Inside My 200 Hour Teacher Training Experience at Purple Yoga
At the end of 2021, I was yearning for connection and community. I moved back to my hometown of Fullerton in early 2020, and in those nearly two years, I had not made any new friends (thanks, COVID!).
I wanted to meet new, local people that shared similar interests and values, and Purple Yoga was the first place I knew to turn. This is because they were also the source of my last deeply meaningful experience of community and connection.
From March 2-9, 2020, I was lucky enough to be in Bali on a Purple Yoga retreat with Alex Roberts. The people, the place, the practice—it was an experience that I will remember and cherish forever.
I was in a yoga class with Alex in December 2021 when he shared about the upcoming Winter/Spring 2022 Yoga Teacher Training. The seed was planted.
I considered what it would be like to commit myself to 10 weeks of immersive learning, and quickly started to see that there were no real drawbacks. As my friends and family questioned how I would be able to give up 10 consecutive weekends of my time, I came to the realization that I wasn’t giving them up, I was committing myself to something.
My main reasons for doing Yoga Teacher Training were, in order of importance:
- Community
- Deepen my connection and knowledge to the practice
- Learning for ME
- Joy of + commitment to movement
- Teaching as a career path
The Purple Yoga community was one I already loved, and Teacher Training only deepened that for me. Getting to know the staff and my fellow YTT cohorts was undoubtedly my favorite part of the program. Alex, Danny, Alexis and Joe work hard to create an experience and environment for us to feel safe, seen and supported.
My biggest initial hesitation about joining was a fear that my experience in YTT would change my relationship to yoga. Yes, this was something I wanted—to deepen my connection and knowledge of the practice—but I also had a fear that more knowledge of how things “should” be done would either change the way I related to the teacher leading or my thoughts around my own practice.
Thankfully, Alex was there to have a conversation about my concerns. He was open and said that this could happen. Truthfully, my experience has been that it did all of the above, but in a way I’m extremely grateful for. There is no drawback to having more awareness around what you connect to and what you don't.
As I contemplated joining Teacher Training, I realized that I had never committed myself to learning just for me alone. Going to college (which was an absolute privilege) was a commitment to my family in addition to me—I wanted to make them proud in addition to wanting my degree. YTT was the first time I did something just for me, and just for the love of learning it.
Yoga is such a special form of movement and in my experience, the more you do it, the more you fall in love with it. That was a big selling point for me in YTT—the added “requirements” of doing lots of yoga. I put quotation marks around requirements, because honestly, it ends up giving you so much back.
While teaching was at the bottom of my list of reasons to join YTT, I ended up falling in love with it and completing the Purple Protege program immediately after graduating. And though teaching yoga is not a part of my career currently, I love that it is always there for me should I decide to go that route. That’s the beauty of yoga as both a teacher and a student; it’s there for you at all stages of life.
I couldn’t recommend the experience of Yoga Teacher Training with Purple Yoga more. It was one of the best experiences of my life that led to lasting friendships, lifelong knowledge and a community I am forever grateful for.