Yoga Isn’t What I Thought
Lessons from My Teacher Training in India
Before my yoga teacher training in India, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what yoga was. I’d practiced in studios. I’d done flows on YouTube. I’d been to retreats. But nothing prepared me for how much would shift — inside and out — after spending a month immersed in yoga’s roots in Rishikesh.
India stripped away the layers of misconception I had unknowingly absorbed. It gently — and sometimes not so gently — showed me what yoga really is.
Here’s what I unlearned — and what I now understand.
1. Yoga isn’t a workout — or about how you look.
Yoga is not about burning calories or perfecting a body shape. It’s about how you live.
In India, I learned that yoga is a philosophy — a lifelong journey of self-awareness, union, and truth. It's about cultivating compassion, presence, and honesty in how we move, breathe, speak, and relate to the world.
It’s not about how deep your backbend is. It’s about how open your heart is.
2. You don’t need fancy clothes or a mat.
One of the most powerful things I saw during my training was people practicing yoga in saris and everyday clothes — no leggings, no Lululemon. Sometimes they used blankets instead of mats. Sometimes they practiced directly on the ground. Yoga doesn’t require gear. It requires presence.
3. The ‘perfect’ pose doesn’t exist.
There’s no universal shape to “achieve.” There’s only your shape, today.
Yoga is a meeting point — between breath and body, between effort and ease, between you and the moment. What matters isn’t nailing a pose, but feeling it with awareness and kindness.
4. It doesn’t matter how the pose looks.
I used to check myself in the mirror constantly. Now, I’ve learned to check in with how I feel. Alignment is useful, but yoga is not performance. The experience of the pose is more important than its appearance. Each shape is an invitation inward.
5. Yoga is not just asana.
Asana — the physical practice — is just one of the eight limbs of yoga.
There’s also breathwork (pranayama), ethical principles (yamas and niyamas), concentration, meditation, and more. Yoga is a full spiritual framework for how to live with clarity, intention, and peace.
If you only focus on the poses, you’re missing most of the picture.
6. Pranayama is powerful.
One of the most transformative parts of the training was breathwork.
Every day, we practiced pranayama — conscious breathing — and I began to see breath as the bridge between my body and mind. It grounded me, softened me, energized me. Breath became a teacher of its own.
A Lifelong Journey
India helped me unlearn what I thought yoga was…
And invited me into what it’s always been.
A way of life.
A path to presence.
A homecoming to the self.
Yoga, as I now understand it, is a lifelong journey of self-discovery and growth. It's about cultivating awareness, compassion, and balance in every aspect of life.
