Yoga Teacher Training: Day 4

Day #4


Prior to teacher class, I attended Rich Logan's "Mindful Vinyasa" class, which means you never know what you're gonna get and it will always awaken a pose that you "thought" you had mastered.
What I like about Yoga is that there can be no definitive touchdown
(I really hate sports analogies but they work), no final "I got it". Everyday the body is different....the mood our emotions, what happened during the day. All of it comes into play and can inform our practice.

Amy, the teacher said to me during an adjsutment., "Don't fight me". It was funny...and a couple of students including myself laughed out loud (as opposed to laughing on the inside). I was not letting go into the Pasarita Padottanasa My hands were clasped and leveraged overhead, coming towards the floor. She was turning my fingers the opposite way in order to demonstrate a subtle adjustment that deepens the pose. I did stop fighting and, sure enough, my hands flipped and my arms folded towards the floor much father than my mind told me they could.


Lesson learned???
It's helpful to turn the mind OFF during practice and most of the time for that matter.
In fact the only time you need to turn the mind on is if you are:

• Flying a jet
• Performing surgery
• Flossing (wait....no the mind gets in the way here too)
• Filing taxes

Things like that...

Yoga Teacher Training: Day #3

#3 

Things always change. We continue to dissect poses, learning proper alignment and the adjustments that will be necessary for a future student (it might be you so I will take notes!). One of my favorites we worked on (and one of my most most feared) was "Reclining Hero" pose (Supta Virasana). Sounds perfect, right?! I get to be a hero and be casual and relaxed. But there is nothing casual about this one. It can be tricky on the knees and can produce powerful reaction in the thighs (which they say is where we store our anger...uh oh!).  From the injury to my left knee last Nov. this pose is always a challenge. But this is the part  about acceptance and the ego. My ego says, "If you can't do all the poses perfectly and all the time then you have failed." Oh ego, your such a needy bastard... 

But the best part of the day was the Dharma Mittra workshop we attended as part of our training requirement with Cara Jepsen. 

It was a transformative experience and produced a powerful emotional response. I encourage anyone to try her weekly class at YogaNow on Thursday at 10am. Some of the poses are challenging but Cara brought a sense of play and lightness that adds a bit of magic. She is an amazing and inspiring teacher.

The Lesson: stay on the journey because you never know when the next 
enlightening person and/or situation will manifest to bring you to a new 
level of awareness.

Namaste Friends,

Steve 

Yoga Teacher Training: Day 2 & 3 reflection

Welcome back!

#2 My mind was telling me, "Maybe this isn't going to work for you."  That old bully in my head was rattling the cage.

I was not as ebullient nor as centered as I was in the 1st class. Plus, I was fighting a sinus/upper chest ailment so I was feeling rather....poopy.Then a thought occurred to me: I don't have to be 100% all the time. My attitude may falter or I may feel out of sorts but it does not mean I have to  turn my will and my life, or the moment, over to a little rough patch. It always passes. 

The Lesson: I can be NOT okay and still be okay. Okay?

Namaste Friends,

Steve 

Yoga Teacher Training: Day 1 reflection

Day 1 - The teachers started with a Yoga Sutra call and response chant. One of them translates to: "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind". Or, put another way that spoke to me, "A blissed out state."

Oh, I sure hope so. That would be sweet!
I am afraid it means devotion to a daily practice, which means commitment. Crap!

But I'm willing to try :)

We then got right into the history of yoga. A progression of how it came to be what we know today. What a dizzying array of methods and "schools" of yoga we have now. Surely anyone who desires to explore this practice can find some form that works for them...of their own understanding.

The particular yoga studio I am studying with is based on the teachings of Patabhi Jois (pronounced Joy - how appropriate), who founded the Ashtanga method. we are also focused on Hatha and Vinyasa. All of them seem to be related and borrowed from each other in some way or another. I am still confused by all of the nuances and differentiations.

But that does not matter, right? Progress...showing up.

The teacher, Amy, asked if anyone wanted to to demostrate "upward dog". Of course I did! So, as the ego steps in during any pose strange things can occur. I really wanted to show everyone how well I could show this pose. Well, you know... I have really worked at this one. I felt myself getting lighted-headed as I powered into the pose, and in fact was not that far off from passing out due to an over extension of the lower back. In other words, going beyond where my body was telling me I could go at that time. Best lesson of the day learned: Ego is not helpful in yoga.

P.S. this is a random, unknown yoga girl...I thought her form was an excellent example

of correct alignment for the pose.

I will keep coming back...

Namaste - steve

Yoga Teacher Training: Day 1

Hello, and welcome to Day 1 of my Yoga Teacher Training Blog. Right now, the morning of the first class, I am drinking coffee...not herbal tea. As I think about what a true yogini should be doing to prepare for Day 1 of teacher training the only thing I could come up with was, "I better clip my toenails."

The gentlemen on the left is Iyengar, a personal hero of mine. He overcame poverty and indifference to yoga within the very country in which it was born, and started his yoga teaching journey when he was around 40. In his 80's he is still doing backbends! He wrote "Light On Yoga". If you want to understand poses and the benefits, this is one book to get.

I know, I can "hear" your eyes roll up followed by, "ugh, yoga!". Oh, I am with you and have desperately assembled numerous reasons to NOT to take yoga teacher training. For example:

• It's too expensive
• I am an old-timer dude and it's creepy
• I should focus on my job and be practical
• It's a ridiculous idea
• It will never amount to anything
• Not everyone in class will like me
• I won't like everyone in class
• etc.

But for anyone who knows me, my love of yoga outweighs my misgivings about stepping into this little adventure. In a sentence: Yoga makes me happy. But is that the goal of yoga, or the intention, as it were? (Ah, intention. That word is often used within yoga class: "What is your intention for today's class". More on that later). I don't know the answer. But I feel better when I practice yoga as opposed to when I do not. Can you imagine how I would be without it?!!!

You know what, let's not imagine.

I read today, "We must focus on the nature of our efforts, and not the nature of the results." Hmm...great!!! Okay.

If you've gotten this far, I thank you. Please follow along with me on this path

as I chronicle my experience. Maybe it will inspire you towards yours :)

I would also like to express profound gratitude to my friends who all replied with

the same answer when I said, "Hey, I am thinking of taking yoga teacher training."

and all of you answered back, "Oh, you totally should."

To me, that is love in action.

Without your kindness it would not have happened.

Thank you.

Namaste,

Steve