My Yoga Yeacher Training experience in Bali – YTT200

Finally back home after 8 weeks in Bali!! Our ytt ended already a month ago but I stayed in Bali (and Nusa Lembongan) for a while after. I actually thought still 2 weeks ago I’ll stay for a looong time. In Bali and maybe visit Australia too. But a week ago I started to feel I want to go home. And I’m so happy I did, I love to be back in Finland! ♥

In this post I’m going to tell about my experience at the yoga teacher training 200hrs I did in Bali with The Peaceful Warriors Yoga. If you want to know more about my background before attending to this course, read my previous post from here first. 🙂 On that post I tell more how did I ended up doing yoga and how I already had felt it’s benefits in my life and my career. And there is also about my coaching/ teaching experience.

Why did I choose to do the training with The Peaceful Warriors Yoga in Bali?

Well first of all I wanted to do a training where I spend the whole month in the same place, intensive course. I didn’t want to do it in Finland with many weekends through a year spend at the training but I’m not saying it’s more good or bad. This was just my preference! And I’m glad I decided to do it this way because I got to really focus on the course and not other things. Also one of the best things was to grow together and experience all this with our yogi family (of 26 + teachers).

The Peaceful Warriors yoga I chose with my intuition. I found it from google and had seen it also in instagram through some of my Finnish collagues. They had liked it and it was also good to have an opportunity to ask some things before going (kiitos Mirka!). I just had a good feeling about it and it felt “safe option” to use my time and money with – especially when going so far away from home.

So the location, Bali, came with the choice of the yoga school. I had never been in Bali before so it was also a nice opportunity to see the island and experience the culture. I’ve been in Asia (mostly Thailand) for many times before so I knew a bit already how it probably will be. But Bali, especially Canggu where I stayed the most of the time, was still a lot different than many places I’ve been in Thailand. More about Bali later!

The location, facilities, food

Our training was held in The Cosmos Oasis, Canggu. We had our own cosy yoga building next to the main building. There we had our accommodation, shared kitchen and the shala (where we did all the yoga and lectures). We also had a swimming pool and chilling area.

The place was located near to nice cafes and shops and about 30minutes walk from the beach or a bit less to main street (batu bolong). And still it was very quiet and peaceful place with the ricefield view. Local people were living and working next to us. There was a renovation going on and that was a bit disturbing some days but it was ok! I actually didn’t even remember it anymore before I really started to memorize the place.

The kitchen had few fridges and everything you needed if you wanted to make your own meals or snacks. Meals wasn’t included in the training – only a one group breakfast a week and the graduation dinner. But that didn’t bother me at all – I think it was very nice to try different cafeterias all around Canggu because they were amazing. And some breakfast groceries and snacks were easy to buy from Bali Buda or Alive Wholefoods almost next to us. Some of us also cooked lunches and dinners in the kitchen. If you were too lazy to go anywhere (or just wanted to stay at ‘home’) you could easily order food with gojek or grab. But there were literally tens of cafeterias/restaurants within 2-10 minute walk. For the meals you could use anything between 3-10eur/ meal+drink depending on the place (local/western etc).

Accommodation

You could choose the accommodation from the training place or just wherever you wanted to. I think around 70% of us stayed in cosmos and others had their own places booked. Accommodation wasn’t either included in the training but accommodation is pretty cheap in Bali and especially if you share it with someone.

I thought first that I’ll take an accommodation from somewhere else or at least my own private room from cosmos but I ended up choosing a shared room (with private bathroom but ended up with shared – that was totally fine actually too). That was out of my comfort zone because I like my own space and time a lot (and also need it) BUT I’m happy I did choose the shared room. I got to share my room with the best roommate ever (hugs Amanda!) and I think it was so nice to have someone sharing the experience closely with you.

The rooms weren’t anything special but I think they were nice. We didn’t spend too much time in the room anyway – basicly just for resting and sleeping and for that it was good. We had our room just next to shala from upstairs and I really liked that spot! They had two shared rooms (for 2ppl/room) upstairs and then single rooms and some more shared rooms downstairs. The shared room was around 400usd / month, privates almost double the price. But you can find all the info about the rooms and prices from their website!

Other accommodation in Canggu area before and after the training I booked from AirBnb. These are the places I went to and I actually liked them all. If you haven’t tried airbnb before you can register here and you get 30-40e off from your first booking.

1. Here I spent one night before the training. The place was nice and there was also a nice cafe but I wouldn’t spend there more time than few nights! This is quite near to echo beach and breakfast was included (good one).
2. In this place I was few nights after the training. It is other side of canggu (towards berawa) so I wouldn’t choose this while the ytt either but it was a great place to stay if you plan to stay in Canggu after.
3. This was quite near to the training place actually but would probably still need a scooter. I spent here one night after coming back from Nusa Lembongan. It was next to the chillhouse and cassava restaurant – which was very good!
4. Here I spent my last days in Canggu. I liked this place very much even though it didn’t have a pool (I don’t use pools that much..). If you want to stay near to batu bolong (main street) and the beaches – this is the place. You can be without a scooter, in other places you’ll need a one or use gojek/grab. Breakfast was included and it was ok!

