By Emily McLaughlin

I will soon be a 200-hour Registered Yoga Instructor! … by soon, I actually mean May. In any event, I am still BEYOND excited about this.

I’ve been really into yoga since going to college, but didn’t start seriously considering a training program until after graduation. First, I started asking around–asking the people I’ve work with at the gym, asking other bloggers, asking anyone, really. Then, I started looking for studios in my area that hosted teacher training to try them out. Finally, I found somewhere that felt like home and a practice that worked for me.

Inner Strength Studio is a half-mile from my apartment (how convenient!) and their “Four Pillars of Freedom” training is one of the less-expensive ones in or around Boston. The teacher training spans from February to May, making up 8 weekends total. The training fits in perfectly with my (real world) work schedule and has some off-weekends so I can do a little vacationing here and there.

Even at this point, after finding a studio I love with instructors that seem down-to-earth and knowledgeable, I was still hesitant in putting down a deposit. Ultimately, a few different circumstances/occurrences led to my decision:

1. I didn’t apply to grad school.

In fact, I haven’t even taken my GREs as of yet. At one point I realized it’s not going to all miraculously come together for the upcoming fall semester, so I am going to put it off. To pass the time, why not do something productive and make some extra money? The GREs can wait until the summer and grad school can wait another year.

2. Support helps, a lot.

There were a few different people in my life that said what I really needed to hear when I was thinking about putting down a deposit for this RYT training. At first my roommates seemed iffy about it because it will be time-consuming and take away a lot of my weekends. One night, after having a brief discussion about it with Kathleen and Hannah, I felt as though I had made no progress in deciding if this was right for me. Hannah was about to walk out the door to go somewhere, then came back into my room and said, “If it’s something you really want to do, you should do it.” She told me not to let the lost time thing get in my way because she knew it was something I wanted… something I wanted real bad.

When I told my dad about the training, his main concern was the price tag (which, was also one of my bigger concerns). After our first conversation about it, I was a little discouraged, wondering if I could pay for it… wondering if this was a good financial decision. The next time we spoke, my dad told me that he had been thinking about it more and said he would do whatever he could to help. This is an investment, a second career, something to fall back on if needed — and he knew how badly I wanted it. I really needed to hear that.

The notion of time lost came up again when I discussed this with Ryo. There were already a few things we had planned on doing weekends this winter and this was definitely going to get in the way. I went back in forth, thinking about how I hate missing out on things when he told me, “You will regret it if you don’t do it.” He told me that he supported me and that we’d work things out as they came up… this meant a whole lot.

3. It felt right.

Practicing has become a crucial part of my life again. While at school, I was instructing 3+ mind/body classes per week, but never really understood how much my mind and my body needed those classes. Now that I am practicing regularly again… It just feels right. By body feels good and I am calmer than usual. Yoga has also improved my running and made me feel a lot stronger.

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Of course, in the end… I knew that this was meant to be. Hesitating about money and lost time was a little silly. Sacrificing 200 hours now, will offer so many opportunities in the future — so, it’s not so much a sacrifice, but a gift. I might have been over-thinking it all, but now I am more certain than ever.

Thank you to all of my supportive friends and family. <3 Can’t wait to start this new journey — and enlighten you along the way!