Yoga Teacher Training: Week 5

Our lecture and yoga practice centered on vibration as a tool and the chakras. I seemed to have the most difficulty in getting out the seed syllable Hum, for my throat chakra. This might be a hint that I am holding back on saying things, which makes sense. I tend to think a lot before I say anything, so much so that I often don’t say anything at all. I found it difficult to be present during lecture that night because I had plans afterward. Those plans were to go to the Lumineers concert at Comerica Theatre. I thought for sure I’d miss the first part of the concert because yoga didn’t end until 9 p.m., but luckily the band didn’t go on until at least 9:30 p.m., so Graham and I had plenty of time to get there. That didn’t stop me from stressing out about it beforehand. As Graham would say, I was borrowing trouble from the future.

During the concert as the band started to play “Ho Hey.” Wesley, the lead singer, asked everyone to put their phones away so they could truly experience the moment. It was the reminder I needed earlier that night at teacher training and then again at that moment. From then I kept my phone put away until the band was set to leave the stage. I tried to really feel the music. I could feel it vibrating through my body. It was an incredible show!

Sunday

I missed Saturday’s class, including a workshop on yin flow, because I was in Flagstaff for a good friend’s wedding. Luckily I was back to Phoenix around 11:10 a.m. Sunday, just in time to change and get ready for yoga teacher training. It was a fun but late night Saturday, so I felt grateful that we started the day off with a yoga nidra workshop (yogic sleep). It was so relaxing that I felt as though I had slept for a few moments, because at one point I couldn’t recall what the instructor had just said. I opened my eyes briefly just to make sure everyone wasn’t up and waiting for me to wake up. 

After lunch we a had a meditation workshop. (I really lucked out after a night of celebrating.) Again, I felt as thought I had fallen asleep, especially as we used creative visualization with our legs stretched up the wall. I came back when one of my legs started to slip down the wall. I pictured the green of Hawaii and its beaches with Graham and the dogs. The word happiness came to mind.

The last two hours were for going through cues for more poses and practicing them. After practicing Chaturanga Dandasana and realizing some of us need to go down to our knees until we can do it correctly, we tried Bakasana (which I found out I’ve been doing wrong), Side Crow, head stand, forearm balance, hand stand, among others. Forearm stand is my favorite so I appreciated the practice. One day I’ll do it away from the wall — I just need to release my fear.