yoga teacher training

Yin Yoga Weekend 4, a Funeral and State Fair

August 29, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Popping in late on this Monday. I had quite the packed weekend, which was really fun and left no time for writing like I normally do on weekends. My weekend started on Friday evening with yin yoga training. We were originally going to have 3 hours on Friday and 3 hours on Saturday, but we took a vote and had 2 hours Friday and 4 hours on Saturday as that worked better for the teachers.

Friday evening passed by quickly as we went over some more poses and started to talk about the superficial back line and myofascial release in the body. It was a lot of information, but also really interesting. My teacher got a lot of the information from the book Anatomy Trains by Thomas Myers. I am very tempted to buy it to further my anatomy learning.

Once yoga training ended at the early hour of 7pm, I headed to Wegmans to stock up on groceries for the week. I should be getting back into a more normal routine this week after the funerals and visitors the last couple weeks. I am excited to get back into meal prepping as well.

When I got home, I had some snacks and Brian made us mojitos again since we had all the ingredients and it was just nice to relax with a mojito in the evening. I watched a bit of the movie Grown Ups 2 before my eyes started to close and I headed to bed shortly after 10 (late for me).

Saturday morning we tried to sleep in a bit, but of course the dogs were in and out of the bedroom and so by 7am, I was out of bed and making some protein pancakes for breakfast. I wanted something filling for the morning.

Around 9am we headed out to the church for calling hours and the service for Brian’s grandmother’s funeral. The service ended around noon, just as my yoga training began, but I mentioned I would be late. I skipped the lunch and quickly ate some vegetarian sushi (because I’m not an actual sushi fan, but avocado sushi is delicious) in my car and headed around the corner to the yoga studio. I was there around 12:15, so they had barely started.

For our last day, we got tennis balls and worked on a few myofascial releases with partners. I was already familiar with some of the positions as I have been using Yoga Tune Up balls for about 4 years now. I even had a set of my balls (yes we talked about all the ball jokes in training too…) with me that I passed around to show the different grip texture. Mine are more similar to a lacrosse ball and yes they cost more, but I was introduced to them in a yoga class in the Chicago suburbs and fell in love. We would start class with them for about 10 minutes rolling out our feet and shoulders and it’s the hurt so good feeling.

After about an hour of myofascial release and some lecture info, we took a quick break and were told that we were going to do an hour yin class. Then we came back in the room after break and were told WE were going to teach it. No notes, no plan, no specific order of people. This, to me, was our surprise test I worried about and I definitely didn’t relax as much in the yin class, but the class did go pretty smoothly considering. We had exactly 10 people in training which allowed us 6 minutes each for teaching and that teaching goes fast when you are holding a pose for 3 minutes.

After a wonderfully “on the fly” class put on by us, we filled out surveys, took a group picture (that I wish I had a copy of) and ended with some of our thoughts in a circle with each other.

I am so happy to have completed another training and I really learned a lot about what yin yoga is through this training that I feel I am getting more of the benefits when I attend a class.

When I arrived home from training, I discovered the boys asleep in their beds. Since it was nearly dinner time and I had a small lunch, I decided to get right to cooking, but cutting up veggies and making Erin’s zoodle pad thai. Though I made a sesame soy sauce since I couldn’t find the fish sauce that I am sure is somewhere in the kitchen. I had a couple GIANT zucchinis and I used about 1 whole one and it made a ton. Topped with sprouts and cilantro to eat and it was amazing!! I am loving having all the veggies again.

I also roasted some sweet potatoes. I am excited that we are heading into squash and potato season. I used to hate both of those items, but I learned in the last few years that it was because of the way they were served to me. I am looking forward to spaghetti squash and more roasted potatoes.

An hour and a bit of cooking and finally Brian got out of bed. He enjoyed a taste of my zoodles but then I packed up the rest for leftovers for dinner for the week.

Shortly after I finished eating, Brian’s mom came home with some of her girlfriends. I enjoyed chatting with them and eating some desserts they brought home with them that were leftovers from the lunch I missed.

To make the evening more eventful, Brian ended up having to fix an oil filter on a car and then the girls were off on the road. It was another late night. I think we eventually headed to bed at 11 after watching some tv.

Sunday came and I headed to the yoga studio for a class and work. My last day of working there for now as the drive is getting to be too much and I just can’t make it out there with all my activities. When I returned home at 11, I changed and then Brian and I headed to Syracuse for the New York State Fair. I am going to cover that in a separate post as I have many photos to share. Here is a sneak peak though.

It was a fun outing as we haven’t gotten out in a while and then we followed up with dinner at a friend’s house in Syracuse. We got home at about 9:40pm and then it was time to make my lunch for work and get to bed.

