Testimonials

Astanga Yoga. I took regular weekly classes mostly in SF at studios there and at my gym. Relied on class for practice vs cultivating self practice. Due to the lack of good classes where I live, I have had to develop a self practice, which at times is isolating.

Have been exposed to yoga all my life as my father has had an unwavering daily practice for over 35 years.

Having lived and studied yoga in California, I was looking for training that was very specific to my studies and background so far. On researching the background behind VFY and its teachers, it seemed that VFY's approach and philosophy was offering exactly what I was looking for.

So my main expectation of the training was that it would be delivered in a similar manner to American styled courses in terms of the level of professionalism, organization, preparedness, depth of knowledge on the part of the teachers, precision of physicality in their demonstration showing they had already embodied the work, quality of teaching/communication and overall ability to motivate and inspire students, which is always a given if the teacher has a genuine love of their subject, which VFY teachers do. My expectations of the course were high.

I typically have high expectations as a person and as a dancer, with limited time and resources, I wanted to make sure I chose a course that had a high likelihood of delivering or exceeding my expectations. VFY not only did that but the knowledge and learnings went far deeper than the physical practice of yoga and have had a deep impact on how I now approach life.

Incredibly positive. Like most things in life, you go in with your set of expectations of what you want to learn or what you 'think' you need to learn and then you come out the other end learning exactly what you needed to, but not what you thought you did.if that makes any sense?

Initially I knew I needed my 'bit of paper' in order to practice as a teacher so that was my initial motivation to doing a teacher training course but I came away with so much more. As a dancer, I wanted to choose a course that really focused on the style of yoga that I have connected with and that would push me to continue to improve myself. So the course for me literally was a living practice as how to fully engage in yoga, use it in my daily life beyond the mat, deal with my resistances and understand the 'why' behind things.

One of the huge assets or benefits I found of VFY's teaching was how to apply yogic philosophy both on the mat and off. Another reason I wanted to do the course was to study more about yoga philosophy and rather than lengthy lectures on the subject, VFY took these teachings and incorporated them physically into the practice making the learning far stronger that just 'reading' about it. I feel the philosophy has a much higher chance of sticking now.

I could go on about the experience, but in brief:

• excellently delivered teaching on the physical practice of yoga and its inherent philosophy

• well taught technique that has me very confident that I am teaching yoga safely and am comfortable knowing how to modify exercises to suit any student that shows up to my class

• a much stronger understanding of how the philosophy relates to the physical practice and how they are not separate studies but one.

• a very personal journey that has given me strong tools to deal with anything life throws at me, a sense of being able to maintain calm through madness, a 'real' way of looking at things.

• A way of understanding yourself. This was the first time I had practiced yoga being guided to look at how I practice and how I see my personality traits and flaws coming into the practice. Was very enlightening and I learned a lot about myself.

1. Excellent organization and preparedness. I think this really set the course up to succeed, thoroughly planned out workshops in succession, great hand outs, useful homework. Great attention to detail and good time keeping. I have little time for chaos and poor planning and winging it so really appreciated the structure to it all which set us up to succeed.
   


2. 2. The circles at the beginning and end of the weekends which really allowed us all to connect as people. This built intense trust and wonderful relationships within the group which really allowed us practice in a supportive environment. The weekends became a real retreat and haven, an escape from the outside world - but in a way they were the 'real' world as we all felt intensely present, alive and aware during the weekends.
   


3. 3. The quality and precision of teaching, again attention to detail, the corrections, the sound explanations of why we were doing things the way we were. There was no doubt that the teachers were well experienced and knew exactly what they were teaching. I appreciated the breaking down of postures to give us that fundamental understanding of things so we could build them back up again. Having studied movement and the body a lot through dance with many teachers, I feel very comfortable I have received correct teaching and can apply this to both my yoga and dancing.

Absolutely. The course was a wonderful experience/ journey, physically, mentally and emotionally, delivered in a very safe structured and thoughtful way. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about not only yoga, but them selves. The course really showed me how to make yoga my own and allowed me connect on a personal level to the practice. Although it is wonderful to continue to take classes and workshops with others, it really helped show me how to build and sustain a personal practice on my own.