yoga teacher training

Yoga Teacher Training #10

March 9, 2015 by Alicia 6 Comments

I would not say this weekend was marvelous, but then that would be negative right?! I don’t want that. This weekend was stressful. Mostly I am just so relieved it is over and honestly things turned out well, so maybe I could say marvelous for the outcome. Yoga is/was stressing me out. I know that is the opposite of what should happen with yoga, but it is the truth.

Friday at the office was a pretty normal day except that half the people were working at home because we got like 12 inches of snow on Thursday (no joke!!) and the roads were terrible even on Friday. Reasons why I am glad I walk to the train station. How is this the day after?!? The only reason you can tell the difference between the sidewalk and street was that bridge of snow in between.

Luckily the city looked a bit better. I was just hoping that the buses were still running and they were.

I caught a bus after work and headed to the yoga studio. But first I ran into a fellow yogi and we headed to the little tea/coffee house by the studio. I did not want to buy anything, so waited for her and we found a seat and talked while I ate my dinner I brought. We were discussing how our yoga training is quickly coming to an end and while we are sad, we both can’t wait to have weekends back and get back to other exercises. I am glad I am not the only one. Lately I have just felt so out of balance with solely doing yoga. I miss my weight lifting, swimming and Zumba time. As much as I love the yoga studio environment, I miss the gym environment.

Personally, after yoga teacher training is over, I plan to take a bit of a break from yoga. It is a good time for me to do so as summer approaches and swimming time comes and hopefully I will find a new gym near my new apartment next month to add in some weight lifting/strength training. Once I get settled into a new routine, maybe I will think about some subbing for yoga classes, but not making any commitments right away.

So back to the training…this was weekend 10 of 13. Friday evening we began with a student led practice, discussed what she did well and what to work on and then we wrote up a new sequence.

Saturday was my teaching day, so basically I did not sleep well Friday night. I woke up super tense, thinking of yoga cues in my head. There was so much pressure in my head that I had a slight headache even. It felt like when you have a cold and your head is all stuffed. Since I could hardly sleep I was up at 6:30am. I had time and made some pancakes and bacon.

Then I headed to the store. Due to the fact that the streets were still not the best I chose a closer grocery store to shop at and stopped at Whole Foods on my way back since their produce always looks better. Grocery shopping helped me to de-stress a bit, then I came home and threw together a quick chickpea salad.

Cooking/baking definitely helps me de-stress. It is no wonder I find myself so happy in the kitchen and spend a good amount of my time in there when I am home. I was excited for this new simple recipe and how colorful my food was. It’s the simple things in life.

I then had a half hour before I was heading out. I had something quick to eat and tried to run through my practice quickly but I kept messing up so I decided I already knew it well enough to teach. In the morning we had also received an email that we were switching the order of things for the day and I was no longer teaching first due to our workshop. So I would have to wait. I felt like it was back to a time in high school when you had a test but it wasn’t until the last period of the day and all you were able to think about in every class was that test.

What actually happened was we began with a discussion of the homework and received our tests back from the last time. I actually was surprised I did so well. I was really happy to just forget that test ever happened, but I was pleased with my grade. Then we did a 2 hour arm balance workshop. I really wanted to be present during this workshop as I love arm balances these days. I have realized that other than crow and side crow, most of the arm balances I have learned in the last 1 year of my doing Instagram yoga challenges. Pretty cool to think about how many things I have learned through Instagram that I never would have expected.

firefly with bent legs (tight hamstrings)

It was a really sunny day on Saturday which was great except that the studio was full of like 30 people and it got hot quickly. Normally I do not mind the heat, but my hands were sweating so much from the arm balancing and my nerves for teaching later. I was becoming dehydrated quickly. I tried to drink water throughout, but I still wasn’t getting enough. Then I got hungry and the end of the arm balance workshop was really rough. Afterwards, I immediately grabbed my chickpea salad and scarfed that down and a luna bar. I was still hungry and thirsty and just not feeling great. I ran over to Whole Foods next door (too convenient) without even wearing my coat because I was so hot. The fresh air felt great. I didn’t know what I wanted to eat, but I grabbed a ginger cookie, some kale from the salad bar and a cold bottle of water. I hate buying bottled water, but on yoga days to have a cold bottle of water is sometimes necessary. I ate the kale, saved the cookie and drank the water over the next hour. While at first I felt stuffed, once my food and water started settling as we worked with props, I felt sooo much better.

At 6pm, I finally got to teach. At first as the teaching time was approaching I was nervous, but my head felt a bit better thanks to some distractions throughout the day. After 5 minutes or so into my teaching, I felt more confident, I had practiced and honestly I think it went pretty well, except for my forgetting to change the lights in the middle of the class. That was one thing I couldn’t really practice at home since I didn’t have a dimmer. Everyone clapped at the end and gave me helpful tips. I am sure a lot of it will come with practice.

