Patience, Acceptance, and Gratitude

When I signed up for my yoga teacher training course, I was super excited to learn. I knew I would be learning much more about the yogic philosophy, meditation, and anatomy, how to put a class together, sequencing and of course taking my own practice to another level. A whole month of indulgence into my asana practice, at least 3 hours practice a day, perhaps some personal time too. All enriched by some great input from a variety of teachers and students. I saw control in handstand, Pinchamayurasana and maybe even jump-throughs, possibly Lolasana, Mayurasana….you get the idea…

You can hear the universe laughing can’t you?

Two months out from the start of this course I had unexpectedly to leave home and the comfort zone of my daily yoga class to visit family. For the first time in a long time, I had to practice by myself. This inevitably led to fear that I “wouldn’t be ready” or was ‘missing out’ by not having access to my own teachers. Of course this is rubbish, you are where you are and you should accept that gracefully with gratitude and a smile. Geographically I needed to be exactly where I was and very thankful that I was able to be. Breathe, smile and enjoy being there and don’t worry, there is a reason for everything even though it may not seem clear at the time.

Fast forward to today and it’s quite easy to see what happened. Apart from having the opportunity to visit friends and family, the universe delivered me not only my own practice but also some great learnings about space and time. Further, it gave me and Wilco the opportunity to take a moment and look around, touch, taste and sample an option for our future that we otherwise might’ve dismissed out of hand.

So, patience, acceptance, and gratitude…lesson learned… well not quite….this clearly is not a case of learning a lesson but concepts that we learn to incorporate daily.

Let’s return to that image of pinchamayurasana, jump throughs, and Lolasana shall we? Three weeks out from learning how to become a yoga instructor and an old shoulder / neck injury returns like never before. I injure my elbow and also my hip. None of these injuries happened anywhere near my mat but kept my off it. Returning home 4 days before the start of my course I hastily hot footed it to my physio. The first class in our course was the first time I had been on my mat for at least 3 weeks and it felt so good to move and stretch. I was so keen to get back into my practice and back to where I had been, but I really did approach with care…although clearly not enough. One week in and I was back to less than square one and practically begging for a miracle which materialized in the form of our anatomy teacher.

As I write this, it’s 4 days since my treatment and I feel ok. I could do a downward dog, but I don't. I don’t headstand in the headstand workshop. I mindfully hold warrior, work on my hips and enjoy some twists and some gentle movements. It's clear I need to take it down a notch for now and work back in at a gradual and mindful pace….breathing, smiling, accepting and being grateful. I know it will give me time to explore a gentler more mindful practice and slow my breathing down. When I look back I will no doubt see more …..

#thoughts #myyogapractice #yogateachertrainingcourse