The Real Reason I Trained As A Yoga Teacher.

October 20, 2025•2 min read

Something I’ve never admitted — self-discipline was the real teacher all along.

I haven’t shared this before — and those who know me might be a bit surprised.

You might know that a few moons ago, I trained as an Ashtanga Yoga Teacher.

I was drawn to ashtanga because it’s structured, disciplined, and brilliant for building strength as well as flexibility.

Searching For Enlightenment

Hoping the answer would appear on my mat.

But if I'm honest, one of the real reasons I took myself off a few years ago to train as a teacher was because I secretly hoped the answer to stop drinking would somehow come to me on my Lululemon yoga mat.

I imagined having some magical, other-worldly experience and that would be it — I’d reach Samadhi and never touch a drop again.

Now, don't get me wrong, the whole experience did change my life.

But my drinking? Not so much.

Why The Ah-Ha Moment Never Came

How I kept chasing the short hit instead of real peace.

At the end of each day’s training, I went back to my motorhome and drank three cans of strong cider.

Why cider, when wine was my go-to?

Because I'd committed to attending Mysore practice at 6am every morning before our training classes began — and I figured I could ‘get off’ with those cans, where I wouldn’t with a bottle of Sav Blanc.

Needless to say, the much anticipated epiphany never came.

And another opportunity to make a change slipped quietly through my fingers.

When Reward Wins Over Freedom

The truth about choosing comfort over clarity.

Looking back, I can see how I spent years searching for a quick answer to a struggle I’d been fighting for far too long.

And I can also see how I simply wasn’t willing to face the fact that I had a bad habit of choosing immediate, short-lived reward over delayed, long-term freedom.

When it came to changing my drinking, I hardly had a whiff of self-discipline.

What Self-Discipline Really Means.

The lesson my teacher training didn't teach me.

These days, my clients often tell me I have a knack for cutting through the BS — for helping them see where they need to knuckle down and practise self-discipline.

I don’t do it to shame or guilt them.

I do it because I know how much time we waste searching for that magic-wand answer outside ourselves — when the strength and power we need is already within us.

Self-discipline isn’t harsh or a punishment — it’s a quiet superpower.

I see it as a muscle — one that gets stronger and more flexible every time you choose freedom over that hit of reward.

And just like reps build muscle, reps build self-discipline too.