fbpx
Category

Teacher Training

Jul 08
0

Where Do Funky Buddha Yoga Teachers Come From?

By Teacher Training, Uncategorized

 

With the recent announcement of our new Studio Park (Downtown Grand Rapids) Funky Buddha location, we have gotten a lot of inquiries about how our Funky Buddha teachers are hired/trained.

[nectar_dropcap color=”#ff4629″]W [/nectar_dropcap]

here Do Funky Buddha Yoga Teachers Come From?

 

What an excellent question! Where do the amazing Funky Buddha Yoga Teachers come from?!?!? A magical garden of yoga-awesome? Well….kinda…..if by magical garden you mean a magical training program of passion, dedication, commitment, and amazing work ethic!

Where Funky Buddha Yoga Teachers Come From (the quick answer):

The Funky Buddha teachers are an elite group of highly-trained ultra-committed yoga teaching ROCKSTARS. They are trained via the Funky Buddha’s one-of-a-kind Teacher Mentorship Program that is unlike any other training program in the yoga industry.

 

What IS the Funky Buddha Teacher Mentorship Program?

The Funky Buddha Mentorship Program is a rigorous training program that prepares candidates to work in specifically in the world of Funky Buddha Yoga.

The Funky Buddha Mentees are selected through a vigorous interview and application process and are selected based on a wide variety of factors including, but not limited to: coachability, cultural fit, communication skills, & current staff dynamics.

Those selected to participate in the FB Mentorship Program will train in a small cohort (2-6 people) for 9-12 months in anticipation of a future career as a Funky Buddha Yoga Teacher.

More FB Mentorship Details (for those of you that are interested):

Program Prerequisites:

Completion of the Funky Buddha 200-Hour Teacher Training. This training is fully compliant with Yoga Alliance’s (the national governing body of professional yoga) standards for 200-Hour RYT certification. Completion of another quality Yoga Alliance Certified 200-Hour Program. More details about our next 200-Hour Teacher Training in August can be found HERE.

FB Mentorship Time Commitment:

The beauty of the FB Mentorship Program is that it is customized to each participant. While every individual Mentee and Mentorship class is different, generally mentees will train for 9-12 months before being offered a staff position at the Funky Buddha.

We like to compare the FB Mentorship to going to grad school – in terms of weekly time commitment. Each week, mentees will be required to complete 6-10 hours of structured in-studio training (contact hours). Additionally, participants should expect to commit another 8-12 hours of additional “brain space” (this includes things like home practice, reading, studying, practicing, various other homework).

Employment at the Funky Buddha:

While an employment offer is not guaranteed, FB Mentorship participants are selected with the express purpose of eventual employment at the Funky Buddha. We are proud to report an EXTREMELY high rate of hire from our Mentorship Program.

Why Mentorship? Why is a 200-Hour Certification Not Enough?

The Funky Buddha Mentorship Program is a program unique to the Funky Buddha. It is time intensive and requires incredible investment and commitment from both sides of the relationship (the trainers and the mentees). So why?!?!?

A quality 200-Hour Training Program is a wonderful and necessary first step on yogi’s journey to becoming a teacher. However, it is our belief that 200-Hours simply is not enough time to become proficient and comfortable in a new professional field – any field, including yoga.

The Funky Buddha Mentorship is designed to build upon the foundation of a quality 200-Hour program. Through strategic and guided practice, the FB Mentorship program will provide the skills necessary to becoming a confident, effective, agile, and skilled yoga teacher. Additionally, it focuses on the cultural and systematic structures that are specific to working in a Funky Buddha Studio.

Ever wonder why our Funky Buddha teachers are so consistently AH-MAZING?! Well, they ALL are working through or have been through the Funky Buddha Mentorship program…….AND the training doesn’t stop there. Our staff teachers are all engaged in continuous training and education. Each teacher is working on a customized curriculum of continuing education. At the Funky Buddha we live, eat, breathe, and sleep our mission: Growth Through Practice.

So, whether you are one of our amazing students that was just curious about what happens behind the scenes with our amazing teaching staff, or if you have been casually or seriously been considering a future that includes teaching yoga – we hope that this post has been helpful in providing information and context.

