How to Choose a Yoga Teacher Training with Paul Teodo and Byron de Marsé

0:00 Welcome to the going pro yoga podcast. Namaste. My name is Paul chiodo joined here with Michael Henry. Most yoga teacher, trainings are becoming watered-down and mediocre. So we've created this podcast to help supplement those of you who graduated from a teacher training and don't feel confident going out into the real world.

0:24 Michael, and I are lucky to have been trained by some amazing people. We've gone out into the world ourselves and had success and we want you to feel confident to Your students and to build your career with integrity and authenticity, Welcome to our podcast.

0:41 Welcome back to the going pro yoga podcast, super excited for this episode because we get to welcome Paul to go back to the podcast. Paul, welcome back Yeehaw. So, Paul's been gone for about seven or so months, traveling, the world, but ultimately visiting family.

1:01 Had a baby last know, most a year and a half. If ago, December I think it was 2020 and yeah, lots been going on for Paul. So we're going to go a little synopsis of what's been going on with him. And then we also have Bayern here, howdy everybody.

1:15 And then obviously myself. So the first time we're doing an episode with the three of us, which will be kind of fun and interesting. And then we're going to dive into a little bit more conversation about the upcoming teacher training that we have. And then just talking about teacher trainings in general, and just kind of how they've evolved over the last two decades, if you will.

1:32 So, ultimately, before we dive into that, let's Have a warm welcome for Paul to return back to the podcast. And then Paul maybe you can give us a little idea of what you've been going through the last few months. Yeah, thanks guys for bringing me back and for having me back, it feels amazing to be back in some ways.

1:49 It felt it. Feels like, I never left in other ways, it feels like I have gone on this entire Quest. Almost like a, like a Lord of the Rings, like journey. And then return back to like the Shire or something. Yes. And we were gone.

2:03 We went to nine different. Countries and three different continents. My son got to meet all of his grandparents. That was just so beautiful to see family after everything that's happened. The last two and a half years and we traveled through Europe, LED an amazing Yoga Retreat. In Greece, which was super fun, very fun to be offering yoga retreats.

2:25 Again, I let a teacher training in Costa Rica a lot, a couple online trainings and just just traveled. My son also had some medical work done, which we had to have done, which was the low point of the whole journey, actually one of the lowest points of my entire life, but thank God.

2:42 Now my son is is thriving and he's happy and he's doing so much better. So, yeah, it's been the Journey of a lifetime, but now, I'm back to where I started in your second bedroom. So, how does it feel to be like in Bali? it feels great because when I left, there is more like a downward sadness, because it was like the whole time that Delta had just kind of picked up and Byron and I were very excited like we're going to finally ball, he's going to reopen, we're finally going to be able

3:13 to do one of these trainings and just again just smashed by the Indonesian government which has been so strict during this whole thing. And so there was there was a downward energy in August but now there's definitely more of an upward positive, optimistic energy on the island.

3:31 Every every day, it seems like there's more people coming here restaurants that used to be dead are getting busier. Yoga classes are getting busier. The people seem a lot happier here. So there's there's good energy here right now. Yeah, it definitely feels a lot more positive and a lot more of a good trajectory, or a shift on the other side of the pyramid, if you will, it doesn't seem to be kind of as unpredictable. The the trend seems to be moving

3:58 more in the right direction that I think we all want. Hmm. And the last, I don't even know 6 months, 12 months with just trainings in general. There's been, you know, not just us included, but just like disappointments of like, you know, needing to be cancelled or doing an in-person one. And just so, you know, Bali closes again. So that kind of roller coaster has been a little bit challenging, so we're pretty excited. Because right now, we actually

4:23 have a training coming up in a couple weeks, three weeks, and two weeks actually. But yeah. So we're going to we're going to Talk a little bit about just I think that the evolution of training is in general maybe talk a little bit more about ours but maybe I can toss it up to you by and how do you think we should have this combination first? Like this Echo all of that the good energy that's happening on this island.

