One Month Complete!

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, it's true. I have successfully completed my first month of Yoga Teacher Training. And what can I say?... It's been AMAZING! There are 13 of us in the training program plus one teacher and one assistant. The program goes for 6 months and in the end (pending results of the final exam eek!) each of us will receive a certificate from California Power Yoga as well as the 200 hour RYT certification from Yoga Alliance. And then we can teach ANYWHERE in the world!  soooo exciting!

But wait, let's backtrack to the present. I'm currently reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and it's made me realize that my mind likes to frequently dart into the future and the past which is sabotaging my ability to experience inner joy. Stay Present, Stay present, stay present. Be.Here.Now. is my new mantra.

So this is how a normal training day works... We start the day with meditation, followed by asana practice. Then we take a break. Next we divide into small groups and practice teach. Then we learn how to cue more poses and then practice teach some more. Take a break. Afterwards we sit in a circle and discuss things like how to be a good teacher or the philosophy of yoga (subject changes daily). We divide into pairs and practice assisting each other, followed by another more deepening asana practice. We end the day with a closing circle and although the group is completely exhausted, we feel so grateful and stoked to have survived enjoyed another training weekend.

It is soooo difficult to muster up the energy to wake up on Monday mornings following a training weekend. I got home last night at 8pm and could barely stand. Luckily my roommate had made carrot ginger miso soup and shared it with me (she could see that I was in no condition to cook). I took a shower and was sound asleep by 9:30. And although I had plenty of hours to sleep, hearing my 5:30am wake up alarm was like torture. Returning to the yoga studio was the last thing I wanted to do in my exhausted state. 

So this is my goal for today to prevent burn-out: go at least 2 hours WITHOUT thinking about yoga. This means no meditation, no reading spiritual self-help books, no scheduling students, and no talking about yoga. For two hours today I'm going to try and be a normal person. :) Can I do it?! We'll see...