Why I Became a Yoga Teacher

Are you interested in becoming a yoga teacher? Find out what inspired this yoga instructor to teach.

I knew before I walked off the mat in the first yoga class I ever attended that I would one day teach yoga. Photo © Copyright by Laura Brown Photography.

I’m glad I listened to my inner voice that day I thought about going to my very first yoga class at a YMCA. I was so over my long, stressful commute, and I really needed a way to let go of the tension that a nine-hour workday at a desk job can bring.

I walked onto my mat with an open mind and off my mat with an open heart.

It was the moment just before I opened my eyes, transitioning out of my very first Savasana that I knew I would one day teach yoga. More than a feeling, it was an inner knowing that this yoga path and me were meant to be. This inner knowing was the same one that gently guided me to class that night.

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This same inner knowing unfolded into a can’t-miss sign from the universe. I read my horoscope when I got home from class and it mentioned yoga!

I was so enthusiastic and excited to learn more about this beautiful practice. I attended more classes, began an at-home practice, and researched yoga styles and yoga schools.

The more I learned about yoga, the more I wanted to share it with the world.

That was almost 15 years ago before smartphones were ever in the hands of, well, everyone. Since then, I have become a yoga teacher and the world has only become busier. Yoga is needed now more than ever.

A 2016 study by Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance found that more than 36 million people practice yoga in the U.S. That number continues to rapidly increase as the fast pace of our busy lives bombards us with more stress than anyone should ever have to handle.

My intention for becoming a yoga teacher today is the same intention I set when I became a yoga teacher in 2011: Inspire others to live well.

I am proud and honored to be a part of the yoga community—a community that encourages you to step into a renewed, connected version of yourself both on and off the mat—and a practice that inspires awareness, mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, kindness, thoughtfulness, curiosity, compassion, courage and love. So much love.

Yoga teaches us to do the inner work—the most important work of our lives.