Yoga Teacher Training (YTT)

One of my favorite quotes is from Marianne Williamson and part of it says: "Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us"; and she concludes by saying: "And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others." - I was not presented to the true meaning of each of these words until I decided to take the Yoga Teacher Training.

I was first introduced to Yoga while living in São Paulo where I was lucky enough to rent an apartment at the same building as one of my friends that I have most admired throughout my career. She certainly is for me what we call a role model. I have always looked after her and her professionalism at castings or at work, then as we got closer, she also became an inspiration when searching for more balanced life styles. Yoga was one of them.

It wasn't until years later, after 10 years or so of a yoga practice, that I felt connected to the idea of taking it deeper. I came to realize that when I was presented to a YTT opportunity in the right time and in the right space. At first, the decision to take this training didn't mean to become a yoga teacher, but to dive deeper in the old teachings of Yoga, which actually meant to dive deeper within myself. It gave me the tools to practice awareness of the connection of mind, body and soul, and how it is all in constant exchange to the whole and to those around me.

Back to the words of Marianne Williamson, during this YTT I realized I was living by that fear of my own light and it was not serving me anymore. I had to face it when I was offered to teach weekly classes... a loud voice inside myself tried to say things like I was not capable to teach and how could I be inspiring to others the same way my teachers and my role models were to me?

On this journey I learned to trust my friends, the community around me and to also allow myself to receive great amount of support. They surely saw something on me that I wasn't capable because of fear. It was trust and the humility to accept the challenge that allowed me to get in front of those students every week. The ego (cheating) mind wanted to win the battle, but the awareness of that gave me strength. I gave my all. Let go of the expectations. And trusted the process!

“Nothing to fear except fear itself. With determination, humility, gratitude, gratefulness and by listening to the ‘Angels’ anything and everything can be accomplished. Deep breath, carry on and move forward! Even some failure is a pillar for success. So sincerity is the key. And you will succeed either way.”

— Arjuna Das