4:45 That everyone feels is also related to the training that we have. Right now, I think we have like around 15, people signed up. We usually sell these things out before covid. So, but now 15 just feels thrilling. It's like I can get really excited about this. Now, and it looks like we might get way more than that to. And that being said, now we're getting to have those fun conversations about like, what do we want to offer? As part of the teacher training,

5:12 do we want to have Balinese dinners in the backyard with, you know, professional Balinese dancers. Do we want to have Temple, Gatherings, and blessings. And we want to have live acoustic music. It says all the fun stuff that we really got into before the pandemic. So, yeah, I'm really excited about about This because we're all together working on these trainings and yeah, I think we can evolve it into kind of the broader subject of white ETS and and and maybe get to that point

5:44 eventually. But yeah, I think I'll just kind of toss it. Like Paul. What's what do you most excited about when it comes to our yoga teacher trainings? Well, I really I really kind of solidified, what my intention is at least for the next six months to a year moving forward. And It really to me is is to preserve the Excellence. Of yoga.

6:17 And, and, and to hold myself and all of our students up to a very high standard in a very healthy way, because I'm seeing. And the whole reason why going pro was created is because we are seeing yoga, become more, and more, and more watered down, as it gets farther and farther away from the original lineages as things, move more and more, disconnected, less disciplined.

6:51 We really I really, and I don't fire agrees with me and Michael and I know you do too. We really want to try and preserve the Beauty and the Excellence of what it really means to teach a yoga class. Well, and there are certain ways that are right and certain ways that are wrong and I'll stand by that. Yeah.

7:13 I think, you know, as as I'm listening to you trying to put myself in the position of like a listener of the podcast. Yeah. And I kind of just have to trust you that these things are correct now Byron and Michael we both know that what you're saying is correct.

7:26 But why do you think it is that this has been happening? I'm like, what is it about the yoga industry that has keeps on, you know, these watered-down as you called them trainings. And the Excellence because I'm inspired by you saying, you know, we want to keep the Excellence of Yoga Alive because I know that to be need right now.

7:48 It's a need. But why why is this even happened? You think I think whenever anything becomes popular becomes mediocre It loses some of its Pizzazz because you get more and more and more people doing something, then it requires more and more and more people to teach other people to do that thing.

8:09 And eventually the standards get lowered just a little bit, just to be able to like funnel some more people through and the standards get lowered, a little bit more to funnel some more people through and then, you know, it falls victim to capitalism and what started as like a beautiful You know, burger, stand becomes McDonald's.

8:30 It's a good point and I makes me think about like anybody can figure out how to make a sales page and make it real. Pretty and sell you on the fact that you can go to Bali or India or some amazing destination and learn about yoga and sell you.

8:47 But then to actually deliver on that, like who's guiding The Experience who's actually in charge? What's the the tangible product, once you get there. And I think this is what we see continually in Bali. There's so many of these companies and I don't want to name anything out there because some of these people we know and where we actually respect some of them and, you know, it's just this whole mishmash of 200, our yoga teacher training didn't exist. Let's say 30 years ago and now

9:20 it does and there are certain rules that you're supposed to play by. And so, here we are, kind of finding ourselves. Playing by these rules, and the, what it, what it comes down to. For me is I want to help people understand that that you want experienced yoga.

9:35 Teachers, leading your training say that again, you want experienced teachers leading your training, not students, leading your training, because there's a difference between knowing a lot about yoga and actually facilitating yoga classes. And so, I think, when Paul talks about the Excellence of yoga and preserving it, we're talking and partly about that. At like, how can we pass down?

9:59 What our mentors have given us. And, you know, we talked about that before the podcast. Like where are the mentors these days? Now, we're the mentors now, right? Yeah. It's like so, yeah, maybe talk a little bit about that or can pass it over to Michael. Yeah, for sure.

10:14 Is that something that came to mind when you were talking Paul about? Just like the watering down pieces. I don't know if you guys have ever played that game. It's called like Purple Monkey Dishwasher or something like this where you're basically in a circle and You say some sort of message to the person beside you and then, you wouldn't they whisper it to the next person?

