Gaining Ground

It's been too long! S has taken over the blog and ranted for the last few posts so M wanted to let you know about our struggles in the yoga world of Austin. M has been hard at work, to a certain point, out of the yoga world, until yesterday.

S is in Portland doing a training and M was home alone, so she went to the usual Saturday morning yoga class, with the hopes that no one would show up. Don't get her wrong, she loves to teach yoga, but she really wanted to go a complimentary yoga class at Lululemon with a former ambassador.

This month, Lululemon is having classes led by their ambassadors, and these girls are the "yogis" of Austin. M had never been to this ambassador's class. It was hard, it felt good, M is still feeling it now as she's watching Face the Nation plopped on the futon with a full litre of water.

Last night M went to a yoga marketing and really got to the nitty-gritty (say nitty-gritty like Nacho Libre) of who is S&M, what do we believe, what is our ultimate goal.... and that sort of thing. With S being away, M had to do it on her own.
So, M's yoga goal is to have a yoga paradise in a studio, filled with an array of yoga classes, chanting, dancing, meditation~ whilst being anatomically aligned, non-profit, and offering yoga to ALL. How S&M are going to achieve that? No clue! This yoga business seems a little daunting, just like any business....

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhui

But M has never run a business, and neither has S, so our powers are limited, but our spirit is not. M is looking to people now, that M would have never, ever thought she would look towards, Steve Jobs, Chip Wilson- not necessarily for their powers of philanthropy but more for their ability to connect with people in a way that makes their businesses boom.
This is where it gets tricky, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhui is a huge, HUGE inspiration for M. So herein lies the problematic duality for M in business- how does she remain humble, while promoting a business and being, well, over-confident? arrogant? Or further, how do we create a business for the goodness of others, without "taking over"?
Is it even possible?

So with that in mind, M has looked at other great yogis that have boomed: Bikram, Baron, Shiva.... and she's not too sure it's possible. M supposes that all that matters is that you don't lose the original intention of the goal, M's integrity has to be more solid than ever, and to believe that as long as her heart is in a place of peace, love, and generosity, all will be given onto her (and S).

Stay Grounded,
S and M

Yoga Teachers vs. Guiders revisit

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Its funny how posting something and having people comment on it can open up our perspective.

A had posted something really interesting about our last blog - Good yoga teachers are both.

Both?!  What?!  It can't be black and white?!

And we agree with her.  As both S and M have been school teachers they can see A's point of view.  There comes a point where you guide people along on their journey allowing them to find the answers for themselves.  This is true with yoga teachers.  We will have to guide them along their journey hoping their bodies will come into alignment and find the true positions.  However, in order to be that guider you have to teach a bit first.  We'll give you an example:
S tried side crow.
S failed.
S watched our friend K rock out side crow.
S tried again.
S failed.
A wonderful teacher L taught S how to align his body in side crow.
S tried again.
S succeeded.

The moral of this story is....where was L to begin with!
Seriously, S tried to align his body and was guided into it.  He couldn't quite get it, something just wasn't work.  Then when L taught him, he took off.

Education, and yoga are very similar.  You can't guide someone into something with out teaching the fundamentals first.  If you know your class and you have the same students all the time - much like you do in education - guiding takes over.  But Yoga teachers have it more difficult, there are some regulars, but you always have a few new ones that may need some teaching.  So while you guide the others you will have to teach the few - but as we said in my last post, it might be better to reteach all just to be on the safe side.

Now S can be guided into side crow - but its been a few weeks since he last did it with L so some teaching may be good as a refresher.

So as we stated in our last post:
We are yoga teachers.  That's our title.  And we have to deal with it.

To Teach or To Guide

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We've now been in Austin for almost 7 weeks.  CRAZY?!  How much do I miss Vancouver's sandy beaches meeting the rolling waves on one side while climbing into the peaceful mountains on the other.  But We're in Austin now.  Its a cool vibe, reminds me of the west coast, only housing prices aren't as expensive - getting there though.

So we took a class last night and have noticed a trend.  The teacher tends to teach a few steps and then opens it up to "go into an inversion of your choice, if not stay in child's pose"  Ok.  Hey that's cool.  I'm totally good with inversions.  They're our 'work in progress' (M seems to have a better hold on them than S).  We've been taught how to get into them, how to get up and how to align our bodies correctly.  But what about those who haven't been taught this.  Aren't we making a huge assumption that EVERYONE knows how to go into inversions.

