RYT-200
Mandy and I recently achieved our RYT-200 from YogaFIT. So, what is a RYT-200 you may ask? It is 200 hours of yoga training. We started this adventure in 2017 after we had been practicing yoga together on Friday mornings for several months. Mandy and I play soccer, spin, and workout together. We both love anything that gets our blood pumping and allows us to eat and drink whatever we want 😉.
Mandy was really enjoying yoga and decided she wanted to add yoga to her spin and water aerobics instructing. So, she asked me if I would like to take the Level 1 Yoga teacher training with her. I figured it would help me expand my own practice and would be fun to spend the weekend with my friend taking a class.
Fast forward to present day. We own MKelevate, a company that we created together, and enjoy teaching people of all ages and backgrounds. I decided to interview Mandy to take a peek into her perspective on what sparked her interest in teaching yoga.
Let’s dive into our interview…. We were sitting in Starbucks in Salmon Creek, the buzz of all the people around us, and the smell of roasting coffee filled the air. Mandy had her signature drink, the Americano with steamed sweet cream and I had my five scoop Macha Latte. The first question I asked was why she wanted to teach yoga. She said that she wanted to bring more workout options to seniors. She loves working with seniors and has such an amazing ability to connect with them. Mandy researched a lot of different yoga training options but concluded that YogaFit was the best option because it is recognized by the Yoga Alliance and has a very good reputation.
Question 2 was when did the RYT-200 become THE goal? Mandy said that she decided that the RYT-200 was the end game after the first training. She was all in and wanted to make sure she had the best training and background to support her incredible teaching style. Cathy, our instructor for the Level 1- Foundations class as well as several other of our classes, really impacted both of us.
RYT-200 Yoga Classes
It is coming up on 10 years that Mandy has been teaching cycle at LA Fitness. I asked her what her favorite part of instructing a fitness class is. She said, ‘I love the comradery that comes from doing something together. The LA crew has been pretty consistent for the past 10 years, that is commitment!!!’ Also, being around positive people is what made Mandy want to teach and continues to drive her each and every day.
Original crew
Her favorite part about teaching yoga is watching people grow their physical practice as well as mental practice. The quieting of the mind is so beneficial, and as a teacher she loves seeing people leave class happier. Having that kind impact on someone’s day makes teaching yoga very rewarding. Mandy loves the music in spin and yoga as well. She spends a good amount of time planning for each class from the poses and mantra to how the music will work with the type of movement.
The last question I asked Mandy was what class was most life changing and why. She had a two-part answer for this one.
1) Getting Level 1 under her belt and then doing the community service that allowed her to become a yoga teacher, really made her feel like it was real, and she could do this.
2) She said that the most life changing class was Level 3; It focuses on the inward mind. We went through the 7 chakras as well as how to use your intuition and your anatomical knowledge to give students hands on enhancements. We traveled to Pheonix for the Level 3 training. It was one of the most intense trainings we had, but it also was a turning point for us. We had a plan on how to finish our RY-200 and were able to take over 100 hours of training in the next 8 months. We had a goal and we were able to execute it.
Mandy really wanted something that she worked hard for and that was hers. She is a very supportive wife, mom, friend, but sometimes we want something that is just for us…. We all have felt like this at some time in our life. The RYT-200 journey was a way for Mandy to do something for herself. Goals are important no matter how big or small. She has now completed two great achievements, the RYT-200 and her Personal Trainer Certification.