10:30 They whispered to the next person, by the time it gets all the way down the line. Yeah, message gets skewed. Exactly. Right. The communication gets skewed. Something gets watered down, gets diffused, gets lost. Whether someone's just, you know, having the piss and just like playing for it, or they actually just didn't understand and they use their own words to describe it in a different way. That's kind of what came to mind that. Like the more that's involved in

10:52 more people that become involved, the more popular, it is There's just more happening and then there's more opportunity for things to be lost more room for human error if you will. Yeah, absolutely. And that's I couldn't agree with that more and it's just Just seeing seeing like like Byron also said to it's like it's becoming unfortunately white and then also with the pandemic it's becoming more important right now to have a fancy sales page or to have a sales funnel or to do all these things and I would

11:27 never originally have told any of my teacher, trainees like you have to have these things. I would say just be a great teacher and your classes will get bigger and then you'll be able to offer Retreats and then you'll know.

11:38 After a couple of years after that, you'll be able to offer trainings. But it has to come down to like At first like being a great teacher and being a great teacher takes time. It takes studying with people that are really good, it takes working hard.

11:53 It takes being mature enough to get constructive criticism and to handle it like an adult. It takes so many different things and people aren't being told that That now they're being told like, you can just come to this beautiful tropical island, and spend a month in paradise and do some yoga.

12:18 And, you know, and then, you know, you can leave and you'll be certified to teach yoga, what they don't teach you or what, they don't tell you, excuse me, and the reason why we created going pro is that Michael you talked to so many people and all of these students not the ones that graduate from our training.

12:37 But From many trainings. They say, I don't feel confident to to teach yoga, maybe they had an amazing experience because ball, he's beautiful. And yoga makes you feel good. And you can be a deep, you can teach a decent class but still not be able to teach teachers. So, you know, if if Harvard were to give people a bunch of blissful experiences but the people that graduated Harvard were unemployable, Harvard would no longer be a good University. And I feel like that is what

13:14 Bali and India are developing. This reputation of like you can come here, you can get this Blissful experience, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to Employable and that's a very Western thing. I understand that like did be employable. But what that really also comes down to is a certain degree of discipline and Excellence which we hold ourselves to, what do you think Byron?

13:42 And I think so many things and like you just you're hitting so many nails on the head. For me, I missed your directness, your ability to just go in there and yeah, get to the right issue for me. I start to think about gosh, I think about What's the advice for people?

14:01 Like, what do we need? What do they need to know? What do people need to remember to avoid spending several thousand dollars and a month of their time and not getting in return, what they thought they were getting? So I'm like, if we could figure out how to help people with this, you know, obviously like although, you know, will help the people that listen to this podcast and that's part of it.

14:25 But there's got to be a better solution to vet out your tea. Yours or two, and before maybe you answer that question, the mentorship parts. Like I keep going back to my experience of teaching yoga classes and I have so many rich life experiences to draw from, in my yoga Journey specifically teachers that I took from lets, you know, we mentioned Bryan kest name a lot but I could probably name about 10 other teachers Santa Monica and Venice.

14:54 California just was so filled with these teachers that Have gone on, on to do many, many, huge things in the world. I mean, Shiva Rea is not even one of my teachers, but I know she's big and she doesn't fall into the top 10 for me.

15:07 For instance, how many times Barn would you say that you? And I took vitus's class. I've taken Vitas viscosity, if that's even how you say his last name, but Scouts kisses class, probably 150 times. And I would say that I probably have to, but that's what you do when you were a new teacher when you're wanting you. Find other people who are really, really good at what they do and you go to there you go study with them incessantly for for a period of time and that

15:38 person is your Mentor. Yep. Right. Yes. And that's what I'm finding is not the consistent like common denominator with other people better teaching yoga like, I'm in Bali standing out as a mentor right now. I'm noticing because I have the most experience or one of the people on the island with the most experience.

15:59 So now all the teachers that care to grow or coming to my class and it's quite, you know, that happened in LA to, but it was just a little different on the totem pole and that time. And so, yeah, I mean, Vitas is one example, we could say that with probably like seven other teachers are Calvin, my friend Calvin, who's was a mentor and then Vinny, and then Bryan kest, of course, there's sub, Travis Elliott.

16:21 Yeah, Travel Bend us. And there was even like gosh, I could keep going. It's just be because Of like, pointless unless you guys know that they are, but the mentorship or that the closeness, I feel when I teach my own classes to like, oh I remember how Travis did things.