This leads me to my question.  Are we yoga Teachers? Or are we yoga guiders?

Let's go way back to when we were kids.  We don't remember it, but at some point, our parents have told us that they had to hold us up and teach us how to stand up on our feet.  They helped us practice and then they helped us to walk and then run.

S remembers vividly being terrified to ride his bicycle, but he was taught how to do it, but by bit with steps and support until now he runs Triathlons.  M remembers all the time she had to practice on the piano, and how she was taught how to play it with a teacher (notice our use of words).

In neither or these scenarios were we guided into something.  Imagine someone saying 'S go ride your bike if you can,' or 'M start playing mozart on the piano, here it is, if not then just sit at it and I'm sure you'll pick it up by osmosis'.   Both of us spent time as school teachers (M is still working her but off as one) and never have we said 'ok kids, its time for a test, now I never taught you anything about science, but I'm sure you'll ace it!'

This gets me to my point.  If we were trained to be yoga teachers (I'm certain we all spent lots of money and time on our practice - S and M both spend more than they can count now) why would we not use the skills to help others move into positions.  But instead the common phrase of 'go into a pose if its in your practice' tends to dwell within our profession.  I think its time as Yoga Teachers we actually teach something, and if we want to have an inversion in our practice or an arm balance, we proved the steps for our students to move into one.

Now we understand that some might say, but what about the advanced practitioners in our class, they'll be board.
We'll there's always the option of:'if you already know how to do this then move into it on your own time.'
or to be safer so there are no injuries: 'I know you know how to do this, but just listen its a good refresher for the steps.'

Remember we as yoga teachers have the power to teach to all, and with that comes the responsibility of safety.  I say we teach and empower our students with knowledge to keep them safe rather than to have an injury!

Stay Grounded
S & M

Where's my foundation?!

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So M and S took a class today at one of the many studios in downtown Austin.  It was a wonderful sweaty class:
  Hip openers.
  Shoulder openers.
  Back bends.
  Everything we needed today!

Warrior I

Warrior 2

But M and S have noticed a trend in this up and coming yoga center of Texas, most yoga teachers in Austin (at least the ones that we've experienced) move from Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I) to Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II) - the sanskrit is used for all the yoga geeks in us!

It puzzles us?!  We can understand the fact that before our 200 hour intensive teacher training we would've had no problem.  Its a natural progression, you move from I into II.  But NOW that we've immersed ourselves in yoga and the principals of optimal alignment this natural progression seems flawed.  They should really be named differently (neutral vs external warrior).


Warrior I uses neutral hips (which unless you are a much more avid practitioner will be tight), that point forward like headlights to the front of the room, while you have the back leg behind you and the femur, knee, and ankle and second toe pointed at a 45 degree angle as you bend into the front leg.  And, the ankles need to either be in line or at hips width distance apart.  Ok.  Seems pretty simple we can handle that.

This is where it gets tricky!!

Teachers tend to move from Warrior I into Warrior II.  This is when your foundation - your feet have to move.  Your hips open and point in the direction of the side wall, you do this as you slide your back leg and rotate it open so that your front ankle is aligned with the back arch and your foot and knee and femur are pointing with your hips to the side wall.

Now this may seem pretty easy to do, but it gets more complicated.

Teachers expect the beginner student to move in between these postures, without calling out any alignments cues (starting at your feet and moving up to your hips).  And they want students to do this quickly because you only have the length of an average breath to do this - we're not talking a meditative yogi breath which can last for minutes if there in 'the zone'.   No these teachers want you to do this in a normal inhale-for-3-and-exhale-for-3-breath.

Let us take you through the risk platforms now so you can understand why this move is frowned upon:

1. The Knees:  If you don't align your second toe with your ankle with your knee with your hip stress will occur.  'So what's a little stress?'  is probably what your thinking right now.  We'll our knees take a whole lot of stress.  They are the Weakest Link!  And they'll go home if you stress them too much - home of course really means they'll scream in pain and send you to the hospital.  See the knee doesn't have any muscle around it unlike our hips.  This means that our hips will power through a pose fine but the tendons around the knees won't hold and will get pulled out of shape - injuries that can last for a lifetime!

