First weekend Yoga Teacher Training

"I brought my pencil, gimme something to write on, man." : David Lee Roth 

My first weekend of training is now in the past.    17 more to go.   There is so much to learn..

My class consists of 15 people.    There are 13 women and 2 men.   I would say the age range is 22 to 60.    I do not think I am the oldest but I am in the top 2 or 3.   I actually learned everyone's name by day 2.  That is a minor miracle for me.  

Much of the first day  (class is five hours each day) was spent on Yoga history, the Eight Limbs  (Ashtanga) of Yoga,  and Ayurveda.  Ayurveda is an ancient health system predicated on the balance between mind, body and spirit.  The Ayurveda was all new to me and was interesting.    A good amount of the discussion on it focused on diet and exercise.. We talked about the three general Ayurvedic types (or Doshas)  and then we went through a Yoga flow looking at poses for each of the different types.   I did discover that five hours is a long time to be in one room and to be sitting on a rubber mat on a floor.  Bolsters were necessary along with frequent seating adjustments.

The second day started with basics of two Yoga poses , Down Facing Dog and Chaturanga,  and the breaking each pose down to component parts.   It is interesting to practice something for a long time and to then to look at it at a minute level.   It is also interesting (and I see this often) , to find that one teacher tells you one way of doing something and another tells you a different way.    My shoulders are still sore from the amount of time we spent in Down Dog trying to feel the nuances the teacher was trying to get across to us as well as being the "student" for another trainees.  

In addition to the breakdown of these two poses,  we were started at the foundation level for a Yoga practice and for teaching.   We talked about the foundations of Asana.  This is a general way of looking at a Yoga practice both from a personal practice and from a teacher perspective.    There was a good amount of detail in these foundations and much useful information for me.   Even after reading my notes and typing them up,  it is still hard to get it all internalized.

We ended the long day discussing the five fundamental steps to leading or teaching a Yoga pose.
This was the best part of the class as it brought a paradigm to me that I have been thinking about but have not systematized.  These steps are;

  Center students (breath or another cue)
  Position the posture - getting into the pose
  Begin cue on alignment - adjustments / minor tweaks
  Support the posture
  Guide out of the posture
  Return to centering.


As homework, we were assigned a good amount of reading on Anatomy that we have to do over the next two weeks.  Additionally, we have to prepare the teaching of a foundational Yoga pose.   We have to set up, shape, and cue the pose.  This is the fun part of the learning and why I am here.  A hard part will be picking one.

My feelings are a mixture of happiness that I finally decided to do this with a sense of dread that one day I have to go in front of a group of people and lead, check and adjust them.   There is just so much detail to remember.    My mind is swimming in the middle of all of this.  


Namaste

Prepping for Yoga Teacher Training / Dealing with a back issue.

Because I am a total geek,  I have already bought all my required books for my Yoga teacher training.  (actually a total geek would have probably read them all but I digress) We have a total of six books to purchase and read and they are now piled up on my dining room table.  I found one at a local used book store and bought the rest on line so they came in piecemeal.     The books are a mix of anatomy, Yoga poses,  breathing, and Yoga philosophy and they are all somewhat intimidating.      Holding a full time job and training will be somewhat of a challenge.   February 25 is coming up fast.   

To get ahead of the game, I was able to find some musculoskeletal anatomy classes on www.edx.org.  This is a great website where universities all over the world post on line classes for free.   The list of  universities include such  places as Michigan, MIT, and Harvard.   Free is good and the content is generally as well.   I would highly recommend using the site for general knowledge as there is a wide variety of classes.   I find complexity of the human body is just fascinating so it was a pleasure to take the courses.    This pre-studying has alleviated some of my trepidation about what we will be learning from the anatomy side. 

Over the past few weeks,  I have been dealing with an odd back pain.   I am not certain where it came from,  but it has curtailed my Yoga practice.  If I sit in a certain position and move suddenly, I have a sharp pain in my left lower back.   It is not chronic pain (meaning that it is not there all the time),  and I am able to do all of my daily activities.  I have even taken a 10+ mile hike with no difficulty or pain each of the last two weekends.    As a result of this pain and wanting to give what ever is injured time to heal,  I had not done a flow practice in nearly three weeks.   I have been limiting myself to restorative, stretching and Yin sessions.    I am only now beginning to add some flow back into my practice but I have been fighting the urge to overdo it.    I have not gone to a class during this time either.    I feel it getting better but it has taken some time to get there.