All the late nights over the weekend made it hard to get up Monday morning, but I made it through the day. All in all, the weekend was really good and scheduling worked out well. I am excited that for labor day I don’t really have plans and therefore will have a bit more relaxation time.

Yin Yoga Weekend 3 and a Week of Rest

August 21, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Another weekend of training in the books. This weekend went by so fast. I was a little worried about training after such an emotional week, but it went well and I enjoyed it. Friday evening we went over a few modifications for yin when pregnant and then we talked about creating a sequence. We were split up into groups of 3 or 4 and got to work. Two and a half hours flew by as we were assigned a physical body part (my group got legs) and then picked out poses and created a sequence together. We didn’t even really have time to run through the sequence. It was a lot of brainstorming.

I do have to say though, it is a bit easier to piece together a yin class, especially once you have a focus, because there are fewer poses and you only get time for about 12 poses in a class with the long holds. The challenge for me is talking. Talking about why you are doing the pose and what is the pose working. It is a different style of teaching for sure. In our groups, we split the sequence so that we each had 15-20 minutes of teaching and we had to be ready to teach Saturday.

After the emotionally draining week, I came straight home and Brian was home. I gave him the suggestion of making mojitos and I was still wide awake and ready for a snack. We enjoyed some homemade mojitos and I had a slice of leftover chocolate cake and some chips and salsa. Random snacks, but delicious. Then we just had some quiet time, just us and it was nice. Amazingly I stayed up until 11.

Saturday morning I took the opportunity to sleep in. Normally I would weight lift before training, but I knew I wanted to run through my portion of the sequence we created and I actually took a week of rest (more on that below). We also learned that Brian’s grandma passed early in the morning. She was very sick and in the hospital for the past 3-4 weeks. While it is awful to lose another loved one, this one we had time to prepare for and was the best option to pass peacefully. Yes this means I have another funeral to attend this coming Saturday and then I will really be ready for a new month and a new season. This month has been rough and emotionally draining.

Shortly after Brian got up, he headed up to his aunt’s cottage with his brother to work. Brian’s mom headed out to work on funeral plans and I was home alone (with the dogs). I cleaned up my yoga mat, as Lucy has been enjoying sleeping on it so it was a bit dirty. I then wrote up a bit about what points I wanted to cover and practiced saying it aloud and running through it. I loved being home alone so that people didn’t think I was crazy talking to myself haha.

I had just enough time to eat a quick lunch. We still have a fridge so full of food and I needed to make room for more salad stuff for the week. Then I headed over to the yoga studio.

After a quick game of rock, paper, scissors with the group leaders, it was decided that my group would go first. I actually loved this because I was starting and so I had little time to be nervous and then I was able to relax the rest of the time. I got some great feedback and overall felt pretty good about the teaching.

We had a total of 3 yin yoga classes for the 3 groups so that was 3 hours of yin plus feedback time. We ended up running over about a half hour, but the time went so fast and my body enjoyed the opening.

This was actually the first time I had worked out in 5 days. I literally took an entire rest week. With my back and hip hurting, the emotional week and travel time, it was a good week to just take off. I rarely rest for a whole week, but I could tell my body needed it. My back finally was feeling better by Thursday. However, it did have a bit of discomfort during the end of yin so still an issue to address, but the week of rest was good.

After training, I made a quick run to Wegmans, first grabbing a snack (which I definitely ate too fast but was delicious and kept me from buying the whole store) and then followed my grocery list. I only picked up a few items I knew I would need as I we finish food in the fridge and freezer. I figure if necessary I could make a special trip during the week to another store, but so far, I have enough at least until mid week.

I came home and ate more leftovers. Then I just caught up with Brian’s mom and watched some tv for a bit. I also am Lucy’s personal masseuse as evident here. Oh and when I am on my phone, even with one hand, she looks at me, like ummm I need both hands here massaging me.

Not sure when Lucy took such a liking to me, but she is good company. I still can’t get her to jump onto my bed. She is stubborn. But she loves sleeping in the room on my yoga mat or on the rug beside my bed.

Sunday was a nice laid back day and the weather was absolutely perfect (finally!!). I enjoyed a yoga class, running errands and a walk in the park. So so thankful for this beautiful weather. Soaking up every last bit as the daylight hours get shorter.

Next weekend I have 6 hours left of yin training next weekend which may be slightly interrupted by the funeral service I am attending. This 30 hour training went by fast, but again, I will look forward to having my weekends totally back in September.

Oh and today is the day of the eclipse. Anybody going to try to view that? Brian gave me a welding shield to view it through.