16:40 I remember how Brian did things now, I do them my own way. Totally my own way. But there's a hint in there of some of these teachers. They sprinkle in what I liked. And now I have such a rich vast experience to draw from that feels. It feels really, like, I'm cheating compared to like what other people are playing with now. Yeah.

17:01 And I think that I couldn't agree more with everything you're saying, and I think they're, there was a period of my life. When I was at before, I was going to do, teacher training. And then, my first three years, a teacher where if I wasn't actively seeking out a fantastic yoga class with a fantastic teacher to go to at least three times a week, I would feel like I wasn't going to become the man that I want to be and that there needs to be that level of

17:35 attention placed on long-term mentorship. So even if you come to balling, you do my training, Byron's training. We're going to tell you, go home to your hometown, find the best teacher in your town and take that person's class, 100 times, you know, and study with them over and over. Over again and develop that commitment to Excellence, notice what they're doing?

18:03 Why do you like it? How are they talking? How are they speaking? How are they sequencing? How are they using silence? You know, how do they treat the students before the class starts? Yeah, so question, how would somebody now that tie it into the waititi? Obviously you made the point that you want to take from really good teachers as much as possible. Well now how do they do that?

18:26 You know, when it comes to a waititi You you vet your teachers, if you're going to spend five six thousand dollars and fly to India or Bali or Costa Rica you get on the phone. And you ask the ask these people, some tough questions, I love it. When people, when I when people, when people call me or they want to have a conversation with me, I love it because yeah and so do you because you and I know that we have put our thousands of hours in to be able to tell

18:57 anyone looking But in the eye and tell them like look I have craft, you know, like I have real craft. That's been built upon, thousands of hours of hard work and equal amount of study with Masters. Mmm, do you think like the whole certificate thing is a little confusing for people? Meaning like, oh I go to school, or I go to this thing and I get a certificate, we beginning like participation trophies since we were children for certain things. Oh, now I need to participate in

19:25 this training. Yoga thing to get this piece of paper. / that qualifies me to teach yoga. So, because of that, in their mind, the process basically is the same as so many things they've done in their life. That's all they got to do. And then it's like, oh, surprised you're not qualified to teach a yoga class, actually.

19:44 Sorry. You know, do you think that has something to do with it? Maybe I'll pass it to Michael. You want to say? Yeah, good pass. I think. I agree. And I was thinking about institutions and school and stuff like that. When you guys are talking and, you know, Everyone that does a teacher training wants to be a teacher, right? And there are people that teacher trainings because they don't know what they want to do.

20:04 They're like I'm just going to do teacher training. I hear that it's a good thing to do. You know, everyone should do one kind of thing and I believe that there's something you're going to get out of it regardless if you want to teach her not however that, you know, if you do want to take that next step. Like, if you're going into the training knowing like I want to teach yoga, I've been practicing for years, I want to have the certification be able to do or

20:24 provide, or or give to people what you Yoga is given to me and I want to know how to do that. Well, then that's when you really need to do your homework. You can't just take any Joe Schmo trainee. You want to take a training with teachers who have done their work, have put in their hours and can provide to you, what you need to do to be able to do what they did or doing. Look, what's the difference between like locking yourself away with tons of yoga books and

20:51 reading them and going to a teacher training that's not being facilitated by yogurt, Teachers that are currently teaching the real world like as a job. That you also like a relevant question. I think to this piece of paper that we're getting like really is there a difference is that you know go ahead.

21:10 Yeah I think it's really important and those aren't those are important questions that I encourage you to ask like the get on the phone with whoever is running your training unless you've taken that person's class several times in person or maybe online get on the phone and ask them, you know how many years You've been teaching, how many classes have you taught?

21:30 Have you been able to build your classes in the real world? Have you been able to build your classes at more than one Studio? Like, you know, anybody can be a one-hit whatnot, anybody, but you can be a one-hit wonder, you can build at one Studio at one certain time, and then you go to another Studio, it doesn't work, you know. So there's there's lots of ways to really vet the person that are both like, you can vet them for their integrity and their commitment to the spiritual

21:56 aspect and for having I've really solid foundation as a human being with a huge heart and also does this person have the capacity to go out into the real world and be successful? It doesn't mean millions of dollars. But it means like, you know, do their classes are, they busy enough were any Studio would hire them?

