After teaching for about five years, I finally decided to take the leap into a 300 hour yoga teacher training. Combined with my original 200 hour certification, this would give me the 500 hour RYT credentials. But I wasn’t making this decision lightly and I wasn’t making it just for those credentials. I was finally ready to learn more.
When I first started teaching at Pulsation Yoga in 2018, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And that was probably a good thing, because there is more to learn and uncover and discover in yoga than most people will ever imagine. Learning to teach yoga is a process and it doesn’t all come from your yoga teacher training. It comes from experiences as both a teacher and a student. For some, this is absorbed quickly, for others not so much. I’m eternally grateful to my original students for their patience with me as I got my footing and for their feedback that helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses.
So, after five years of absorbing, it was time to expand. It wasn’t because I was out of ideas or because I didn’t have confidence in myself – it was quite the opposite. My years of experience finally gave me the confidence in my teaching, opened my eyes to all the possibilities, and I wanted more.
Thanks to a fellow instructor, I was introduced to trainings by Matt Giordano, “TheYogiMatt.” It was as if his training and methodology was written just for me, as it fit perfectly into the way that I like to learn, the way I want to understand things and the way I already liked to teach. Throughout this process I have learned more from him and his 300 hour training than I could have imagined, and to date I’m only about two-thirds complete.
I think the biggest compliments I can give to his training is to pass along the compliments that I’ve received since starting his training and incorporating what I’ve learned into my teaching. It’s been noticeable to my students and they have expressed their appreciation of the new and different ways to approach or think about their practice. They continue to come back to learn more, to ask questions, to experience postures in ways that they hadn’t before. And I owe it all to Matt Giordano and his incredible ability to break down complex ideas, movements or postures into bite-sized pieces. This helps to make postures or concepts more accessible to students (me included!), driving more feelings of success and sustainability in their practice.
If you’ve not yet experienced his style of teaching, called Chromatic Yoga, you can watch some short video snippets for free on his website, theyogimatt.com. And if that is intriguing, you can join him live and in person at Pulsation Yoga in Lake Zurich, IL, March 22-24, 2024, for a three-day immersion.
“Elements of Mastery” with Matt Giordano is a 3-day immersion at Pulsation Yoga Lake Zurich, IL:
- Friday 3/22/24 6:00-9:00 Discussion and Practice
- Saturday 3/23/24 9:00-5:30 Discussion and Practice, Posture Labs, Lunch Break, Discussion and Practice
- Sunday 3/24/24 9:00-5:30 Discussion and Practice, Posture Labs, Lunch Break, Discussion and Practice
My best advice for this, or for any new experience that could help you grow: don’t let your own self-doubt hold you back. This is an All Level opportunity to learn from a master with no judgements or expectations. This is not meant to feel intimidating or exclusive – our goal is to bring this level of teaching and understanding to all students and instructors. Even if you can’t make all three days or all sessions, this is worth the time you can give.
Register now and we will see you soon.
