Q&A with Stacy: Teacher training that is meant to provide as strong foundation as Niyama NEEDS time

Stacy Campoli, Assistant Trainer in RYT 200 and a Yama Therapeutics Teacher Training Graduate

Stacy Campoli, a Yama Therapeutics Teacher Training Graduate who has taken other teacher training programs, took a few minutes to sit down with us and tell us about her experience with our teacher training program and compare them with other trainings she has completed.

Q: You have a long history with Diane, Nicole and Niyama. Would you please share some of this with us?

A: I met Nicole shortly after my first ever yoga practice. During that time, while practicing in Nicole’s classes with one of her yoga teacher training students, I was so in love with the practice of Yoga, it did not take long for me to want to teach. I inquired as to how I could become a teacher and share this practice with the world. Nicole and my fellow student introduced me to Yama Therapeutics. In the fall of 2010, I started my first yoga teacher training. On the first day of training, I met Diane and from that point on, these women mentored and helped me to grow not only in my practice on the mat but off of the mat as well. Eleven years later, I am so grateful to still be connected to them and to continue to grow with them.

Q: How is our training different compared to other trainings you have done?

A: After becoming certified and able to teach, I still wanted to continue to grow, learn and explore. Thus, over the years, I have trained in many different “continuing education” type trainings and different types of Yoga. I have branched out and trained with several different yoga communities. My training with Yama was different than others that I have done in that it provided me with such a broad and massive foundation. I felt strong and that I did so well in these other trainings because of the foundation of Yama.

Q: Would you please touch on the importance and rationale of our teacher training programs taking relatively long to complete (9 months for RYT 200 and 12 months for RYT 300).

A: One word: TIME. Having the time to really delve into all of the reading and the study of the yamas and niyamas- the lessons that we experienced in each of our sessions, beyond the physical asana. Even in the asana, having 9-10 months, with those weeks in between trainings to practice in classes taught by Nicole and my other mentors, really helped to grow my own practice. I learned so much from all of those practices. A teacher training that is meant to provide as strong foundation as Niyama NEEDS time.

Q: From an alumni perspective, how does Niyama function and support our trainees to ensure their success?

A: Speaking from my past experience, I can say that there has never been a time when Nicole, Diane or any other mentors from the program were not there for me. Whether it was answering a question specifically about teaching a class or about life (yamas, niyamas), they have been there for me in the practice both on and off the mat, both inside and outside of the classroom. I have only just begun in the role of leading a RYT 200 Yoga Teacher Training with Niyama and have just congratulated my first graduating class as a mentor and I aspire to be as bright a guiding light to them as Nicole has been for me.

Q: Why would you recommend Niyama’s Yama Therapeutics over other yoga teacher training programs?

A: The time, the sweat and love that they put into this. I would not be the teacher I am today without it. I definitely would have found myself a training somewhere because I knew I wanted to be a teacher. However, the scope of knowledge and the way that my classes are taught and received would not be what they are. his training takes the practice way beyond the physical and teaches us to speak to the student and to learn how to see them each as individuals.