22:18 Can they do it in multiple places? So have they done it for at least five six years. I would say, you know what I'm hearing you say it's all coming together now is Is that it seems like we're paying their, you know, we they students are paying for a person's a teacher's experience, not for their information.

22:41 You know, the experience can go into like relationship, building and so much further. Like you said, they're big heart, their openness, they're tangible skills and adjusting a downward-facing, dog. Physical technical information and not just information because information can be read in a textbook. And you can just, you can read books all day long, and sit and meditate by yourself and reach, some pretty high levels of Enlightenment.

23:05 You know, I'll tell you, you can do that. But you know, what are we doing? In these teacher trainings, I think it's Yeah, it's fascinating. So I want to take the mic on this just because it reminds me of my higher education for Physiotherapy and I spent two years studying books and following teachers and you know they're they're teaching a certain techniques and styles and stuff like that and obviously a lot of it was useful but once I got into the real world and I started teaching at

23:31 a clinic and I started dealing with people in person and realizing that what I those tools and stuff that I got were very helpful. But what I learned the most was one Brad was actually finished graduating and actually doing the job and putting in the hours, putting in the consistent work. And from there, like, I can't even remember what I learned in my University.

23:49 A lot of what I do now is learn through experience of interacting with people working with people kind of more almost Mor that Soul psychosocial kind of connection as opposed to the, you know, the theory stuff like obviously the theory is important and those that there's a foundation there to some degree, but to me and it's funny, I think most graduates at least in my My cohort would say the same, like, the University was fine, but like I learned so much more afterwards and I think

24:18 that's, that's one of the things that's important in when you guys were talking consistency of exposure, to, or consistency of being involved in as something that's going to really allow the craft to develop, right? Yes.

24:30 Yeah, I think you just ask yourself this question. If you had 50,000 dollars to invest, And you were looking for advice, would you trust a College Dropout, who was a self-made millionaire? But, would you trust a recent MBA grad, who had never worked a real job in his life?

24:52 I would go with the, the self, let this, the experience over the degree. Yeah. You know, obviously, what, what usually happens is a combination of very good education and experience, but experience almost Will trump education. If somebody wants something bad enough, like Bryan kest our Mentor, he never did a teacher training but he's a great teacher, he taught himself.

25:18 I taught myself how to play guitar but I know Very good guitar teacher because I didn't learn from anyone. I'm just like Bryan, kest doesn't just teach other people how to be teachers because he taught himself, it's a great point. I can't teach guitar.

25:35 I can teach yoga because I studied it with people. That gave me a beginning middle, end process to be able to structure an experience that I can replicate time and time out again. Mmm, and I think that's really Ali important to, like, if you're looking for a teacher training, you want, you want a program that gives you craft.

26:00 Craft is, I don't always have to rely on my raw talent. I have a repeatable structure that allows me to deliver Excellence even when I'm feeling like shit. Like this morning, I had two hours of sleep last night. My son was up all night screaming.

26:21 He has a, he has a cold that he got at the daycare and it sucked. I drove here on two hours of sleep taught. My class. I taught a fantastic yoga class. That's because of craft. I was tired of burnt out. I was done, but because of my thousands of hours of craft, I was able to still teach a great class It's a good point. And also I think a good time to like bring it into the ytt that's coming up and I started listening to Michael talk and I was like, yeah, that's right.

26:54 We got our anatomy teacher sitting here. Yeah. Just kind of thinking ahead to this, this upcoming in a couple weeks and I don't know when this will pop this are, this podcast will are two weeks from now when you're listening to, this will be when the episode perfect.

27:07 Training starts. Basically, what is it? April, 4th, yes. And obviously we have some exciting stuff today. We're going to be like in Meaning into this training, that's all new, kind of like, Cutting Edge, no, but now, before things that we talked about occasionally on the podcast.

27:22 But if you're just tuning in for the first time, you may not know, you know, we have a whole platform we've designed that's around experienced yoga, teachers like Paul and myself and physio license physiotherapist, and Michael and Anatomy teacher and yeah, it's pretty cool because the, the whole covid time it it pushed things to be online, more So this platform we created is online.

