I have been practicing yoga almost 2 years and I first tried it in my home country, Latvia. I realized that yoga makes me feel great. I attended classes twice a week and liked the feeling of getting more flexible and relaxed after my classes. I got passionate about it and now I am practicing yoga almost every day.

The past 2 years I have been traveling a lot and I have met so many great teachers through my practice. I learned something from each of them. Last year I was living in Ridgewood, NJ, where I met Scott Brassel, – a Yoga/Tai-Chi teacher. His classes are great. He teaches his students how important it is to slow down your mind and thoughts, explaining mindfulness. After his class with different breathing techniques and movements with Tai-Chi elements, you just feel energized and renewed. I learned a lot from him. We got to be friends and we both went to a meditation event in New York called “I Meditate New York” with Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. This was a great experience for my meditation practice. Now I live in Atlanta, GA and my favorite teacher here is Neferetiti. She guides her students through postures and their variations professionally, giving postures with different difficulty levels, so that there is something for every student in her class. She changes her class constantly, adding new postures to expand her students practice. Neferititi and Scott are a great inspiration and example for my personal practice, teaching skills and techniques.

And this is why I want to become a yoga teacher – I want to be an inspiration for my students. I want to guide people through their perfect yoga practice adjusted to their skills and help them to move forward in their practice of Asanas and learning of mindfulness, clearing mind and thoughts through moments of stillness, called meditation. This is the part some yoga teachers skip, basing their yoga practice only on Asanas. I think that breathing and meditation are just as important as Asnanas, because yoga is not only about working out.  I am still a student in my way, but in your yoga path, you will always be a teacher and student at once.

For my yoga teacher training, I chose Shakti Spirit Yoga school in Bali. This school teaches Hatha yoga style, which means postural alignment and usage of props in your practice, followed by flow yoga. Their teaching style matches my understanding about yoga practice because not everyone can do all of the postures. This is why I support the usage of props in practice until the needed skills are reached. Shakti Spirit yoga school offers practice with Ayurveda and yoga philosophy as well, which would be a great expanding of my own practice and lifestyle.

Every passionate and professional yoga teacher is an addition to the world`s yoga community. I want to be a part of this world`s yoga family and help people to find their yogi in them and hopefully guide them to the changes they have been searching for, which would increase their quality of life.

Be grateful for every moment of your life.

Namaste

2012 Yoga Scholarship Essay

By: Inga Simane

If you liked this article and want them to win a free yoga teacher training, then make sure to vote for her by leaving a comment (scroll all the way to the bottom), and sharing this article on Facebook or Twitter. Each comment, Facebook, and Twitter share counts as one vote and you can do all three!

Are you interested in becoming a yoga teacher? Then visit our Yoga School Directory to find the right teacher training. Or, visit our Yoga Retreats page to explore beautiful yoga vacations from around the world.