Start your yoga career now: Yoga Alliance Certified Teacher Training in London Begins September
A Day in the Life of a Trainee Teacher
Anna Oldfield on 22 April, 2011 | 
A Training Day
The training day will generally begin with morning asana practice. Depending on how early the start is (and how early you have to get up for this), as well as individual energy levels, a light breakfast may be eaten beforehand, or left until later on. The day thereafter will be broken down into different classes focusing on teaching theory, the history and philosophy of yoga, business skills, anatomy...the sessions will vary a lot so there's no need to worry about getting bored! Of course, there will be a break for lunch as well as several shorter breaks for you to grab a quick snack and a drink. So although 'doing yoga' from 9am to 6pm may sound crazy, or even impossible, once it's broken down into the different sessions it is really very manageable.
Studying something you are very passionate about is incredibly stimulating, and by the end of the day you may just want to take a long relaxing bath and have an early night. However, it is certainly not unheard of for trainees to go to the pub together after a hard day’s training, or to meet up with friends for dinner. As you may expect, an intensive course will have its impact on your social life, but with a bit of planning and creativity it need not be too disruptive.
A Non-training Day
Of course, every trainee will have a different schedule and different commitments to fulfil. However, there are some key elements which all budding yoga teachers will build in to their day. A day off from training isn't necessarily a day off from yoga - but as you will learn, yoga is a lifestyle rather than just a series of stretches: even when you're not practising asana you can still be doing yoga, taking a mindful approach to everyday tasks.
When nurturing your individual practice outside the course you will need to work out where and when will be best for you to get your daily yoga fix in. In the summer months an early practice before work or other daily activities can be energising. However, getting out of bed in the winter months when it is cold and dark may prove more of a challenge. Many studios run lunch-time classes, and if you can't reach one of these in your break, why not try using an empty meeting-room or office space for your practice? And of course, there are so many classes after working hours that you'll be spoilt for choice. Though anywhere you can lay your mat out - at home, at work, or in the park - is just as good. With the space restraints which come with living in the capital, many Yoga London trainees have found themselves practising in the kitchen. The most important thing is to find a time and place which you can build in to your schedule, as developing a regular routine rapidly establishes daily practice without you even noticing.
So as well as practising every day, all trainee teachers will need to eat. If you've decided to practise during your lunch-break, it will be important to make sure you eat a large breakfast or have a mid-morning snack to maintain your energy levels and, of course, breakfast and dinner will also need to be timed to fit in with morning or evening practices. Ideally, two hours will be left between eating a meal and practising to avoid indigestion or discomfort, but a small snack to keep you going is perfectly acceptable. It is also common to experiment with ayurvedic lifestyle adjustments during training, when you will be taught about this traditional Indian health system. These need not be drastic changes and you may already follow some practices without knowing that they are ayurveda, such as drinking hot water with lemon first thing in the morning.
During the course you will be set assignments to complete outside the training sessions. These could be small tasks such as memorising asana names and scripting short sequences, or on-going projects such as observing and writing up yoga classes and developing your own beginners’ course. You won't be inundated with homework by any means, and a little bit every day is the best way to tackle these tasks. Days off teacher training can be the perfect opportunity to go out and observe a class, and with regular revision of Sanskrit terms you'll have memorised them before you know it!
Whether it's a training day or you are getting on with your everyday life outside the course, yoga will certainly feature in your day. Yoga is a lifestyle and, as future teachers, trainees make the decision to embrace this. However, this is not to say you won’t have off-days when training is a struggle, yoga seems to be squashing other aspects of your life, or other commitments make it hard to find time for yoga. Just take a deep breath when this happens, and find a way to release any tensions between your everyday occupation and your yogic self. A mindful approach to life makes every action yoga, and although intensive courses are just that, the greater the challenge, the greater the reward.