Then it was time to head home. WOW what a long day! I was relieved to be done teaching and relax, but I was exhausted. The wait at the train station felt like forever, but finally I was home. I drank a giant glass of water, brushed my teeth and headed to bed. There was no time for anything else. I just needed sleep.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling more refreshed and my head less heavy which was good. I didn’t have anything specific I had to do in the morning so I just relaxed. I drank tons of water and ate all morning. I think I was still making up for Saturday. My hips were super sore, so every time I lifted my knee up towards my chest, like when putting on boots or something, it was hard.

At 11:30 I headed to the train station. I caught up on blog reading while waiting for the train and then spent the train time writing. On Sundays due to the train schedule we always have like 40 minutes before training begins, so me and one other yogi headed into Whole Foods. I still felt like I needed more food and water so I grabbed a zucchini muffin and water which was finished before we even started at 1:30. I felt so much better than Saturday!

We began with a student led practice and then discussed how it went. Then we had an intro to backbend before a quick break before meditation for 2 hours. The 4 hours flew by! The nice thing about the time change was that it was still nice and sunny when we got out at 5:30 and walked to the train. Spring is around the corner!! We waited at the train station and talked for a bit then I read on the train home.

I got home and I just couldn’t believe the day was over. I felt like I had only been up for a few hours but the day was gone. Once I got home I spent a while writing, which was much needed. I think I am still processing everything that happened Saturday, but at least there is one less thing to worry about. Now I am working on our written sequence assignment. My goal is to have this done by the end of this week and then time to review it the next week. Hopefully by writing out this goal I will accomplish it. I believe I can if I set my mind to it though 🙂

And here we are back at Monday. Let’s hope the weather predictions of getting to 50 degrees are correct and there are no surprise 12 inches of snow in the forecast!! I am enjoying that the sun is making its return for Spring weather.

A Day in my Life

February 23, 2015 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey guys! I thought I would do a different type of post this Monday. I always love reading what people do in their day, so I thought I would give you an idea of what my Friday (every other week) before yoga looks like. I recapped a bit at the end of this post about my yoga teacher training weekend. Since it was mostly workshops, there was not too much to recap. Anyway here was Friday.

5:30am – Alarm goes off, check phone and roll out of bed

5:35-5:45 – browse stuff online, trying to find a new pair of pj pants lol. Then realize I should make some breakfast

5:45-6 – put together my breakfast: oatmeal, bacon, grapefruit

6-6:20 – eat breakfast while watching Netflix (my go to show is Gilmore Girls these days even though I have seen every episode countless times, I just love it and that’s what you do when you don’t have cable right?!). Then clean up my dishes. Today I also took out the trash quickly.

6:20-6:35 – distracted by Facebook but also trying to look over my notes for my test in yoga later today

6:35-6:47- brush teeth, hair and get dressed

6:47-7 – study for yoga test

2015-02-20 06.55.28

7-7:07 – pack up my things for the day and make sure I have all my bags: food, purse, yoga things

7:07-7:15 – walk to train station, wow was it cold this morning, my toes were so numb I half ran to the station

7:15-7:25 – wait for train to come. Luckily with these cold days, I have the ability to wait inside where the ticket office is

7:25 – 7:40 – express train to work, normally I get off at the first stop but decided to wait until the second as there is more shelter from the wind for walking to my office.

7:40-7:50 – walk to office from train station and head up the elevator

7:50 – 8 – settle in at my desk (today I really had to warm my toes up so I did a little chair yoga) and put my food in the fridge

8 – 11 – work, work, work

11-11:15 – eat peanut butter and apple snack

11:15-12:30 – work some more

12:30-1:15 – lunch and study yoga

1:15-4:30 – more work, work, work

4:30 – 4:40 – head outside and walk a couple blocks to catch a bus

4:40-4:55 – walk to coffee shop near yoga studio to meet up with a couple trainees

4:55 – 5:40 – drink some tea, eat my dinner I brought and chat about the test

2014-12-30 17.32.51

5:40-5:45 – walk over to yoga studio

5:45 – 6 – change into yoga clothes and get settled in the studio

6-6:15 – talk about our homework

6:15-7:40 – take test

7:40-8:15 – short relaxing yoga practice guided by our teacher

8:15-8:55 – chanting and Sanskrit and discussion of next assignment then pack up

8:55-9:13 – walk to train station with my train buddies, my toes were kind of numb again by the time we got there (probably not the best idea to wear sneakers when it is below 0 but they work for walking fast)

9:13-9:21 – wait for train

9:21-9:48 – train ride home

9:48-10 – walk home from train station

10-10:30 – should be getting in bed, but instead read blogs for a bit as I brush my teeth and change into my pjs

10:30 – 10:45 – in bed but can’t sleep yet, set alarm for 7am, more reading until lights out

As far as my weekend goes, I had teacher training all weekend and on Saturday we did a Sanskrit workshop and then got dismissed early due to the snow. The roads were sooo bad. Luckily I got my grocery shopping done in the morning and I walk to the train station. Here is a glimpse of what it looked like though and I pulled a piece of a bumper out of the street.

