300h Yoga Teacher Training - Final Thoughts and Reflecting on my Experience

This is a write up of my experience on the 300 hour yoga teacher training with Sampoorna Yoga in Goa India. If you haven’t already you might want to take a look the first blogs in this series. This article follows on from the previous articles which wrote about my experience in weeks 1-4 of the course. There are also an earlier articles in the series that looked at considerations and advice I would give before committing to a yoga teacher training and my preparation before the course.

As we sat in the closing ceremony and graduation with our fellow students, who we had become close with during the course, I felt a huge sense of belonging, clarity and ease with myself. It was similar to that feeling when you have just taken an amazing yoga class but magnified a million times. Maybe imagine having taken a 4 week long yoga class, with the most incredible teachers where you have achieved things you never thought you were able to achieve, you are completely connected with yourself, completely present and enjoying the moment. I felt strong, happy, free, complete and like I was exactly where I was meant to be. Grateful for bringing myself to this practice and after all the satisfying hard work, we had come to the savasana and it was one of those that you just don't want to end.

My heart had taken me here. My love of yoga, India and my desire to learn more about what was such a positive part of my life. There are so many things in my life that I do because I feel like I have to or should. When I signed up for my first yoga teacher training course my heart had told me to do it but I had felt slightly guilty because it felt indulgent to take the trip to India and spend such a long time training for something when I never expected I would be able to be an actual yoga teacher. I already had a successful career in finance so I felt people didn’t understand why I was running off to India to do this! Things have changed so much in the last few years for me since I have started teaching. I have realised how much I love to give yoga to people. Yoga is something that has benefitted my life and I get so much enjoyment through sharing this passion with other people. When I teach it feels right, like this is what I should be doing and it gives me a feeling of purpose and feels worthwhile. The joy I get when people have enjoyed or benefitted from my class is incredible. I know I am not saving lives but having a positive contribution to people’s health and wellbeing, no matter how small, feels amazing. I am so grateful that I found yoga, I am proud of myself for taking that huge leap to teach it and I am enjoying the path it has taken me. It has completely changed my life and allowed me to create a life where I am at my happiest.

I have continued to follow my passion and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to advance my yoga teacher training with Sampoorna yoga. I return to the UK with more confidence as a teacher through the experiences I gained on the course and greater knowledge of the subject. You don’t have many chances in life to take a complete break from everything and immerse yourself in something like this so these opportunities are often good times for personal reflection and the things you experience can have a real impact on your life and your personal development. This will be different for everyone but it was just what I needed at this point in my life.

I felt completely welcome, safe and comfortable at Sampoorna. It was definitely a home away from home where I would have happily stayed longer and I was very sad to leave when the course came to an end. It was fantastic to be taught by knowledgeable teachers with a wide variety of different experience and share the experience with other yoga teacher students on the course who were an inspiration. I have made lifelong connections and memories with these beautiful human beings.

Completing my Advanced yoga teacher training at Sampoorna Yoga is one of the best things that I have ever done. If you are a 200 hour yoga teacher I would really consider completing your further training because it will broaden your knowledge and help you improve the way you teach. I highly recommend Sampoorna yoga as a fantastic school to train with. I cannot fault anything about the teaching, facilities and I absolutely loved experiencing all this in India which has a very special place in my heart.

Further reading:

This blog post reflected on the end of the 300 hour training course. You might want to take a look at further blogs in the series where I have written up my experience throughout the course:

1. 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training - Considerations before a yoga teacher training

2. 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training – Before the Course

3. 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training – Week 1

4. 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training – Week 2

5. 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training – Week 3

6. 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training – Week 4

7. 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training – Final Thoughts (this is the final blog in the series).

8. Agonda, Goa, India.