I leave the house at 12:40 to give myself plenty of time to walk to the train, ride the train, walk to the studio. I got there a half an hour early, so I went to Urban Outfitters to waste a few minutes. 1:10, I walk to the studio and decide to take the stairs up 4 flights. When I got to the top, my heart was pounding and I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing here/ this is way over my head. I go into the office and the girl at the desk tells me there are a few other people there. I was the third person there. I unroll my mat and get situated. I take deep breaths to calm my beating heart and racing mind. The room fills up over the next 20 minutes. All women, except for two men.
Eventually 4 women come to the front of the room and lead us in a meditation and chant. It really helped me relax. I was sitting next to one of the guys in class and his Om's are so deep, it resonates in me and I love it.
For the next 4 hours, we talk about our stories. How did we get involved in yoga. Why are we doing the training. Do you have any pets. What is your sign. Some people shed tears, Many people laughed. I went 2nd and of course I became extremely nervous, but calmed down after a few minutes. After our lengthy intros, we had a lunch break around 5. I got to talk to a few girls in the program who caught my interest during the intros.
Next came our binders. They all have a quote and photo on the front, mine has a bird and it says "I am free from fear no matter what the challenge," which is something I'm working on. Fear. I've been afraid of so many things in my life and it's time to not be afraid and to finally live free. We got paired up with one or two other people who have the same binder picture as us. These people became our yoga buddies. Someone to call when you're lost or confused or do not know where training is that day. They also became our practice partners in class when we practice teaching. After going over the binders and hearing a reading we were taught how to teach sun salutations.
I thought this part of the training was lacking. We got in our pairs and practice teaching sun salutations. It felt awkward to teach. It also felt awkward to be the student learning from a new teacher. When I went home I studied my Ashtanga Yoga Practice Manual which has very good directions on how to do sun salutes. I think that along with this training, I will be doing a lot of researching and studying on my own because I want to truly understand every aspect of yoga and sometimes in class I feel like it very one sided. I want all sides.
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