Advanced Yoga Teacher Training is generally classified with 300 Hour (after 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training) and sometimes 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Training wherein both the 200 hr and 300 hr training programs are combined into one program.
How should an Advanced Yoga Teacher Training have an impact?
What are the factors, required practices define a program “Advanced Yoga Teacher Training”?
This was a question posed by one of the Yoga teachers and I would try to address it with my limited understanding.
The Journey from Practice of Asanas to Practice in Asanas
Asana practice is a popular practice part that gets deeper in the Advanced Yoga Teacher Training.
It’s not only the advanced asana practice but being in the final position of every asana with Sthira and Sukha states of mind.
Asana in Sanskrit is something that allows sitting. A chair is also called asana as it allows someone to sit on it!
The Yoga asanas are called with that name as the mind sits into the infinity through the practice of a certain position.
Hence, this journey from the practice of Asanas to practice in Asana wherein “finding the stillness, ease in being what you are” become the essential part of the Advanced Yoga Teacher Training.
Sanskrit- The Language of Yoga
As a Yoga Teacher, trying to get deeper into your practice and practice of teaching, you would wish to go through the texts (in their original form) written in Sanskrit.
If you are able to get an opportunity to learn the basics of the Sanskrit language during the course, have a good foundation, this certainly will ignite the interest in exploring Sanskrit’s understanding.
Yoga Philosophy – Deepening with Patanjali
A better, deeper understanding of Yoga Sutras with the commentary of Vyasa would be something that encourages the Yogi inside to explore the spiritual practice.
Patanjali’s Philosophical narration brings authenticity to the practice with Vyasa’s commentary (considered to be the best commentary in the tradition of Yoga) so that the seeker overcomes the individual interpretations of Yoga Sutras.
You might be had glimpses of Yoga Sutras in your foundation course. An Advance study of Yoga Sutras brings authenticity, refines your Yogic perspective.
The journey of Swadhyaya from Self-study to Studying the Self
Your Advanced Yoga Teacher Training with other factors making you better equipped with your teaching such as teaching with props, teaching different sequences, teaching philosophy, it should also make you take another journey from studying with teachers, books, and classes to study yourself.
If you had a better 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training you might have glimpses of studying yourself.
It has to get to the advanced level wherein the techniques on how to study yourself, how to make an objective analysis based on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali will be the deeper way of practicing Advanced Yoga. Svadhyaya becomes a transformational practice.
Advanced Yoga has a lot of other dimensions too. Popular contents such as the practice of Kriyas, advanced Asana, and Pranayama practice, etc. are not discussed here as they are mandatory practices in most of the good advanced Yoga Teacher Training Courses.
Advanced Yoga Practice should make us better students, more humble, more grounded, and more human.
Let the Yoga practice lead us inwards and as we advance our practice, let our ego decay. Let the divine in us get ignited with brightness.