Why You Should Take Your Yoga Teacher Training in India
Many of us get started practicing yoga asana in gyms, or minimalist studios decorated with Hindu statues we don’t know the meanings of, or even through videos online. However, at a certain point in our yoga practice, we come to the realization that it is time to go deeper. This can be done in our home countries, but to really understand the essence of yoga, it’s important to visit where it’s vibration is highest, where daily cultural practice of yoga is the norm. Yoga philosophy is one of many modes of thought that permeates throughout India. Because of this, and the rich history India has to offer, coming to the home of yoga is an important pilgrimage for many modern yogis. That being said, here is a list of reasons why it is important to return to the birthplace of yoga for your first 200 hour teacher training:
1. Birthplace of Yoga:
Visiting India means that you are immersing yourself in the very culture that discovered yoga, and therefore, makes it much easier to truly live a yogic lifestyle. In a yoga teacher training program in India you will find ashram style living, a yogic diet, and traditional teachers who can guide you in your yoga practice based on their understanding that has grown with them throughout many generations. As well, because yogic practices are part of the culture here in India, the vibration is much higher, making it much easier to fully immerse yourself into this journey without any distractions.
2. Yogic Diet:
You will certainly find healthy food in a teacher training anywhere in the world, but ayurvedic principles that are incorporated in a yogic diet often include ingredients that are only local to India. As well, chefs that know how to prepare traditional foods, such as Khichari, which is important to eat after performing Hatha Yoga Kriyas (yogic cleansing practices), aren’t likely to be in your hometown. It isn’t difficult to find healthy foods these days, but finding the particular foods that have been used for thousands of years with the ancient practice of yoga are often only found in India.
3. Ashram Style Living:
Most yoga teacher trainings in India incorporate their students into an ashram lifestyle, ranging from how students dress, pujas (ceremonies) that are performed, and yoga teachers with a deep understanding of the Sanskrit scriptures, that make it very different from the exercise based practice you may find at home. Having a month or more to fully get into the rhythm of quietude, with your focus being only on your practice, is so important to really experience any transformations one finds after immersing into the yogic journey.
4. Traditional Teachers:
You will not find yoga teachers who understand the scriptures, or truly live the yogic path, as you will here in India. This is because many yoga teachers here grow up in monasteries, ashrams, and within a rich culture that lives a yogic lifestyle and passes it down through the generations. Many aspects of yoga are practiced in daily life in Indian families, which aren’t a part of our cultures in the same way. If you really want to learn to walk the yogic path, coming to India is the only way to understand it in its’ purest form.
5. Breaking Habits:
Yoga is all about breaking habits, whether it’s poor posture, unhealthy eating or sleeping patterns, or imbalanced work-lifestyle. By spending a month living how one does in an ashram, students are really given time and space to observe themselves in a way that isn’t possible when we have distractions from our home life. To make lasting changes, it’s important to take those few weeks and do inner work, which is available in a yoga course in India.
Coming to India to take your 200 hour yoga teacher training means that you will be getting the full experience of yoga. You will deepen your practice beyond asana, through diet, cleansing practices, full lifestyle immersion, and with traditional teachers that can share ancient scriptures they have studied throughout their lives in a way that many foreign teachers simply cannot grasp. All of this, and coming to the place where the yogic lifestyle is fully embodied throughout this culture, just makes it easier to fully immerse into the practice and make some real changes in your life.