Yin Yoga Training Weekend 2 and Workouts

July 31, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

This weekend was another busy one with yin yoga training weekend 2 of 4. We did a lot of practice teaching of poses and also learned about meridians. After starting my yin hw assignment, I learned that the Indian culture refers to meridians as Nadis which I am somewhat familiar with from my first teacher training. It is interesting how many different types of yoga there are and how when you study yoga there are different names for similar ideas whether you are studying the Chinese method or Indian method.

Not only does studying yin bring in different thinking and awareness for me but also just studying in a different yoga studio. If you are familiar with yoga, you know that each studio has their own ways of teaching. Obviously when you do a training at a different location, you get a different perspective and I think that is great as it brings more variety and awareness to your thoughts.

Three years ago I definitely was not as in tune with my body as I am now and there is still more to learn always.

Those are my thoughts from the weekend. There was definitely a lot of information but it was balanced with a lot of teaching and teaching yin is out of my comfort zone because while we do similar poses to a yang (vinyasa) practice, yin yields a different outcome and you want your student to feel that outcome. While I had practiced yin before this training, I now understand so much more about what yin is and what I should be feeling in practice.

On another note, I did some squats on Saturday morning after nearly a week of rest due to my traveling. I honestly felt super strong. Then I increased the weight and it was more challenging and I got sweaty but it was good. The hardest part of the workout wasn’t the squats though. The hardest part was doing lunges and goblet squats after the squats. Talk about a leg day! I pushed through though because when you push through, that is when the changes happen.

I came across this on twitter Saturday night and loved it.

“Your mind will quit 100 times before your body ever does…”

So true and this is also why I love yoga and yoga training because it gets me to focus on my mind and my thoughts. Part of our yin hw these next few weeks is to journal after each yoga practice. I haven’t been great at journaling consistently in a while but lately I have all this motivation to write after Blogfest so I look forward to this part of the hw.

Saturday night I was so excited to lay in bed early at 9pm so I could really catch up on sleep. I have felt behind all week after returning from traveling.

Sunday morning I was awake around 6:30 since I went to bed so early. I was happy to feel well rested at 6:30am though. I got up and made some protein pancakes for breakfast and had a bit of down time before leaving around 8 to head to yoga. This was a gentle/chair yoga class and it felt nice to just slowly move my sore body in the morning. I had realized I forgot to foam roll after my squats on Saturday and so my glutes were quite sore when I woke up. Foam rolling seriously makes a difference in recovery.

After yoga and a bit of work at the studio, I headed to Target. I needed to get some highlighters and post its for some marking up in my yoga books. It was perfect since it’s back to school season. I always loved getting a school supply list and going shopping for new pencils and notebooks. Every Sunday my family would get the newspaper with the ads and we would see what supplies were on sale each week.

I also got some more La Croix because I had a coupon for a free pack thanks to Blogfest. Passionfruit is my current favorite.

When I got home I had some lunch and then got to writing, journaling and reading for yin. It was absolutely beautiful outside. I wish I had had an outdoor activity but when I sit outside at the house there are way too many giant flying bugs or bees. I’ve decided I will just be pale this summer…

Also here is a look at my workouts from the last week. Slowly getting back to my regular schedule, but there were a few more rest days due to the traveling and just knowing that I needed sleep as a priority this past week.

Sun 7/23: rest (headed home from Blogfest)

Mon 7/24: rest (was so tired and needed to catch up on sleep)

Tues 7/25: aerial yoga

Wed 7/26: deadlift day

Thurs 7/27: arm accessory day

Fri 7/28: rest – practice teaching in yin but didn’t do a full practice

Sat 7/29: squats and practice teaching in yin

squat face 072917 — deep in concentration #squatface

What’s your favorite La Croix?

Do you like to journal?

Yin Yoga Training Weekend #1 and Workouts

July 17, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey there and happy Monday!! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a busy one, so this post is a bit long. I left the office at 4 on Friday and decided to swing by the park to eat the dinner I packed. Brian was texting me about the storms coming, but I was looking at blue skies.

blue skies before the storm — can you believe a storm happened an hour after this photo?

At 5pm, my first night of yin yoga training began. I signed up at a studio nearby but I had yet to go there yet so it was my first time there and got a little tour and met everyone. After introductions, we dived right into training with the question, What is Yin Yoga? Though I have taken a few different yin classes in the last couple years, I already feel like I got a better understanding of the practice of yin on the first day of training. It’s nice to continue to learn something new.

We had about 2 hours of going through slides and doing a few exercises before taking a break and doing an hour and a half yin practice to wrap up the evening. Oh and during this time it did pour buckets outside as the radar predicted. I was happy to be inside during the time and the rain cleared by the end of training at 9pm.

