Why take Yoga Teacher Training Now?
Are you feeling called to a higher purpose?
Practicing yoga is an act of social resistance. When society continues to push and say, more consumption, more things, more busy, much faster, and no need to think of others’ welfare, to slow down and really feel is an act of rebellion. When we practice yoga, we begin to recognize the benefit and even advantage of slowing down, taking only what you need, and making choices to not harm others. Yoga is not just the physical practice of asana, there is a mental and spiritual component too; and right there in the first two rungs of Patanjali’s eight-runged ladder for yoga practice are the principles of doing no harm to self or others, reducing consumption and the need for consumption, and cultivating mental clarity and contentment. On an average day in our current world, most people are not thinking about these things, much less talking to others about how to live in this way, a more balanced lifestyle.
It is not judgmental; it is a handbook for being human. Live and let live, as opposed to disappearing children in the middle of the night on a plane to a foreign country on a federal holiday weekend. (Look it up.) It is not judgmental and it is achievable. Yoga practice is traditionally a daily event, little by little, again and again. You do what you can when you can to improve your physical health, mental clarity, and spiritual understanding. It may start with the body, but it leads to so much more. When you feel better in your body and mind, that energy radiates out to others and inspires others to take better care of themselves too.
Yoga teaching is a calling. It is also a commitment. In our society where many people have forgotten to be kind to each other, it is a real act of courage to live your own truth and be a witness to how kindness and compassion can make positive change in the world. In Stephanie Dray’s book Becoming Madam Secretary, one of the characters says, “empathy takes imagination, and most people do not have imagination.” That is a sweeping generalization of course, but yoga practice offers ways to cultivate both. It is related to the energy of the subtle body, but there are ways to align physical, mental, and spiritual experience to foster the ability to ‘feel with’ others and develop one’s capacity to empathize and in the words of John Lennon, imagine peace.
If you are feeling called to a higher purpose in your life, now is the time to do more research. The Yoga Center is offering a free information session for both our 200 level and 500 level Yoga Teacher Training programs. Won’t you join us Sunday Oct 5 from 4:00-5:30pm?
Our next cohorts begin in January 2026.