2. Lower Back:  If the platform isn't cued properly not only do the knees suffer but if we don't cue for a neutral hip alignment (inner thighs back and sitting bone down - in this case) stress will go again to the next weakest link, our lower back.  It will take a lickin' and keep on tickin' if the alignment is cued properly because it will engage our abs specifically our transverse abdominals - those deep abs that wrap around our bellies like a sexy corset.  These will help protect our lower back from taking all the stress.  But if we don't cue these our lower back is at risk of being injured - especially when our platform is changed (like going from Warrior I to Warrior II).  And if you've ever thrown you back out you know that getting out of bed isn't so easy any more - its more like a log roll!

3. Periformis: This strong abductor (often used as a stabilizer - this means keeping you in alignment) can also be at risk for taking all the weight of your upper body.  This muscle wraps from the tip of your femur (greater trochanter) to your sacrum.  And S has pulled this baby.  When it goes, your lower back goes, your legs go.  Everything.  Its like that last piece of jenga that gets pulled and topples the entire tower.   You won't be able to walk, run, swim, cycle, even sit on a chair without a dull ache or more if you injure this.  So once again, cue from the base (the foundation) up to the main weight bearing girdle - the hips! And be smart don't move from two different foundation postures.

So now that you've seen the risks, and the timing.  We would reiterate again, be sensible and don't move from Warrior I to Warrior II.  Teachers are there for the students welfare, so cut out the risks and keep the postures simple.  Just because postures are numbered in order doesn't mean they should be done that way.  And to all the yogis that are cued to do these postures: take your time to find yourself in the pose, watch your base and be smart.  If something feels oddly uncomfortable in any of the areas mentioned - and you'll know what oddly uncomfortable feels like (that sensation before the 'ouch' pain comes in) - stop, move out of the posture and take one your more comfortable with.

Stay grounded,
S & M
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The yoga dream

M is working her buns off at a school in Austin.  She hasn't given up the yoga teacher dream, she's merely postponed it while trying to support S.  S is working on the yoga dream.  He is working as a yoga teacher, but it doesn't always make the 'big-bucks', especially when you're the new kid on the block.  Thankfully M is there.  Slowly it's working out for S, but patience is key.  
2 Studios have shown interest in S:

Be Yoga (www.behappybeyoga.com) has picked S up for the time being while two teachers are out - one on her honeymoon in Hawaii (congrats to L) and the other is having knee surgery.   Yoga can be hard on the knees, as we all know.  So flex your foot and check out alignment within the hip-knee-ankle-2nd toe (our wonderful yoga teachers E and R taught us well).

A second studio opening in December, Barre 3, has seen promise in S and is sending him on training in Portland for the first weekend in November.  S is stoked about the possibilities.  The studios roots are in Yoga, but with a Pilates twist.  M wasn't a fan of the first class she took with them.  S however loved the idea.  It really clicked with his passion for alignment and his personal training background.

So, S is busy trying out his yoga career, M is teaching.  And things are OK for now.  At times both S and M dig into the negative side flooded with questions:
Will these kids ever stop driving me crazy?
How can we get out names out into the Austin yoga community?
Will we make enough money?

But its ok.  Some negativity is good.  It just makes you realize how much better life is being positive, because:
M's class is calming down.
We have patience.
and because
We will survive...yada yada yada yada yada something something Alive - my best attempt at singing and blogging!

Stay grounded,
S & M

1st Update of Stateside

We have a lot of news!
M is hard at work, waking up at ungodly hours in the morning to get there and coming home too late. She bought a bike with the best intentions of riding there, but it's too crazy hot. So S chauffeurs her around, which she doesn't seem to mind. S, on the other hand, wakes up just a little later than M, and drops her off and picks her up, while doing awesomeness in between.

Both S and M have been working on the yoga business, more S than M. S with a little help from our Vancouver friend R, have the website (www.rollingwithmyyogis.com) nearly all set up. S has been attending yoga classes like nobody's business, even up to 3 a day to build "community".
Because of his more than regular attendance, he has a teaching gig this Thursday at Be Yoga at 2pm.

That and we have Saturday Sunrise Yoga at 7:30am at Central Park. So you're probably thinking New York's Central Park, but it's nowhere near! The big park in Austin is Zilker, and it's in the southern part of the city. Central Park is a small park between condos and Central Market (kind of like Whole Foods) with a pond. 2 people showed up on Saturday. I know, 2 people, really?! but YES! 2 people showed up, that's 2 more than what we were expecting. Next Saturday, we're aiming for 3?4??