Since I was down the street from Wegmans and Wegmans is open 24 hours, I decided to just do my grocery shopping before heading home. It turned out to be a great decision so I didn’t have to shop Saturday morning.

I got home around 10pm. Here is where you may laugh at me. I was all set to take a shower but saw a daddy longlegs hanging out by the bathtub and he was moving right along and I was not comfortable. So instead, washed my feet in the sink and then crawled into bed with my journal to do my yin homework reflecting on the practice. I may love writing and it’s great to have questions for prompts, but answering the emotion question was still challenging. I think I was fairly zoned out in practice which was good as I was in the present moment for the bulk of it, but did talk about how there is always fear of the unknown of what’s next in the back of my mind. I am improving on that though especially after traveling and all that unknown.

Finally at 11 it was time to sleep and I slept great until the birds were wide awake around 6:30. I stayed in bed until my alarm at 7:10 and then got up to make protein pancakes.

Saturday, training began at noon, so in the morning I was able to go do my weight lifting session at the gym, shower (daddy longlegs disappeared and I am pretending I never saw him), do laundry and make lentils for an early lunch.

I arrived at training and we started with sharing our journals with a partner. I actually really enjoyed this as it is always great to hear that someone else had similar emotions through practice and knows what you are talking about. Saturday’s training we really dug into our hips. We went over specific poses and then taught them to a partner and gave feedback. I know I still need to work on my words through a pose, but one thing I like about yin is that you need to allow space. In other words, silence is sometimes OK and you need that silence in order to allow the person to move at their own pace to go deeper.

The 4 hours really flew by and I think it is the perfect amount of time for a training as you still have part of the day left. We ended with a 15 minute Nidra (a longer savasana) and at the end I felt we were all blissed out.

When I got home, I was hungry. I had some food I could make, but Brian’s brother made some pulled pork so I had a bit of that and some broccoli slaw. It was perfectly filling. I enjoyed a bit of youtube and Netflix and then started some yin yoga reading for a while. I ended the evening with a salt bath to relax and help my sore muscles and then headed to bed earlier to catch up on some sleep.

Sunday morning I headed to a gentle yoga class, which was actually chair yoga. As a yoga teacher, I think it is great to take different types of yoga classes to learn how someone teaches. With chair yoga, you have to be more creative and it inspires me.

After a bit of work at the studio, I headed home and ate an early lunch as I just felt like cooking in the kitchen and preparing my food for work Monday. Since I was home by myself, it was nice and peaceful and I worked on cleaning up for Sunday dinner.

With Friday and Saturday being so busy, it was nice to just relax Sunday afternoon. The weather was absolutely beautiful with a light breeze flowing through the house. I worked on packing for Vegas (leaving Wednesday for Blogfest and so excited!!) and worked on my Yin homework.

snack prep — packing all the snacks and oats for breakfast

I was so relaxed laying in bed reading that I actually took a half hour nap. If you know me, I never take naps, unless I am sick. Well my body was just really worn out as I haven’t taken a full rest day in like 10 days (I know completely my fault). The temperature in the room was a perfect 75 degrees for me and I just fell asleep. I woke up feeling a bit more refreshed and then got the idea to quickly whip up a batch of cookies to go with dinner. I substituted the white sugar for a zero calorie sweetener I found in the cupboard, but the cookies turned out delicious.

Last week I shared my workouts from the week and they were a little different due to the holiday so I wanted to share this past week as well. This week I realize I didn’t have a rest day, but I will have 2 rest days this coming week since I am heading to Blogfest Wednesday evening. I had to do a little switching around just due to yin yoga training, so here is a look at my week.

Sunday 7/9: squat day at the gym

Monday 7/10: Bench day at the gym

Tuesday 7/11: Aerial yoga – I learned a new hip key pose!!

aerial yoga hip key — the look when you finally get into a new pose

Wednesday 7/12: Deadlifts at the gym

Thursday 7/13: Accessory day at the gym (morning), yin yoga (evening)

Friday 7/14: yin yoga session during training – we did INTENSE hip openers for 7 long minutes on one side before doing 7 long minutes on the other side.

Saturday 7/15: squat day at the gym (usually this is Sunday, but switched my yoga and squat day due to yin yoga training) I have to say I love how I can finally go deeper in my squats. Before I could hardly go deep in a body weight squat so I have really improved and strengthened the glutes. I think the yin yoga also left me looser in my hips and helped.

While at first I think I was feeling overwhelmed by the commitment of another teacher training, I was glad to have Sunday to relax. I am also happy to be learning a lot about yin yoga. In just the first weekend, I learned so much, so I am really excited to see what the next 3 weekends of training bring.

Anyone else heading to Blogfest this week?

If you are a yoga person, what is your favorite type of yoga?