Yoga Teacher Training: The First Weekend
I’m not much of a writer, in fact, I’ve never blogged before, so when I was asked to write a blog about the yoga teacher training I figured, why not?
I’ve been thinking on what I wanted to write about for the past few weeks since the completion of the first teacher training weekend. Do I write about what I learned or how I felt during the experience? I’m going to try to accomplish a little of both.
So let’s dive in!
Yoga teacher training started on Friday October 7th and I was unable to go. I instead had to attend a wedding that had been scheduled prior to the training. I was bummed about missing out on the first class, but when Saturday rolled around I was super pumped to get my knowledge on!
This class is comprised of 8 people and it’s a fairly diverse bunch. We come from all over and getting to know these people who are also passionate about yoga was, and I’m sure will continue to be a fun experience.
As with all Saturday and Sunday teacher training, it begins with a yoga class. Knowing that I will soon be teaching others caused me to participate and observe these classes in a slightly different light. I now am paying specific attention to the words and phrases that are used to describe a pose and the mindfulness that comes with the attention I need to bring to sustaining the proper form.
After class was over, my fellow yogi’s in training and I got set up with our bolsters and books and settled in for our training. Some set ups were pretty elaborate and I think we need to compete on who can set up the best bolster throne. Since I was not at Friday’s class, we all introduced ourselves and I met Monica who is assisting with the teacher trainings alongside June.
With little preamble, we dove right into the material. Here are just a few of the things I learned over the next two days
*Yogash Chitta Virtti Nirodhah means “yoga calms the fluctuations of the mind”
*Vedic Philosophy is about there being an absolute reality, there is pure bliss in the universe, and it is our birthright to be blissful
*Yoga is about being able to maintain a pose without struggle (effort and ease)
Just getting a small portion of this information was invigorating. I like to understand how things work and feel empowered when I learn something new.
On top of all this lingo, we actually started to practice teaching each other yoga poses which is incredibly nerve wracking even though we are all in a safe environment and going through the same curriculum. I didn’t want to make a mistake, but I also know that I will be making plenty in each training I attend.
Even though I was nervous about it, teaching others and being taught by the people in my class brought us closer as a group. We certainly had a lot of laughs at our own expense and learned a lot about the teaching process of a full yoga class (even though we are a few weekends away from that).
Overall, this first weekend just strengthened my conviction that the teacher training is the right path for me. And it has been helpful to keep in mind that we aren’t perfect at every pose, but Yoga is much less about trying to be perfect, and much more about striving to be better in both mind and body. That’s something I’d recommend keeping in mind whether you are teaching or being taught.
- Laura