Yoga Works Teacher Training Recap
I can’t believe my yoga teacher training is over already. The four weeks flew by in a whirlwind of practice, lectures, and studying. After being immersed in the training for a month I woke up early Monday morning not knowing what to do with myself. No class to go to? I got up and did a Yoga Works sequence at home similar to what we used to do every morning. I miss having a steady 2-hour morning asana class. I miss having people around me whose eyes don’t glaze over when I start talking about the finer points of Adho Mukha Svanasana wrist alignment.
The training was a great experience and I already miss it, but it was kind of refreshing to go to my usual yoga class this weekend. I felt like a naughty child doing all the things we were taught not to do: Reverse Warrior, Vira I -> Vira II transitions, linking lots of poses on one side before doing the other. But some of these things are really fun! In my own practice I love doing crazy linking sequences. But I digress…
The Yoga Works training curriculum was really good, well planned, and it was exactly what I had hoped for. There was a strong focus on learning alignment points, anatomy, sequencing, injury prevention, and teaching principles and techniques. My own practice improved, and I had several ”aha!” moments almost every day. 200 hours of training sounds like a lot, but it really is barely enough to cover the basics. I feel like I have learnt a lot, but also that I just got started as a yoga student. Isn’t there a saying, “the more you know, the more you know that you don’t know”?
Yoga Works has made a few choices that you should be aware of if you are considering the Yoga Works teacher training:
- Yoga Works style = Ashtanga flow/vinyasa + Iyengar alignment emphasis.
- Strong focus on alignment and Yoga Works teaching principles.
- Mandatory anatomy weekend (which was immensely helpful!).
- Practice teaching segments are rolled into the lecture almost every day, but there is no full-length class practice teaching. I think their theory is that once you’re out in the real world you’ll figure this out pretty quickly if you have the right foundation.
- A good chunk of time is spent on the Yoga Sutras, yoga history, and Ayurveda, but the main focus of the training is teaching asanas.
In addition to the Yoga Works manual these books were on our reading list:
Anatomy and Asana
The Heart of Yoga
Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit
Light on Yoga
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
If you’re just getting into teaching this is a great foundation course! However, if you’ve been teaching for a while and you’re looking for a more philosophical focus, you might consider other options.
Thanks for stopping by the blog. I’ve enjoyed reading about your experience at teacher training. I’ve never had chai, but I do love yoga.
Congrats! That is such a huge accomplishment. I know at the end of my teacher training I felt so good to be done, but also a little aloof. You are right about just starting your journey…there are so many schools of yoga out there, and you never just settle for one..I just can’t get enough of it all!!
Than you so much for this post. I am about to sign up for a Yoga works 4 week training in March, and found this review very helpful.
I would be very interested to know how you transitioned into teaching. Will you continue with a 300 hour certification?
Namaste
Hi Jennifer, glad this post was useful. After the training I went on to have a baby, so I haven’t been teaching much. Let’s see what the future brings
Enjoy your teacher training, it is so much fun!
hi i loved your post. i have been doing the training over 6 months. My exam is next saturday and i’m panoking there is so much in the book. We got tips about the phiolsphy section mainly about the sutras etc we need to know , she said most will be asana based.i’m also doing the 200 hour. What should i need to know for asana section, is it like the quizes, please hepl a worried student
Wow! That sounds like just what I’m looking for. Where did you take the training and who was your trainer?