So we're going home for Christmas, since it's been 4 years since we've spent Christmas time with our family. We're both looking forward to it in our own way. We alluded to the isolation we felt in London from some of our family members, and the fear of the same situation happening in Vancouver. Well, it's the exact same situation here. Granted, we have both fallen off the face of the planet for some time, this time, M more than S, but still trying really hard to keep in touch with everyone.
So let us take this opportunity to publicly let you know that if we haven't talked to you in a while; but if we've stayed at your house, had dinner with you, went for a walk with you, hung out and had beers with you, we love you, we miss you, and we can't wait to see you.

Stay Grounded
S and M

Rolling With My Yogis is going States-side

Friends, it has been a while. Neither M nor S has had much chance to write a blog, since we've been busy being tour guides for some London friends.

Austin Airport Guitars

Vancouver seems to be temporarily on hold. M has been offered a really good oportunity in Austin, and we're moving! Thankfully, we have some yoga connections, so S and M can join a happy and growing community.

While M is hard at work, S will be writing/editing, volunteering, going to yoga classes.... living the life!

Austin is a pretty cool city. We have some friends here, and some favourite hang-outs. The only "beef" is that it's not very veggie friendly. We're going to have a lot of meals of sides. Yet, we didn't think Ontario was very veggie friendly.

So, Dear Vancouver friends: make space for us because we'll be visiting lots.

Stay Grounded,

S and M

25

This is most likely our last video blog for our Yoga Teacher Training July 2011.
video blog

Stay grounded,

S and M

24

This is a bittersweet post. M is a little in tears as she's writing it. She's listening to Patrick Watson's The Great Escape. It's a little bit of everything. A week ago we were so excited for this moment to come, but now that The Great Escape is only 2 days away, we don't want it to end.

Team Ishvara represented in the pink tank

Today we reviewed. We went over difficult questions that we didn't know the answer to. Then, we played! We played a quiz game with our questions. S and M were in team Ishvara (Higher Consciousness) , and we won!

Afterwards, we had a nearly 3 hour practice, and it kind of went overboard into the next class. We didn't have savasana, we just had a mini-OM.

Lunch in the Sun room had to be quick because we finished our practice at 2pm. We all met up at 2:45pm.

After lunch we got into partner and taught a mini-sequence. S and M paired up! Second time in a month. It was good, we gave each other good feedback.

We got home in record time, M made dinner, we're studying while listening to The Great Escape.
The Great Escape

Stay grounded,

S and M

23

Home stretch!

We did a lot of talking in the morning about what an ethical teacher is in yoga. If you're a regular classroom teacher- it's exactly the same, but with a little more give since everyone is an adult. S is planning on not touching anyone for at least 3 months after he starts teacher in order to avoid any court cases.

We talked about bringing a theme to our class. M's was all about Harry Potter, S's was all about fairy tales (think 3 little pigs).

Lunch - we went to top up our cell phone and did some interweb searching for apartments.

After lunch, we did a little activity where the some of the class kind of broke down, including S and M. We started by walking around the room and having jovial interactions with 1 classmate. We then explained our favourite food without saying what it is. We then moved on to interacting with him/her without using words. We then described a person who was easy to love to our partner, without saying who it was- this is where M started breaking down. It wasn't S she was describing, but the her Jefe (Spanish for boss). We then looked at one classmate in the eye- no fidgeting, no re-arranging, no harsh stare. It was difficult. It felt uneasy. It felt like you could look into the person's soul, and terrifying that they could look into our souls. Lastly, we moved toward the mirror and stared at ourselves. It was a real breaking moment. S welled up, M welled up, most of our class did. It was a moment of coming face to face with the individual. It was hard not to judge, but it was easy to love the reflection.

After that earth-shattering moment, we taught.

Class ended, and we went apartment hunting. One nice place, the other not so nice place. I think we've settled on one area, but we don't want to limit ourselves to gorgeousness, so we're still looking!

Stay grounded,

S and M

22

Rough Tuesday.

S and M were both exhausted and it felt like we just slept a mere 2 hours, yet, we went to bed just before 10pm- after watching the new season of Entourage- Vince is really starting to get on M's nerves, and S felt just a little bad for Ari.

