I don't really know what I was expecting but it was certainly different. They had mentioned to me that they would have approximately 15, at most 20 participants and we are now close to 30 people. At first I thought that would be a problem but I actually don't think it's bad to have a big group. There is definitely lots of energy coming from this large group. And we began both Saturday and Sunday at 9 AM with a 1.5 -2 hour practice in a fairly small room so it felt a little like hot yoga. I liked both classes a lot - the first one on Saturday had a very clear message: grounding and starting fresh/new. The teacher even gave us some mantras such as 'we are at the beginning' and 'we know nothing' and repeatedly asked us not to look over to other students but focus on ourselves. And that was an important point she was making - obviously everyone was comparing their own skills to what everyone else was doing - particularly in the split, I was pretty intimidated by some dancers around me who did it easily while I couldn't even remotely get there. But that is not what matters in teaching, in teaching it's more important to see where your students can improve and just accept where everyone is in their practice. For you to be able to accept it with other people, you have to accept it with yourself first.
So after the practice we then started by an introduction of why everyone was there and what they were hoping to get out of the training. Made me feel good as there were lots of other people who didn't really know yet. Some are fairly determined to actually making it a career but many aren't. When they introduced all the requirements to us, I almost fainted. Not only do we need to attend the weekend seminars, the evening classes and the meditation conference calls (yes, you read correctly) - have one tonight so will be able to tell you about it afterwards, but we also have to observe classes, attend classes, do homework/reading assignments, learn the sanskrit names for poses and do an anatomy and yoga history as well as a practical exam - and I believe there are more requirements - oh yes, a meditation and a home practice every day as well as starting to teach private classes right now. On the one hand I'm glad I seem to have picked a serious yoga studio but on the other hand I'm also asking myself how I'll be able to juggle all the priorities over the next 3 months. But then again, I chose to do this so I just need to make sure it is a priority for me going forward. And I do enjoy taking classes so it'll be fine I'm sure.
The scariest thing yesterday was the first teaching experience in front of the entire class: we had been dissecting the surya namskar - the sun salutation for a few hours but when it actually came to teaching it, it was hard and you notice that you get nervous. In vinyasa yoga, the most important is to cue the breathing and while I have done all this stuff so many times, I have not always paid enough attention to the breath work. Before I started the course, I thought the biggest challenge would be to do the poses and at the same time talk - but that's not the issue at all. In fact that's the easiest way to teach - just do it with the class. The bigger challenge is to teach and actually look at the class, walk around and correct students, help them do the best they can. When you are standing in front of the class, doing the exercises yourself, that's not really possible. Oh well, long journey ahead of me. But definitely lots of food for thought and a great experience, meeting many amazing people. One girl for instance works with HIV positive youths in the Bronx and wants to bring the yoga experience to them to help them accept the disease and continue on their life paths.
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