Think you have it what it takes to become a Funky Buddha Yoga Teacher?

If you have any additional questions about either our Funky Buddha 200-Hour Teacher Training or the Funky Buddha Mentorship Program, feel free to reach out to Michele, our Director of Operations (michele@yogahothouse.com). She would love to get you more info.

Yoga on friends! See you on your mat.

Related Articles:
Aug 01
0

4 Ways Yoga Teacher Training Changed My Life

By Student Stories, Teacher Training

Meet Chelsea, she’s our smiley Studio Operations Coordinator who recently graduated from our 200 hour yoga teacher training program. Read all about her life-changing experience!

Let’s get vulnerable!

So, it’s a scary thing finally committing to something you’ve been wanting to do for years, and for me, I kept coming up with reasons I shouldn’t commit to teacher training. Yet again.

What if I want to have a long weekend off?

What if I’m not as good as the other trainees?

My back is hurt, maybe I should wait until I’m fully healthy?

What if I end up hating it?

The list went on and on but thank God for a good support system of friends and family telling me to listen to my gut and take the leap. I can confidently say that my life will never be the same, in all the best ways.

Here are four ways yoga teacher training changed my life (and my yoga practice):

1. I’m best friends with my body now

Let me explain; we, meaning me and my Body, still have the occasional fight, but I listen now, I care, and I want my body to be happy. After a long day I check in with her, see how she’s feeling, and give her a pat on the back for getting through a hard day. I’ve always appreciated what my body and mind can do, but teacher training allowed me to check in with myself regularly, and to create a habit of understanding that in every moment I have the power to create changes to help me feel better and move better. I’m not saying I don’t still have insecurities, but now I have the tools to adjust my mindset toward appreciation and curiosity. We all have good days and bad days, motivated moments and sluggish efforts. and Putting in the work to change our mindset can be hard, but when we are honest about that process, it leaves room for us to connect with others. So, give yourself a high five, get on that mat, and put in the work!

2. My personal practice has never been more fun

I cannot even begin to explain how much I learned in Teacher Training, about poses, anatomy, and functional movement. Almost every single session I left with pages full of notes, and tired muscles from trying new things and feeling how certain poses felt in my body. Throughout the week I would practice and play with what I had learned (shout out to anyone who actually heard me say “Wow! You really can feel it differently this way” during a class), and then come back to training ready for more. My personal practice now has more intention and is just plain fun. I listen to my body. I work extra hard on some days, give myself grace to take it easy on other days, and I use studio props in all kinds of unique ways now. It’s funny how you can do something for so long, and never realize there’s a different way to try it. And it doesn’t have to be making a pose harder, sometimes making the pose simpler is what we need most.

3. I meditate now, regularly.

You read that right, I am now a daily meditator. Now don’t get ahead of yourself and assume I have a cute corner of my house all setup with incense, bright green succulents and a comfy cushion (I’m working on it), but I take moments throughout my day to stop, breath, and listen. I had some major misconceptions about meditation, it always felt like it was such a big thing to tackle, and it didn’t feel accessible to me. Teacher training laid out before me the fact that there are options too numerous to go over in this short post, but it can be as simple as meditating while you use the toilet (maybe use Insight timer instead of checking your Instagram). One of my favorite forms of meditation we talked through was called Loving-Kindess meditation, and if you’ve never heard of it, teacher training is worth it just for this piece!

4. I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned

Even writing this blog post made me excited! Since taking teacher training, I am thrilled with any opportunity I get to share what I learned. I took teacher training with the goal to eventually teach, but even if you take it to simply deepen your own practice, it’s impossible not to impact at least 1 person with your change in mindset or reinvigorated practice. And in the end, that’s what it’s all about, practice, practice, practice. That’s how we experience growth. 

Thank you to my fellow teacher trainees for being open and honest, to Larissa Link for putting in so much time and sharing her passion, to The Funky Buddha for offering such a wonderful environment to grow, and to me for showing up and putting in the work. 

—Chelsea 

Feeling inspired? Check out our Teacher Training Info Page