We went over yesterday's Hatha or Power sequence, switched with a group that did a Power/Hatha sequence and turned in our Flow sequence to R and E (our teachers). We copied out another group's power sequence and divided it up between our group.
We then talked about sequencing for beginners. We really did see the beginners with a lot of compassion, and we don't want to hound them when they show up to our class.

Before lunch we had a 2 hour prenatal talk. It was good, enlightening, and interesting. We did about 40mins of a practice pretending we were pregnant. Now, S and M know how to modify for all the mommies in the house.

S had lunch inside because he was studying, M went out to sit on the lawn. We have a test on Friday first thing in the morning, and we're both working hard to get over 70%!

After lunch we talked about injuries. It was really insightful, and we're hopefully going to get more into modifying for injured knees, shoulders, hips...
After injuries we did our flow class. It was hard!

Homework:
Practice teach the sequence for tomorrow
Journal: How do I compensate for discomfort or stress in my body?
Journal: How can I hold presence better in my own life?
Journal: What are some ethical dilemas as a yoga teacher or yoga student?
And we got the postures we're going to teach Friday as our test.

Supernatural set

We forgot to tell you, yesterday we walked past a tv set, Supernatural. We didn't see anyone famous, that we would know who's in the show.

Stay grounded,

S and M

21

Happy Monday!

Today we rolled out of bed groggier than usual.  Sunday was full of sun and it had an apparent affect on us.  Breakfast was slow, getting lunch ready was slow, the walk to training was slow.

We arrived to no practice in the morning.  We were floored.  What no practice!  It has become a regular routine to have a 2-3 hour practice every morning before lunch, but instead we learned about the nervous system and the difference between a hatha, flow and power classes.  Hatha is a slow moving less flowy class - typically for injured, elderly and beginners.  Flow has a lot of vinyasas (flowy movements in between each pose) and some fun headstands and balances.  Power makes you sweat!  Its held in a 32 degree room and has lots of tough poses.  We then created a sequence for one of them.  S sequenced a tough power class.  M sequenced a hatha class.  Y said it was like creating a class for 70 year olds.  Before lunch we learned about Ayurveda.  S is a Pitta (fire sign - always moving) with some Kapha (earthy, grounded sign).  M is the opposite Kapha with some Pitta.  Together they are a good balance.

Lunch was the usual yogis on the grass.  It was a bit cooler but still sunnny, thankfully.  M surprised S with a load of food from Tim Horton's on top of their small lentil meal - left overs from last night.

After lunch we had to practice teach our sequence we created in groups this morning.  S was stuffed from lunch and didn't enjoy his power class.  It was great teaching, but his belly just wasn't in it.  M taught a slow hatha class.  We both had comments on our language.  We tend to use: 'we want you to'...or 'just come into'... instead of saying 'step your foot forward'...or'move you leg back'.  We need to get rid of our garbly gook language we acquired from teaching kids and be more direct!  Easier said than done.  Overall, I think we're in pretty good standing for our teaching.

At the end of class we learned about the format for our teaching exam.  We each get postures and will teach them at different points throughout the class on Friday, after our final written exam which will be held when we first arrive that day.  Its going to be one heck of a day!  But we'll get through.

We're a little worn down from it all.  And we're working on finding an apartment for September too!  Wish us happy apartment hunting.

Homework:  

Change our sequences into a flow sequence

Study for the written exam!

Stay grounded,
S and M

20

Weekend!

On Saturday morning, we slept in a short 1/2 hour and before leaving to class, we talked with A and H from London. They're coming to visit a week on Friday, and we can't wait!
We slowly made our way to class.

We talked about our sequence and teaching from the day before. We got some feedback as a whole group about our sequencing and postures, as well as our dialogue.

Iyengar at 90ish in Padmasana

We had a really "restorative" practice... including bolsters. We also went into Padmasana. Both S and M have really tight hips, it was enlightening actually. We had both done Padmasana on a whim, but realized that we were both compensating to get into it- and probably aggravating our knees.

After practice we got into groups of two to teach. S and M got some really good feedback and worked well with our chosen partners.

At the end, we sang happy birthday to two yogi classmates, and went outside to see the beautiful R. She came all the way from Victoria to spend the weekend with us.

