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Teachers Training Course - Testimonials

We just started this page of testimonials from graduates of the Yoga Teachers Training Course offered by the Sivananda Yoga Organization in its different Ashrams. If you have taken TTC and would like to contribute to this page, send us a testimonial - from 2 lines to a few pages - to the Webmaster@sivananda.org

I'm really delighted and proud to have come through ...

Dear Lalitambika and all @ Grass Valley,

Thank you all once again for all your hard work to get people such as me through TTC.
I'm really delighted and proud to have come through, and now feel all the doubts and fears were unjustified. I am proud of myself and all of the group, and proud to have been part of the group.
To experience working together and supporting each other was a very valuable lesson which I shall endeavour to bring into life.

One of the many benefits of the course was cleansing my thoughts, I have left behind many worries and anxieties that have plagued me for years, and feel happy to face whatever life brings.
This is most noticeable in my working situation, I try to face each day as a new experience, and don't worry what will be asked of me - will I be able to cope? - the flow is much better.

My energy level has gone way up as a result and therefore have much more to give to others.

Anne Accolla (London, England) - TTC Grass Valley, California, May '99

It certainly was tough ...

Om Namah Shivayah Om Shanti Om Peace

TTC for me was a mixture of real highs and lows, with the highs definitely winning out in the end! It certainly was tough, but then not quite as tough as I expected (we could get e-mail, contact with the outside world, time off, even chocolate in the boutique!).

There is a lot of discipline, which is ,of course, part of the whole thing. You're not there for a holiday, but there is time to swim, sun-bathe and appreciate the beauty of the ashram setting.
The learning was an incredible experience, a real foundation for going out and getting some teaching practice. Apart from the asanas, the Bhagavad Gita and philosophy lectures give you a real taste of what yoga is about, and act as guides pointing towards sources of further information.
One of the aspects that made it such a good experience for me was the other people on the course. A large group (over 100) of all ages (from 17 to a 'certain age' - love to Virginia!), backgrounds and nationalities.

The opportunity to talk with such a diverse group on, mostly, subjects that are not normally covered in casual conversation, was wonderful.
No attitude, no pretences, just honesty, thought, and acceptance. Ashram life provides a real insight into a different way of living. All aspects may not be to everyone's taste (certainly not to mine), but there is so much that is positive, and worth taking back into our 'normal' lives.

Basically, what I think I am trying to say is that TTC was a really beautiful experience. I learnt a lot, about myself as well as about yoga. It has changed the way I look at the world and my life, for the better.
I even respect (and kind of miss...) the 'less good' times!
Om shanti shanti shanti Om peace peace peace.

Omkar (Daniel - Brighton, UK) - TTC Nassau, Bahamas '99

This One is in Spanish & Comes from Uruguay

Durante el TTC en el Ashram de Bahamas, aprendí a convivir, compartiendo con otros todas las actividades diarias. Aprendí a dar sin esperar nada a cambio. Aprendí a sentir a la gente de otro modo y a entender el mundo de otra forma. Terminar el curso no ha sido el fin de algo, sino el comienzo de una forma diferente de vida.

