**Note: I wrote this about 4 weeks ago, and it is even more relevant to me now as I travel through Israel and Palestine, experiencing a range of emotions and encountering extraordinary people. More thoughts on this journey to come soon.

All yogis have different reasons for taking their first yoga teach training. Many of my initial reasons were selfish: to make new friends, have an extra activity to pass another DC winter, and “deepen” my own practice — whatever that meant.

However, with reflection and time on and off the mat I figured out what deepening meant for me. I was at a point in my life that I wanted to invest in myself. Before I would invest in myself by purchasing a plane ticket somewhere new to learn about a new culture or geography. This time the journey would be internal — a self discovery.

Throughout the five-month teacher training course, we were encouraged to reflect by journaling. Hawah provided us with excellent prompts on how to relate our on the mat experiences to the rest of our lives. Through these journaling exercises, I began to see a greater purpose for my teacher training experience.

I found that yoga goes beyond my practice — it goes way beyond the “I” and transcends into how I choose to react and treat others. When practiced correctly, yoga changes the way we experience the world.

I became a yoga teacher to change our experience.