How studying yoga helped me through 2020
When Bec Abbott enrolled in the IYTA Diploma of Yoga Teaching at the start of the year, she had no idea how much of a lifeline it would be.
The ground-breaking course has a panel of 22 expert lecturers delivering information and practical sessions on asanas, philosophy, meditation, anatomy and so much more. Over 3000 teachers have graduated from the course, which is arguably the longest-running yoga teacher training course in Australia.
While dozens of yoga teaching courses have been postponed or even cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, the IYTA team worked hard to ensure the diploma course continued, providing students with online and face-to-face lectures whenever required.
Bec Abbott, aged 45, is one of the current intakes of students and is delighted the course was able to continue. “I feel so well supported. The IYTA is doing everything within its means not only to help us pass, but to ensure our experience of the course is just as enriching despite the restrictions and making sure we all continue to genuinely enjoy it,” she shares.
The course has been delivered by a mix of online, live Zoom classes and face-to-face lectures, with live streaming for students in remote areas or who are not able to attend the study weekends.
Bec, who lives in Hornsby, says that even when she has attended online, she has still found a deep sense of community and support from students and lecturers alike.
The mum of three, who also works as a part-time journalist, has found that the practices she has learnt this year have helped her personally. “My meditation and breathing practices have become a lifeline. They have sustained me and helped me focus on feeling positive and calm. I feel much more peaceful than I think I would have felt if I hadn’t been doing the course this year,” Bec reveals.
Not only has the course supported her personally, but she feels that at the end of this year she will have a valuable qualification as an internationally recognised yoga teacher.
“It’s been a real rollercoaster ride this year and we’ve had lots of niggling sicknesses,” says Bec. “My family has had a total of six COVID-19 tests so far this year. They’ve all been negative, but it’s been challenging. We’ve dealt with home-schooling our three girls (aged 11, 12 and 15) while both my husband and I have worked from home.
“Another thing I’ve learnt from the course is how to respond and react to challenging situations. I have been able to give single focus to each problem as it crops up rather than feeling overwhelmed. And with that single focus I have been able to give undivided attention to my children as they have gone through these issues.
“I am just so glad that I decided to take the time to do a course that would be so comprehensive. This was really important to me as I want to provide safe and effective teaching for people at all ages and stages of life. My husband works as a chiropractor specialising in rehabilitation, so I’m very aware of how beneficial strengthening and stretching can be, but also how important it is to do it in a safe, controlled manner.”
Bec adds that if you want to become a yoga instructor who can simply demonstrate a few asanas, then you could find a short teacher training course elsewhere. However, if you want to be a yoga teacher who can safely guide your students through all the physical and emotional — and potentially even spiritual — benefits that yoga can provide, then the IYTA course is definitely the one for you.
“It will not only enable you to greatly enrich the lives of your students, but it will also greatly enrich your own,” adds Bec.
The IYTA’s Diploma of Yoga course is 460 hours which includes 10 study weekends + six-day residential. The International Yoga Teachers Association is non-profit and does not have a guru or owner. It embraces many traditions, acknowledging that “many paths lead us up the mountain”. This inclusive approach creates a solid and stable foundation for student teachers to develop their own style of expression and teaching of yoga.
The IYTA also offers a 70-hour Foundation of Yoga course (an introduction to the full course). If you decide to do this and then wish to enrol in the full diploma course, the course fee and all your completed assignments are counted towards the full course.
Graduates of this course are respected and acknowledged as some of the best yoga teachers around the world.
Email teachertraining@iyta.com.au to find out more and book into a free Open Day.
T: 1800 449 195
E: teachertraining@iyta.com.au
W: iyta.com.au