Ana Laura (Uruguay) - TTC Nassau, Bahamas '99

Now a Very Long One From Northern California

Om namah sivaya
Birdsong in the morning reminds me of the Teachers’ Training Course (TTC) in the Bahamas. There are countless and indescribable differences between ashram and “normal” living, but birds don’t change. I remember the birds in the Bahamas now, as I hear the birds at home in California. But at the ashram, they were everywhere, they flew in from everywhere, they made everyone pause to watch. Walking one of the dirt paths in the garden, I would be shaken from my thoughts by a bird spreading its tail and flying in front of me. One could simply watch a dove, forget one’s thoughts, and be human. But there were many things at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat that gave one the feeling of being simply human.
Before I came to the Bahamas, I knew nothing of ashrams, or ashram life. I stepped onto the dock at twilight, the palm trees shaking, the boats creaking and gurgling at the dock, and realized I did not know what I had gotten myself into. There was nothing familiar here.The quiet was at odds with all the sounds of my city, the airplanes I had travelled in, and all the noise of my thoughts. It made me more anxious, to realize how noisy I was, in comparison to my surroundings.
It was February, and I could not believe the warmth. It permeated everything, it seemed to breathe out from the trees, and rose from the grass and sand. Instinctively, I wished to know its source. It came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, a warm wet air that clung to the skin.. Later, I found that the dampness never really quite left, that in the morning, before dawn, my clothes would often be damp and sticky to the touch. They would dry as I stepped out of my tent and rushed off to the temple.
On that first night, in the quiet and the warmth, what foreigness. I was bewildered. The palm trees seemed to be more than palm trees. By the garden lights, I examined the flowers. I could not shrug my shoulders at anything, or take anything as a matter of course, because I had never seen any of this before. Ahead of me, in the temple, I glimpsed human beings sitting in their bare feet on the concrete floor, their arms wrapped about their knees, or their legs falling as they pleased, like many cats relaxing in the dim light. I could hear faintly a singing. I smelled incense in the breeze. In my disorientation, I already began to miss the things I had left. But there was a liveliness, very joyful, in the low roofs of the ashram amid all the palm trees rattling in the wind, in the incense that wafted out onto the bay, and in the chanting in the temple.
It dawned on me, as the course wore on, that TTC is partly a learning experience, like any sort of schooling, with books, and lectures. As a matter of course, a student learns to lead yoga classes, and learns how to create a good experience for their pupils. But there was much more happening. It was, more importantly, an entrance into the living of a pure life, a clean life, and it gave me an opportunity to look more deeply into life in general, because of it.
My first full day at the ashram, I was made acutely aware of the profundity of this life. A painting of the goddess Laksmi was to be mounted and honored on the side of one of the small white houses beside the bay. I stood with 30 or so worshippers, mostly women. Camphor was burned and waved in a circle before the deity. Mantras were thrown into the air, without resonance. All sounds were deadened, even the constantly ringing bell, in the hot air. I placed flowers before the painting of the laksmi, a deity I had read about vaguely in school, and wondered why the ritual was not elegant, clean. I prostrated and touched my head awkwardly to the rough concrete before her, after having clumsily tossed a couple of humble flowers at her feet. The whole practice lacked polish, and yet it had meaning despite its clumsiness. Paying no attention to itself, to its own clumsiness, the ritual did not try to be beautiful. In the lack of pretense and in full devotion, that which could be perceived as awkward ceremony was pure, and beautiful despite itself. It made the ordinary sidewalk beautiful.

Basically the day went like this:

In the beginning, the days seemed to go on forever. The realities of the course were a surprise to me, and to many of the students. I had not realized the intensity of the structure, the amount of discipline practiced, the austerities. I heard many people wondering, “Why did I come here?” and ‘A whole month of this? Was I mad?” It was a difficult life.
Two thousand miles from my home and everything familiar to me, there was little there to rely on but my own true identity. Away from my clothing, my work, my daily life, and the identity I take for granted, I had to ask, what was left of me? I put on a uniform that asked me to forget about all of my other attachments, my identity away from the ashram, and just exist.
The austerities were humbling, but they also simplified life. Handwashing clothing was a practicality, and living in a tent, or in a simple room was without luxury. We sat on the floor all day, without back support. There was no question as to what we were going to wear, or eat, or do. In this humility, naked of all pretenses of what I thought I was, or what I wanted myself to be, my imperfections and insecurities loomed before me all the more. In the rigorous spiritual practices of yoga, there is an attempt to look into oneself, to be naked in one’s own eyes. I could not escape from myself, and out of my personal wish for peace, I was made to try and accept everything.
I think a lot of us wondered what exactly we would get out of this. Sometimes, it was such a question of endurance, I stopped wondering and went through the day without thinking much of anything. Or I fell into bouts of loneliness, and anxiety. I did not exactly resign myself to the course, as much as submit to it.
In the end, I decided it would be too easy to put a label on what had happened for all the TTCers. We “grew” perhaps. Or we “changed” somehow. I think it was different for everyone. For me, I tasted freedom, and I tasted a little bit of happiness and peace. I saw it in the faces of others, as well. At mantra initiation, before the bay and sunrise, everyone sat, talking little, waiting for their turn. Everyone’s face shined. They were like worn stone, the faces, gentle and steady, hiding nothing. Sometimes I looked at their faces and felt as if I was looking at great and ancient art. There was such beauty.

At graduation, there was elation. I think the joy came partly because we had finally finished, but also because we found it in ourselves to be so happy, without restraints. All through the talent show, we laughed a deep and free laughter. We laughed at the hardships of the course, at the swamis, the sleeplessness, the stench of the sewer, the noise of Club Med. It was a good party but everyone was sober (imagine that). There was great warmth that night. Afterwards, I wrote, “I feel so much, as if I am imploding, i am blooming, more petals have fallen open. I feel blessed. I feel love.”

On the last evening at the ashram, I told Swami Atma, “I did not know the teachings were so deep. The change I feel is subtle, and indescribable. And I do not know how it came about. I just did whatever I was told to do.” To which Swami Atma nodded his head in agreement. Although I spent so much time there going through difficulties, I was sad to leave. Even now, I remember the ashram as one in which I felt peace.

Sundari (Cynthia) - TTC Nassau, Bahamas '99



Om Namo Narayanaya