Why you can do a yoga teacher training even if you don't plan to teach

Do you wish you had more confidence and expertise in yoga? Are you sometimes unsure whether you are doing the yoga exercises correctly? You don't really want to teach yoga, but you're thinking about taking a yoga teacher training and wonder if it's even possible?

In this article you will find out why it makes sense and is possible.

Do you need to want to teach yoga to attend a yoga teacher training course?

Maybe you are like many people who start a yoga teacher training and say: "I'll do it for myself first". This is absolutely legitimate, because if you don't plan to teach yoga later, you can still do a yoga teacher training.

After all, yoga is not just a physical thing, but is based on 8 pillars that form a holistic system. The physical aspect, the yoga exercises or asana as they are called in yoga, is the 3rd pillar.

Many who practice yoga regularly, have the desire to know more about yoga, but do not have the time and desire to read in thousands of books, articles or posts, how to do it right, or not to do it, only to be unsure in the end, because the flood of information is simply too immense and often contradictory!

Because a yoga book or YouTube video doesn't see you practicing and can't address your personal circumstances or weaknesses!

And for many, that's what's important. They want to be personally corrected so that they are sure they are doing the exercises correctly and are not harming themselves in the long run, which can happen if you do the exercises "wrong" for a long time.

So if you feel the need to know more about yoga and understand better how to best align your own body, a yoga teacher training course led by experienced yoga teachers is the right place for you, whether you want to teach or not.

It is important to check the provider of the training well beforehand, because not all of them attach importance to alignment and anatomy, but teach mainly flow-based yoga, where this aspect is usually neglected. 

The main focus in our Yoga Teacher Trainings is on correct alignment in the yoga exercises. If you want to know more about it, have a look here: Alignment Yoga Teacher Trainings at The Yoga Place Zurich.

One may also do a yoga teacher training only for oneself

When we develop more understanding about yoga through a yoga teacher training, it touches us on a deeper level and can lead to positive changes in our lives.

A few participants who have completed the training with us did not have an immediate desire to teach at the beginning. However, they were somehow at a crossroads in their lives or generally wished for more depth and meaning in life.

Because at some point in life, there comes a moment when you say, "Now I have to change something - I can't go on like this.! 

Yoga is of course not a substitute for psychological care when you are in a deep crisis, and should not be understood as such. However, yoga can be a wonderful accompaniment in such a process and yoga helps you to develop your personality.

To want to initiate such a process of change in oneself by working through the body is a good motivation to do a yoga teacher training simply for oneself. After all, we are holistic beings and not machines! So our mental and emotional experiences are also expressed through the body and one. Through the work on the body, we get access to other things that make us grow and that is also part of yoga!

It is exciting that with time the desire to pass on yoga arises in many people. We always find that nice to see and it is a natural process - what is good for you, you also like to pass on. But as I said, it is not a prerequisite to start a yoga teacher training.

How to continue after a yoga teacher training?

Our experience shows that about 50 to 60% of those who have completed our basic training (that is the 200h Alignment Yoga Teacher Training) start teaching simple classes after the training or sign up directly for the advanced training, the 300h Alignment Yoga Teacher Training with us.

If you have the desire to teach regularly, you should consider a further training. Because a 200h yoga teacher training lays a good foundation, at least with us, but is not enough to be able to teach yoga really well and experienced. You should have the will to continue your education.

Bottom line: yes, you can absolutely do a yoga teacher training just for you and not have to have the desire to teach. If you later develop the desire to pass on yoga, that's fine and if not, that's also good.

A good first yoga teacher training, where you learn from scratch what it's all about and how to do it right, is something no one can take away from you!