10 Teacher Trainings

When you choose to train as a yoga teacher, there is a huge range of training that you can access. In the Western World you usually choose a 200 hour yoga course, or similar, to begin with, and then from there the world’s your oyster!

Choosing a course can be quite hard to do unless you already go to classes with a teacher or at a studio who already trains teachers. There are intensive trainings over a month, extensive ones over a few years and anything in-between. Of course the content will be different depending on the type or school of yoga the teacher belongs to, but there is usually a focus on asana/poses / breathwork and how to teach them in the yoga style of the training, some yoga philosophy and anatomy training as well.

In 2013, a year after having my second baby, I began my teaching journey with Baby Yoga teacher training with Birthlight. I had attended local baby yoga classes with a Birthlight trained teacher with my own boys. Having two young children it was a great way to start teaching in my local area, build classes around my boys and begin to look for a 200 hour training to do alongside.

I looked at what 200 hour trainings there were locally, researched teachers and attended London’s Yoga Show to widen my search. That’s where I cam across Bridget Woods Kramer – she taught a couple of sessions there, we had a chat, I then went to one of her London based classes to see if I enjoyed her teaching and then I joined her training. The training course was over 12 months, which gave me time in-between the weekends to process the information, and not too much time away from home and my children, so it worked for me.

Once I’d completed my training I was able to build my classes organically, and as I continued to teach I looked to add more learning and qualifications to my tool box to enhance and complement my Mum and Baby and Adult Classes.

As a teacher I am a student first. I love to learn, I love to pass on that knowledge to my students, and it keeps me fresh and inspired. No-one could ever know everything there is to know about yoga, so I find the courses and teachers that interest me, that work with my own yoga practice as it evolves and changes. I take online classes and I read lots of yoga books (and listen to the odd podcast) which all help me to progress my yoga practice. But it’s the trainings that lay the foundation and I am very grateful for each and everyone of them that have added to my love of yoga.

Here’s my top ten of trainings I’ve done over the years:

1. Baby Yoga 1 & 2 – Birthlight

Birthlight is the UK’s leading pre & postnatal yoga training company (and also for aqua natal and swimming). I spent two happy courses with the wonderful Marion O’Connor in Liverpool, learning how to teach all the wonderful mum and baby yoga that I had experienced with my boys when they were babies.

2. Yoga Alliance 200 hour teacher training - Bridget Woods Kramer

Bridget is a ray of light, totally calm and an extremely experienced yoga teacher. At the time of my training she was in her early 60s and doing one armed handstands (handstands were one of her favourite poses, I don’t think many practices went by without one included!). Her yoga stems from the Anusara Yoga School, and the training was really fantastic for learning how to teach Hatha, and elements of Anusara yoga, safely and joyfully. I learned lots more about yoga philosophy and tried not to be too overwhelmed with long words in anatomy!

3. Postnatal Yoga – Birthlight

I always wanted to support the parents, mostly mums, who attended my Mum and Baby classes as much as support the babies. Postnatal recovery can be a shock to lots of us, and finding ways to calm the nervous system which is now on 24/7 alert and ease the body back to somewhere near where it once was is a very individual journey. I spent a fabulous weekend in Birmingham with lovely Belinda Staplehurst adding to my skills to bring back home to my classes.

I also recently repeated this training online to get some updates and refresh my practices.

4. 100 hour Meditation teacher training – Beanddo

This is a training that I didn’t plan to do but I am so very glad I did. Mick Timpson is a yoga and meditation teacher whose workshop I did at Manchester Yoga Show, by happy accident. It came at a time where I felt that meditation was a piece of the yoga puzzle I was missing. So I chatted to Mick , who is a super human being, and signed up to his Teacher Training, just for me. But what I learned was so accessible, and so effective that I couldn’t not go on to teach meditation courses both in person and online and integrate simple meditation practices into all of my teaching.

5. Restorative Yoga Teacher Training - Adelene Cheong

This was a blissful week of training at Yoga Campus at The Life Centre in Manchester. Adelene is a calm and serene senior yoga teacher with US based Judith Hanson Lasater – the go to for restorative yoga. We spent the week with piles of yoga props and blankets, resting, learning how to fold blankets precisely (to avoid princess and the pea discomfort!) resting, getting comfortable and resting again.

6. Total Yoga Nidra Facilitator Training - Yoga Nidra Network

In a cosy studio in Stroud I spent another blissful few days resting in yoga nidra, learning the art and science of facilitating yoga nidra, enjoying lots of tea and wonderful food from Nirpita and his family hosting us. Nirlipta Tuli and Theo Wildcroft led us through the best yoga nidras. It was, in the end, all the more special as it was just before covid lockdown and felt like something to hold onto in the coming months. Whilst we completed the training online, it was actually a great way to help in my move into online teaching during the pandemic.

7. Grow Your Yoga Business – Amy McDonald

What you don’t get taught at any teacher trainings is how to run a yoga business. Luckily I have administration and management skills from previous careers, but finding a coach or business teacher that understands how teaching yoga classes works is really helpful. I came across Amy McDonald online, I listened to her podcasts, enjoyed her sense of humour ,and ability to combine yoga philosophy with how to do marketing and make business decisions! S0 took the plunge to sign up for her coaching course. Based in Australia the timezones were sometimes a little late in the evening, but sessions were always really useful and helped me to grow my classes and work much more efficiently.

8. Pregnancy Yoga Teacher Training – Birthlight

When I added pregnancy classes to my timetable. I did a short pregnancy yoga course with Bridget after my 200 hour TT, got a bit of mentoring from local teachers I knew and used my own knowledge of having been to pregnancy yoga classes when I was expecting my babies. But the Birthlight Perinatal Course was always on my radar, and I eventually managed to do the course online during covid. Learning again from Belinda and the lovely Kirsteen helped me to hone my skills, work more specifically with pregnancy symptoms such as Pelvic Girdle Pain, and feel more confident in up to date practices to support prenancy and birth preparation.

9. Baby Massage Teacher Training – To baby and beyond

It seemed that a baby massage course would be a good compliment to my Baby Yoga classes, and so I trained with To Baby and Beyond to learn the skills and theory of massaging babies and how to pass that on to parents. This course was lovely and has really added a beneficial class to my timetable especially for the younger babies and parents not necessarily looking for yoga.

10. Menopause Yoga Teacher Training – Petra Coveney

My most recent teacher training, I wanted to learn how to work with yoga during my own perimenopause through to post menopause, and look at ways to pass this on to other women locally. This was an online training over a few weeks and I learned some really lovely ways to apply yoga practice and philosophy to mid-life, and also some fabulous information on many other ways to support menopause from Holistic therapies, to nutrition to HRT. Petra’s course is really thorough and provides lots of tools which I am enjoying in my own practice and the sessions I am teaching.

11. My students

I had to add one more to my trainings – and that’s my students. You can train and learn for as long as you want to, but the real learning is in the teaching. I learn from my students in every class I teach. I see how what I teach is applied by each person in the room uniquely to them. I learn how best to adapt yoga for individuals and often the whole room. I see the huge benefits of the practices, and I also see ways that I can improve my content and teaching from seeing how my students respond. Without my students my yoga doesn’t grow and evolve in the same way as it would if it were just me and my mat – so thank you all for helping me to grow.

Over these trainings I have met some fantastic teachers (both course leaders and attendees), made some wonderful friends, and enjoyed time out to learn, explore and process yoga in so many different ways. I have my eye on a few trainings for the future, and I’m looking forward to seeing which ones come along over the coming years to add to my yoga journey.