Yoga Training Truths
Things nobody tells you about yoga teacher training. By Michelle Cooke
I thought yoga teacher training would test my body. I didn’t expect it to transform the way I understood myself. Before I began training, I worried about whether I was physically capable. At 49, I imagined everyone else would be younger, naturally flexible and effortlessly balanced. As someone who couldn’t do a cartwheel or handstand as a child, I remember thinking: What on earth am I doing?
IT'S NOT THAT PHYSICAL
I now realise most people begin teacher training believing they’re somehow ‘not ready’. But one of the biggest surprises was this: it’s not really about impressive postures at all. It’s not that physical. Yes, there is exploration of physical practice, but not in the way I imagined. Under the guidance of extraordinary tutors, the practice became slower, softer and far more deeply felt. Postures were explored rather than performed. We learned to pause, breathe and listen.
Within our group, there was a wide range of ages, abilities and experiences, and everyone brought something valuable. The focus was never on perfection. Instead, yoga became less about striving and more about sensing.
YOU LEARN TO GENUINELY FEEL YOGA
There was far less emphasis on achieving a ‘peak pose’ and far more focus on embodiment: fully inhabiting the experience exactly as it was. That shift quietly changed not only my practice, but the way I moved through life itself. I began to understand that yoga was never asking me to become someone else. It was asking me to become more present with who I already was.
THE PHILOSOPHY IS ASTONISHINGLY RELEVANT
An old tutor from Yoga Scotland used to say that without philosophy, yoga is simply aerobics from South Asia, and now I understand exactly what she meant.
Our studies explored traditional texts including the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras and Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Before training, I expected these teachings to feel distant or difficult to relate to. Instead, I found them astonishingly relevant. Despite being thousands of years old, many of the teachings spoke directly to modern life: distraction, suffering, relationships, contentment and the search for meaning.
YOU GROW TOGETHER
I chose a two-year part-time 500-hour teacher training because, as a working mum of two with a partner who travels extensively for work, I needed something sustainable and realistic. Looking back, I can see how valuable that slower pace truly was. It gave me time to absorb and gradually embody what I was learning.
Over the years, something deeply meaningful unfolded within our group. We shared vulnerable first teaching attempts, moments of self-doubt, breakthroughs, exhaustion and laughter. Residential weekends brought long conversations, shared meals and a sense of connection that quietly deepened over time. Somewhere along the way, strangers became dear friends - my yoga family.
THE END FEELS LIKE THE BEGINNING
Yoga teacher training did not simply teach me how to guide a class. It taught me how to slow down. How to listen more carefully. How to stay with discomfort instead of running from it. And perhaps most unexpectedly of all, it taught me that you do not need to be the strongest, most flexible or most confident person in the room to begin. You simply need curiosity, openness and a willingness to keep showing up… and I’m so glad I did.
Michelle Cooke is a marketing and communications specialist, newly qualified yoga teacher and trustee with Yoga Scotland, Scotland’s national governing body for yoga and a registered charity dedicated to making yoga accessible, inclusive and supportive for communities across the country.
Visit: yogascotland.org.uk
Om Magazine
First published in November 2009, OM Yoga magazine has become the most popular yoga title in the UK. Available from all major supermarkets, independents and newsstands across the UK. Also available on all digital platforms.
