Why you should go to a yoga workshop

Alice opens the door cautiously. Her heart is beating rapidly and her breath is shallow. Why is Alice so stressed?

Alice walks in and looks around. “I hope I am dressed okay!” she thinks as she approaches the reception area.

Alice is attending a business workshop today. She will be meeting new people in a new place and she will be learning to do new things.

Going to a yoga workshop is very much the same as attending a business workshop.

Let’s have a look at what a yoga workshop is and why you should go to one.

What is a yoga workshop

A yoga workshop is an event that is organized by a yoga teacher where they make available an expert teacher to teach the group on a particular topic.

You get to learn, practice and discuss during a workshop. You also have an opportunity at a workshop to ask the teacher lots of questions if you do not understand a topic.

Workshops are quite useful and you can learn a lot at one, but what sort of time commitment are you making when you decide to attend.

How long are workshops

Workshops vary greatly in length.

A workshop can be as short as a single two hour session.

Weekend workshops are over three days starting on Friday evening and finishing on Sunday afternoon. These weekend workshops usually consist of multiple 2-3 hour sessions. One Friday night, two or three on Saturday and one or two sessions on Sunday.

There are week long intensive workshops where you spend seven days with a teacher and you are there for the morning and afternoon and maybe in the evening.

Multiple weekend workshops are possible as well. These will happen on consecutive weekends or perhaps one weekend a month for a period of several months.

The most common type of workshop is the weekend workshop. Typically you are committing your Friday night, Saturday and Sunday when you decide to go to a workshop.

So what are you getting when you commit all of that time to a workshop.

Why go to a workshop

There are many good reasons to go to a workshop. Here a few of the best.

• Focus
• Feedback
• Learning
• Community

Focus

You take time in the workshop to focus on things you might skim over in a yoga class. In a workshop you can spend a long time on one particular yoga pose. In a yoga class you will typically only work on one yoga pose for a minute or two and then the teacher moves on to the next pose.

During a workshop, you explore how to do the pose in greater detail. What the pose feels like while you are in it. Which muscles are active and which ones are relaxed.

You also learn how to modify the pose if you are not flexible enough to get into it at this time.

You will not be holding up the class when you ask for more clarity. This is what is expected in a workshop.

You can ask the teacher to help you with the pose and give you some feedback.

Feedback

Alice is getting a lot of feedback from the workshop leader and the other members of her workshop team.

During a workshop you have the opportunity to ask questions. You can ask the teacher, you can ask the other participants. In a workshop you are expected to ask questions. The focus in the workshop is on learning while in a typical class the focus is on getting through a series of yoga poses.

You have the opportunity in a workshop to ask the teacher to explain the concept again if it is not clear to you. You can also ask your neighbours. There is lots of time during a workshop for individual and group discussions.

Everyone brings their own insight and in a workshop the sharing of this insight helps the whole group to learn and develop a deeper understanding.

Learning

Alice will be learning a lot during her business workshop. You will learn a lot when you go to a yoga workshop.

You learn best my doing. In a workshop you are expected to make mistakes, because you are trying something new or you are trying something familiar with a new emphasis. Whatever is going on you are here to learn and getting something wrong is part of that learning process. You do not need to worry about ridicule from the people around you, they are there to learn as well.

You are studying with a new teacher. They will present the same concept in a different way. They will explain how to do the pose that you have struggled with in a different way.

You may have heard the same explanation many times before but because you are at a workshop your mind is more open to receive ideas and suddenly it clicks with you.

You can also learn from your neighbours at the workshop.

Community

Alice is meeting a lot of new people in her business workshop and she spotted a couple of people that she already knew from around the office.

In a yoga workshop you get to meet new people and renew past friendships.

You may be going to a local workshop or travelling many hours to attend that special workshop. There will be new people there that you have not meant. And there will be people there that you have met at other workshops.

A workshop is an opportunity to establish new friendships and refresh existing ones. From these relationships you can gain new insights into your yoga practice.

But workshops cost a lot of money

They sure do! A workshop is more expensive than a typical yoga class and for good reasons.

A workshop gives you an opportunity to spend a lot of time with a senior teacher that is an expert. In some cases they be a world level expert.

You get to spend an extensive amount of time focusing on your yoga practice. You learn a lot more from a workshop session than you could ever learn from a yoga class.

Not only do you get an opportunity to learn from an expert you will also learn from the other participants at the workshop.

A workshop may appear expensive but the amount of learning that you bring home from it far outweighs the cost.

Summary

Alice is getting settled into her workshop. She is learning many new things and meeting lots of people. A business workshop and a yoga workshop have a lot more in common than you would think.

Attending a yoga workshop is telling the world that you are really committed to your yoga practice and that you want to learn more and improve your practice.

A workshop has the capacity to make your practice stronger and reveal new insights physically, mentally and spiritually.

Next Step

The next time that your yoga teacher recommends a workshop to you, take the time to seriously consider spending the time and money to attend.