I’m about to finish my second week of Yogaworks Teacher Training, but I want to try to recap each week. I’m doing a Yogaworks intensive training, which means, all yoga training, all the time, from 9-5, Monday-Friday, for a month.
I’ve wanted to do this for a few years, but the timing was never right for an intensive…and to be honest, I just didn’t want to give up nights and weekends. New city, flexible schedule? IN.
It has been amazing, it has been difficult.
I have learned so much about myself, I have learned so much about others, I have learned so much about yoga, I have learned so much about the world. Truly—I’m not exaggerating any of that.
Our day is broken up like this (with also 20-25 minutes of meditation at some point):
9-10ish: review of anatomy. I’m pretty solid on that after getting my NASM certification, thanks to my BFF the professor tutoring me
10ish-11:30 or 12ish: yoga practice. The first week, our practice averaged around 1:20 — sometimes 1:10, sometimes 1:40, by the end of the week. Some days that felt like 20 minutes; some days it felt like 3 hours. Either way, it’s certainly getting easier to practice longer, for whatever that’s worth.
12ishish: we break down the sequence we just did, and we discuss why each pose was done in that order and what are some good cues to teach it/which cues resonated with us.
12:30-1:30ish: lunch!
1:30-4ishh: Usually, after lunch, we’ll look at 1-3 poses in depth, and talk through which muscles are activated, how we should think about cueing in our own words (i.e. I would tell you “firm your hip in” rather than “firm your gluteus medius in.)
At this point in the afternoon, we’ll also practice teach—in this Week 1, in groups of 3-4. By practice teach, I mean one, maybe two poses. Still, as scary as it was at first, I like that we’re practicing on real people before going out into the world.
4-5: SUTRA STUDY! We spend the last hour of the day talking about philosophy, basically. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are the text that yoga is based on—the physical practice, the breath practice, and the meditation practice. The text also gives advice on how to get through life, and while some of the ideas are great, they can be difficult to translate into 2018 life circumstances, though are a nice ideal.
I’ll be honest—I am having a HARD time with the sutras, and that I believe many of these principles but cannot achieve them, or at least, yet. But I guess the journey is part of it? etc etc:)
What’s your fave yoga pose? Any questions about the training I can answer (other than what will I do with it? Still working on that one.)
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Tree is definitely my favorite. There's one thing I'm curious about: Is there a number of hours you must have practiced personally before you can do training? And what if you're sill working on some poses yourself? Is that a no?
This is an excellent question! No minimum hours at Yogaworks, or with any of the other programs I looked at. They all mostly just recommended that you had some kind of semi-regular practice already. And not a no-no at all! I was a little nervous that I'd be the worst in the room, but I'm not...and honestly I wouldn't say that there's anyone who is the "worst" - it really does just feel like we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes being really bendy is great for a pose; sometimes that means you can actually go too far. That said, there were definitely some poses that I needed more help on, but the amount that we practice and discuss each pose has meant that my own practice has also advanced pretty quickly.
Sounds like an amazing experience! A few (OK, several :) ) questions...1)how do you fuel your body to be active all day? 2) Within this yoga community, do you feel pressure to eat or dress a certain way (e.g. vegan, lululemon, etc.)? 3) How did you select this particular training? Was it a matter of right time/price/opportunity? Or did you have prior experience with YogaWorks? 4) Are any of your classmates/teachers CA BFF material? :) Do you hang out with your classmates outside of training?
I look forward to reading more about your journey! Namaste.
I love all the questions, truly! :)
1. I haven't really changed how I eat much at all. Calorie-wise, I'm not burning that much more than usual.But if I do feel a bit hungrier, I'll give in to it either as an extra snack or just eating a slightly bigger meal/slightly more carbs.
2. Nope, not really. A lot of them don't drink, which is actually really nice, but I don't feel any pressure to give up my wine haha. (Not that that would be a bad thing, though...) It's just so easy to eat healthy here that we all kind of tend towards similar food when we get lunch together. Dressing...nope! Alo seems more popular here than it was in NYC, but I also "accidentally" went on a little Lorna Jane shopping spree before the training started, so I feel comfortable with my clothes!
3. It really was right time/price. I decided it would be a great way for me to meet people and to establish some sort of community and rhythm, and it has been all of that and SO SO much more. I'd taken a few YogaWorks classes in NYC but was honestly kind of neutral on them. They were good classes, but I hadn't found an instructor I connected with.
4. Everyone's pretty awesome, but there's definitely a few people I've really connected with, and I went to a sound bath on the beach (hi yes I am in LA now haha) last night with a few people and also took class this morning with a few others.
Definitely sounds like this is quite the experience, and although you say it's difficult, difficult is better than boring, right? Builds character. I've also found that the best friends are made when you're doing something difficult together, so I'm betting you've made some good friends while doing this :)