Tag Archive | Teachers and Centers

Psoas – Pso Psore!

Mar26

My psoai (plural of psoas muscle – and yes, I looked up what the plural of that word is) are killing me.  Along with just about every muscle I knew I had, and some others that I was not aware existed.  Holy moly.  The more amazing part is probably that none of the soreness is bad soreness.  It is all the good-sore that comes from a really great workout.  4 hours of yoga on Saturday, plus an hour of hula hooping, and 3 hours of advanced practice yoga on Sunday = Kate’s muscles are “wicked tired”.  I went to a friend’s class tonight, which I knew would be calming, because I think my muscles would have shaken right off the bone if I tried my usual class.

So, Saturday was an open house at my favorite yoga studio (Shiva Shakti).  The lineup was great – hula hooping (it is actually a great workout if you try to keep that crazy hoop moving), restorative yoga, 2 Anusara classes, and a short vinyasa class. I went into it kind of thinking, “each class is pretty short, so how crazy can it be?”  I should know better.  The two Anusara teachers are amazing at tailoring the class to be great for both beginners and advanced practitioners… so as usual I felt the need to push myself far.  I was super excited, though.  I don’t know if you remember one of my goals from when I first started teacher training.  Basically I want to be able to do the full expression of dancer’s pose.  I still cannot do that.  However, I am slowly starting to pick away at non-standing versions of this pose, such as eka pana rajakapotasana.  I can get one hand on the foot, and the foot up to my head.  I will have this within the next 2 weeks or I will go crazy.

Image

Then, on Saturday night, I taught a few of my friends, all pretty much beginners, a class.  I love teaching, but it is definitely tougher when you know the people in the class, and especially when the class is at a non-standard location (aka my living room, as opposed to a yoga studio).  It is just very weird, and conversation tends to disrupt the flow.  Good practice for a community class, that’s for sure!

Sunday… what can I say about Sunday?  If you ever get a chance to take a class with Charlotte Clews (http://wildopenheart.com/), do it.  Do. It.  In addition to an amazing advanced practice, centering on deep hip openers and arm balances, she gave us great advice about things to do to remain injury-free.  These are the little tips and tricks I love.  I never want to cause injury.  She gave us great tips for wrist and shoulder health that I have never heard before.  Unfortunately, it is really hard to explain in writing.  I will try to figure it out, but for now, you will have to trust me.

All in all, an amazing weekend. I am sad it is over, but will take the things I have learned with me through this yogic journey. Namaste.

Connections

Mar5

As with any community; whether it is a religious group, job industry, college, etc; making connections is everything. These are like-minded people who are motivated by the same principles and probably even have some of the same goals that you do. It amazes me that the yoga community is not only incredibly driven, but also that it is the most welcoming, helpful, inspiring community of which I have ever been a part. (And I have been part of some pretty legit communities…. err, not leper communities. Is it weird that this is where my mind went..?)

Anyway, a few things that have happened recently are worth sharing, because it warms my heart so much. I have come into contact with so many amazing people during this journey and really cannot believe how blessed (or non-religious equivalent of such) I am.

  • I showed up to a class run by one of my favorite yoga teachers (read: role model) the other day. She looked at me and said, “Want to teach the [90 minute] class today?”. I had zero plan. Terrifying. But you know what? I did it. And there were some snags along the way, but did anyone notice, point, and laugh at me? No. Of course not. The fact that I even filled the entire 90 minutes (and I repeat, with no sequence prepared), boosted my confidence SO much. My teacher gave me some really great feedback after the fact as well. The best part about this is – I would LOVE to teach at this studio. If I were ever to open my own yoga studio, I would model it after this one.
  • One of my YTT friends runs her own business, doing boot camps. She will start offering yoga soon, too, and let the class know that we should let her know if we ever want to sub or anything.
  • Another YTT friend knows people who are certified to teach CPR and they will come and teach us for a reduced fee. Yay!
  • Yet another YTT friend currently works as a yoga instructor and asked for subs. A few of us replied and went with her to the studio to watch the class and also meet the owner. Apparently this facility opened in January, and they are getting to the point where their clients are asking for more classes. So now he is happy, because he was introduced to 4 more yoga instructors, and we are happy, because there is job potential there.
  • Oddly enough the woman who already teaches yoga also graduated from NYC’s Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Before I decided to do YTT, I was thinking about getting a degree from there as well. I just chose to do yoga first because it was a quicker program, and I figured I would be paying for a crapload of yoga anyway. :) Crazy!

