YTT (Yoga Teacher Training) 200 HOUR WEEK THREE

During week three we covered what I call the principles of yoga. We learned about the Eight Limbs of Raga Yoga, other kinds of yoga (margas), koshas, and kelshas.

There was so much information! I was totally overwhelmed, but I did not feel panicked. It’s exciting! Not only are we learning yoga principals, concepts and beliefs, but all the Sanskrit words for them too! It’s like learning a whole new language. I knew that there would be terms for all the poses, but I did not think that ALL the principles of yoga would also have Sanskrit terms. Silly me!!! I am sure with time it will all fall into place.

Here a quote from one of my favorite Yoga Anatomy Experts:

Leslie Kaminoff “When we resist the change that's inevitable, we miss the change that's possible”

Leslie has tons of resources and a free weekly updates with lessons and tips. Find him on Face Book too!

http://www.yogaanatomy.org/

I wanted to remind you that the point of this blog is not to teach you all that I learn. You will have to take your own YTT 200 hour class to do that.  I will share my feelings about what I am learning and my thoughts on the concepts. You may agree or disagree with my interpretations. I would love to get your feedback.

Assignment:  How does Ahimsa relate to life and to my yoga practice?

Ahimsa (nonviolence) means avoiding violence to others and yourself and it is the first Yama in Raga Yoga.

I think most of us are not violent. With that there is the topic of vegetarianism and violence toward animals. I will not address that now. I thought about promoting kindness rather than not being violent.

I do not think that you need to be kind to yourself to be kind to others. Many people are kinder to others than they are to themselves. With that said, the more nonviolent and loving I am to myself and others the more it manifests in my life as a feeling of extreme contentment. I get energy from practicing acceptance and loving kindness. I found that this was true in the way I treated myself as much as the way I treated others.

It took me a long time not to judge my love for yoga allowing myself the time and money to dedicate to my practice.  During Asana practice I try not to judge myself. I say that because it is a struggle for me not to want to have more flexibility, better balance or more strength. I try to observe my practice without judgment of my progress. I also try not to compare and judge my progress to that of others. I find this VERY HARD to be honest! I have felt competitive energy in yoga class before. While on the mat I take care not to physically harm myself by trying something that I know I am not ready to do. I figure there is time for that and there are plenty of things I cannot do and plenty of things I may never be able to do. I do push myself in a kind way though. I love to see change and progress my asana.

When teaching students I see the importance to be kind and accepting and honor their practice. I also it is important to give options so that people do not hurt themselves, judge themselves or judge others. The concept is basic but should never be overlooked in designing a class.

I have a question for you about judgment:

I feel energy when I have a teacher that is nonjudgmental and kind. Have you felt this or sensed this in yoga class before? What was it like?

One of my favorite teachers is kind. When she helps a student I feel her concern and kindness. She greets them with compassion and is very kind in the way she suggest adjustments. Once when she asked someone if they wanted to take their socks off in the kindest nice way I just cracked up inside, but they did take off their socks.

I am excited to tell you about week 4. It is my favorite class so far.

YTT (Yoga Teacher Training) 200 HOUR WEEK TWO

In week two YTT class we covered the basic principles for any asana practice. We had the chance to teach each other basic poses. Our homework was to observe a group of people take notes on our observations, practice teaching basic poses, and take note our experiences.

This was my first experience in teaching with the intent to learn. I “teach” people all the time. I am usually full of information! My student had never practiced yoga before but I still I found it natural and comfortable to explain Tadasana and Sukhanasa to him. He followed my direction and was positioned properly. He said that his back hurt.  I did struggle making adjustments to make him more comfortable.  I will add that to the list of things to study.

Here are some quotes from our lessons that resonated with me:

Yoga is not about achieving the perfect posture; it is about being with the body and the posture however it is on any particular day.

When we are in an asana find a way to notice what muscles you are using and think about what is necessary and what is not necessary for that posture and encourage your body to release what is not necessary.

These quotes really remind me to think about what muscles I tighten that are not related to the pose I am  practicing. The first thing I think about releasing is my griping toes!  What about you? Sometimes a pose will be more difficult or more easy than it should and you don’t know why, use this as an opportunity to think about what muscles you are using that are not related to the posture.

We find a balance between firmness and softness, tension and relaxation, effort and ease, muscle and flexibility, which offers a delicious luxurious challenge. Patanjali says that the combination of Sthira and Sukham creates a state of equilibrium (satva) that is without agitation (rajas) or inertia (tamas). Depending on our personality type will determine which aspect of Sthira and Sukham we need to work on more. If we naturally find our self full of effort, strength and steadfastness we need to work on softening and experiencing the delight in our poses. If we are more lethargic we need to push ourselves harder. (Patanjali, From: Yoga Sutra Chapter 2, sutra 46)

I hope you enjoyed your glimpse into my YTT. I can’t wait to share more next week!

Yoga Teacher Training Week One

This blog is about MY journey though Yoga Teacher Training.

Please follow my blog. Share it if you like it. You can post comments or you can email me at frannytuttyoga@gmail.com.

I am enrolled in Yama Therapeutics 200 hour Yoga Teacher Program. If you would like to learn more about the program here is the link:

 http://yamatherapeutics.weebly.com/

I am going rewind and tell you how and why I choose this program and why I want to be a yoga teacher.

It will be interesting to see how my feelings change about what to teach and why teach as I go through training.

WHY TEACH YOGA RATHER THAN TAKE YOGA?

