Being a mental health practitioner, no doubts I would love a model or theory which summarizes my
experiences in a concrete stages. So here I have, the Six Stages of my YTT experience, as I have
personally gone through them myself.
The first stage of my YTT experience can be easily termed as “Uncertainty and Apprehension”, most
visibly felt during the first two to three weeks from starting the YTT. This stage, is characterized by not
knowing what is going on (literally), struggling to grasp everyone’s names (is it only me?), getting past
the awkward stage and at the same time, trying to learn the expectations of the course. Not to
mention, getting the body used to the 6.30am call time on weekends. I mean, I am an early riser but I
got to admit, I struggle with this too.
Seems like there are only negatives in these first few weeks? Arguably so, but along with that came a
sense of accomplishment of surviving the first few weeks and not dying (literally), the realization that
the body and mind can do so much more and also, meeting people whom you know you can count on
for support throughout this journey. During this period of time, mind shifts happens as well, poses
that you thought you have been doing for the longest time seemed to have a different interpretation
and sensation to them and best thing is, you might be doing them wrongly for your whole life (okay,
maybe not whole life but part of my life). They say that habits takes time to cultivate but I think the
first few weeks accelerated that and through the weekday homework, discipline is being instill as well.
Isn’t this then part of the spirit of Yoga?
In the next stage, let’s see how this Uncertainty and Apprehension evolved!
Shi Qi
200HR YTT Jul’21 Weekend