This injury has made me realize a few things.   The first thing is that I have acquired the patience to work with my injury and not fight through it.   Sitting in restorative poses for ten minutes can be somewhat boring and there was a time when I probably could not do it for two minutes.  Secondly, is that Yoga can be practiced in many ways , and just because you have pain or limitations,  does not mean that you cannot practice.    It is possible to work around your limitations and injuries and to also work on healing them through your practice.    The difficult part is to know when to say this is enough for today.  

12 days to go until I start on my teaching journey.   It will take time away from hiking (especially)  and my other non-Yoga activities but I am up for the challenge.   I am looking forward to all that I will learn both about myself , my practice and Yoga.  

Namaste.

My Book Pile

Starting Teacher Training

On February 25,  I will begin Yoga teacher training at Schoolhouse Yoga in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.    This will be a nine month endeavor that I am sure will be more than a  challenge for me.     I am not worried so much about the Yoga itself but rather the time and effort that will be required during over the nine months.  In addition to the 180 hours of class time that I am required to attend,  there is an extensive reading list on anatomy,  breathing,  Yoga poses and Yoga philosophy and a teaching requirement.    Being focused will be critical.

Based upon the attendees at an prospective student meeting I attended,  I may be the oldest person in the training program.    I hope that I can bring a non bendy aging perspective to the program.     What I liked about the offering is that the school is not focused on teaching a set type of Yoga  but rather is focused on having a student learn their teaching style.    I am going to use my learning to help find my Yoga voice, to deepen my own practice and to give me the skills necessary to get in front of a group of people and teach them.   

From my perspective Yoga is about healing.  Body healing, mind healing, and soul healing.    When I started practicing Yoga,  I was not in the best of shape in either of these categories.  My back hurt all the time, I was inflexible,  and I was not in a good place mentally.    Yoga helped me get on a better path in life and it has improved me immensely in numerous ways..  I hope that once I am done training,  I can perhaps impart some of what I have received from my Yoga practice to others.    

I will be writing about my program over the balance of 2017.  


Namaste

Hikes and Yoga

I have always believed in doing more than just Yoga to stay in shape.   I walk the walking paths my park often but my favorite activity is to go hiking in the woods.   Getting out into the woods is great exercise for both the body and the soul.   You get your heart rate up and your mind focuses just on the few feet in front of your face and not so much on the trials and travails of life.   It is a wonderful and very healthy activity that costs nothing but time. 

I belong to some meet up groups here where I live and I try to go every week or so to a longish (5 - 10 mile  or 8 to 16 km) hike with a group.     There are always new and not so new people to hike with.    I even go on 8 mile hikes with a group in the park 5 minutes from my house.  

Now that Winter is here,  hiking takes on a new dimension.   You have to  prepare for the cold but then you do not need to worry about insects making your day miserable.      Any hike where the temperature is higher than 20 degress F (-7 C) can be comfortably done as long as you wear layers and prepare both for the cold and the fact that you will warm up pretty quickly as you go up and down hills.    When the weather gets to say 40 degrees F (5 C) ,  I really only need to wear a few light layers and usually remove one layer, my hat and my gloves. 

Long hikes are physically demanding,  and I generally do a half hour stretching focused Yoga routine soon afterwards.   This routine works the lower and middle back,  quadriceps , hamstrings and shoulders.   It is great to release your muscles from the work that they did that day.     Combining the two activities of hiking and yoga are (for me)  one of the best ways to stay in shape.   I  get a ton of cardiovascular exercise and I  get the streteching I need to keep my muscles flexible.

I was on a 9.1  (15km) mile moderate difficulty hike  (some small hills to  climb) recently   At the end of the hike,  one person commented that her calculator said she consumed 1200 calories.   What a great and fun way to stay in shape.  

Namaste..

Rewards of Fitness.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I made  a day hike in the mountains of Central Maine.   It was a middle distance hike of about 11 miles (18km) with an ascent and descent of about 2500 feet (800 meters).  There was a lot of rock scrambling, a few iron rings to use to climb and lots of up and down and then up again as the mountain had two summits.     Physically it was somewhat of a challenge but neither of us felt over exerted nor out of our element.   It was really great to be in the middle of nowhere with no one around for miles.

