Challenging but worth it!
Overall this program helped me deepen my yoga practice and connected me to a beautiful land (Mal Pais, Costa Rica) with tons of animals everywhere and incredible women from all around the world. However, leaving the program I don't feel fully prepared to teach. There was too much focus on philosophy and chanting for my liking and not enough compromise or compassion for those who struggle to adhere to a vegan diet. This program is great for learning proper alignment, touch/massage, and unlocking new postures. It was not great at building confidence to create and teach your own sequences and build a yoga business that will translate into western society. The evening programs were fun and the environment itself was comfortable but rugged (right in the jungle). It was difficult to process everything day by day because a lot was jam-packed into 3 weeks however I am glad I did it in that short period of time. Challenging but worth it!
Reply from School Yoga Institute
Hi Emily,
Thank you for your valuable feedback. We're grateful to hear how connected you felt to our home Costa Rica.
As a School, it is important to us that we honour the roots of this ancient lineage in the sharing of philosophical theory and practices such as chanting Sanskrit. For us these practices hold the truth of modern yoga beyond a practice of asana on the mat.
We incorporate a traditional Yoga vegetarian diet as part of our 200hr training to encourage a practice of ahimsa. As such all of our meals are vegetarian with vegan options, as stated on our website and in our correspondence to students ahead of the training. We work hard with the site chefs to ensure all meals are balanced and nutritionally dense. We do not enforce veganism on any of our trainings. Furthermore, we make every effort to support those who struggle with this adaptation to their everyday diet. I am sorry to hear our efforts to provide varied options were not felt by you.
As a foundational training, this 200hr is designed to equip students with the necessary tools to teach Yoga. Within our ongoing alumni support groups and mentorship programs we offer the tools to develop upon this foundation to build each students unique brand. We also believe that teaching any subject takes years of practice, continuing education and refinement!
We appreciate your feedback very much and all that you brought to our Costa Rica Training :).
April & The SYI Team