How to Prepare for Yoga Teacher Training
Just signing up is not enough! If you are starting to get anxious about how to prepare for yoga teacher training, keep reading.
I’m a yoga teacher and by the end of this article, you’ll have all your questions answered with my best tips on what you need to do to make sure your YTT is a success!
Table of Contents
6 Tips for Preparing for Yoga Teacher Training
1. Know your yoga teacher training requirements
Make sure you know what is expected of you before and during the training:
Go through your yoga teacher training reading list
Know how often you’re expected to practice yoga on your own during the training
Some trainings recommend you meditate or journal daily
You’ll probably have homework to do
During my training, we had to practice teach and observe a yoga class from an experienced teacher while taking notes at least once a week
And of course, go through the schedule
Are you still wondering whether you should do yoga teacher training? Click here!
2. Free your calendar
At this point, you might feel overwhelmed with everything you have to do. Everything can go smoothly with a bit of planning and preparation.
This means taking some time to prepare your yoga teacher training in the weeks before:
Free your calendar: use vacation days, tell your friends you won’t be available, don’t try to take on too much, and plan for rest days!
Try to get as much done as possible before the start of the training: Read the books and the manual before.
Plan for the training: Use a planner or Google Calendar to block time for your training and not forget to show up to class.
3. Adopt a positive mindset
Be aware that yoga teacher training is hard mentally and very intense.
Getting into a positive mindset can really help you:
Keep an open mind: you might challenge your beliefs or meet very different people during your training.
Have a mindfulness practice like journaling or meditation
It is normal to feel a lot, there was regular crying in my teacher training. Accept what might come up.
Allow for plenty of time to process: it is a very transformative experience, and you will feel the benefits for years to come.
4. Get support from a yoga teacher
You will probably be assigned a mentor, but let’s face it, each senior teacher can mentor up to 10 students. This means you won’t get much one-on-one quality time with your mentor to ask questions and understand exactly what being a yoga teacher is.
I was so lucky to have the best mentor ever right from the start. I have to tell you, my most valuable learnings from yoga teacher training come from just asking questions to my mentor over coffee and understanding the ins and outs of her business.
My word of advice to you, talk to an experienced teacher:
Get coffee with a yoga teacher friend and ask them about their life
Do an actual yoga mentorship program with a teacher you enjoy
5. Do yoga and prepare physically
I recommend treating your yoga teacher training like an event you need to train for, like an important game or even a marathon:
Get into a fitness routine: A few weeks or months before, it is time to get your fitness levels up. This will ensure you don’t get too tired during your YTT. I personally have been doing the Sweat App for years and I just upped the difficulty a bit before the training, and totally stopped working out during the training.
Plan for recovery: foam rolling, massages, restorative yoga are all good options
Get injuries in check: Do you have a bad knee or an unexplained pain in your wrist? Get it checked, it will only get worse during the training
Rest a few days before the training: No reason to attempt a difficult new pose before your training, you want to avoid injuries at all costs.
Avoid other physical activities than yoga during the training: you’ll already be doing so much!
This tip is what helped me the most as I was working 80+ hours weeks at the time of the training. I managed to combine that with spending all my weekends practicing yoga for months without getting injured or sick.
You also want to develop your yoga practice:
Do yoga regularly at the studio you’ll be training at, especially with the teachers that will be training you
Try new classes: before my training, I tried all types of yoga I could from Iyengar to Bhakti or even aerial. This was fun and made me understand what type of teacher I wanted to become.
6. Don’t overdo it!
You might be tempted to do ALL THE THINGS, but don’t. There is no need to over-prepare.
I know impostor syndrome is real, and you might feel you’re not ready to be a yoga teacher.
As a reminder, I didn’t have a regular home yoga practice before yoga teacher training, didn’t know the Sanskrit name of the poses, and couldn’t touch my toes standing up! And this doesn’t keep me from feeling super confident in my skills right now!
You also want to prioritize rest, as an injury is the one thing that can prevent you from doing training. So take it slow, sleep in as much as you want, and try to relax! 🙃
Yoga teacher training FAQ
How much experience do you need before yoga teacher training? Am I ready for yoga teacher training?
Read the prerequisites for yoga teacher training before signing up, as they vary a lot! For most teacher training it’s just about doing yoga regularly, sometimes a year of steady practice is recommended.
My opinion is to not worry too much about the requirements: teacher training will advance your practice in any case and if you want to become a good yoga teacher you’ll need to put in way more work after your training!
Like a lot more! I personally did a mentorship program with my favorite teacher when I was getting started, which really helped me understand how to teach.
What are the best books for yoga teacher training?
Here are my favorite books to read before yoga teacher training, these are just fun books that will put you in the mood 😄
The Journey Home by Radhanath Swami: a very fun travel auto-biography that will help you understand more about the spiritual side of yoga.
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer: My mentor recommended it, it is a very easy read that will make you want to apply yoga into real life!
Here are the usually required books for yoga teacher training. Some of them can be a bit hard to read, my recommendation is to get some of them as audiobooks, this way you can listen to them when you are on the move.
Yoga philosophy books:
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translation by Edwin F. Bryant
“Bhagavad Gita” translation by Winthrop Sargeant
Yoga history books:
The Subtle Body the Story of Yoga in America by Stefanie Syman
Yoga Body by Mark Singleton
Yoga anatomy:
“Yoga Anatomy” by Leslie Kaminoff
What to pack for yoga teacher training?
Here are the yoga teacher training essentials:
All the snacks
A yoga mat: It is time to get a real yoga mat, it can keep you safe from injuries during your practice!
A water bottle
A cute notebook
If you’re doing your training online, you should have these props:
A bolster
A strap
Two blocks
Can you fail yoga teacher training?
It’s normal to feel a bit of anxiety about the yoga teacher training test. If you are motivated, which you probably are because you’re here, you will most likely not fail the test.
One thing that can make you delay your graduation is not attending training sessions. Most schools will ask you to either be there or make up for it in the next training session.
Save this yoga teacher training checklist to be prepared before it starts!
Final words
Here is what to know before starting yoga teacher training! Remember to take it slow and have plenty of time to rest.
I hope you enjoyed this article with all the tips for yoga teacher training.