27:47 Yeah, so it just worked out perfectly so now we can actually give homework through this thing. Yeah, yeah so and get Abe already in a better way. They're going to show up more prepared than they would have before because of all of the prep work.

27:59 We're giving them exactly. And I thought, Michael might want to say something about it. Not sure. Yeah. So the thing that came to mind for me was You know, people can learn independently. They can Google things, they can YouTube stuff.

28:12 I mean, even Elon Musk talks about like, you don't need to go to school. You can learn anything online, you know? And to me, like going pro like, yeah, we're providing all these tools and these resources in a similar way, but at the end of the day, you still need to do the practice. You still need to actually put in the hours to actually turn that theory.

28:29 Turn that work into something more. That being said, I think particularly for going pro and what makes the difference for going Is that we provide the structure and we provide those tools in an organized way. That's easily digestible, understandable, so that you can actually have a good foundation to be able to go out and practice teach and actually put those tools to use as opposed to sometimes whether you doing it, independently learning online or

28:55 you're doing some trainings. And the the information is kind of all over the place or it's just scattered or it's just a lot to take in. Sometimes you don't really know where to go with it without having some sort of structure.

29:08 And that's the thing that I really like particularly about the, the elements of power yoga training, and particularly the going pro because it was kind of, it was basically built based off of your training, is that it provides that structure.

29:20 And without that structure, you know, you don't know where to go. The kind of gives you that box to stay within that box, you work within that box, you feel safe within that box or able to explore and then once you're good with the structure and you understand, the structure you can kind of you can kind of walk away from it a little bit more.

29:37 Without that structure without that Foundation, it's just you can still do it. It's a lot harder and to be fair, its most people probably don't have the time to be able to put in all those hours without having that structure at the beginning. So I think it's really important to have that structure which you know, you can do a training in person with with you guys. Like I did, I think that's the way to go. Ultimately, but if you can't do that and you can't come to Bali or you can't come to wherever

30:03 we're going to be in the world, then I think going Pros a great platform to Be able to give you that structure and Foundation to be able to take the next steps for you. I think about the embodiment of yoga versus or let's say, let's say balanced with the structure of teaching it.

30:24 And that's kind of, like, what I would would want to give in my teacher training, like, the ultimate balance experience of embodying, the yoga practice, really delving in no note taking Really just like, let's see how deep we can go into our, you know, our whole experience of life versus okay.

30:44 Now, let's actually put this into the real world and try to help people with something that's helped us and that's kind of like, what I heard, you say basically. Yeah, I agree. And I think the quote that I like that. I use almost every training as learn the rules, like a professional.

30:58 So you can break the rules like an artist. Yeah, perfect. That's that's basically what I was trying to say. I think we all say the same thing and that's why Why you know different ways is part of the reason you know we work together so well right.

31:10 Yeah and one of the things I'll say just because it came up earlier when you guys were talking about mentorship and like you know, basically trying to learn from good teachers so that you have a piece of those teachers to kind of carry you through, you were mentioning it Byron like when I teach yoga even though I don't teach as often as you guys do because I'm more focused on my craft of injuries and data means supporting teachers in that way. When I do teach I'm you know My

31:37 pollen, my buyer in come out so I'm like of a hybrid of both of you and then I can have a little sprinkle of myself, you know, ten to fifteen percent, even the yin-yang training I did with you. Paul, you said like the one thing that you're missing is you more of your authentic self.

31:50 Yeah, but that being said, I feel great to know that I'm teaching similar to you guys because I feel like you guys are my mentors my teachers. And if that's the thing I need to work on and I'm totally fine with that but it's a good foundation to start with because I have that.

32:04 So that's the one thing that I wanted to throw on. On for you guys. Blush. Cool. Alright, well that's a that's a good 30-minute episode there. Thanks so much guys, for kind of spilling it all in Paul coming back. Yeah. More to come baby more to come Good Times. Let's let him roll.

32:22 Yeah, so we'll continue these episodes every week who knows who's going to be on it? Maybe it'll be Paul Byron myself. Maybe the three of us or guest. But otherwise, thanks so much for listening. We appreciate all you guys for spending spending the time for us to speak into your Ear. Hope you have a beautiful week beautiful day and we'll see you next time.

32:41 Bye later.