If you want to become a yoga teacher – I would really suggest that you take a teacher training course that has the full 200 hours and has a larger number of participants. Honestly, I was nervous about how big my YTT class is. I thought that it would be better for it to be intimate, since there would be more one-on-one time. False. The larger number of people in the course (17!!) has allowed me to come into contact with some great people who have shared amazing gifts. This includes both some of the stuff I talked about above, but also – everyone has a very different style of teaching. The large number of people in the class has provided me with invaluable information on what I like, what I do not like, and general ideas about teaching.

I am truly overwhelmed with all of the love, caring, and helpfulness of this community. Love, light and happiness to everyone.

Yoga Therapy

Mar4

I may be a bit guilty of wanting to practice/teach a specific type of yoga every time I go to a class based on a new style or have a YTT workshop.  I get excited, what can I say?

Today, though, we had a workshop on Yoga Therapy, specifically middle-aged individuals (defined as anyone between the ages of 40-70).  It sounded interesting enough on the syllabus, but holy cow.  When you practice yoga therapy, you choose postures that will help your student based on their dosha (mind/body type), their current medical status, and their long term goals.  This is exactly what I want to do.  I mean, I want to teach group classes, too… but I really think that this is the thing that I am passionate about. To me, it seems like the same sort of idea as yoga for trauma, but with an even closer human connection, and can be more of a physical nature, depending on the individual.

In the workshop, groups of us were given cards with a case study on them.  Each was about a student with some sort of issue (menopause, stroke with one-sided weakness, etc) and we had to come up with 3 postures to teach them that would both help them with their issue, as well as mesh well with the dosha we thought they had.  So, my team got the case study of a a stroke victim.  It made life challenging, because every posture had to be majorly modified in some way, and we needed to use poses that she would be able to do, but would also build strength back. It seems like this avenue is a great blend of serenity, helping people out individually with real problems, and critical thinking.

I do not know where this yogic path will lead me, but this seems like it could be a very promising avenue.  I loved every second of it, and apparently my team was fairly good at it as well.  Things to think about! :)   Happy Sunday, yogis!

 

 

100%

Feb29

One of my favorite yoga teachers always says, “Respect your body’s limitations. Any sharp pains should be a signal to stop or adjust what you are doing. But, aside from that – push yourself to get to the fullest expression of the pose that you can and your practice will heighten by leaps and bounds.”

 

Most of the time I put my all into the practice.  Most of the time.  Sometimes, it is really hard to get there. However, knowing that teacher training is 33% over (yikes!!!), I have been really trying to put this into practice even more so lately… and Holy. Crap.  On Monday, I had a great practice that focused on prep for hanumanasana (splits).  It was amazing.  I am naturally quite flexible, but I am out of practice on splits since quitting legit dance 6 years ago.  I am not quite at the level of reaching my hands to the sky… but I will be.  I felt like I was made of elastic.

Hanumanasana - Monkey pose हनुमानासन

 

 

Until Tuesday night.  At which point, the muscles of my legs became  sadomasochists and started yelling, “OHMYGOD it hurts so much! Please do it again!!”  Naturally, I thought, “Y’all are crazy.  I am going to stretch you and let you hang out back there and let my arms have some of the fun.” At which point, I proceeded to do 18 Sun B’s, spending extra time in chaturanga each time.  For those who do not know, Sun B has 3 chaturangas (low tricep push up) per series.  So, 3 chaturangas * 18 Sun B’s = 54 tricep push ups (in addition to all the downward dogs).  Guess what?  Now my arms and shoulders hurt.  That is a lot of tricep work!  A lot!

Now every muscle in my body is sadomasochistic… except for my abs I guess.  Maybe I should do some pilates now and get those into the mix too.  Anyway, I got a little distracted there for a minute.  The point of this post is – YES – your body/mind may hate you a little bit for a while after you give your practice (whether it is yoga, your relationships, whatever), but the benefit is incredible.  Most of the time, you can see a nearly immediate improvement in your status.  You will get to places you never thought you would go if you just put your mind to it.  Doesn’t get better than that! :)

 

New Chapters

Feb19

Do you ever have a day (or in my case, weekend) when you feel like you have turned a corner in your life?  Even in the midst of the usual Sunday night mean reds, I am excited and hopeful about the direction I feel my life is taking.  I honestly think that I my life course is irrevocably changed.

Before you get all excited for me – no I did not meet Mr. Right.  Or Mr. Right Now, or Mr. Eff it I am Getting Old So I should Probably Just Settle for this Dude.  The life plan still includes a probable ending of hanging out with my (future) hoard of cats.

