By Katie D’Onofrio
The “Ask a Yoga Teacher” series highlights yoga teachers, studio owners, and other experts who share their insights and expertise. Today we spoke with Gina, a yogi who practiced for more than 15 years before she realized teaching yoga was her calling. Gina shares her advice for yogis who are thinking of starting their journey toward a 500-hour certification - a path she embarked on less than two months after her 200-hour training was over!
About Gina: Gina first started practicing yoga in 1999 after researching what would help her relieve anxiety and panic attacks. Little did she know the profound impact yoga would have on her life. Embarking on this healing journey is what ignited her love for yoga, why she became a yoga teacher, and now what guides her teaching. Yoga and meditation are part of her daily practice. She is thrilled to have the privilege of sharing yoga with others with an alignment-based, mindful flow style, infused with strengthening and functional movement with a bit of dialogue weaved in to ignite self-inquiry and perspective shifts.
Gina is also the Mind~Body Chisel Coach at What’s Your Mud?, her online home base where she guides and coaches women 45 and over to bust through self-created barriers so they can experience boundless growth and age with strength, grace, and wisdom using the tools and principles from the ancient sciences of yoga and Ayurveda. Now in her 50s and feeling stronger in mind and body than ever before, her passion is to help others be radiant beyond 50, shifting their perspective around aging so they too can experience the deep radiance that comes from a deeper understanding of what the second half of life is all about.
How long were you a 200-hour certified instructor before you decided to go for your 500-hour certification?
I was a 200-hour certified instructor for one-and-a-half months and then jumped right into the 300-hour teacher training for the 500-hour certification.
What was the primary reason you decided to continue your education?
I was a yoga practitioner for over 15 years before I got the whisper, or insight, to become a yoga teacher. I felt I was really ready to finally jump in at that time. My 200-hour training with YogaWorks was such a transformational experience that when I found out YogaWorks was going to have the 300-hour training at the same studio a month and a half later, I decided to dive right back in. I did so because I was so absorbed in the teachings that I wanted to continue right away since I was already immersed and used to the teacher training schedule, though it was nice to have a month and a half break. :)
Did you do any additional trainings between your 200- and 300-hour trainings?
I didn’t have much time between the two trainings, but I have done quite a lot of trainings afterward. I did take the Rewind & Rewind Gold Teacher Training for boomers and seniors between my 200- and 300-hour trainings. After the 300-hour training was over, I took Jillian Pransky’s 50-hour Restorative Yoga Teacher Training, a 300-hour online Yoga and Ayurveda Teacher Training, Yoga Tune Up Roll Model Method certification, and Yin Yoga Level 1 Foundations Training, along with a lot of workshops by my teachers and mentors through the years. And starting soon I’ll be taking part in a week-long Yoga Nidra teacher training. I love learning and choose to always remain a student.
Did you do both of your trainings at the same studio?
Yes I did. I took my 200- and 300-hour trainings with YogaWorks. At the time of my training, the trainers would come out from New York to a yoga studio in Hazlet, N.J.
What were the deciding factors that led you to choose the specific training that you did (schedule, location, relationship with the studio, etc.)?
It was one of those synchronicities that just happened and all came together. I remember it like yesterday. In July of 2014, I was sitting out front of my house on this black bistro table I have. The whisper landed in my brain, which seemed to come out of nowhere, that said, “Maybe you want to become a yoga teacher.” It was pretty wild. It felt like a voice that came from somewhere “out there.”
My husband came out and I told him about it, and he said, “Why don’t you Google yoga teacher trainings in the area and see what comes up?” So I did, and I saw that YogaWorks was having a 200-hour teacher training at a studio 12 minutes from my house starting in October. There was an informational meeting in August. I researched and read about YogaWorks and decided to sign up for the info meeting. At the end of that meeting, I signed up for the 200-hour teacher training.
Describe the format of your 300-hour training, including how long it took you to complete it.
