Formal yoga teacher training is now over and a few things have become apparent to me.
Backtracking to why I went into this from the beginning. I wanted to deepen my own yoga practice, learn more about yoga and see where it took me. Then the course started and like everyone in it I got caught up in the teaching aspect. But here's the rub: I never actually wanted to teach it, just learn it.
So midway through I had some conflict with myself then around late November I told myself to think again about why I started the training. And it came back to me... I didn't want to TEACH yoga -- especially after we heard how you have to hustle to get students and break into a world full of would-be yoga teachers, etc... reminding me of the hassles it was in my 20s to be in Japan and have to hustle for English students (which I did willingly then in order to stay in Japan, sometimes even taking trains an hour from my home to get to a class). I didn't want to do that anymore. Plus I was retired from teaching (public school) and didn't really need to find more work. So I relaxed and just learned what I needed for myself.
So here is some of my take away from 5 months of yoga teacher training:
1. I don't want to teach yoga.
2. I like to and want to keep going to other people's yoga classes because it relaxes me and helps me in my own practice.
3. I learned a lot about my body and its weird alignment with poses and how to help myself ease into a pose to a fuller extent.
4. I learned that my body type is just as good for yoga as a young thin bendy person's and that whatever I did, it was my yoga.
5. I learned more about breathing and meditation and yoga philosophy and have some areas I want to continue my learning in.
6. I learned to be more patient in class and to see how my first impressions of some people in the class changed over time.
7. I made a few really nice friends that I hope to stay in touch with.
8. I learned that from now on my experience with yoga will be different (in how I see a pose to how I see the world) and I am grateful for that.
9. I learned it is ok to express gratitude for things and that being more positive helps me stay grounded, no matter what people around me are like.
10. I learned how to face some of my fears (handstands) and how to work within my own abilities to over come them. No I still can't do a handstand but I have learned more of what my body needs to do and how a lot of it is practice and patience.
I probably learned a ton more but those are the 10 things that came to my mind as I sit here thinking about the class. Maybe the thing that I realized most of all is: life and everything we do is yoga, not just the poses. Yes Michelle, It is truly ALL yoga! Thank you for an amazing experience!
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Friday, December 25, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
Reviewing...
I started writing this in my "other" blog and realized there was a lot of crossover to this one, so I decided to post it here too. I see I have fallen behind on blogging our yoga teacher training work so I will let this one start the ball rolling again for me...
The other day Tami was giving a workshop in our yoga teacher training session and through what she said reminded me of my Word of the year and the CDF's (core desired feelings based on the Danielle LaPorte book, The Desire Map). I realized it had been MONTHS since I had thought of those and decided to review them and see just where I stood with them...
My Word for the year in 2015 was OPEN. HERE is where I wrote about that.
My CDF's for 2015 were unencumbered, aligned, vibrant, connected, and mindful. HERE is where I list them but I see now I never really wrote more about them.
Now it is the week of Thanksgiving and many people are doing Gratitude challenges and such on Facebook and other social media. Or maybe preparing what they will say on Thanksgiving, the one day it seems we all have approval to feel gratitude. This has always been a hard thing for me. Not being grateful but expressing it. Lately there are a lot more articles online about how developing a gratitude practice is helpful in our lives and after so many years of cynicism I decided to tone my negative voice down and actually give it a try. So I joined the 40 day Gratitude challenge on Facebook and decided to take a look at thoughts and ideas I had set forth for my life and how this year played out.
Ok ok I am so grateful it is satsuma season (photo above)!! But seriously...
Starting with the Word for the year. OPEN. I think I have been more open to things happening this year. Where I think I have fallen down is being more open to accepting people as they are. Still needs work.
For the CDFs, I think I have had only bits and pieces of advancements with them:
Unencumbered: may need to use this one again next year. My house is still messy and I still have way too much stuff.
Aligned: I did better with this one and have a very positive feeling about bringing more yoga into my life. I am feeling more aligned physically but also mentally/spiritually. I have never been a religious person but I still feel there is some spiritual awareness that runs through my core. The yoga teacher training also helped me reawaken some of this curiosity.
Vibrant: I had hoped to do more art this year. Perhaps that is something again for next year. I have been feeling the loss of artistic mojo extremely powerfully these last few months.
Connected: Both good and bad on this one. I have been in touch with some people and relatives I had not been for a while, and some of that has brought sadness as well. Two of my cousins (one on my dad's side and one on my mom's) both passed away within a couple of weeks of each other last month. It makes me sad that I did not make more of an effort to stay connected. But also I have noticed the last few months I have been more introverted and have not gotten together much with people or made efforts to be more connected.
Mindful: This one sort of laid dormant for a while then lately I am being much more mindful in several ways. Part of this is from an expanded awareness of mindfulness through the yoga training program and some of it is taking hold of my food issues and being more mindful of what and how much I am eating again.
So now I am thinking forward to next year and wondering if maybe I just need to give my words and ideas another year to percolate or is it time to choose a new word and cdfs? No hurry, no worries... just a thought that is taking hold this morning.
The other day Tami was giving a workshop in our yoga teacher training session and through what she said reminded me of my Word of the year and the CDF's (core desired feelings based on the Danielle LaPorte book, The Desire Map). I realized it had been MONTHS since I had thought of those and decided to review them and see just where I stood with them...
My Word for the year in 2015 was OPEN. HERE is where I wrote about that.
My CDF's for 2015 were unencumbered, aligned, vibrant, connected, and mindful. HERE is where I list them but I see now I never really wrote more about them.
Now it is the week of Thanksgiving and many people are doing Gratitude challenges and such on Facebook and other social media. Or maybe preparing what they will say on Thanksgiving, the one day it seems we all have approval to feel gratitude. This has always been a hard thing for me. Not being grateful but expressing it. Lately there are a lot more articles online about how developing a gratitude practice is helpful in our lives and after so many years of cynicism I decided to tone my negative voice down and actually give it a try. So I joined the 40 day Gratitude challenge on Facebook and decided to take a look at thoughts and ideas I had set forth for my life and how this year played out.
Ok ok I am so grateful it is satsuma season (photo above)!! But seriously...
Starting with the Word for the year. OPEN. I think I have been more open to things happening this year. Where I think I have fallen down is being more open to accepting people as they are. Still needs work.
For the CDFs, I think I have had only bits and pieces of advancements with them:
Unencumbered: may need to use this one again next year. My house is still messy and I still have way too much stuff.
Aligned: I did better with this one and have a very positive feeling about bringing more yoga into my life. I am feeling more aligned physically but also mentally/spiritually. I have never been a religious person but I still feel there is some spiritual awareness that runs through my core. The yoga teacher training also helped me reawaken some of this curiosity.
Vibrant: I had hoped to do more art this year. Perhaps that is something again for next year. I have been feeling the loss of artistic mojo extremely powerfully these last few months.
Connected: Both good and bad on this one. I have been in touch with some people and relatives I had not been for a while, and some of that has brought sadness as well. Two of my cousins (one on my dad's side and one on my mom's) both passed away within a couple of weeks of each other last month. It makes me sad that I did not make more of an effort to stay connected. But also I have noticed the last few months I have been more introverted and have not gotten together much with people or made efforts to be more connected.
Mindful: This one sort of laid dormant for a while then lately I am being much more mindful in several ways. Part of this is from an expanded awareness of mindfulness through the yoga training program and some of it is taking hold of my food issues and being more mindful of what and how much I am eating again.
So now I am thinking forward to next year and wondering if maybe I just need to give my words and ideas another year to percolate or is it time to choose a new word and cdfs? No hurry, no worries... just a thought that is taking hold this morning.
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