So last weekend in YTT (Yoga teacher training) We had finished up Sun Salutaion A and went onto Sun Salutation B.
After we had gone through Sun B we had all formed a circle and each and everyone of us had gone through Sun A saying the breath and the posture. That was about 20 Sun A's and it was great practice, once it was my turn I felt confident, I felt like I owned what I did, which is how I need to teach my classes. I was definitely surprised by the overwhelming feeling of confidence that I had!
On Saturday after Training I was all packed up and ready to go home. Walked out the door and thought hey! I should take a class, even though my original thought was to go straight home. I am very glad I stayed. The class which was lead by James was a really great class. He is an amazing teacher who adds humor to the class which was really fun.
We were told by our teachers to observe the classes that we take, listen to the cues that they use and the way they link postures. For some reason this is really hard for me. When I do yoga I get into a whole other place. In a class the C1 I took this past week I listened to the cues though. The teacher was great but she had mentioned that she hadn't taught a C1 class in a very long time. In a C1 class the postures normally stay pretty much the same so it was obvious to the few YTT students in the class that the C1 was quite a bit off. She was great though!
Every week I learn more and more about my true passion in life. I say it quite often but I'm so lucky to be on this journey :)
Namaste!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Homework, What yoga means to me.
What Yoga Means
To sum up what yoga means to me on one page is really hard . Ask anyone who knows me, I could talk a strangers ear off for hours about yoga, and trust me I have. Yoga has been such a major part of my life. For 10 years I have been practicing, reading up, being like a sponge trying to gather as much information as I can.
Yoga is an experience, a lifestyle that I have adapted. I try to live my life filled with love and positive actions and thoughts, and I believe that has made and will continue making my life as rich as it is.
Yoga has made my mind at peace. For several years I struggled with an eating disorder that plagued my life. At this time in my life I was practicing for the wrong reasons, I started to get deeper into my practice, and as that happened I noticed I didn't pay attention to the mirror, or how I looked. I drew inward during classes, which made it so that I could focus on other things rather than beating myself up. I learned to love myself, that these thighs were made to stand strong that these hips were made to give birth. I can honestly say that yoga has saved me from a path of destruction towards myself and let me learn to love who I am for what I am.
I share my experiences with many people, I try to educate as many as I can about all the benefits of having a yoga practice. I work at a gym and many of my regulars know about my strong passion for it. I have a regular guest who is the sweetest older woman, she constantly asks me, “Gabby how can I lose weight?” I have given her tips about eating, and cardio, and weights and than I had mentioned that she should do yoga, she didn’t believe me that yoga could help her lose some weight, I let her know that doing yoga alone may not help her drop all the weight she wants to but combined in with her regimen will help, I let her know yoga will help her become more aware of her own body, that it will help her listen to what her body feels that it needs. This sweet older woman has started practicing yoga two times a week regularly and has become more patient and loving towards her body.
This is why I cant wait to teach and share with everyone my passion for yoga. I want to spread the love and light that I have learned to everyone. Yoga means everything to me , it has reached down and grabbed me from my lowest point and made life go on, and going on beautifuly.
First Weekend of Training!!
So the first weekend of training was awesome! Apologizes for not posting one post for each of the days but lets just say that this weekend has been literally go go go!
This weekends training was interesting, we learned about how important it is to have perfect alignment in all of the postures. I noticed such a difference in my own practice when I was set up in perfect alignment. We had also learned how to link the breath in the postures.
We started going through the corepower 1 class going over the integration series, which includes, Child's Pose (Balasana), Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), Ragdoll (Uttanasana), and Standing at attention (Samasthiti) . We were given an awesome structure on how to teach the postures as well (which I wish I would have known when I had taught classes about a year ago)
1. Say the breath (inhale or exhale)
2. Say the name of posture (in english than in sanskrit)
3. Give three cues about the posture (body part, verb, and location)
4. Than three deepening cues.
It was than time to teach these postures! We got paired up and than had to start teaching, which was extremely challenging. All of us being well trained and knowing yogi's someone can say a posture and we could get into it no problem, but teaching it to someone who has no idea what a downward facing dog looks like we needed to know simple yet efficient cues to use. Practice makes perfect for sure in this case. Practicing went ok with my partners but I defiantly have studying to do.
