How am I preparing for my yoga teacher training course.

So my yoga teacher training course starts in little under a month. How am I preparing?

Hmm…

Asana

Well, I am practicing but I am away from my usual class schedule as we are traveling to visit family. This has resulted in some interesting practice locations. I have learned a few things too, for example; carpet is not good for your wrists to practice on. It’s essential to have your own space that’s not a common thoroughfare and yes it can be hard to get off your ass and get yourself motivated. My shoulder has been causing me a few problems which has led to days of little of no practice. Re-enforcing the rest and recuperation lesson is always worthwhile. Yet this of course leads to the “Is this just an excuse?” chain of thoughts… Adding this to me missing being taught and wondering if I would've developed more at home leads to fear that I’m not ready. The outtake from all of this though really is one of the biggest things to learn, that of letting all of this stress go, accepting where I am, and being happy with that. Clearly this has verying degrees of success. The fact that I have a body that lets me practice these amazing postures and that I have the shelter and support to do accomplish it should be all I need to hold in my mind.

Learning Sanskrit

Haha, yes I’m fluent…. I love language actually and am intrigued by Sanskrit and am certainly looking forward to learning more, but I'm very far from fluent. As many of you know, I have been taking part in Instagram Challenges. This has had many unexpected benefits. Not only has it kept my practice flowing with inspiration but I have made a point of looking up each pose in Sanskrit and English. I have built myself a small reference and learned and reinforced some terms I already knew. I've found it interesting that there can be a number of different ways a pose is referred to and translated. I’m looking forward to discussing these !

Reading

A little while ago I asked is there was pre-reading for the course, which there isn't, but I was given a list of books that I might find interesting. This led me to ask some of my other yoga teachers what books they would recommend. You can see this list and my notes on them here and no, none is entitled “How to become a yoga instructor!” I have perused two of these, (Yoga Anatomy and Asana, Pranayama Mudra Bandha) which are more references/handbook type books rather than reading/story books. When I have a bit more of my own space I will head on back to the Pranayama section. This is an area I stuggle with.

I am currently enjoying Autobiography of a Yogi. So far I think this is a delightful book that can be enjoyed by anyone who likes reading factual stories about other cultures. For example, if you enjoyed A Suitable Boy or Wild Swans then you will like this too.

Meditation

No, I haven’t really delved in yet but I have just signed up for the DoYouYoga.com 30-day meditation challenge whose title I find a little odd. However, it’s 30 days of free meditation tuition for 10 minutes each day, what do I have to lose?

I find meditation, like most people I think, quite difficult. Sharon extended some of her classes to help with led mediation but I struggled and mostly got annoyed with myself .... During a Yin class with Cynthia just before I left she spoke about acknowledging and recognizing thoughts for what they were before dismissing them. This helped for the time I concentrated and could remembner clearly what she said but like anything, practice is needed and it’s been something I have been putting off.

I met my friend Rebekah recently in Chaing Mai where she was creating her jewelry collection. She told me about a great app that she had been using to meditate called Headspace. I promptly downloaded it. I figured I would have the time and space to absorb more once in my course. I'm sure between my yoga teacher training course, Headspace and my 30-day challenge I will pick up some thought calming, mind focussing skills…. Let's see…

Buying yoga pants

While back in Thailand I was certainly suffering from pant-envy. There's not so much in the way of yoga clothing in Thailand and certainly not of the funky variety. Add to the fact that I am just 5 ft, mostly capri length black are my only option when I go to Bangkok. Here…. I have discovered ETSY! Not only that, my lovely boyfriend and chief photographer, for my Instagram challenges uttered the fateful words. “You need some funky pants, you’re all in black and I can't see what you are doing” Purchases felt justified!

So, I have four pairs of custom-made-for-my-little-legs pants on their way. Two are hand painted and have their own creative brief, so I have no idea what they look like until they arrive, exciting. The other two are 70s funk inspired! Interested? Check out this page for more info. I will post more photos when they are delivered and of course, they will feature heavily on Instagram too!