my baby is six months old and still nursing exclusively.
2. Inconvenience
The nearest training that I am interested in attending is roughly 250 miles away. Attendance would involve moving my whole family more than three hours away for a month.
3. No Opportunity To Actually Teach
I live in a very, very small town that is already saturated with great teachers. Opportunities to teach may be scarce.
4. Cost
The $2000+ price tag is a significant chunk of change for my young family, something like one and a half months of take home pay. Not to mention the cost of moving my family three hours away for a month, hiring babysitters and all the other costs associated with training.
5. Not Good Enough At Yoga
I am far from flexible, I've never been able to do the splits in my whole life. I have had three C-sections in four years. I'm not exactly a stunning physical specimen. If you look around the room in my yoga class, you'd probably find that my poses look the worst.
So why am I going to teacher training?!
Because I just really want to. Because even now, as I look over this list of pretty valid reasons why I shouldn't go, I think to myself, "So…what?" Because as I started making plans to attend things have clicked into place, and it feels like I am on the path I need to be on. I haven't been so excited about the direction my life is headed in a long time.
If you've been thinking about teacher training but told yourself no for these or similar reasons, maybe you should consider asking yourself again. It may not make any sense, but it might be just what your body is craving.
