03 Nov Diaries of a Yoga Student: Week 7
“What’s one word to describe your experience with teacher training so far?”
Life-changing…
Catalyst…
Loving…
Intense…
Opening…
As we all shared our one-word description of teacher training, I felt each descriptor embody me and a rush of emotion flooded through my body. While we still have weeks to go, we’ve come so far from that first Friday night. As a group of doe-eyed yogis, I’m sure none of us would have been able to put a word to our experience from the start.
There’s been ups and downs throughout the past two months. There’s been breathwork, kundalini, and belly laughing circles to the tune of Boyz II Men. It’s been a life-changing catalyst of intensity and opening thus far filled to the brim with love.
I can’t speak for other teacher trainings as this is the only experience I have, but there’s something special about this place and these people. There’s an alchemical quality to the environment we curate and I am a firm believer that it’s changing each and every one of us for the good. I mean, who would ever imagine getting excited to spend their weekends in a yoga studio?
Training Wheels Are Coming Off
We finished learning the sequence this weekend, so I imagine moving forward we’ll be teaching each other a lot. I can’t speak for the others, but to me, this feels like my training wheels are coming off and we’ll be taking our first few wobbly strides on our “yoga teacher bike.” I’m excited, nervous, and pretty much every emotion in between. I believe in myself, but also want so badly to be a natural at this.
The Fascia!
Ashley Segal joined us on Saturday to go over the human anatomy and how it relates to yoga. Understanding the muscles and joints in a way that is relatable to yoga and our practice made it digestible. Anatomy is really just another piece of the puzzle of being a great yoga teacher. It’s an understanding and an awareness of body types as well as a way to be sympathetic to each person’s uniqueness.
My new favorite term, fascia, was the most intriguing to me, as it embodies all of our muscles, tendons, and ligaments. It also embodies our emotions and so practicing yoga styles, such as yin, helps break through the fascia and ultimately through old emotional patterns and bettering ourselves. Pretty cool stuff, eh?
The Master Lock
To continue on the weekend of education, Johnny Fay visited our class on Sunday to teach us about our three bandhas. Mulabandha, uddiyana bandha, and jalandhara bandha are our three master locks that run from the pelvic floor to the tip of our spine. Each of these bandhas are used as a way to conserve energy and rid ourselves of spiritual ignorance. To master these locks is a way of empowering ourselves and empowering our students when queuing in class.
Both anatomy and bandhas spoke a similar truth about teaching and about our power as an individual. Everything we need and everything we can give is inside ourselves if we take the time to look.