This ability to scamper up a mountain without being overly taxed is the reward for taking care of myself.    Hiking is one of my favorite activities,  and the fact that I can put on my hiking boots , grab my poles,  fill a backpack with snacks and water and then hit the woods brings me great joy.      Keeping in good enough physical shape to be able to do long hard hikes today and in the future is a driving factor in my daily exercise.   My Yoga practice keeps me flexible enough  and releases the muscle tightness after hikes.  My daily walks and weekend non-mountain hikes ensure that I have the aerobic capabilities needed to stand at the bottom of a mountain and start walking up it.  

I am not saying that things are  easy.   My knees hurt after long downhill walks,  my feet get sore after hours in hiking boots and my heart rate sure moves up while climbing inclines.   It is a challenge but a rewarding one.  I know it will get harder as I get older, but it will not be impossible.   If I live a long life, I plan to be the 80+ year old you encounter on the mountain.

I think back to when I started my health journey.  Taking a  hike like the one I took would have been much more difficult and my recovery would have been more harder.   When I got home,  I hit my Yoga mat to work out the kinks .   I was happy.  The world was good.

Namaste

Struggling in a Yoga class

I took three straight days of Vinyasa flow classes the past Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.   Taking that many classes of that type in a row is not something that I do very often lately. Many evenings, I take a four to five mile walk and then do a half hour light  stretch flow instead of doing a full flow practice.   Now that the evenings are getting darker here in the North,  I am back to taking classes more in the evening as the park I use does not have lights where I walk.

The third (Monday)  class was very hot  (at least 95f / 35c)  and there were very few moments of rest during the class.    It was a very physical flow with a long balancing series in the middle.   The instructor had us stand  on one leg transitioning between three separate balances  (Eagle to Warrior 3 and finally to Standing Split).   I had a tough time with this little series on both legs.    With the heat of the class and constant need to keep my standing leg strong and myself balanced,  it was not my best Yoga moment.    

Life would be great if we could do everything well but obviously that is not the case.   In my Yoga practice,  I will always have struggles in difficult poses as well as easy ones some days.    I have even lost my balance in a standing Mountain Pose.   The benefit of a Yoga practice is that you learn to accept the challenges and difficulties that poses give you and work toward bettering yourself in them.    Monday on the mat was a hard one,  but maybe the next time it will be easier as I will be a little stronger and a little more balanced.   

Yoga is about incremental improvements.    It takes work and dedication on the mat to make significant progress in your practice.    You suffer challenges and you work to overcome them.   I have never said   "I cannot do that pose ever" but rather I have always worked to break down poses to their component parts to make progress in them.    It is not easy, but that is why I practice.   



Namaste.

Eagle

 

 

Warrior 3

Standing Split

The Amazing Twisty Spine

I love doing spinal twists.  The benefits from doing spinal twists have been one the best things that Yoga has given me.    The release that I get from lying, seated and standing twists feels wonderful.   If my lower back is sore , a twist is just the right medicine.  Lying on my back, crossing one knee over the other and then twisting is a great release.    My range of motion is so much greater then when I started practicing Yoga, and my posture is more upright.   Twisting has been a great boon to my life.

Such a great release!!

What a great creation the human spine is.  It has three separate sections  (cervical, thorasic, lumbar plus the sacrum)  that combined allow human beings to stand erect, to walk, to swim, and to bend.   It allows us to  have a huge range of motion:  a flexible spine can bend 35 degrees laterally (sideways) , 30 degrees backwards (extension)  and 75 degrees forwards (flexion).  The spine can twist and bend to allow us to do the normal and sometimes abnormal activities that life demands from us.   It can, however, also be a source of great discomfort if we do not take care of it.    Many older and even younger adults live with chronic back pain either from spinal or muscular issues in their backs.    One of the reasons I started practicing was to prevent the periodic injuries and the continual pain that I had in my back.  

I follow the mantra of "Good Spine,  Good Life", because if you have spinal or back issues,  your life can be miserable.     While I sometimes have soreness in my lower back, I generally feel good with my range of motion and my ability to comfortably turn and bend.     Most days I do a 15 minute series of spinal and back muscle exercises that works on all different directions using  bends and twists.    I have built this routine up over time and always start my yoga practice with the series.   If I am busy,  have done a long walk, or I am just too unmotivated to do a full hour of practice,  I sometimes just do this routine.     It works well of me and I continually add new poses when I find something new that works well. 



There are many twists out there for us to use.   It is great for our backs and for our lives.  



Namaste...

Good Spine, Good Life...