This last week was very emotional as I finished up my yoga teacher training. I am so happy to have my weekends back especially with this warm weather, but I will miss spending the weekend in the yoga studio with all the wonderful people I met. It was study, study and study till the test finally came.
I am a week late on recapping this, but still wanted to write it. Backing up to Friday, April 24th after work. We began yoga teacher training with a student led class and then we ate. We had a wonderful potluck and everyone brought delicious food. We watched a movie talking about the yoga concepts we had learned. I actually thought it was a great way to wrap things up right before the test as I had been studying and seeing the terms on the screen was a great reminder of them. I made these cookies and this awesome variation on guacamole to go with chips.
We ended at 9 and then headed to the train. My train arrived on time, but then after leaving the city, we ended up on the wrong track for the next stop so we had to wait and reverse. In addition to that, I somehow ended up in the loudest car ever on the train with some fan that seemed broken. Eventually during our wait to reverse, I switched cars and it was the best peace and quiet ever! I also munched on some leftover cookies as I waited and stayed calm. As soon as I got home, I crashed right into bed.
April 25
Saturday morning I did some grocery shopping and tried to study. Our test was actually open book and I had marked my binder up with tabs for everything. This day was a little different for training as well since we had to meet up at the other studio, which I used to live by but now am about an hour away from, so I was not too happy about the driving. I left early and headed to Panera. My internet was down in my apartment so I used the Panera wifi and got an awesome lunch and my free birthday cookie.
At least that studying was a bit more successful being in a different area to spread out all my notes.
Then I headed to the studio at noon. We began with another yoga class, which was awesome. I honestly did not do much yoga in April since I moved away from the studio and was focusing on studying and getting back into weight lifting. After that we had a workshop with Wah. She is basically like a yoga celebrity I guess. Her music is often played at the studio where I did my training and is great for yoga classes. I want to get some of her CDs or something for when I teach. We did a bunch of chanting and partner work which was a lot of fun.
After the 3 hour workshop, we had a 3 hour break before Wah’s concert at the studio. It was a bit annoying to have such a long break and a late night when we had the test the next day, but we did what we could. Most of my yoga group went out for Thai food around the corner from the studio. The studio is in a little town so the stores and restaurants are pretty small. When we asked to move tables for a group of 9, it seemed like we took up half the restaurant. Service was also pretty slow for our group as we watched groups of two come in after us and leave before us. However, it was great to be enjoying a meal outside of the yoga studio with others and talk. The time really did fly by. When we finally all got our food, we ate it so fast (so no picture). It was delicious, but I probably wouldn’t go back there again due to the price of my pad thai.
Afterwards, some people wanted something sweet. Well, Village Treats happened to be across the street so we checked it out. I can’t eat ice cream, but as soon as I walked in, I saw chocolate chip cookie dough truffles and I was thinking, wow that sounds good. Again we took up the whole ice cream shop waiting in line but it was worth it. Though it was a bit of a chilly day to be eating ice cream for those who got some, but that cookie dough truffle was amazing!!! It really was like a partially baked cookie in a ball, dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. Perfect!!
I can tell you that was eaten in probably .25 seconds but I had to take a picture because sprinkles…and also it is probably best I never knew about this place when I went to the yoga studio so much.
We got back in time for the concert and we weren’t sure what to expect, but actually I really enjoyed it. I only stayed for half of it though because while the music was awesome it was also kind of putting me to sleep because of how relaxing it was and with it being dark outside and a long drive, I needed to head out.
I got home at 10 and headed right to bed to try to sleep well before the final test.
April 26
Sunday morning I got up and made some protein pancakes and then cleaned (to procrastinate studying…). I took the train an hour earlier and hung out at a coffee shop by the studio for a bit, talking to a few other yogis in my training. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was trying to drink tons of water too as I felt a headache starting which may have been a combo of stress, nerves and the heat. Finally it was time for the test.
As soon as I got it and started going, turning pages and putting down answers, I knew it was going to be ok. I knew exactly where to find everything. Some things couldn’t be found in books and I would say the most challenging was creating 2 10 pose sequences. I finished in 2.5 hours and used about another half hour to review everything. Then I flipped it over and was done.
I made it through despite my head hurting a bit. After everything was done, I felt relieved and just hoped I passed. Brian drove down and picked me up from the studio which was way better than waiting an hour for the train, especially with my headache really coming on.
Honestly I got home at 6:30pm and laid in bed. I didn’t fall asleep, I just didn’t feel well. Headache, tired, stressed possibly. I felt really warm and thought I must be sick, like I was overheating. I even thought there was a chance I would have to call into work sick Monday [I really should have because the extra day of rest probably would have really helped me]. I took Tylenol and that eventually kicked in and I felt better around 8pm. I then got out of bed at 9 to watch the kick off of the Food Networks Spring Bake off. (Yes, priorities).
I went back to bed at 10, to sleep this time and slept amazingly well, which was good.
With Brian staying for the week, I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could, but I still had work. Lately I had not been looking forward to work. I didn’t realize how many emotions I was balling up inside me until mid week when I finally broke down while talking to Brian about many things. Brian is much more laid back than I am, which helps me in some ways when I am creating too much stress for myself. After Wednesday, I really felt more like myself again and each day got better. After our long chat that night, I had also signed up for the free stress workshop by Alisha at Alisha’s Appetite. It really could not have been better timing. Sometimes you just need reminders on what to do to live with every day life stressors, etc.
May 1
Friday morning, all the yogis received an email that we all passed. That was good to hear. We were told as long as we didn’t hear anything, we were to show up for graduation. How awful would it be if we showed up and didn’t graduate?!
After that email, I was even more relieved. Friday evening we gathered in a circle, chanted, congratulated each other and reflected on our experience. What is amazing to me is that on May 2, 2014 was the day I showed up to the Yoga Garden for the teacher training meeting, only my first week living in the Philadelphia area and still jobless at the time. Now a year later, I am over 10 months at my current job and spent the last 6 months on weekends training and studying yoga. While I still have not figured out entirely what I want to do with my life, I am really happy to know how far I have grown in the last year.
Since this is long enough, let’s end with a few pictures. My teacher took a bunch of group photos and hopefully will email them to us soon. We enjoyed a dinner after our graduation and plan to meet up for coffee/tea once a month to get together and plan a 1 year reunion. It will be weird not seeing everyone so often.
Also, another note, I met those two lovely ladies in the picture on May 2, 2014. Great to be graduating with them!! Also one of my teachers is photo bombing in the background 🙂
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