S, C, R, R, M

In the afternoon, we made our way to Spanish Banks, to practice yoga with 300+ other yogis with the amazing Chris Chavez. Ozlem, his wife, remembered we were from the London workshop, and we had to remind Chris, but as soon as we did, it was a light bulb moment. We also saw our YYoga teacher there, R, who's always a joy!

These one letter names are getting a little confusing, but let's try. R from Victoria was there, so was R and C - our Vancouver friends, R our YYoga teacher, as well as S and M.

For S and M it was a moment of gratitude to see Chris and Ozlem again. They really are like a beacon of light to our sailing ship, and we aspire to be like them both, if not just half of what they have become. They both truly are great spirits!

We went to La Patate Belle afterwards to have a poutine and the skytrain home. We realized buses in Richmond don't come too often, so instead of a one hour walk home, we took a cab!

Today, we're going to the beach to have a little bbq lunch, and then who knows!

Stay grounded,

S, Chris, M

S and M

19

Hi all.  Today we had a tough morning getting up.  Almost 3 hours of practice yesterday made us a little weary.

The walk was chilly and we decided to share a coffee from Tim Horton's when we arrived at the studio.  Its a few stores over.  Oh and M found her water bottle that she left in the sun room yesterday.  She was delighted.

Today we started module three in class.  We went over cool down poses.  These are usually seating poses that counter act the peak pose (or the super adventure pose - that was for E) that you work up to in your sequence.  We also talked about class timing and the need to have Savasana (corpse pose - lying flat on your back) for at least 5 minutes at the end of class.  Today, we felt like we needed full day Savasana.  But no luck.

Practice was more of a workshop today, AND a photo shoot!  H from head office was in to document our fabulous poses for promotions.  M was in the front row and H was in her face at all times.  H also concentrated on Little D.  S chose the middle row and didn't get the same 1:1 attention.  But he's cool with that, after all its a female dominated practice.  M held a fabulous bird of paradise until E came over and distracted her.  Jeeze, teachers!  The practice was also a cry-fest.  We did hip and shoulder openers using bound poses and tears were abundant.  C who was next to S broke down completely after shoulder-stand.  She didn't know why she was crying, nor how to stop!  It happens to us all at one point or another.

Bird of Paradise from behind

The afternoon led us into asana lab for seated postures - lots of focus on shoulders down the  back, and inner thighs out (people tended to roll their butts under rather than show their junk off).  Then came practice teaching.  We divided into groups of 4 and created a sequence to Ustrasana - Camel.  M got the super group.  S was happy with most in his group.  He had been jonesing to work with Little D since M kept raving about her.  She was right to do so.  Little D rocked the house.  After creating the sequence, we had to split it into four parts and each person then got to teach one of those parts.  S and M taught the peak poses unbeknownst to each other until just now.  It was a pretty good session.  We have to work on staging the postures and timing, but everything else is fitting into place.

Now its a fibre-fest dinner, as we pigged out a little with pizza and chips last night.  Gotta keep regular!

Homework:
Sutras 30 - 40
Sequence cool downs for Bakasana, Pincha Myurasana, and Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana
Journal entry on how to bring the theme of gratification into a yoga class

Stay Grounded

S and M

PS. S and M were fooling around and S tweaked M's knee - they had both forgotten that she hurt it last weekend.  M cried for a bit.  S drew a bath and helped her soak it.  Hopefully its not sore tomorrow - send positive vibes her way please!

18

We're lazy tonight.  Enjoy this video blog.

Facebook Video

Stay Grounded

S& M

17

We opened up, and went straight into talking about The Subtle Body. It was a recap of what we had talked about 2 days ago in the afternoon. It was a good review because S and M were a little lost.

We went straight into Chakra meditation. We chanted the mantra for each Chakra, and visualized the symbol for each Chakra. Once we got to the Crown Chakra (at the top of our head), we felt an earthquake. Only half of the room felt it, the other half didn't feel it at all. We tried to goole it on the USGS website, but all we found out was that Saskatchewan..... can't remember.

No Earthquake

We got into groups of fours and talked about the Sutra that most resonated with us. Then we got into groups of 6 and made a super sequence from the best poses.

Our practice was really grounding. We did twists, hip openers, and our peak Urdvha Dhanurasana (wheel).

K, S, A, and N

K and AA in the Sun Room

After practice, S and M went to the bank, and to the post office and got back in time to have lunch in the Sun Room and hang out with the yogis.

