Top 5 Reasons to Do a Yoga TTC (Other Than for Becoming a Yoga Teacher)
If there’s anything that the modern world of yoga has in abundance, it’s the yoga teacher training courses. These days it seems like everyone is busy either taking a TTC or offering one.
When you hear about yoga TTC’s, maybe your first thought is, “Eh, this isn’t for me. I don’t want to be a yoga teacher.”
Actually, there are many reasons to complete a yoga teacher training course even if you have little or no interest in teaching yoga! We know many students who have completed an AUM Tantra Yoga TTC and who had beautiful, meaningful and even life-changing experiences, without feeling a call to go on to teach.
These are just a few reasons to take a yoga TTC, that have nothing to do with becoming a yoga teacher.
Reason #1: You Want to Deeper in Your Own Practice
The most common non-teaching related reason for joining a yoga teacher training course is the desire simply to go deeper into yoga: to advance, establish a strong foundation or renew your commitment to your own practice.
This you will find for sure! The goal of a TTC in a real, authentic yogic path is to create strong practitioners who can go out and share from their own experience. The practice and deep understanding of spirituality come first; the technicalities of running a class are just building on that ground.
So even if all you want is to practice on your own, a yoga TTC is one of the best ways to learn and encounter the profound inner teachings of yoga.
Reason #2: You Want to Connect to a Lineage and Sangha
Yoga was traditionally passed down through direct lineage, mouth to mouth, guru to disciple, with students of the same guru forming a spiritual family to support each other. The connection between yogis who learn and practice together can be a lifelong bond, stretching across years and around the world.
When you receive teachings, it’s not only information that you gain: it’s a subtle connection to the whole lineage, to all the great masters and teachers of that path, and all those who achieved realization through its methods. (If the path is an authentic one, of course.)
These days, few Westerners are ready to commit to the traditional guru-disciple structure, but a TTC is not so far from it. It also is a kind of initiation into a lineage, which will support you and give life to the teachings you receive, far beyond the actual content of the course.
Reason #3: You Want to Experience an Intense Inward Journey
Participating in a TTC is almost like being in a retreat. For a few weeks, the rest of the world is put aside and you can focus exclusively on your inner life.
Thanks to the intensity of practice and inward focus, a TTC can accelerate many processes, bringing rapid transformation and insight. It’s an opportunity to break from old patterns and habits, dissolve limitations and purify your body and mind.
This can be a lot, but brings incredible rewards. A good yoga course will provide both the intensity to jumpstart your evolution and a strong, safe container for you to explore it.
Reason #4: You Want to Share With Friends & Family
As you progress along the spiritual path, sooner or later you will probably experience the longing to share. This comes to almost everyone at some point, like an overflowing of the heart. When teachings and practices touch you so deeply, transforming your life, how could you not want to spread the joy?
But this feeling doesn’t necessarily come along with a desire to teach classes or to step into the role of a “yoga teacher.” Maybe you just want to support your partner, friends or family.
If you work a lot on yourself, the people around you will start to notice—and get curious. (Especially if you don’t make a big deal out of it or try to push them into spirituality!) Having some training can allow you to help them more, should they feel inspired to join you on the path.
Reason #5: You Want to Teach… Just not Now
There’s no expiration date on a teaching certificate. Maybe now you feel a thousand miles away from standing up in front of a class and leading sun salutations, but life brings so many changes. Just through the course of my first yoga TTC, I went constantly back and forth between wanting to teach more than anything and wanting to never teach again!
If you feel any curiosity about teaching yoga, completing a TTC and continuing in your own practice is like good dirt, water and sunlight for that little seed within you.
Give it its own time and space and it can sprout.
AUM Tantra Yoga’s Hatha Yoga TTC: Mexico 2020
The vital element here is to join the right yoga TTC. Too many courses out there are just gymnastics classes in disguise, churning out “certified yoga teachers” who actually have no experience or understanding of the true meaning of yoga.
In this respect, AUM Tantra Yoga offers something unique in our 200-hour Yoga TTC. This course is an initiation into the profound esoteric dimension of yoga. You will gain a solid foundation in hatha yoga as it was practiced for hundreds of years, using ancient knowledge of the chakras and subtle energies.
Your yoga practice can become a path towards fully realizing your highest potential in this life. It’s a gift you will carry with you wherever your journey takes you…learn more about our 200hr Traditional Yoga TTC
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