Victoria Klein

After a few days of recovery, it’s time to recount one of the longest, most exciting + exhausting weeks of my life: Immersion Week, starting my 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training course.

From February 3rd to 9th, 2012, I spent a total of 53 hours practicing Yoga asanas (postures/poses) + studying a long list of subjects related to the entirety of Yoga … where do I start?!

What did you cover during the Immersion Week?

The best way to express that would be a (long) list :)

• What is Yoga?
• Om + Namaste
• Brief History of Yoga
• Branches of Yoga
• Raja Yoga (an intro to Patanjali)
• Yamas + Niyamas
• Moving Principles
• Asana Alignment (just the beginning!)
• Anatomy
• Prana + Subtle Body Anatomy
• Chakras + Nadis
• Communication Skills
• Anatomy of Breathing + Pranayama
• Developing a Personal Practice
• Designing a Yoga class using the Apex Model
• Eating like a Yogi/Yogini

There were also 12 Yoga classes (asana practice) + 2 field trips :)

How many other students are there?

There are 4 others: Heidi, Cassie, Jenny, and Victoria (I hardly ever meet another Victoria!) - hello, ladies! After spending over 50 hours together, we have all become fast friends + learned a lot from each other. 

What is it like practicing Yoga every day?

In a word: spectacular. I’ve maintained an at-home practice for nearly 2 years, but spending so much time in a Yoga studio - both taking classes + having in-depth discussions - reminded me of all the things I love about Yoga. 

I was also reminded of how wonderful it is to be around individuals who also share a passion for Yoga + come from various backgrounds (community rocks!). Needless to say, I learned a lot about myself as well … but that is for future posts :)

What’s next?

You’ve asked a mouthful! :) As with any educational program, there are requirements to graduate, the majority of which must be accomplished on our own time.

For example, we have to teach 5 hours of Yoga on a volunteer basis + write about our experience. We also have to attend a class with 5 different teachers that we’ve never studied with before + write about our experience. 

The biggest outside time commitment is the Apprenticeship portion of the program. We must attend 25 classes with a small selection of teachers at the studio + take notes on elements we prefer and/or find useful for our own future classes.

In terms of our actual meetings, here is the rest of our schedule:

• Saturday + Sunday, February 25th + 26th (Asana Alignment + Anatomy)
• Saturday + Sunday, March 24th + 25th (Asana Alignment + Anatomy)
• Saturday + Sunday, April 21st + 22nd (Meditation, Mindfulness, + Stillness)
• Saturday + Sunday, May 5th + 6th (Yoga Lifestyle + Philosophy)
• Saturday + Sunday, June 2nd + 3rd (Becoming a Yoga Teacher + Graduation Party!)

You can expect longer updates after each of our future meetings, but I’ll also be posting introspective + thought-provoking entries about various aspects of Yoga, its associated lifestyle, + my Yoga teaching career … so stay tuned!

It was a long week, but I am very thankful that I took the plunge + am now onto the next step in my Yoga journey. In other words, it was worth ever penny + every minute.

Still have questions about my Yoga Teacher Training experience and/or Yoga Teacher Training in general? Just ask! :)