Emma Solar – Student Story
How and why did you get into Yoga?
I started doing yoga as a complement to the other exercise I was doing. Over the years, it has become a key activity of mine, for both the mental and physical benefits it brings. I find that when I need energy, I often leave yoga class feeling more energized, and when I feel anxious and distracted, I often get more grounded and calm through the practice. These whole body and mind benefits are what keep me coming back to my mat, even as I have travelled extensively over the past two years and have had to be disciplined to keep up a regular home practice since I rarely had access to a studio to take classes.
What are you learning in YTT 200 program right now?
The YTT 200-hr program is really well-balanced. We’re getting the foundations of teaching methodology, anatomy, and philosophy, in addition to some introductions to more specialized topics such as pre-natal yoga and the business of yoga. And, of course, we are doing lots of yoga practice each day! It’s amazing to see how much progress each of us has made over the past few weeks in our physical and teaching abilities.
What do you want to do when you graduate?
In the long term, I plan to go to medical school to become a family and emergency physician. I do still intend to teach yoga on a part-time basis in the mean time and also while I am a medical student. I think it is important as a doctor to practice what you prescribe – if I am telling my patients to look after their bodies, then I should be doing the same for myself! Ultimately, I want to give others as many tools as possible to improve their quality of life, as I feel yoga has done and continues to do for me.
What is the YTT 200 hour program like?
It’s quite intense! But a good kind of intense; our bodies are sore and sometimes it feels like we can’t possibly fit any more new information into our heads! Of course, we always manage to. We also have great instructors who each bring a little something different to our experience, and our group of students is really supportive of one another. It’s been really wonderful to go through this experience with them.
