Personal Reflections during YTT - Group Teaching Experience

Written By Sybil Campbell

I’m currently about 40% of the way through my yoga teacher training (YTT) experience. I’ve completed:

  • 8/10 in person yoga sessions

  • 4/10 in person observations

  • 4/12 in person apprenticeship sessions

  • 5/11 in person weekend training sessions

  • Taught my first group class

  • Submitted my student project proposal

My husband is lovingly salty that I’m about to pass him in ‘percentage complete’ while he’s completing his MBA program. We’re probably a little too competitive but it pushes us both to be the best version of ourselves.

I started YTT to really uncover the sequencing and anatomy to self treat my own physical discomfort and I totally nerd out over the anatomy books and dig into each pose for the primary and secondary muscles it activates or releases. I knew I wanted to teach but I wasn’t sold on the idea of me actually doing it UNTIL we taught our first class as a group — more on this experience below.

I’ve been in the technology field since I was 17. I’m nerdy, but I’ve never built my own PC for fun. I had to work hard, incredibly hard, to gain the skills, respect and momentum to get where I am today. In my first month of YTT training we were assigned to write about Ahisma or non harming and in that reflection I wrote about how the largest thing harming me are my thoughts. Would I ever feel like “Chief Engineer in Charge” wasn’t my largest professional accomplishment. Talk about a moment of clarity! I immediately hit submit on the assignment before I could talk myself out of it and carried on with my day.

Then comes our first teaching assignment. 7 of us volunteered to teach the gentle yoga class. I was assigned the standing poses: Virabhadrasana II (warrior II), Viparita Virabhadrasana (reverse warrior), Utthita Parsvokonasana (extended side angle), and Trikonasana (triangle pose). The day before the class I was also assigned Utthita Tadasana (wide legged pose or 5 point star). I did all the things to prepare — teach myself, teach my husband, dig into my manual for common misalignments, record myself doing and then teaching the poses, and writing the poses in English and Sanskrit. I felt amazing going into the day and even better after completing the assignment.

The experience thus far has reaffirmed that:

  • I love teaching people not just the engineers that work on my teams

  • Proper alignment in a pose activates more muscles making it one hell of a workout

  • I was probably going through the motions for the last decade of my yoga journey not getting all the benefits yoga has to offer

  • I absolutely have the passion and compassion to serve as an instructor in any capacity I choose

This practice, my practice, is evolving in the same way that I am through this journey. I’m sharing now because I feel ready to further open my practice, my heart, and my mind to others along the way. Also, as I figure out my student project specifics there’s an opportunity for us to grow together.

Sybil Campbell