In the afternoon we talked about modifications and variations of back bends.
Teaching Elements, such as music, candles, temperature... and OM-wreckers. You know exactly what OM-wreckers are- the yogis that don't listen to those around them and OM in an entirely different key. We love the fact that they're OM-ing and joining in on the fun, and are so careless
And lastly, we got a sequence that we're going to teach tomorrow! M is in group 5 and teaching the opening, Surya A three times, andVira II. S is in group 3 and teaching, a thigh stretch (he's doing Anjaneyasana) and handstand!

We got home and S made pancakes for dinner. Deeeeee-lish!

Stay grounded,

S and M

16

Short but sweet!

We had a great day! During our usual walk in the morning we walk near a depot of some sort. A few days ago we saw a few baby seaguls and almost got dived on by mamma seagul. M put her hoodie on and we just started to walk faster.
Today, we inadvertedly got between the baby seagul and the mamma seagul and got dive-bombed big time. We freaked out a bit and walked incredibly fast.

In the morning we studied the Sutras, and the anatomy of a backbend. During our practice we did restorative backbends. They were great. It was a really slow paced hatha class, it's what we all needed. After yesterday's arm balancing bonanza, we were all aching.

S and M went to the dollar store to pick up some envelopes. Then M sat on the lawn with the yogis. D,K, and M all had a cherry spitting contest. M came in second after K, and Little D needed to have more power behind her spit. S stayed inside to study.

After lunch, we saw had a quick overview of different styles of yoga. Hatha yoga with a capital "H" is all forms of physical yoga. Hatha yoga with a lower case "h" is one particular style of yoga. The ones you might be more familiar with is Ashtanga and Iyengar, and most other forms of Hatha yoga stem from one or either of those two- there are some exceptions of course (Bikram!- he stems from Bhishnu Ghosh).
We also saw how to sequence backbends, benefits, risks, contraindications... and practice teach. S and M paired up together. When S teaches, he usually always really "up". M's feedback for him was to tone it down a notch and just be him.... not crazy him. S's feedback to M was to be quicker. She's too slow, and if you want to get hot, you go fast.

We've got a lot of homework waiting for us, as well as studying for our Module II test on Thursday.

So...

Stay grounded,

S and M

15

We climbed The Chief yesterday, which isn't as intimidating as it sounds. It's only 550m in altitude and 2.5km, yet, we managed to squeeze in a lot of excitement into the hike.
Afterwards, our legs were ok. We didn't think we would have a hard time doing 2hrs of practice today, but how we were wrong!

Our walk started speedy, but fizzled out near the hospital. We're usually at the hospital at 6:49am, we know this because there's a big clock outside. Today, we were there at 6:55am! That didn't make us speed up our pace, we were just too tired. We weren't the first ones in the studio either!!! Change is always going to come said Sam Cooke.

Eka Pada Galavasana

We started with Yoga Sutras, not bad. We had a prep quiz on anatomy, not bad. We started our practice- deadly. Unlike the rest of our practice, today we had no peak pose. It was just an advance arm balance bonanza!
Iyengar is graciously demonstrating some of the advanced poses that we did. M nearly died. She got into a few of them but was mostly in child's pose. S got several praises from E, and got managed to get into several of the poses. He did go into child's pose a few time though!

 

Eka Pada Koundinyasana

After break we went to the bank to get all of our UK money to our CIBC account. It only took us 40mins to get it all done, and got back to have our Pizza Hut left overs!

After lunch, M was falling asleep. It was little long because we talked about the Subtle Body- if you dissect a person you won't be able to see their Chakras, right? After talking about things we couldn't see, we went into some practice teach.

After yoga school we went to get some fruit and now we're working on our homework.

So homework for tonight:
Write a class sequence up to our peak pose: either Tittibhasana or Eka Pada Koundinyasana.
Write a journal on your thoughts about the Chakras- which are you least balanced in? Whether deficient or too much of, and what would be a self-prescribed yoga asana that can balance you out?
Write an opening for a class based on the Charkas.

Tired and out!

