Taking the Next Step by Dharma Richards
Many of us get to the point in our yoga practice where we feel a bit stagnant. We have been practicing for months or even years. We know there's more to it than just the physical postures because we've felt it. We may not be able to put our finger on it, but we've felt it in our body, we've felt it in our minds, and we've felt it in our hearts. We have reached a point in our practice where simply going to our daily or weekly yoga class just isn't enough. We know there is a deeper meaning to lotus posture. What more does that word mean that the teacher used in class today? Bandhas - I've been practicing for years and just heard that word for the first time today! How can I obtain that knowledge? What next?
When I enrolled in my first teacher training course almost two decades ago, I had absolutely NO intention on teaching. I had two babies at the time, was a stay-at-home mom, and didn't really revel in the idea of getting up in front of a group of people and speaking, much less teaching. At the time, I was taking yoga class from two different teachers across town from each other. About two years into my practice, and the day I found out that these two instructors graduated from the same teacher training, I took that as a sign. I quickly registered for my first Maha Sadhana with Chandra Om and enrolled in her teacher training program the next day. I was home.
If you have reached a point in your practice where even though the classroom setting feeds your body and mind, you know there are deeper meanings to the postures, breathwork and meditations that you would like to delve deeper into, maybe it is time to consider a teacher training program. I've never been big on 'labels', and I know the words 'teacher training' can be intimidating, but in all of the teacher trainings and advanced teacher trainings I've attended and taught, anywhere between 30%-50% of the enrollees attended teacher training in order to simply go deeper into their own personal practice. I will say that some of the best teachers I've had the honor to train came into teacher training just as uneasy as I originally was at the idea of teaching and only looked at their training as an enrichment to their own personal practice. We all know those teachers who have their own dedicated personal practice in comparison to those who just want to teach for the label of 'yoga teacher'.
So whether you want to teach in the future, or if you are simply ready to begin to excavate the True Self through The Holy Science of Yoga in your personal, spiritual practice, consider joining us for the next teacher training.
A special thanks and dedication to the teachers of whose trainings I have had the honor to attend: Chandra Om, HarDarshan Kaur Khalsa, Judith Lasater, and Stephanie Keach.
If you want to learn a thing, read that; if you want to know a thing, write that; if you want to master a thing, teach that. -Yogi Bhajan
Dharma Richards is the co-founder of Yoga Garden Pittsboro and former Director of Teacher Training.
