Why I Even Thought About Doing a 100 Hour Meditation Teacher Training
I’ll be honest — when I first stumbled upon the idea of doing a 100 hour Meditation Teacher Training, it sounded a bit intimidating. I mean, 100 hours of sitting still? My brain doesn’t even sit still for five minutes when I’m waiting for an Uber. But something about it kept tugging at me — maybe it was the chaos of daily life, the endless scroll through Instagram reels about “finding peace,” or just plain curiosity about whether I could actually stay quiet that long.
Turns out, meditation training isn’t just about sitting cross-legged and humming “Om.” It’s a deep dive into your own headspace — and that can be way messier than any yoga pose you’ll ever attempt.
The First Few Days: A Battle Between Me and My Thoughts
The first week felt like a boxing match with my mind. Thoughts about grocery lists, old arguments, and random “what ifs” kept jumping in. I remember one of the trainers saying, “Your thoughts aren’t the problem; your attachment to them is.” At the time, I nodded like I got it, but honestly? I didn’t. Not until day five, when I realized how much energy I waste wrestling with stuff that doesn’t even exist in the present moment.
It’s funny how quiet the world gets when you stop arguing with your own thoughts. That was my first big “aha” moment — not the mystical kind people post about online, but a simple realization that silence doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.
Learning to Teach What You Can Barely Do Yourself
Here’s the irony: in a 100 hour Meditation Teacher Training, you’re learning to guide others through something you’re still trying to figure out yourself. It’s like learning to drive while giving someone else directions. There’s this beautiful awkwardness in it, though. You stumble through guided sessions, mix up breathing counts, and sometimes forget what you were saying halfway through — and that’s all part of the charm.
One of my classmates compared the process to teaching someone how to swim while still splashing around in the shallow end. It’s true — but that’s also what makes it real. Nobody expects perfection. They expect honesty. And that’s what this training drilled into us: authenticity over aesthetics.
The Weird Science Behind Stillness
I used to think meditation was purely spiritual — something monks do in caves while sipping herbal tea. But the science side of it blew my mind. The way it rewires your brain, boosts your focus, even lowers your cortisol levels — it’s wild. There was this one study our instructor mentioned about long-term meditators having thicker gray matter in areas linked to emotional regulation. So technically, sitting still makes your brain… stronger?
That fact alone made me want to meditate more. Not for enlightenment, but because I figured if Netflix binges can shrink attention spans, maybe a little mindfulness can stretch it back out.
When Social Media Meets Spirituality
You know what’s strange? Meditation is trending now. It’s like the new fitness challenge. My feed was suddenly filled with influencers posting “Day 27 of my mindfulness journey” with perfect sunsets in the background. Meanwhile, I was sitting on my bedroom floor surrounded by mosquito coils and half-burnt incense sticks, trying not to scratch my nose.
And yet, even with all the glam around it, there’s something genuine happening underneath. More people are realizing they don’t have to go to the Himalayas to find peace. You can do it in your apartment, in your car, or even in the chaos of a Monday morning Zoom call. The 100 hour Meditation Teacher Training helped me see that meditation isn’t about escaping the noise — it’s about hearing it differently.
The People You Meet (And What They Teach You Without Saying Anything)
Every batch of students in these training programs has that one person who seems like they’ve already achieved Nirvana. Ours was this middle-aged guy who barely spoke, always smiled, and somehow made you feel calmer just by existing. Then there was a young woman who joined because she wanted to help kids with anxiety. By the end of it, we’d all become accidental therapists for each other — sharing breakdowns, breakthroughs, and everything in between.
You start realizing meditation isn’t a solo journey. Sure, it’s inward, but the community around it — the shared silences, the awkward laughter after a failed chanting session — that’s what keeps you grounded.
What Happens After the 100 Hours Are Over
Here’s the part nobody tells you: the real challenge begins after the training ends. You go back home, and suddenly there’s noise again — work emails, traffic, people who don’t care about chakras or breathing techniques. Keeping that calm isn’t easy. But something changes inside you. You don’t react as quickly. You pause more. You start noticing little things — like the sound of rain, or the warmth of sunlight — things you never had time for before.
Some of us went on to teach, some didn’t. But we all agreed on one thing — those 100 hours were less about becoming teachers and more about becoming students of our own minds.
Would I Recommend It? Absolutely — But Not for the Reason You Think
If you’re thinking of doing the 100 hour Meditation Teacher Training, don’t go in expecting instant transformation or magical powers. Go because you’re curious about your own headspace. Go because you want to understand why silence feels so uncomfortable — and what happens when it doesn’t anymore.