The Journey of a Yogi

I finished my first weekend of yoga training and I am excited to see how things progress. Shy is a really great teacher and I love how he organizes the class. On Day 1 he taught Tadasana, Urdva Hastasana and one of Shy's own poses Spreading Wings. He lead the class through the poses and then we took turns reading the instructions aloud. Next without using the manual the class as a whole taught Shy Tadasana as each of us called out a direction.

We then paired up 3 times with three different partners and taught Tadasana and added the two other poses. In between each time we taught, Shy lead us through the sequence again. He used different language each time which really allowed us to select the cues that we liked and then try out hand at them with our partner.

Come the second day, it was surprisingly easy to instruct these 3 poses and save one directive, my partner gave me some really positive feedback. As we moved on to Plank and Chaturanga Dandasana, it became increasingly difficult. Especially because it's difficult to give instructions quickly as the students hold the pose. So we had to choose which of the instructions is most imperative at each time. Since these two poses are usually repeated throughout a class, you have the option of getting adding additional instructions each time you flow through these poses. What I did not like was that we were not eased in as we were the previous day and that fact that we only had the opportunity to teach it twice - rather than the 3 times on Day 1. The two women I paired with were also not my favorite. So, for me Day 2 was not as exciting as Day 1. I did however stay for Shy's Candlelit Yoga class and it kicked my butt. I left truly energized and sweaty.

Y'all, I don't usually get sweaty.

Especially in yoga. But it made me think about the possibilities and the ways to make a yoga practice both high energy or restorative. We are also bringing in some yoga ethics and traditions and I'm curious to know what I will add to my teaching practice. I do wish I had a little more money to take classes more regularly. Here's hoping that some of the jobs will come through and money will not be an issues.

Mama, really needs her eye brows waxed!

Gratitudes:
1. the return of my roomie
2. my daily tasks
3. interesting areas to walk around the area
4. a full dance card of evening activities this week
5. a washing machine in the apartment