Since I was home earlier on Saturday than expected I whipped up some muffins and granola bars quickly.

On Sunday, yoga training included inversions and more meditation.

And that wraps up my weekend.

Yoga Teacher Training #8

February 9, 2015 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Last night I couldn’t wait to get home and get to bed. However there were many thoughts on my mind about my yoga sequencing and what we learned this weekend. I finally took some time to write last night before bed which was perfect for clearing my head. Now getting into what happened this weekend.

Friday evening we started with a sequence we had written the last time and each were given a section to teach. We had no idea about this ahead of time so we had to prepare on the fly. I am a planner so “on the fly” can be really difficult but slowly I am learning to go with the flow more. We started out with a great opening, however the remainder of the practice ended up being awkward as we are still trying to think of good transitions in our head. One thing I definitely noticed was that I did feel more confident or rather, I didn’t stress about it much. I was more relaxed and that I felt was really important. I have never been good at presentations and talking in front of people I don’t know or groups and especially not when it is on the fly. One thing I knew I had to conquer during this yoga training was getting more comfortable with speaking to a group of people, because when I do teach in the future, I will not know everyone and I will be the teacher speaking to everyone. The rest of the evening we discussed sequencing more in depth and tips for our sequencing. The three hours really flew by.

Saturday

In the morning I headed to the grocery store early and had enough time to do some yoga poses and throw together a quick taco for my lunch/dinner during yoga.

We began our afternoon at yoga with our first student led practice. The practice was truly incredible. She had been practicing for weeks and really knew her sequence. Not only that but it was filled with many twists which was perfect since my upper back has been a bit sore and it felt wonderful. In addition to that, we did side crow and I finally learned how to balance on one elbow!! Her cue was perfect! Plant your hands and walk around on your tip toes a bit to the side and then lean onto your front elbow. OMG I was soooo excited!! I have felt comfortable in side crow for a while, but couldn’t figure out how to get on one elbow. Seriously my face lit up, smiling for hours after that. I couldn’t wait to bust out another side crow when I got home later that evening.

After the amazing practice and feedback, we learned about the Deities. Amazing stories and great speaker, but sometimes it was hard to follow the stories and without background information it was a challenge. I wrote down as much as I could make sense of and hopefully that will be enough since we are tested on it next time. I have a feeling that a lot of people felt the same way. I just don’t want it to be like the anatomy test where we could study and study and then you get the test and feel like you studied all the wrong stuff.

After a food break, we learned some Yin Yoga. I recently went to two Yin Yoga classes in the last two weeks and have really enjoyed them. Saturday, I don’t know what it was, but there were certain poses I just could not get comfortable in. In Yin Yoga, you typically hold a pose for 5 minutes and you make sure you are comfortable in the pose and letting gravity do the work in a fold or whatever the pose may be. 5 minutes for a pose can seem like a really long time when you can’t get comfortable, but besides that, it really provides great stretches.

Sunday

I got up at 7, ate breakfast and then headed off to Whole Foods. I was in the parking lot at 7:56 and they opened at 8. What I couldn’t believe was the fact that there were at least 5 other cars there before me waiting for Whole Foods to open. Then they all got out of their cars at 7:59, getting carts and waiting at the door. I waited until they all went in and then got out of my car. I quickly grabbed a few items, checked out and headed home.

I talked to my parents while cooking in the kitchen. I am so glad Brian got me a Bluetooth head piece for Christmas. I use it all the time while I am cooking. Hands free is awesome (even if my ear hates it)! I finally felt back in my zone as I was cooking in the kitchen, roasting sweet potatoes and Brussel sprouts, making granola bars and avocado truffles and cooking some chicken for my tacos for later. I am on a rice, beans and taco phase right now for my weekend eats.

After spending a while in the kitchen, I was able to do some blog reading before heading out to the train. For some reason the trains were running late all weekend which was a bit annoying, but luckily they usually get me there super early anyway.

I had started feeling a headache coming on in the morning and it wasn’t getting any better by the time I got to the studio. I knew it was probably due to getting to bed late over the weekend and not drinking enough water on Saturday. I have a huge problem with getting enough water on yoga weekends. That is why I actually purchased Rehydrate from Advocare. I drink that before I go to yoga training and it really does help, however, I do still need plenty of water during the 7 hours on Saturday that I am not getting. I actually have found that when I drink 4 glasses of water prior to going to yoga it really helps. That would be on average, 1 glass per hour since I get up at 7am and leave around 11. While I tried to drink plenty of water Sunday, I didn’t have enough, but could also be related to not sleeping enough.