I have been practicing yoga for about 5 years. The more I practice and learn the more I LOVE yoga. I find that yoga allows me to leave my world and move into a place that nourishes and heals my body and mind and makes me physically strong and less stressed.

I started thinking about teaching yoga about a year ago. Yoga helped me get through some tough times. I have not been fit my whole life. About 5 years ago I made some pretty big changes in the way I take care of myself. I changed my attitude towards my life and how I wanted to live. I am often encouraging my friends and coworkers and even strangers  to find their path to being more fit and live a happier life. I encourage them to take better care of themselves by getting some kind of exercise. I encourage everyone to love themselves as much as others love them. I am pretty good at motivating folks and helping them feel good about themselves. I  want to help people find the benefits of yoga. I want to show the whole world (LOL) that yoga is not about being bendy and feeling relaxed!

Right not I am all over the place as to who, when, and where to teach. After all the whole world is out there waiting!

These are some of the groups of people and places I think I may want to teach:

Veterans
High School Kids
Athletes
Care Givers in Hospitals
Therapeutic Heeling Yoga for the disabled
Sunrise and Sunset Beach Yoga

NARROWING DOWN THE YTT PROGRAM THAT WAS RIGHT FOR ME

I had a great pool of resources in my friends. I asked for and received lots of advice from all of them. I have friends that teach yoga and own studios. I talked to my friends that had been through YTT and asked them what they liked and did not like about the program they took. I had Fantasies about taking YTT from  a famous yoga teacher such as Elena Brower or Tiffany Cruikshank. (I still do ha!) Then I thought about a destination YTT program on some island with a famous teacher. How lovely would that be? All of that aside I knew that a local program would be the most reasonable choice for me. I visited yoga studios and took classes from the teachers that would be my instructors. Each studio and teacher had their own style and what I call a vibe. Some made me feel warm and cozy and others kind of rattled me and made me feel uncomfortable. All of the programs I checked out had very popular YTT programs and a strong following. My mission was to be sure the program I chose was right for me.  Just because my friend loved a program did not mean I would. I also made it clear to my friends not to take my decision personally. I also checked into the logistics to travel to the studio from work and home, parking etc. All of those details can make a difference when you have to attend classes for almost a year.

I found about Yama Therapeutics thorough a good friend, mentor, birthday twin, and yoga teacher. I met one of the teachers from Yama at a community yoga class my friend was teaching. I felt like it was fate that I was at that class that night. I am not sure I would have found Yama otherwise. I went to Yama’s YTT orientation and felt comfortable with all the instructors, their format and class design. They actually have 4 teachers, each brings a unique perspective. I liked that the program is focused on Therapeutic Yoga and  not focused a specific  style of yoga. Our classes meet once a week in the evening rather than on weekends. I work full time I spend lots of my time outside on the weekends fishing, gardening, biking etc. The thought of giving up my weekends did not make me happy. Meeting once a week was perfect for me!

So my YTT training begins!

YTT WEEK ONE

Our first class started with Asana. I met the teachers at orientation so I had an idea what they were like.  I was ready on my mat excited, a little nervous and very interested to see and meet the people who would be my  classmates for the next 23 classes. I heard from my yoga teacher friends that during this experience I will be touched by the relationships I form and that I will make life long friendships.  During our first class I was looking around at our group of students. I know you are not supposed to “compare’ in yoga but it is hard not to. I know I need more practice and training in that area. In all honesty, I was observing not judging. We are all different and that makes things interesting. Anyway I during our yoga practice I noticed that no one in my class is super bendy, including me. I just found that interesting. Not every yogi and yogini is bendy.

We reviewed the history of yoga and everyone shared why they are in the YTT program and what yoga means to them. I found the stories to be touching!

We then got in groups of two's and tried to come up with a definition of yoga. Our mission was to agree on one definition for yoga. It was much harder than I thought it would be to define yoga and then to agree! We were limited on time and finally had to settle on the best definition we could agree on.  We all read our definitions out loud. I enjoyed and agreed with all of them. They were all unique and showed our love of yoga.

This is what my partner and I came up with:

Yoga: A mind body practice to unite with the divine in you and the divine in the universe that has no starting point or end and involves movement and breath to achieve balance and clarity.

What is your definition of yoga?

What is not Yoga?

I started asking my friends and teachers what they think makes a great yoga teacher.

 I will  keep posting weekly on this topic.

ADVICE FROM MY YOGIE FRIENDS… WHAT MAKES A GREAT YOGA TEACH

Be true to yourself.

Allow time for your students to feel the pose, do not rush. Once you students are in a pose allow them to be there and find their edge then allow them to stay or push further.

Remind your students (and teach tem how) to use their breath to facilitate movement.

Remember people have busy lives they want to come to a place where they can let go and enjoy their practice.

 Everyone may not be there to work hard.

 Have fun and do not be too serious.

 Smile!

 My favorite yoga teacher reminds that this is my journey and to listen to my body. She has a very calm, confident nature and watches me in a way that I do not realize she is ....anticipates where my hurdles may be and works to help improve me in my practice. She totally amazes me ...I had other instructors that I liked and some not so...I think because they made class their agenda and not in sharing the experiences

 Teach rather than lead.

 No Judgment!

They make you feel like you are the only one in the whole class...they take a special interest in you and help you see and work toward your own goal. Please share your comments on what you think makes a great yoga teacher.

 

Namaste,

Franny Tutt
frannytuttyoga@gmail.com
Frannytuttyoga on facebook