Since we’re in the midst of Namaslay® YTT in Tennessee, and have our next training in Santorini coming up in the spring, I checked in with a few of our graduates to see how their training has served them since graduation. Katie came to our Tennessee training last year, and now she teaches in Ithaca, New York. Watching her transformation during training was such a joy, and her energy is both encouraging and calming. She gets really honest about her experience here, so if you’re thinking of applying to join us in Santorini, read on and ask any questions in the comments! xo - Candace
I woke up this morning with a level of sleepiness that I haven’t felt in a year. “Whoa,” I thought, “I haven’t felt like this since Tennessee.” I didn’t sleep much during my three week-long intensive training with Candace and her team. I don’t think anyone did. By week two the lack of sleep became quite charming. Everyone was in it together, yoga means union after all!
I’m Katie Arnold. I’m a Namaslay® YTT graduate (Tennessee, 2018) and subsequent yoga teacher. I was the first to arrive in Tennessee and the first to leave. I entered the training and graduated as a completely different woman. My graduation anniversary is approaching, and another class is soon to join the ranks, so I thought it would be interesting to dive deeper and reflect on things as they are one year post-training. I won’t bore you with the details of being a new yoga teacher and the nuances of navigating a very saturated career - I’ll save that for another article! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Instead, here’s what I know one year post YTT:
I am stronger now. I learned so much about the intersection of strength training and yoga during the Namaslay® YTT. The curriculum included very accessible strength training and high intensity interval training, and I ate up those modules like they were my last meal on Earth. I am so thankful they were included in the training. I came home and taught my boyfriend stuff, and now he has a hot dad-bod. More importantly, these modules are very much applicable to your teaching. It is very likely that other teachers in your area did NOT learn strength training in their YTT’s, and if they did, it was not with the emphasis Candace and the Namaslay® team put together. Because of this, attending this training will set you up to stand out - in a good way.
I can do anything. During the training, your weaknesses come to the surface. You may feel vulnerable, naked, and afraid. It can be overwhelming, exhausting, and long. To top it all off, daily you are asked to showcase your new knowledge in front of renowned yoga teachers! But when you come home, and you’re about to teach your very first class or walk into your very first audition - you realize that you can literally do anything. If you can keep your head on and survive practicum after practicum, exams, feedback, AND more - you can do anything that crosses your path. You learn to take your yoga practice on the mat, and apply it to life off of the mat. That’s the goal, right? I try to emphasize that idea in my yin yoga classes, and it seems to go over well. You gotta meet the darkness, so that you can greet the lightness.
I will never experience anything quite like the Namaslay® YTT again. Unless of course, I attend one of Candace’s retreats or become a teacher at a YTT myself. But even then, it won’t be the same. The experience was so special and so personal. Real life isn’t so dreamy. (I should clarify, Namaslay® YTT is NOT dreamy, but it also is? It’s hard to explain. Just go and see for yourself!) But my point is that when you attend the Namaslay® YTT, remember that there will never, ever be an experience like it again. If you can remember that always, even when you’re sobbing uncontrollably after the yoga nidra module (@ me), you will thank yourself later.
There are many more things to be said about life after the Namaslay® YTT. Much of it is personal to my life and would likely bore you so I will leave you with this:
Becoming a yoga teacher is hard. You have to work. Maybe the hardest in your life, maybe not. Either way, it’s not going to be easy. After you leave training, it gets harder. There are so many yoga teachers. It also get easier. The highs are great, the lows suck. I learned quickly that the curriculum presented in the Namaslay® YTT is more than enough to prepare you for what’s to come - on and off of your yoga mat.
To learn more about the day to day at our 200 hour intensive yoga teacher training, follow along with the @namaslayytt Instagram account and check out the details for our Santorini training here!