It was a seven-month training with two weekends of training per month, which included Friday night and full days on Saturday and Sunday. You also had two mentor meetings per month with your assigned mentor, as well as the time spent assisting your mentor in her classes and doing the assigned homework from her. There was also homework assigned throughout the training, which included reading assignments. I also had to take a certain amount of yoga classes with a 500-hour certified yoga instructor throughout the training.
How did you change as a teacher after completing the 300-hour training?
I didn’t have much time between trainings to see how I changed as a teacher from the 200-hour to the 300-hour, but what I can say is I felt a ton more confidence and readiness to teach after the 300-hour training. The 300-hour training dove much deeper into all the categories we studied in the 200-hour, as well as specialized areas like prenatal, restorative, and teaching pranayama. It also included a mentorship, where I received experience giving hands-on adjustments to students in my mentor’s classes. So overall I have to say I felt a deep readiness to teach after the 300-hour and had more time to develop my voice as a teacher, which is an ever-evolving journey.
Do you think it’s important for teachers to complete the 500 hours of training?
This is a tough question because I feel everyone’s journey is different, and it depends on the training you choose to take, as well as what you want to do in your yoga career. I also don’t feel that just because someone took a 300-hour additional training that they will be a better teacher than someone who chose to take just the 200-hour training. It truly depends on the person.
Let’s say you want to dive deeper into a certain aspect of yoga and maybe specialize in a certain area. For some trainings you may only need the 200-hour training to continue toward that specialization. Other trainings may want you to have a 500-hour certification. Also, if you want to teach a part of a yoga teacher training at a studio, one studio owner may want you to have a 500-hour certification and another may not require it. And if you want to own a studio and offer teacher trainings, and you want to be a Yoga Alliance accredited school, you will need to look up the new protocols at Yoga Alliance because they recently changed their policies.
(For more information on the Yoga Alliance’s new Lead Trainers qualifications, which go into effect in February 2022, click here.)
On another note, some 200-hour yoga teachers continue their education and trainings while never receiving their 300-hour additional training and they become excellent teachers. It really depends on what each individual wants and where they want to go in their yoga teaching training adventure.
What were some of the main differences between your 200- and 300-hour trainings?
The main difference was the depth and scope of each category. Categories such as inversions, backbending, forward folds, and twists - we dove much deeper into those. There were multiple sessions for pranayama and yoga philosophy, where we went deeper into the yoga sutras and studied the Bhagavad Gita. We also went deeper into the subtle body aspect of yoga and meditation, and there were many more “practice teaching” sessions. We also went much deeper into hands-on adjustments, anatomy, and injury management.
Another big difference was the mentor sessions. I was assigned a mentor and would have to attend a certain number of her classes as her assistant to help give hands-on adjustments and other support to the students in her classes. I also had homework from her to turn in, including doing my own yoga practice at home, writing down the sequence I did, journaling about it, and sharing insights and challenges with her.
I also had to do a final project from start to finish as if I was going to unleash it into the world that, at the end of the training, would be presented to the group. I created an entire workshop with the itinerary, brochures, and handouts.
What advice would you give to a 200-hour training who is thinking of completing a 300-hour training?
I would tell them to get really clear on what it is they want to do in their yoga teaching career, then research what is offered training-wise for the direction they want to head in. Some questions they may want to ask themselves are, Am I making this my career or am I going to teach part-time, and will this matter? Will I be working at a studio or creating an online business, or both? Are there other areas I want to bring into my teaching that I am passionate about, like aromatherapy, reiki, crystals, coaching, etc., and are there certifications for that I would like to explore and specialize in? Do I want to be a part of a yoga teacher training? Do I want to own a studio? What matters most to me about being a yoga teacher? How can I bring more of that into my teaching?
Lastly, I would say life’s short so do more of what you love and what matters most to you. And that may also help you with the decision of what training would be best for you.
Connect with Gina on the web at WhatsYourMud.com, on Facebook (WhatsYourMud), and on Instagram @Gina_Rafkind
Katie is a Jersey-based yoga instructor and writer. She believes that yoga is for everybody and every body and loves to bring a sense of lightness, play, and self-discovery to her classes. When she’s not on the mat, she probably has her nose in a book. Follow her on Instagram at @KatieDonof