Live, Run, Grow

I can’t believe my first week of Yoga Teacher Training is done already!  I have to admit I was very nervous going in to it on Tuesday (am I good enough at yoga to be doing this? will I be the only one who doesn’t know all about the philosophy and spiritual aspects of yoga? does everyone know all the sanskrit names of the poses, because I sure don’t?!?)

Ummm…this is backwards SUPbend-asana, right?!?!

Yes, I was totally psyching myself out (as I usually do about stuff) but after a week I’m confident that this is exactly what I should be doing right now!

With so much change going on in my life between leaving my job and going back to school I think it was a good idea not to jump right from a desk in an office to a desk in a classroom.  I think I need a slight mental break before heading in to 5 years of school, but at the same time I didn’t want to be sitting around on the couch for 3 months doing nothing…

This Yoga Teacher Training class really is the perfect solution.  From the time I saw the brochure at my studio months ago I was drawn to the idea, but I kept telling myself I probably wasn’t advanced enough to do it and I didn’t really know if I wanted to teach yoga anyways, it just sounded interesting.  As my plan to leave my job continued to formulate and I was leaning towards going back to school for physical therapy it seemed more and more like this Yoga Teacher Training really may be a good fit for me right now…the much needed mental break I was craving and the physical aspect of yoga really would tie in well with my future physical therapy training…so I decided to do it!

A few days before class started I found out a high school classmate would be doing the program as well!  It was so nice to walk in the first day and see a familiar face (and it was great to catch up!  I don’t think we’ve seen each since high school!).

Day 1 started off with meeting our teachers and introducing ourselves to each other.  It was so interesting to learn what brought each person to this class…the stories ranged from those that felt that they were meant to teach and share the practice of yoga to those that were really hoping to learn more about themselves through this spiritual journey.

Yoga is much more than the physical practice of yoga poses and as much as I’m looking forward to learning more about the poses (the sanskrit names. am I doing them right?? how do you teach them to a beginner?) I’m really looking forward to the self reflection that I think is going to come with deepening my yoga practice through this training and learning how to better quiet my mind during practice and carry that off my mat and in to the rest of my day, because this is how I feel now:

The afternoon of Day 1 we started anatomy which I think is going to be a great foundation for the prerequisite classes I’ll need to take to apply to schools for physical therapy.

Days 2 and 3 both started off with an hour and a half yoga practice.  They were both challenging (and I’m definitely sore today!), but it was interesting going to my first classes and starting to look at the practice from the point of view of being a teacher trainee.  I was definitely paying more attention to how the teacher cued the poses and was really focusing on my body position (which definitely led to a little less ‘what’s for dinner’ and ‘I like that girl’s top’ thoughts!).

In the afternoons we started learning about yoga philosophy and taking a deeper look at the poses (or asanas).  I love that our classes are so casual, we all grab a seat on the studio floor on our mats, pull out our books and get to work right there!

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I think I made the right decision.  This is a good place for me to be right now.  I’m really looking forward to the next few months and sharing the experience with my fellow yoga teacher trainees (and you!).