On Saturday, I bought a new car.  My old car was the last major thing I had in my life from my previous relationship.  Each little step forward I have taken has made me realize just how devastating the relationship (and breakup) was to my psyche.  I am finally (after a year and a half), really feeling like I am taking steps forward.  As soon as I left the dealership with my sweet new car, it was as if a weight had lifted off me.  In thinking about it a bit more, the car was not only a reminder of that relationship, since I bought it towards the end, but how I felt in the car echoed how I felt in the relationship – unsafe.  (Important: I never felt afraid of my ex or that he was going to hurt me… I mean I did not feel safe emotionally.)

We had a workshop about yoga for trauma today and I learned just how amazing yoga is for people who have experienced traumatic experiences.  I figured it was probably good, but I had no idea how amazingly well the studies that have been done on it came out.  Incredible.  The normal style of teaching is modified in some very logical ways to help out people who have survived terrible things. I had not realized that, in addition to my personal feelings about yoga and all of its benefits, that it could have a natural tie to my major course of study in college (psychology).  So… maybe I can figure out a way to use my degree (other than just for the liberal arts bit).

Then, in our second workshop of the day, the teacher was talking about how there is no real need for certification to teach yoga.  (Most studios will require it, since they can determine that you have learned everything you need to know to be a successful yoga teacher, and that you are not just some slob off the street.)  That means… I could start teaching my friends/family now and even potentially start looking for jobs. Yay!  Pretty exciting stuff… sooo if you want to hire me to teach… :)

Love and light.

Decisions!

Feb13

So, I have been totally slacking on this.  Part of it is because I:

  • Didn’t have a car for half a week, then I
  • Got sick, then I
  • Went to St Louis to see my best friend

Fail on the blog.  Sorry about that.

Quick recap of the recent yoga-ing… not surprisingly I am still loving it. Every day brings new challenges and inspirations.  I won’t go into which postures specifically, but I get such a thrill when I can finally do something that I have been working on for a while.  And apparently, all this yoga is doing good things to my body.  I see myself everyday, so I only feel myself getting stronger with every class, but apparently it shows in how I look as well.  Yay.  Getting back to how I was in the dancing days… but better. :)

Anyway, that isn’t the point of my post today.  It is really to put a question out there to the universe and see what happens.  The yoga studio at which I am taking my teacher training is offering a short short on teaching yoga to kids.  I definitely need to speak with the woman running the course first, but I am kind of intrigued by it.  Since I love lists (obviously)… here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

  • I used to love assisting for kids’ dance classes
  • The course is in March, which potentially means I could start looking for a job teaching kids in April
  • I think I have the idea that having the knowledge of teaching multiple types of yoga would be good, mostly because that is how my dance teachers were back in the day.  The vast majority taught both older kids and little kids.
  • Offer (what I believe to be) a safer and less mentally damaging way to get kids active… dance was great, but let’s be honest here – the culture is in no way nurturing

Cons:

  • Fear that I cannot control a class of little kids
  • The type of yoga that I want to teach most is for adults – challenging and inspiring a group of people who think that “new dogs cannot learn new tricks”.  I know I do not want to get myself into a niche of only teaching kids

Hmm decisions decisions. I am really hoping that speaking with the teacher helps a bit.  Like all of the other decisions that have ended up being good for me (even if they seemed terrible for a time), I will do my research and leave it up to the universe to guide me.  My trust in the universe / women’s intuition / whatever, has been good to me so far, so I will place my fate in it again.

The impossible is possible

Jan11

I don’t understand how I can have a breakthrough at literally every class that Gwenivere Lovewell teaches.  If you are seriously into yoga, and live in the Boston area, I highly recommend going to Gwen’s classes.  She has a great way of making sure that every person in the class is challenged, but also providing the modifications necessary for less experienced practitioners.  I witnessed a few other students’ breakthroughs as well.

Don’t get me wrong – I have had breakthroughs at a number of other classes.  Even when there is no true “breakthrough”, I attempt to deepen my practice at every class I attend, so I almost always do something better than I did it the day before.  Well, except for those days that I just keep falling down.  At Gwen’s classes – there is ALWAYS an “oh my god i never thought i would do this in a million years” moment.

Oh hey, I can do this now!

Kidding.  I wish I could do this. (Please look closely at this – I didn’t realize how ridiculous it was at first…)

This is probably the major thing that keeps me coming back to yoga on a daily basis.  Sure, I love the idea behind it, its calming effect, and the idea that we are all part of something larger than ourselves.  However, these aspects of yoga are far less motivating when you are comfortable in your warm bed than the idea that today, you might do something you previously thought was superhuman.  Who wouldn’t get out of bed for the chance to feel, if only for a few minutes or hours, like you are so powerful that you can do anything? Admittedly, my threshold of “superhuman” is pretty low, but as I said yesterday, it is all in my perception. If you want to start doing superhuman poses too, just change your perception!  See?  Everything really is connected… :)

Namaste