The training schedule

Our normal daily schedule (Sat-Thu) looked normally like this:

7:00 Vinyasa/ Hatha Flow guided practise 90-120min

Breakfast

10:30 Lecture (anatomy, philosophy, nutrition, ayerveda, yoga styles..) 2hrs

Lunch

14:00 Asana Lab (learning asana techniques and teaching) 2hrs

Break

16:30 Lecture or guided Yin practise

Day ended usually around 18:30-19. Few days we had something (meditation, movie night) until 9pm.

That’s how our days basicly were the whole month except a few days when we had something special like surfing or going to do the spiritual cleansing ceremony in the temple (that was so nice!!). We also had a one movie night and Kirtan night (which I fell in love with..).

I woke up the first week around 6am and did my journaling before the practise. The next 3 weeks I started to wake up even earlier (around 5:30am) to do also my own meditation before the day started. That was just something I wanted to do because I like a lot having my own time to work and process too. This morning routine became one of my favorite things in the training. In the evenings I/we usually ate in the nearby restaurants or ordered food to cosmos and went to bed early, around 21-22.

On Fridays we had our day off and it was so needed after intensive study days. I spent my off days mostly by myself because I wanted to have space for my own thoughts and process things. And also to do my practise, journaling, maybe calling my family or doing a few work things (for my own company). I also went to the beach and had a few appointments; massage and healing therapy. But we had some nice breakfasts, lunch and dinners together with the group too. 🙂 And one Birthday celebration also!

There was some time to explore Canggu/ Bali if you wanted but I wanted to only focus on the training, yoga and myself. But I knew I also have the time to explore after. I recommend you to take some days after the training if possible.

Teachers, practises, lectures

We had 5 teachers we spent the most time with and then also few others to teach us nutrition, ayerveda, other yoga styles.. I think totally we met at least 10 different teachers. And it was amazing because we got to see so many different teaching styles and personalities. And teachers who were very passionate about their own area of teaching.

We learned mostly vinyasa flow and hatha yoga. Those were our main practises and focus in the training. My favorites were the hatha practises and philosophy but I also enjoyed the vinyasa flow practises, anatomy and basicly all the other classes we had. It was just very good mix of the things.

Teaching we got to practise in the asana labs and the last 2 weeks we started to create our own yoga sequences and learning to teach those to others. Also in the end we teached the whole yoga class as a small groups for the others.

More about the schedule, teachers etc you also find from their website 🙂 Our main teachers at the course were Maria, Jessica, Magdalena, Bernd and Sean. ♥

It’s so much more than learning to teach or do yoga

Yoga for me was already before the training more than the asana practise but at the training I got so much deeper with my own practise and understanding of the yoga philosophy, asana practise, meditation, breathwork and teaching. I actually came to the yoga teacher training only for myself and not to teach yoga that much. Ofc to use it in my work and teaching but not teaching only yoga. But I was wrong – I really fell also in love with teaching yoga.

In the training I of course learned more about asanas, technique, anatomy.. But even more about the feeling of being full of energy, connection, joy and emotions. For me the training was also very important time to work on letting go of my sports career and start the new chapter. And I found so much joy again having people around, socializing, sharing and finding connection to others. Open myself to others. I’ve been in my own sports bubble for years it was and still is time to open up.

So much happened in those 4 weeks. In physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels. It was amazing how much deeper you got to go when you really focused on the yoga practise and studies for a month straight – and with mind-liked people and teachers around. That energy and feeling I will carry with me for so long – I still feel it strong. We shared something very special together and I’m so thankful for that experience. And all those people who became my friends, my yogi family, all around the world (guys if you read this – i love you & miss you!!).

For me the training wasn’t physically exhausting but I’m used to use my body a lot. But at the mental, emotional and spiritual levels it was a bit exhausting sometimes. So much to learn and so many things in the head and in the body going on. But it was also just so exciting.. And I knew it’s just a beginning. You don’t need to know or learn everything at once. It is just a kickstart to your own journey to learn more of the things you’re interested in and want to practise and teach.

And it never stops, hopefully. We’re never ready and we don’t need to be – that’s the whole point.

So now I came back home, Finland and I start to build my new chapter even more. I’m ready for that. I continue my own practise, studying and I start teaching – online and also in the workshops and retreats. I’ll combine yoga with the other things I do and teach (bodyweight training, handstands, gymnastics, dance, free movement, mind training…) and I’ll continue learning. If you have any questions you can leave them in the comments or in my instagram eevsku! Check out also the video about the training.

Thank you The Peaceful Warriors Yoga. Thank you Bali. Thank you all the teachers and my fellow yogis. Thank you for myself coming to this course, opening myself and taking it all in. I’m eternally grateful. ♥

Eve

Read also: My journey before the yoga teacher training

Löydät myös paljon tekstejäni suomeksi

Suomeksi joogaopettaja -koulutuksesta:

Eevsku x Yoga Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

MORE ABOUT ME – ONLINE COACHING / valmennukset

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