One of the easiest ways to become an advanced yoga practitioner is to participate in a reputable yoga teacher training program. “But I don’t want to teach yoga,” you may think to yourself. Even if you never wanted to become a professional yoga instructor, a training program can offer you the opportunity to learn more about yoga as a practice and, more importantly, about yourself as a person.

They say you can never fully understand something unless you teach it to someone else. Practicing with your fellow teacher trainees helps open your eyes to aspects of your practice that you may never have been aware of. It’s like having 20 private instructors over the course of a few months. During the teacher training, along with lectures on the history of yoga, the benefits of meditation, the healing science of Aryuveda, and alignment classes, there are individual asana labs and hands-on teaching. The more you practice, the more your awareness of your own body and breath will grow. Teaching also gives you a different perspective on yoga. When you watch people who struggle to get into positions that aren’t right for their bodies, doubt their own abilities, or don’t connect with their breath, it gives you insight into your own practice and how aware you may or may not be of your own limitations. .

This trip can have a profound impact on your life. The most fascinating thing that I have found in my training as a teacher has been the close relationship between my way of practicing and my way of living. The way someone practices says a lot about their disposition in life. I became aware of the fact that I was harshly judging myself in my practice and comparing myself to other people in class. He was also treating the rug as a means to an end and not an end in itself. I would always go for the more difficult pose to get a better “workout” and sweat more. I was frustrated by my inability to strike certain poses.

My football coach always said, “you play like you practice.” If, as a yogi, your goal is to get your practice off the mat and into your life, what does it say when you compare yourself to others on the mat? How does the desire to push yourself to exhaustion in your practice translate into your life? When you practice, do you find joy in the poses? These are the questions I was able to probe deeper in my yoga teacher training program. The practical application of this understanding can help you become an advanced yoga practitioner with relative ease.