People think you have to be really flexible to do Ashtanga teacher training. They see someone doing a crazy backbend, and they are like there is no way I can do that. So they just do not even bother looking into it. But that is not actually how it works.
You do not have to be advanced when you start. You can be stiff. You can be weak. You can barely touch your toes. It does not matter. You just have to do the practice every day, and your body changes. That is it.
Ashtanga is the same every day. You do Primary Series on Monday, Tuesday and even Wednesday. There will be same poses in the same order. Some people think that sounds awful. Like, why would you want to do the same thing every single day? That sounds boring.
But your body actually likes it. When you do the same poses, your body knows what is coming. Your wrists stop hurting from Chaturangas because you do them so many times that your body just figures it out. Your hips open up because you fold forward the same way every day. Your shoulders get stronger. This is just how your body works. Repetition makes you better at something.
Your mind also calms down. You do not have to remember what pose comes next because it is always the same. You do not have to think about anything. You just breathe and move. That is actually really peaceful. Your brain gets a break from learning new stuff every day. It just does the same thing and gets better at it.
But you have to actually do it. You cannot just show up and half do it. You have to practice even when you do not want to. You have to practice when you are tired or even when nothing seems to be changing. Just keep practicing even when you think it is a stupid idea. Things take time and you should know it.
The progress is slow. You are not going to do an arm balance after one month. You are probably not super flexible after one month. Some poses take forever. Like you might spend six months working on one pose. You have to be okay with that. You have to trust that your body is changing even if you cannot see it.
This is different from yoga styles, where you learn something new every day. Ashtanga, you are going deeper into the same stuff. So the change happens more slowly. But it is real. Your body is getting stronger and more flexible. It just takes time. More time than people want to admit.
When you start, you might be really stiff. That is fine. Everyone starts somewhere. The teacher will show you how to do a version that works for your body. You will do easier versions of poses. As you practice more, you will do deeper versions. Your flexibility will come. But it comes from doing the practice, not from being born flexible.
Your muscles will be sore at first. You are practicing a lot. More than you probably ever have. Your muscles have to get used to that. But sore is not the same as hurt. If something has sharp pain that is bad. If something is just sore muscle pain, that is normal. It goes away after a few weeks when your body adapts.
The thing about Ashtanga teacher training is that you just have to show up. You show up. You do the practice. You come back tomorrow and do it again. You do not skip. You do not make excuses. You just do the work. When you are consistent like that, your body changes. You get stronger. You get more flexible. Your mind gets quieter. Everything changes.
Your body gets what you ask it to do. If you ask it to fold forward every single day, it will eventually touch the ground. If you ask it to do Chaturangas every day, your wrists will stop hurting. Your body is not lazy. It is not weak. It just needs you to ask it to do stuff and keep asking over and over.
A lot of people tell themselves they cannot do Ashtanga because they are not flexible. That is just a story. The truth is, they do not know if they can because they have not tried. Once someone tries for real and sticks with it, their body changes fast. They become more flexible. They become stronger. They realize they could have done it all along.
The Ashtanga method just works. It is not magic. It is just the same poses every day, and your body figures out how to do them better. Your body is smart. You tell it to do something every day, and it learns how to do it. That is how it works.So if you want to do Ashtanga teacher training, you can. It does not matter what level you are at or how flexible you are. If you can show up and do the practice, that’s what matters the most. Your body will handle the rest.