As part of the Yoga Alliance Social Credentialing system, teachers that register with Yoga Alliance must submit a review of the RYS training program they completed.
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By choosing to display comments, schools enable trainees to provide insight into a school’s culture and training which helps potential trainees choose the right teacher training for their individual path with yoga.
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General Comments
I recently completed my 200hr hatha course in India. Overall, I had an amazing experience and would recommend it to others as I was happy with my decision to go. However I think there are a few things that should be mentioned. First is this not a yoga retreat with fancy and comfortable accommodations and 5 star food. It is at times a rather intensive immersion experience stripped of most of the comforts many are used to in the west with fairly full and active days. For me this is exactly what I was looking for, as I wanted an opportunity to get away from all the comforts and live more simply to see how my mind and body reacted to it. However, if not prepared it could be quite a jarring experience. My two biggest disappointments about the experience where the philosophy and evening programs. For me, one of the major reasons I went to a course in India was not for the yoga certification itself, but to learn about the practice, culture and philosophy behind yoga in the country it originated from and from a native teacher. The philosophy lectures all seemed rather rushed with only surface level knowledge. They also ended after the second week. This would have been fine if they had used the time in the day scheduled for evening programs a little more efficiently. During the 26 days at the ashram, only about 8 or 9 included an evening program, 5 of which were yoga nidra and ecstatic dance. While these were quite fun, It would have been nice to have used this time for some extra cultural learning experiences. That being said there were many things I absolutely loved. First and foremost were the teachers. Omkar was incredible. His knowledge, teaching ability, attention to detail, and care for the well being of his students went above and beyond what I could have asked for. He knew when to challenge us and when to hold back. He pushed us to grow, and the results showed in each of us by the end of the course. The teachers in training were also amazing and very caring. Another factor I was extremely happy with was the amount of hands on teaching experience you get. I did not imagine how comfortable I could become with teaching in such a short time, and I know many, if not most, of my classmates felt the same. I entered feeling very unsure about my ability to teach and left feeling confident that if I stayed dedicated to teaching, I could become a very competent and capable teacher. The last thing I will mention is my classmates. I'm sure this will vary from course to course, but the group I ended up with was incredible. They all cared for and supported one another and even made the aspects of program I was not entirely pleased with seem almost negligible. The experience would not have been nearly as memorable without them.