So You Want to Teach Yoga?

Thinking About Joining Om Lounge RYT-200 Teacher Training?

5 Things You Don’t Need to Sign Up for Om Lounge RYT-200

from a Recent Grad - and New Yoga Teacher!

Written by Paige Creamer - Om Lounge FALL2021 RYT-200 Graduate

If you’re here because you are considering Om Lounge RYT-200 Yoga Teacher Training, you already have that whisper in your soul wondering if this is right for you. No matter how excited or curious you might be, making a new commitment can be overwhelming - and even stir up some self-doubt. There are always plenty of reasons not to go for it, whatever it means for you. Don’t let these be reasons to hold yourself back! Read on for 5 Things You Don’t Need to Sign Up for Om Lounge RYT-200 (and come back for 5 Things You Will Gain from Om Lounge RYT-200)

1. You Don’t Have to Want to Teach a Yoga Class - Ever

You do have to want to know how to hold space for other human beings. When I signed up for the Fall 2021 RYT-200 Hour Teacher Training at the Om Lounge, I had no real intention of ever teaching a full, real yoga class to real people at any real yoga studio, ever. And I wasn’t alone! The desire to go deeper into any part of the practice, whatever deeper means for you in this very moment, is reason enough to sign up. It’s a great reason, actually.

Even before I enrolled, I knew that yoga teachers were able to do something different, something unique to this modality that is Yoga. What I thought was magic, an inherent trait or talent that you’re either born with or not, turned out to be the very specific skill of holding space for others. At the time, I never thought I’d be in front of people guiding them through a yoga class, but I knew I wanted a little bit of whatever that magic stuff was and to be able to offer it to other people, and admittedly, to myself.

Because, let’s be honest, maybe you’re reading this and thinking that you already have enough other people in your space, or in your face, or in your inbox. I get it. Hear me out, though - the space you learn to hold for others in your Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) never gets so full, or so crowded, that there isn’t room for you. In fact, there’s more. You are holding the space, not diminishing your own to give out. It’s one of those crazy things that grows the more you give.

Setting healthy boundaries in our relationships is finally getting the attention it deserves. By learning this skill of holding space, whether you intend to use it on the teachers’ mat, at your job, or in your friendships, you get the dual benefits of offering the space for others, while maintaining and expanding your own. Whether you want to teach a class or not, we all want to better our relationship with the world around us. PS - Did you notice that none of this has to do with holding a chair pose for what feels like 45 minutes?

Full Disclosure: Despite my initial intentions to never teach a public yoga class, I taught one the very next day that I graduated. Why? Because teaching yoga is awesome. 10/10 recommend. You should try it.

2. You Don’t Have to be an Ultra-Experienced Yogi

You do have to be just a little yoga-curious. That’s it. Like I mentioned before, this is not a gathering of super humans who explicitly drink green juice and can do an ab workout on one leg without breaking a sweat. Maybe you’ll meet that person in your training, and they’re probably pretty nice, but that doesn’t have to be you. If you’re like me, you found this page without ever doing a 60 minute vinyasa krama flow, and you don’t even really know what that is right now. Guess what - that’s fine! Just like your yoga practice, no one checks your mat at the door and makes sure that

you can get into the perfect plank before granting access to the yoga studio (and if they do, please put your screen away and find a new place to practice ASAP).

Now, if you’re still here, you know that your practice is about showing up to the mat and meeting yourself where you are on that day, in that moment. Just the same as you come as you are to your yoga mat, you are free to come as you are to YTT. I took my first class at Om Lounge about a week before teacher training started. I have been practicing yoga since 2016 and considered myself to be a pretty strong yogi. That day in August 2021, I sweat through my pants. I fell down. I was facing the wrong way in a Warrior 2 pose. I almost withdrew from YTT. Man, am I happy that I didn’t. . . mostly because I had already paid for the course. Thankfully, my processed payment was comforted on the first night of training. Any fears of “not good enough at yoga” faded away. Because being “good enough” at yoga to join YTT is nothin’ but fake news. Feel free to sweat your ass off in any side plank that comes your way. I’m with ya.

