The Yoga Instructor Training Program from YogaVahini is a 200-hour program spread over a year. But why a year, some aspirants ask us. Why not be done with it in a month or two, like most teacher training programs do?
Am putting down some reasons here, based on my YITP learning experience:
1. Yoga is a relationship, as defined by Sri TKV Desikachar. This relationship could be with our breath, body, our self, or the world. And as we know, relationships take time to build.
Our teacher Saraswathi Vasudevan would begin each class with a “meet your breath” practice. “Have you met your breath today?” she would ask us. “Have you said hello to your breath today?”
The breath is our prana sakha (friend of prana, the life force), she’d say. It is important to meet your breath everyday and become aware of it afresh.
Most days, I had to admit that I didn't know how my breath was. I was breathing, of course, but had no clue how I was breathing or what the quality of my breath was.
To even become aware of my breath, it has taken me a couple of years. And that’s just one component of the three elements that yoga seeks to bring together, the other two being body and mind. Am not even starting on those two today.
So, the question should actually be: why only a year?
For, once we start on this path, we realize that everyday we begin anew and reinforce our learnings. That it is a commitment for life. That you understand the word “calling” a little better now.
2. Yoga is Nava Sarira Samskara, meaning a new conditioning of the body.
We often struggle with old habits that do not serve, nourish, or empower us. How many times have you said to yourself, “This New Year am going to quit smoking/junk food/binge watching Netflix...” Only to struggle against the might of these habits or patterns and give up soon after.
But yoga asks us to build a new, positive samskara. Sow the seed of this practice, water it, look after it. One day, it will grow stronger and taller than the old samskaras that diminish you. You can then rest/heal in the cool shade of this new tree you helped grow.
This new samskara also takes time to build. Sometimes, you cannot build it alone. You need the help of a teacher in doing so.
That’s why a year (or more).
3. At YogaVahini, I understood that teaching is learning. A major component of YITP is internship, during which the trainees start teaching under the guidance and close monitoring of their mentors.
The trainees are required to complete the stipulated number of hours and document their observations and key learnings from each class. No excuses.
This, too, takes time. That’s why a year (or more).
It doesn't stop here, but suffice to say that yoga is Adhyatma Vidya – it is a praxis that helps you to journey towards our real Nature. And, therefore we are students for life.
