Why travel for your Yoga Teacher Training? Why take two weeks off from work? Why be away from family and friends? Why go through the hassle of organizing everything in order to go on a yoga “retreat?” Why bother with the extra expense? Why put such long hours into studying yoga (16 hours per day)? 

Or, perhaps, why wouldn’t you? 

For starters, a 200-hour YTT is not a retreat. We are up at 5 a.m. and retire between 9 or 10 p.m. This is not a vacation — it is work. It is the most important work in the world: self-work. We, as a registered school with the International Yoga Alliance, are required to complete 185 contact hours with you at each 200-hour training. 

Our trainings are immensely focused on personal development, cognitive repatterning and emotional healing. The immersion format is the best fit for this kind of training; we aren’t just hanging around in triangle pose and headstands all day long memorizing bones and muscles. We are getting down and dirty into the real work that makes inspirational yoga teachers and genuine human beings who are not afraid to shine their true authentic light to the world. 

With the immersion style paired with continued support, the new and healthy patterns students create are sustainable. Once sustainable change takes place, new patterns of authenticity are born, and once those take root, the result are yoga teachers who not only talk the talk, but wals the walk. You can hear it when they speak and see it when they hold silence. They have the capability to light the fires in others. 

Here’s some input from Multi Style Yoga International Student Joanne Highland, of Los Angeles, California: 

“When I knew I was ready to do a yoga teacher training, I carefully considered a few programs and settled on Multi Style Yoga in Costa Rica. It was really important to me that I chose a YTT that was about more than just refining yoga postures and cues — I was looking to truly deepen my own practice, which of course requires more work than just a physical yoga practice. MSYI offers a well-rounded, supportive, holistic curriculum that focuses especially on effective teaching methods. Traveling to Costa Rica for my YTT was also a big part of my decision — having visiting before, I knew that the laid-back vibe around Playa Negra would allow me the mental and emotional space to really digest and internalize all that I would learn in the training. Personally, I strongly advocate for an immersive YTT experience. In a personal yoga practice (as with anything we do regularly), it’s natural to develop undesirable habits or get stuck in our own patterns over time; actually, it can happen on and off the yoga mat, in any area of life! I knew that in order to break through my own patterns, it would be highly beneficial for me to be removed from my usual setting and schedule. Being in a new place (especially one with a slower pace of life and surrounded by nature) also brought a heightened awareness and sense of presence I definitely would have missed out on if I’d been exposed to the distractions that come with habitual day-to-day life. I was able to dive deeper into the course curriculum and therefore got a lot more out of the experience.” 

I have attended numerous trainings personally, both extended over time and immersions. I can say that in my immersions I have made some of the best friends of my life. We have time to really go deep, we go fast, as time is limited, but we create deep connection. 

Immersion students have often shared with me how the training inspired them. I can relate, as I felt this way after my immersions. In all of our trainings, we create a post-training support network, which works great at keeping the group aligned and supports each individual in continuously raising the bar within their teaching, with in their relationships and within their future goals and aspirations. This part warms my heart, I love this so much — it is a tangible sense of global community in action. 

I will be clear that this experience is not about escaping to a quiet peaceful space in the middle of the jungle. Quiet and peaceful usually isn’t our reality; life is full of noise, tough conversations, breaking relationships, changing jobs, death, stress, etc. In an immersion training you are trained every single day to anchor down in the midst of the chaos, whether it is a troop of howler monkeys swinging by, the oceans waves crashing on the shore, the flock of parrots cooing by, or the local cowboys riding through town. The experience is the immersion. 

In an immersion training you are trained every single day to anchor down in the midst of the chaos, whether it is a troop of howler monkeys swinging by, the oceans waves crashing on the shore, the flock of parrots cooing by, or the local cowboys riding through town. The experience is the immersion.

The immersion allows the space and time to deliver what each and every individual needs to grow their practice — from physical to emotional to spiritual. It’s truly a special experience to travel to a quaint surf village with immense healing energy and immerse into your soul with like-minded beings on a similar journey. 

hali-love.com

HALI LOVE lives alignment; she believes that relationships are not about creating happiness always, but creating growth, strength and perseverance through the challenging times of life. In Love’s words: “We all experience the ups and downs, the important thing is how accountable we are for our actions.” Love’s core values are honesty, empowerment and loyalty. As a Subconscious Restructuring Counselor and ERYT, this Yoga-prenuer is committed to supporting others to not only heal their body, mind, spirit and heart, but also is committed to supporting them in living the life they dream of, and being the most powerful version of themselves. hali-love.com