3. You Don’t Have to Know the Om Lounge to Sign Up

I have no You do clause for this one. I heard about the Om Lounge at a hair salon in West Virginia. I live in Ohio about an hour away from Pittsburgh. At the salon in Weirton WV, I mentioned that I was interested in teacher training, and someone that overheard me chimed in. “I heard Om Lounge in Pittsburgh has good teacher training,” and that was all I had to go with. One Google search later, I signed up without ever stepping foot inside the studio. I am bold, baby, bold. I also didn’t have any other options locally, nor did I have tens of thousands of dollars to take a vacation to Bali that doubled as yoga teacher training. Maybe you’ve been practicing at Om for years. Maybe you Googled “Yoga Teacher Training Near Me” and found my blog post. Either way, Welcome!

The community at the Om Lounge isn’t an exclusive members-only yoga community. Just the opposite. Om is Home, no matter where you’re from or where you are in your practice. Don’t know how to get there? No worries, we have GPS. I used mine for the first month of training. Don’t know where the blocks, straps, mats, bathrooms are? All good, someone will greet you by name and show you how to find everything you need. Don’t know any teachers? Not a problem, your teachers will introduce themselves to you. You’re included because the community at Om Lounge is inclusive. If you are worried about signing up because you don’t “know” Om Lounge, trust me, Om Lounge will take the time to get to know you.

4. You Don’t Have to Know Anyone to Sign Up

Om Lounge RYT-200: New Friends Included. Your fellow trainees become your tribe during the 3ish months of YTT. Whether you are an extravert who could talk to the wall, or an introvert who likes to sit and listen to the silence of a space, new friends are yours for the finding. We often talk about “making” new friends, which is pretty tough to do after 8th grade. This is a unique opportunity that offers you the chance to find instead of make.

You will be spending a lot of time with your classmates. Weekends of immersive training, weeknight labs, catching yoga classes together, frantically texting each other in the groupchat to make sure you did the right homework assignment, or maybe responding to the group chat question because you know how to keep a calendar and are organized (props to you). It’s a lot. I never said it was easy. YTT is a commitment. A big commitment. If it was easy, everyone would do it. The good news is that you aren’t spending this time with just anyone or everyone. You are sharing your time, experiences, and growth with other people who have made the same commitment you did. You will meet people that you might never have gotten to know in any other setting. Om Lounge

YTT gives you a connection to these people with whom you share a common interest, goal, and dedication. You’re all in it together to inspire, create, and learn from each other.

Putting yourself out there is s c a r y. They’re gonna see you F*** Up. They will see you forget what the word is for that thing attached to your forearm, commonly known as a hand. And they’re still gonna be there right alongside you the next weekend, cheering you on. You might think you don’t know anyone else signing up. You just don’t know anyone else signing up yet. Plus, how cool would it be for everyone else to get to know you? Pretty cool. I hope you join the Om Lounge family, so that I have a chance to get to know you, too. See, you’ve made a friend already.

5. You Don’t Have to Love Every Single Second of Training

You do have to show up anyway. That’s tapas, which is sanskrit for discipline, and you’ll learn all about it in training, both the concept and putting it into action. More on that later. My point is that smiles and rainbows are not required every second in training because life isn’t required to be a walk in the park. However, we are still required to show up in our lives, even if it feels like you’re in the park in the middle of a thunderstorm. The clouds will come, but of course, the clouds will go. Alexa, play “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles.

Om Lounge RYT-200 is hard. Sometimes it feels really effing hard. You’re still an employee, spouse, friend, student, Netflix binger (maybe), and now you have Yoga Homework. WTF. Are you nuts? Probably not. You probably just know that sometimes life is hard, and you can do hard things. You can. I learned anatomy. My wordsy-lala brain learned about science. NOT easy. That said, we all know that most things that are worth anything don’t come easy. Showing up for YTT on days you might not feel like showing up (or for me, on Anatomy Module days) isn’t easy, but it’s so worth it. And those new friends I was telling you about? They’ll be there, showing

up for class and showing up for you, too. Who knows? That crappy day before class just might get a little bit sunnier when you make it to the Om Lounge, your teachers, your friends, and your mat. I bet it will.

Want to know more about holding space, deepening your practice, making Om your Home, finding your tribe, and finding the strength in simply showing up? Connect with us! We can’t wait to welcome you!

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