Once I got into the city, I got a tea and that helped hydrate me for the first couple hours of yoga training while we were led by another student for practice and then talked.

Then we had the first part of 4 for our meditation series and that was difficult when my headache started to return. Hopefully I will be able to better enjoy it next time.

It was a long wait for the train, but finally I got home and immediately drank 2 glasses of water to get myself more hydrated.

What doesn’t help is the fact that a smoke detector in a recently vacated apartment has been going off for a straight week. I have already called maintenance 3 times last week and they tried to tell me they couldn’t tell where it was coming from when I clearly told them the apartment number. It is horrible since I can hear it throughout my apartment, echoing from the back steps. So starting today I am calling them every morning until it is fixed. Hopefully they will get annoyed enough with my calls that they can take care of it. This is why my sleep hasn’t been good. It takes me longer to fall asleep with the constant beeping and then if I roll over in the middle of the night, I hear it again until I can manage to fall asleep.

Luckily after some writing last night my mind felt more clear and I was able to get to bed at a decent hour.

Yoga Teacher Training Weekend #7 MIMM#25

January 26, 2015 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Happy Monday everyone!! I can’t believe this is the last week of January. We just got what I am considering our first real snow (that has actually stuck to the ground) on Friday evening. Very late in the season, but this is my first winter in Philadelphia. I have enjoyed the fact that it has not been too cold this winter and it is warmer than Chicago, but honestly I do kind of miss the snow. I like the snow except for driving in it. I think I need to move to a place that has snow and sunny days in winter. The number of cloudy and gloomy days this winter has been depressing. Anyway, they are calling for more snow today and tomorrow, like 4-8 inches tonight and tomorrow, so we will see what happens. I am just glad I take the train to work these days 🙂

So backing up to the beginning of this past weekend. Another teacher training weekend. Friday evening each of us chose a namaskara (sun or moon salutation, for those unfamiliar) to teach to the whole group. Up to this point we have done a lot of practice teaching for specific poses with partners, but not to the whole group. Teaching/speaking to a bunch of people is definitely not my strong point. I always get super nervous and red in the face, but that is part of what I want to conquer in this teacher training. I knew it would be out of my comfort zone, but with any yoga teacher training, you have to remember that everyone is nervous and everyone is there for you. Yoga is such a great community! So for now, I just don’t worry about it. I say what comes to mind for the poses and I know more alignment cues will come with time or through observing the class. I thought I did pretty well considering I did not prepare for it. After everyone went, we discussed improvements as well as what people did well at. Then we made another sequence together. Friday nights go by fast since it is only 3 hours and when you spend an hour or so practicing, you only have 2 left.

On Saturday we began the same way as Friday. A few people chose different namaskaras. I stayed with the lunging namaskara. I honestly did not have time to look at it beforehand, but I improved immensely and my teacher said that I did a great job, so I was very proud of myself. I am definitely feeling more confident teaching and I think that is really important. However I know I need to work on looking around the room more and not having my head in my notes. When I teach my own sequence to the class, I will definitely have to run through it a few times so I know what is coming next. I need to work on when to say inhale and exhale, since I know I don’t always follow teacher’s cues for that myself.

After our practice, we discussed The Bhagavad Gita and then we spent almost 4 hours doing an adjustment workshop where some other yoga teachers joined us. It was great to get the perspective of adjustments from other yoga teachers. When you work on adjustments in many poses, you definitely see similar adjustments as you go through a practice. I was happy to be the demo for the tree pose as that is one of my favorite poses. My partner and I were quite tired half way through the workshop. The last hour seemed to go by slowly, but once we got to seated poses, I was so happy!! We had been standing for so much of the day. There were some really great adjustments at the end but my body was already so sore.

I got home with the intention of foam rolling, but that didn’t happen. I basically went straight to bed and left foam rolling for Sunday morning.

On Sunday in teacher training, we went through an hour long practice which was really tough, but good. Then we discussed sequencing more and came up with a sequence together and broke up into partners practicing a section of the sequence. This was really eye opening to me, knowing how I need to kind of fill in the blanks and transitions to poses and when to say right hand up or down, etc. It got me thinking a lot about what to write in my own sequence, which was helpful.

I then got a ride home which was awesome since I basically got home when I would be heading on the train from the city. That gave me some extra time to look back at my draft of a sequence and start adding in the details. I still have a lot to work on, but my goal this week is to spend time each night with a section of it and hopefully I will be ready to teach it in a month. EEEKKK!!

Thank you Katie for hosting!!

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