I did my Hatha Yoga Teacher Training last April in India at Sivananda Uttarkashi. It was a truly transformational experience for me and I’m so glad I did it, but going into it I honestly had no idea what to expect. Our schedule stayed pretty much the same every day, so this is basically what we did during our month there, hope this helps you out 🙂
5:20 – Get Up
Or when you’re supposed to get up haha, for me it was usually more like 5:50, living on the edge what can I say. (I’m not a morning person at all, mornings were pretty brutal for me haha) If you want to shower in the morning I’d recommend talking to your your roommates, cause theres usually lots of people per bathroom and waiting in line for 20 mins is NOT something you want to do at 5:30.
6:00 – Satsang or Silent Walk
You need to be on time for this (for everything actually they don’t play over there) and you also need to be wearing your uniform. Our Satsangs usually started with half an hour of silent meditation, followed by half an hour of chanting.
I personally preferred the Silent Walks tho (even tho they were pretty cold haha). We’d just meet up at 6, silently walk for half an hour or so (more like run sometimes which was exhausting haha) and chant some bhajans and mantras together. On the way back we were allowed to talk which was always a really nice opportunity to get to know your fellow yogis a bit better.
The sunrise was usually stunning as well and we’d always have some treats waiting for us back at the Ashram!
8:00 – Asana Class
This was the first of two daily Yoga classes, where the focus was mostly on learning how to teach, not your personal practice. I really liked the class, mostly because our teacher Gauri was amazing! She had soo much positive energy (or Prana if we’re speaking in yoga terms haha). You could really feel her passion for teaching, it was contagious. She’d explain how to correct your students form, split us up into little groups where we’d teach each other etc.
10:00 – Brunch
Finally!! Best moment ever haha, after being up with close to no food for 4 hours, we were usually ravenous at that point. (Pro tip: get some snacks at the market in town so you have something to eat when you get too hungry, that was usually before the asana class for me)
The food they’d serve was typical indian vegetarian ashram food. So super simple combinations of rice, lentils and veggies. Nothing fancy, but really delicious in my opinion.
Karma Yoga and Break
After brunch, it was time for Karma Yoga (Selfless Service). For us, that meant cleaning. I was responsible for sweeping the asana hall with two fellow students. Also, the faster you finished your duties, the longer your break was. The break was usually spent in the little garden, doing homework, or just relaxing.
12:00 – First Lecture
I really liked that lecture, the swami teaching it was super cute haha. He usually talked about the Bhagavad Gita, but also touched on other topics related to Vedic Philosophy, Kirtan and Yoga. This wasn’t the ‚Main‘ lecture and there was no homework, so it was generally a bit more chill and he just told lots of little stories and personal anecdotes, which I liked.
2:00 pm – Main Lecture
This class was about Vedic Philosophy, Anatomy and all the ‚main‘ things we had to know for our final exam. There was also homework for it. I still liked it cause it was super interesting, but I did prefer the first lecture to be honest, mostly because I liked the teacher a bit more.
4:00 pm – Asana Class
This class we would focus on our own practice and go through the typical Sivananda sequence.
Gauri was a wonderful teacher, and somehow she always tricked us into pushing ourselves just a little harder haha. The core of the class was always the same sequence, but we also did variations, tried other asanas etc
6:00 pm – Dinner
Another fave of mine haha, everyone was usually super hungry after yoga. Dinner was pretty similar to brunch; rice, lentils, (or mung beans) and veggies.
After dinner we had some time off, which we normally used for homework, studying, etc.
8:00 pm – Satsang
This was the last item on our daily schedule and everyone was pretty tired at this point usually.
It was pretty much the same as the morning Satsang; meditation and chanting. They’d light candles and I always found it was a nice, chill end to the day.
Doing a Yoga Teacher Training is one of the most valuable experiences I’ve ever had and one I’d absolutely recommend, no matter whether you actually want to go into teaching or not.
So in case you’re thinking about it, I hope this helped you a bit and gave you some on idea what to expect. 🙂
Love,
Mira
PS: Do keep in mind that this was just my particular course tho, and every school is different. Sivananda is a very traditional school, and this schedule (compared to what I’ve herd about others) is pretty rigorous. Theres tons of other options, I’m sure you’ll find one that suits you.