Nobody warned me that the cheap prices in India are down to the lack of expertise, shocking filthy accommodation full of insects and unclean linen, no hot water (often not even a shower most of the time, just a tap and bucket) and food that constantly made everyone sick as they use the untreated, third-world-country tap water to prepare their food.  I arrived to discover that the staff shown on the website, who I was extremely excited to learn from and accept as my ‘gurus’ didn’t exist.  Behind the scenes, the IT guy proudly announced to me that he created the bios and found the images on a website of made-up faces!  The head of the ashram had lost interest, passion and focus in yoga for many years and he simply attended classes with zero enthusiasm, just to make the money.  There was no anatomy expert teacher and I was asked to step in and run the anatomy classes.  The syllabus did not align with Yoga Alliance at all, so I contacted YA directly, asked for the criteria and requirements and modified the trainings to provide a program that adequately prepared students to teach yoga, meeting the Yoga Alliance expectations.  I did the best I could with what I had, and I did not tell any one of my students in India that the school I was working for was a business scam and the program was my own.  I represented the school and maintained professionalism at all times.  My pay didn’t even cover my food, let alone my expenses back in Australia.  I was becoming more and more deflated, tired and sad by the day, my students were my energy and their gratitude and seeing them reach potential they never knew resided within them was my payment.  And it was enough and saw me through a year.