On Sunday we spent most of training starting to go through Sun Salutaion A with the descriptions of the postures, modifications, and different cues we could use to get a new student into the postures. We went through Mountain Pose (Tadasana), Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), and Halfway Lift (Urdhva Mukha Uttanasana)
This seriously is the most amazing experience. My heart is truly filled with love and peace, hard to believe in just 7 more weeks I will be a certified yoga instructor, my dreams are coming true!!
Namaste
This weekends training was interesting, we learned about how important it is to have perfect alignment in all of the postures. I noticed such a difference in my own practice when I was set up in perfect alignment. We had also learned how to link the breath in the postures.
We started going through the corepower 1 class going over the integration series, which includes, Child's Pose (Balasana), Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), Ragdoll (Uttanasana), and Standing at attention (Samasthiti) . We were given an awesome structure on how to teach the postures as well (which I wish I would have known when I had taught classes about a year ago)
1. Say the breath (inhale or exhale)
2. Say the name of posture (in english than in sanskrit)
3. Give three cues about the posture (body part, verb, and location)
4. Than three deepening cues.
It was than time to teach these postures! We got paired up and than had to start teaching, which was extremely challenging. All of us being well trained and knowing yogi's someone can say a posture and we could get into it no problem, but teaching it to someone who has no idea what a downward facing dog looks like we needed to know simple yet efficient cues to use. Practice makes perfect for sure in this case. Practicing went ok with my partners but I defiantly have studying to do.
On Sunday we spent most of training starting to go through Sun Salutaion A with the descriptions of the postures, modifications, and different cues we could use to get a new student into the postures. We went through Mountain Pose (Tadasana), Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), and Halfway Lift (Urdhva Mukha Uttanasana)
This seriously is the most amazing experience. My heart is truly filled with love and peace, hard to believe in just 7 more weeks I will be a certified yoga instructor, my dreams are coming true!!
Namaste
Friday, June 10, 2011
My Journey On the Mat
I have put together this blog to share my amazing journey to become a yoga instructor. Let me first give you a little background on myself. My name is Gabby I live in the wonderful city of Portland. I have been practicing yoga for about 10 years, at the age of 12 I was very curious about yoga and decided to read up on it. Many books and flashcards later I finally decided to actually go and take a yoga class. To this day I will never forget the feeling I had walking out of that class words can't describe it but since that day I knew what my calling was.
A few days ago was my first yoga training. I walked into this excited about the fact that in just eight weeks I will be certified and able to do what I am truly passionate about, but at that first class I learned it would be so much more. This is going to be a spiritual, mind,and body journey. I have a feeling deep inside that after this amazing experience I am going to feel truly balanced.
I really can't wait to share everything I learn, it's hard to believe after years of contemplating where, or trying to figure out when to take a yoga certification course that it is actually all happening right now. Dreams really are coming true.
I'm going to leave you with a saying one of our teachers had told us, "What you observe in the teacher is simply the highest in yourself" which is so interesting because after a good class I always give praise to the wonderful teacher but when you really do sit down and think of it, your the one breathing, your the one doing and holding the postures. Just some food for thought!
Namaste,
Gabby
A few days ago was my first yoga training. I walked into this excited about the fact that in just eight weeks I will be certified and able to do what I am truly passionate about, but at that first class I learned it would be so much more. This is going to be a spiritual, mind,and body journey. I have a feeling deep inside that after this amazing experience I am going to feel truly balanced.
I really can't wait to share everything I learn, it's hard to believe after years of contemplating where, or trying to figure out when to take a yoga certification course that it is actually all happening right now. Dreams really are coming true.
I'm going to leave you with a saying one of our teachers had told us, "What you observe in the teacher is simply the highest in yourself" which is so interesting because after a good class I always give praise to the wonderful teacher but when you really do sit down and think of it, your the one breathing, your the one doing and holding the postures. Just some food for thought!
Namaste,
Gabby
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