I look back at my Karuna YTT with nothing but fondness. 3 weeks of invaluable education, on a quiet island, getting close to so many special people, and being given the time and space to develop a really amazing personal practice. Even though it was called a yoga teacher training, to me it was a crash course in how to be happy and healthy, both physically and mentally, and THEN how to share that with your students.

The quality of the teaching was beyond expectation. In today’s world, it can happen that yoga/meditation teachers tend to strip Eastern philosophy of it’s core and profound spiritual essence in order to make it appealing and accessible to the widest possible audience, and I was a bit weary of that going into the training because i did not know what to expect. But Layla and Payal delivered the complete opposite – they gave us a pure stream of the authentic, ancient yogic wisdom and yet at the same time it was taught in such a way that it was relevant and applicable to our daily lives.

They were also amazing mentors during the process, so friendly and supportive and uplifting. They were always willing to give their time for a conversation, whether it be deep and meaningful about the meaning of life, or a casual chat over a cup of tea on our day off. Sometimes people who have such vast knowledge in a subject are quite daunting and make you think you could never get to that point, but Layla and Payal demonstrate their incredible amount of skill and knowledge in so many fields but in an inspiring way, and making you feel like you can work towards that level too.

Indeed, I came away with a qualification and the ability to share yoga with people, but the thing that I’m most happy with is that I fell back in love with my own yoga practice. Now each day I wake up so excited to lead a life where the philosophy, the asana, the ethics and morals, the meditation and a compassionate and kind mindset are all vital parts of my life.