Well, this was June 2020, and I had a decision to make. A friend pinged me. First batch of Sri Sri Yoga teacher training 200H online in North America, applications close in 2 days.
I didn’t like Yoga. Wasn’t a fan. I rather go to the gym, work a sweat, raise my heart rate. But, I tried that for years and nothing was long lasting. After 4-5 months, my body hurts itself somehow and I have to hit reset on my physical fitness plans. For years I organized yoga classes for others, but I kept telling myself ‘Yoga is not for me’.
But, for ages, I have heard about Yoga. The foremost scriptures on Yoga: Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Vasishta, especially Sri Sri Ravi Shankar propounding on the benefits of a steady and consistent yoga practice, not including the modern trends in fitness!!: Eliminating misery, bringing long lasting health, creating strong & resilient minds, bringing harmony between body & mind etc etc.
That was always a tempting deal… Hmmm. If a yoga teacher training wasn’t going to help me get these benefits, nothing in the world would convince me on yoga. And what better place than learn from Sri Sri school of Yoga, from the Art of Living foundation, which I find to bring the perfect blend between authentic wisdom and practical delivery, making it very applicable to the modern mind.
So, I applied. After a tense week, I felt relieved to see I got accepted in the program. Wohoo!
Come July 6th, the program started.
Mind you, my mind is a fickle thing. Short attention span, easily distracted, hard to quieten, easily wobbled during challenging times. So, committing to a 12 week online program, requiring roughly 2 hours of yoga practice and self-study daily, with weekend live sessions felt daunting. But, if the program delivered on the promises of yoga, it would yield a successful experiment for life. Im all in.
Yes, I know lots of people love yoga. But, I’m the opposite. I rather do breathwork and meditation as I found them more powerful. But, yoga, I haven’t given it a fair chance yet!
The program itself was brilliantly designed. An online learning portal with syllabus broken down into 8 -12 weeks covering all aspects required to make a Yoga Alliance certified teacher.
- Guided daily home practice (1.5h) from expert faculty, with optional meditations.
- Yoga theory covering select topics from the likes of Patanjali Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita
- Anatomy and Physiology topics
- 4-5 Yoga Poses in-depth weekly dive.
- Weekend live group sessions with group practice, special topics, guest lectures, asana clinics etc
And, all topics have assignments encouraging self-reflection. So, it was the perfect learning system, creating a crisp blend of weekly topics to keep the mind engaged and body active. We were assigned into groups of 8-10 people with a mentor who personally guided us through the whole journey.
Once it started, the first 2 weeks were hard coming in with my attitude because I used to fall asleep by the end of the yoga practice. Sri Sri Yoga though rigorous, is very meditative and stress-relieving, hence my sleepiness. But, I seemed to be the only one. My peers were definitely enjoying it. But, I knew it was just my mind wagging its tail, so I marched on….
More to follow in my next post!.
Spoiler alert, I did graduate from the program having fallen in love with Yoga.
Click here for the next post
Journey with the Art of Living 