09/03/2026
🫶🏻 Congratulations Yogalini - Emily McLeod
On Sunday, I graduated from my 200-hour yoga teacher training with Radiant Soul School of Yoga and I’ve been trying to find the right words for what this experience has truly meant to me.
When I started this journey, I thought I was signing up to learn how to teach yoga. I expected anatomy, postures, sequencing, cueing, philosophy and all of the practical things that come with becoming a yoga teacher.
And yes, I learned all of those things. I learned the body in ways I never had before. I learned how to break down postures, how to thoughtfully cue a class, how to create a sequence and how to teach in a way that feels safe and intentional.
But honestly, those things ended up being only a small piece of what this training gave me.
The biggest part was the internal work.
It was learning to become more aware of myself, my thoughts, my reactions, my habits and the patterns I’ve carried with me for years.
It was recognizing things I had been taught, consciously and unconsciously, while growing up and beginning to question whether those patterns still belonged to me.
It was sitting with discomfort. Working through struggles. Being challenged in ways that weren’t always comfortable and learning that growth doesn’t always look like becoming a completely different person. Sometimes it looks like finally understanding yourself a little more deeply.
It was discovering a much deeper meaning behind the philosophy of yoga. Realizing that yoga is so much more than what happens on a mat. The postures are a doorway, but the practice reaches far beyond them.
And perhaps one of the most beautiful parts was the community.
Sharing this experience with people who were also willing to be vulnerable, curious, uncomfortable, open and willing to grow created a kind of connection that is difficult to put into words. We learned together, struggled together, laughed together, cried together and held space for one another through all of it.
I walked out with a deeper awareness of myself, a different relationship with my body and mind, a greater understanding of the practice and a community of people who became a meaningful part of my journey.
I don’t think I’m leaving this training as a finished product. If anything, I’m leaving with a greater understanding that there is still so much to learn, unlearn, explore and grow through.
And maybe that’s the point. Yoga has never really been about perfecting the pose.
It’s about what we discover about ourselves while we’re in it.
I’m incredibly grateful for this chapter, for the lessons that challenged me, for the ones that softened me, for the people who walked beside me and for the version of myself that existed when I started this journey.
200 hours completed. 💗🧘🏻♀️
But the practice continues.