Yoga teacher training with Wellness Connection Yoga
On my website I have briefly touched upon my yoga teacher training. In this blog post I want to dive a little deeper and tell you all about my 200 hour training with Wellness Connection Yoga School.
Shortly after the first lockdown began, I looked for Yoga teacher trainings in Cape Town, one of my favorite places, and found the amazing Wellness Connection Yoga School - more a yoga university than a regular yoga studio. My (in retrospect naive) idea was to take part in one of their teacher trainings in spring 2021 - “when the pandemic was over” (haha!). So I got in touch with the studio to check possibilities - already picturing myself practicing yoga by day and hanging out at the sea with an ice-cold Sauvignon Blanc in my hand afterwards.
A couple of weeks after the first mail exchange, Catherine Wilkinson, owner, course designer and lead teacher of Wellness Connection, informed me about the possibility to do their 200 hr teacher training online. I did not think twice. And seriously: BEST. DECISION. EVER. I have learned so much - and even fell in love with yoga a little more. To be honest, I was actually sad when the course was over. I could have continued forever …
Due to COVID the training took place online, mostly via Zoom - which actually worked super well. Obviously, doing a training like this online and in part-time is not the same experience as being in beautiful Hout Bay, spending each and every day practicing yoga - and really spending time with the other students, learning and growing together. Nevertheless, I just loved every second of the training and highly recommend it. I feel I could not have learned more in a 200 hr teacher training.
Catherine and her team have great insights and encourage you to think out of the box - they teach you to really understand the different asanas and your own/ your students’ bodies. I never forget Catherine’s explanation that as a yoga teacher she is reading bodies. So inspiring! And by the way, she really is - she helped me so much approaching complex asanas and finding ways that work for my body. Finally, I was beginning to understand why I struggle so much with backbends and how to approach them.
I learned so much about how bodies work - and how to approach asanas that seem impossible to do by breaking them down and preparing your body in a clever way. It really is about going step by step, working progressively.
The Wellness Connection approach of working with the body really resonates with me. After all, every body is different. So it does not make sense to aim for our students (or ourselves for that matter) to get into the “ideal shape”. Obviously, it is key to consider certain aspects when approaching an asana - so that we can do it in a sensible and healthy way. However, it is super important to consider and respect the individual physical conditions of your student - helping him/ her to find his/ her expression of the pose. This is a principle I apply in my own teaching and my own practice. It is not about forcing your body into a certain shape but about finding a version of that shape that is working for you. By the way, this can differ from day to day.
The training consists of different elements:
Vinyasa classes with different focal points (forward bends, back bends, arm balances and twists)
Asana review: in-depth discussion of all relevant asanas and regular physical practice to ensure you are able to demonstrate poses in a correct way
Anatomy & pose analysis: understanding what is happening in the body in different asanas and how to break down complex poses in order to prep them in an intelligent way
Peak pose sequencing: how to set up an intelligent sequence working towards a peak pose
Lectures about different yoga styles & corresponding physical classes (e.g. Hatha, Yin, Modern Vinyasa but also yoga for kids or pregnancy yoga)
Classes about meditation and mindfulness
Lectures about the history of yoga & yoga philosophy
Lectures about marketing for yoga teachers & the practical side of setting up a yoga business
Teaching workshops
Live classes took place via Zoom, usually on Fridays 5 pm - 8 pm, Saturdays & Sundays 10 am - 6 pm. Apart from the live classes there was a whole bunch of prerecorded videos to dive deeper in your own time. Wellness Connection also provided us with a comprehensive manual including all relevant information on all covered topics. I still look into the manual frequently - when preparing my own classes or looking for inspiration for my self practice.
In order to pass the teacher training - apart from attending all classes and lectures - I had to hand in a couple of assignments, e.g. anatomy homework, pose analysis, videos of me physically adjusting someone else etc. The “ final exam” consisted of
a final pose review - demonstrating all poses without further guidance
a teaching practical - a video of me teaching a predefined sequence
a peak pose sequence - the draft of a 60 minute class working intelligently towards a specific peak pose
Truth be told, at some points it seemed a lot and more than once I was close to panicking (hello monkey mind!) - worrying how to manage it all. However, the Wellness Connection team was always super supportive and encouraging, openly talking about their own experiences and giving great advice how to approach things. I was also lucky because a close friend of mine did the training as well. So we could practice together and help each other by discussing ideas and giving feedback.
After having finished the training, I immediately started to teach friends (from beginners to advanced practitioners) and felt confident from the beginning - thanks to the thorough understanding I learned from the Wellness Connection team. I feel the training provided me with all the right tools to set up fun and intelligently sequenced classes for all levels - now offering (online) classes, private teaching and workshops myself.
Truth be told: In my self practice or when doing classes by other teachers I can still hear Catherine’s and Laura’s voices in my head. “Neck in line with spine” or “look and lean forwards”. I think one of the key learnings from the time with Catherine, Laura and the other amazing teachers is this: Yoga is fun. Your yoga mat is your playground. It is not about getting it right all the time, it is about intelligently working with your body, about trying new things, about falling out and trying again, about modifying according to your needs - and most of all about having fun along the way.
When the pandemic is over I really want to do my 300 hr training with Wellness Connection. Cannot wait to dive deeper. In the meantime, I am looking to Catherine’s Instagram account to get inspired about fun challenges (from headstand to side crow) or to get anatomical insights. Always a great inspiration.
