So far, I am finding the yoga teacher training course a lot more personally challenging than I expected – this is not a bad thing, as I am sure it will lead to significant personal growth. I feel that the course adequately provides the framework, information and environment for me to learn and grow, and it’s up to me to apply myself and make a determined effort to achieve everything I hope for. At the half way point of the course, I have made some progress but have come nowhere near achieving what I am capable of.

One of my expectations was that I’d be able to improve my health and fitness and reduce my chronic back pain, but unfortunately, due to perhaps too much yoga in the first two weeks, with little understanding of correct postures and what was good for my body, my back pain has been considerably worse in the past week. But this is in itself a great help as I’m beginning to learn what not to do as much as what I need to do to care for my body. The challenge with my own health has been a discouraging distraction in the past week, but I will be making a concerted effort in the remaining three weeks of the course to learn as much as possible about yoga and teaching.

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In some ways the Level 1 Yoga Teacher Training course modules have exceeded my expectations. I did not think that we would be teaching yoga so early on and I am amazed at the proficiency with which my colleagues are already teaching and how much progress they have made.

I did think that we would be learning more asanas but limiting the number has made it much easier to feel more comfortable and be more knowledgeable when teaching. I also thought that there might be more emphasis on developing our own yoga practice and that we would get more assistance with improving our asanas – but I realize that this is something that we can spend time on in our own practice.

I am looking forward to doing more of the applied anatomy and physiology so that I can get a much better understanding of how the asanas physically affect people.

I am keen to do as much yoga teaching practice as possible so that I can forget my nervousness and concentrate on enjoying the teaching and giving the students the best possible experience.

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I am doing this yoga certification course because I want to be a yoga teacher. I see the course as a great opportunity to learn new skills to take me on to a new stage of my life. I see yoga as a suitable vehicle for me, to learn the step by step process in life to get to where you want to go, being conscious of the small steps and journey, rather than aiming and going straight to the goal.

My experiences in yoga have shown me how to relax, how to de-stress, how to come back into the moment and I see it as a great tool for the people everywhere to try and experience a moment of stillness.

I want to first help myself – then help others and yoga is another tool for helping.

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I am English, 32 and left home when I was 18 for a “short” yacht delivery. I found my way to the Mediterranean and was introduced the super yacht industry. Since then I have worked on my different kinds of yachts around the world and put myself through all the courses and things needed to hold a Class 4 Commercial Captain’s license to 3000t and a dive instructor’s license.
The first time I did yoga was about 5 years ago and I was hooked. Unfortunately, because of my lifestyle I have found it very hard to do more than sporadic small bursts of yoga since that time.

My few attempts at doing yoga on the yacht never worked well. The motion, travel, confined spaces and constant traffic of the people through any area, as well as my own lack of discipline made it seem impossible.

14 years on the sea and constant travel has led me to a longing to have some time to myself, to settle down and to finally have to opportunity to embrace yoga. I think this opportunity has come at the perfect time in my life. It gave me the strength to resign from my job, career and love and a chance to reinvent my life.

There are many things I hope to get out of the yoga teacher training course and the list grows with each new day at school as I fully begin to understand all that the yogic lifestyle has to offer me.

I am so happy to be here and have been made to feel so welcome in the Byron Yoga Centre family, even if is only for a short time. My one hope is that I can give something back to everybody at the school who is helping me on my yoga teacher training journey.

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There are a number of reasons why I have chosen to undertake this yoga teacher training course and attain my yoga teacher accreditation.

Firstly I would like to develop a strong foundation in my understanding of the practice of the asanas.

Over many years of practicing yoga I have been subject to a number of teachers and different methods of teaching. As is common practice, I have been adjusted often however not always with insight and gentle spirit and often as a result of incompetent instructions given in regard to entering the pose – as a result I often hold tension when I am practicing because I am not sure if I am doing it correctly.
I would like to have a strong understanding of what is expected in each pose so I know what I am doing and can heal the tension and fear in the mind and find rest in the postures. It is very rare for a yoga teacher to give you credit when a pose has been performed correctly – I know that in the Iyengar tradition teachers are actively encouraged not to give praise to avoid building up the practitioners ego, however the opposite side of this method is that it can create an uncertainly in the mind of the practitioner.

Secondly, I am hoping to gain enough inspiration and motivation to develop my own daily practice of yoga, pranayama, meditation and prayer. It seems that for me one of the greatest challenges in life is to ‘to get up in the morning’.

Thirdly, I would like to have the assurance of mind in teaching the asanas – that I as a yoga teacher am giving clear directives and insights. Over the past couple of years I have been asked to teach yoga and although I accepted the request, I wasn’t comfortable teaching when I didn’t have some form of yoga teacher accreditation or solid training from one yoga teacher.

Fourthly, I am hoping that by adding this yoga teacher accreditation to the list of practices and skills I have already, namely music and mandala art therapy/meditation – I will be able to further my work in the fields of personal and community development and link in with other practitioners. I am particularly interested in working with marginalised and socially disadvantaged groups such as Kooris, people with a mental illness, and women in prison.

Namaste-Margi

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Since discovering yoga one year ago, I have always wanted to develop my personal yoga practice by enrolling into a disciplined intensive course to maximize the benefits within a defined time frame. This is partly due to the remoteness of Coober Pedy and also because there are no active fitness programs up and running (yet!) in town.
Inadvertently, upon the community hearing the news that I was contemplating this course, local council took initiative to raise interest within the community with the result being overwhelming; with i.e. sponsorship, venue discounts, individual donations and encouragement!

Due to this, I intend to fulfill a local program to provide yoga classes in Coober Pedy upon completion of my yoga teacher training course. I am now enjoying the holistic approach and my focus is to be a confident, warm-hearted yoga teacher armed with enough knowledge to commence and maintain a yoga practice in outback Australia.

Before beginning the course; my focus was solely asanas. Now I also have a keen interest in the following:

1.    Meditation/ Pranayama – (personally challenged in this area)
2.    Nutrition – (to maintain a strict sattvic diet + knowing how to combine foods)
3.    Philosophy
4.    To enjoy the NOW!

Thank you for providing this opportunity as my changes within thus far have been immense!

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