10 Ways Yoga Teacher Training Elevates Your Life and Practice (Even if You Don’t Teach)

A yoga teacher training course can offer a wealth of knowledge in fields like wellness, spirituality, anatomy, history, and energy healing. In addition to learning how to teach, the best yoga teacher training courses offer tools and practices to heal your mind, body, and soul.

For this reason, a yoga teacher training can be immensely beneficial to those wanting to deepen their practice and knowledge — even if they’re not sure about teaching. In fact, many students of all ages take yoga teacher training courses without any intention of becoming an instructor. From learning safe asana alignment to healing your chakras, here are 10 ways a yoga teacher training course elevates your practice and your life.

Did you know that there’s more to yoga than asanas (physical poses) and meditation? The average modern yoga class only touches on a fraction of what yoga truly is. Taking a yoga teacher training exposes you to the foundational teachings of yoga, which extend far beyond the mat. Specifically, you’ll learn about the eight limbs of yoga, which are guidelines for living an ethical, peaceful, high-vibrational life. You’ll also learn about energetic systems in the body and how to harness and release energies for a more fulfilled life experience.

Learning about anatomy is one of the greatest ways to deepen your yoga practice. Specifically, knowing which muscles you’re engaging in a pose helps you better understand its benefits. Having a stronger understanding of bodily systems also helps you create your own safe and effective sequences at home. Whether you’re suffering from a headache or you’d like to create more spaciousness in your hips, learning yoga anatomy will make your practice more goal-oriented.

You’ve likely heard about chakras, but do you know what they are and how they work? A yoga teacher training will introduce you to the chakras, which are the body’s energy systems. Learning about balancing your chakras can help you identify imbalances both in yourself and your loved ones. You’ll learn about how to heal the chakra systems through yoga, nutrition, crystals, nature, relationships, and other mystical elements and lifestyle factors.

Yoga teacher trainings draw students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. Still, most people at a yoga teacher training have one thing in common: a love of yoga and a desire to grow and learn. Immersive yoga teacher trainings are purposefully designed to create a sense of unity and belonging among students in a class. As a result, they provide the chance not only to make new friends, but to discover lifelong soul connections.

If you’re an avid yogi who’s ready to elevate their practice, a yoga teacher training is the best place to do it. Why? Because unlike a standard yoga class, a teacher training explains everything you need to know about the pose before trying it. This includes what stretches to do first before working up to the peak pose and how the pose benefits you spiritually and energetically. Most importantly, an experienced teacher trainer will explain the contraindications of the pose, modifications, who shouldn’t do it, and how to get into and out of it safely.

Meditation has become somewhat of a buzzword in modern culture, with a host of books, apps, and courses designed to help you sit down and get clear. While these are all great tools, a yoga teacher training will immerse you in multiple types of meditation practices over the course of two weeks. Consistently meditating for 14 days alongside an experienced teacher can help you understand where you can grow within the practice. It also exposes you to different types of meditation that may work better than techniques you’ve already tried.

Most yoga teacher trainings ask students to adhere to a vegetarian, whole foods diet that promotes bodily detoxification and clarity of mind. For example, the Full Circle Yoga School meal plan incorporates nutritious foods that are free from processed sugars and gluten, and we encourage students to abstain from caffeine and alcohol. This is also a great opportunity to unplug from your phone and social media to give your mind a break from comparison, judgement, and mindless scrolling.

If you thought yoga teacher training was only about yoga, you’re in for a surprise. Yoga teacher training is about equipping you with a wide range of healing tools, including journaling, music making, mala beads, crystals, essential oils, and much, much more.

A teacher training immerses you in ceremony and ritual. From opening welcome ceremonies on the first day, to shamanic dream journeys during the training, these rituals will expand your soul in ways you never thought possible. They also show you the importance of ceremony and ritual in living a more intuitive and connected life.

There’s no way to truly quantify all the things you’ll learn in a yoga teacher training course. Yet the most important of all lessons are those you learn about yourself during the process. Yoga asks us to go deeper into ourselves, to work with our shadows, and to challenge the deep-rooted beliefs holding us back. Learning to identify your greatest struggles is the first step towards healing, and the right yoga teacher training course will help you become the person you’ve always dreamed of being.

Visit our Yoga Teacher Training page to find more about mystical courses in Bali, Hawaii, Florida, and California.