Stay grounded,

S and M

14

Its finally the weekend.  Its been a long haul but we're officially half way through our training.  We slept in for a miraculous 30 minutes extra since we start class on Saturday's at 8:00 instead of 7:30 on weekdays.  To mark this momentus occasion, when S arose he made pancakes with trail-mix.  It makes for a very hearty pancake mix and quite delicious with heap loads of maple syrup.  To match that S and M both enjoyed piping hot teas (M was surprised by a fruity tea from her 'secret-angel' from yoga class, while S had an extra cube of sugar in his early grey).

Two bunnies from our walk on Friday
not our car - ignore license plate!

The walk was wet.  It didn't look too bad when we left the house, but the drizzle picked up until it was a constant mist.  M wore her white rain poncho, which she thought was impermeable.  But when she arrived to class she was soaked thoroughly.  During our walk we were surprised to see a black bunny with a painted white nose also forging the dreary weather.  Quite a surprise. We would've taken a picture but it was too wet.

At class we were pleasantly surprised to find R and E both teaching - E took the weekend off last Saturday, so we assumed that R would have this time.  Turns out both are super troopers.  We're really lucky to have them teaching us.  We began with the anatomy of the wrist.  Quite interesting.  S and M were both familiar with the bone structure of the wrist.  M was surprised by the carpal dance that occurs every time we move our wrist (those bones love to party). S was  astonished by the nerve layout in the hand - a major nerve runs right along the heel of the palm.  The key message for today was to press down through the 4 corners four corners of your hand, but to keep most of the weight in the knuckle of the index finger as its the most stable.  This is because the metacarpal of the first two digits sits further back into the carpals.

BKS Iyengar rocking
bhujapidasana

BKS Iyengar spreading wide in
tittibhasana

After our anatomy lesson we enjoyed a labourious practice focusing on arm balances.  Arm balances are super hard.  It's strenuous on the wrist if you don't put weight into the knuckle of the index finger, but once you can get up it's exhilarating.  M found bhujapidasana easy - like crow but your feet are in front of you and crossed at the heel.  S couldn't get into bhujapidasana but found tittibhasana (from which bhujapidasana derives from) very easy.

Random lady rocking
vasisthasana

Iyengar making bakasana
look easy

After practice we talked about the benefits and risks of arm balances and we got into groups of four to practice teach.  We had to instruct cat/cow,  surya namaskar A, vasisthasana (side angle pose) and finally bakasana (crow pose).  S's energy levels were drained from practice and lied on the floor with his arm in the air when vasisthasana was taught.  R said he looked like a mermaid.  M got probed by E because she has big trapezius muscles that don't let her stand up straight.  E kept drawing M's shoulder blades together.  M really wanted to tell her to 'go away', but its for her own good.


To close practice today we said one word to sum up our training so far.  S's was exhausted.  M's was anxious.  These two weeks have taken a toll on both of our bodies and minds.  It's a good challenge to do and the rewards will be even sweeter when we're done.

Afterwards we went to the grocery store and had what seemed like a never ending walk back home.  We bought gross corn nuts with lemon and spice flavouring.  M said something unrepeatable about what they reminded her of.  S agreed that they were disgusting, but went back for seconds just in case the flavour changed.  It didn't.

Tonight is a chill night in the apartment.  Loading up a movie, resting, and possibly giving into our hamburger/pizza cravings we've been having all week - it might be a non-vegetarian evening.  Tomorrow we get to hang with our new besties C & R.  Enjoy the weekend all.

Homework:
YYoga Binders: read pages 11, 12 from sequencing chapter
Anatomy Colouring book:  page 57
Sutras chapter 2: read 15-18, 28-29
Teaching script for vasisthasana (general form, dual action, contracting and expanding energy)
Study for quiz next Thursday

Stay Grounded,

S and M

13

It's Friday again!!! Tomorrow we'll be halfway through our training. It's going really fast, and we're both a little overwhelmed!

We looked at Patanjali's Yoga Sutras II.3-11. It got a little too metaphisical for M's liking. S didn't say anything, but he felt the same way. Is this real? Are we real? Are our interactions real? BA-LO-NY!

We then studied the anatomy of the knee. It's actually really cool. The knee is a hinge joint (like a door hinge) but it also has a little rotation action to it in case you fall wonky and your knee has to rotate out or in. M suffers from hyperextension, which is when your weight sits at the front of your knee, putting pressure on one side of your menisci and lengthening the ligaments at the back of your knee. If you have hyperextension, then you need to have a microbend at your knee to engage all of the muscles of the leg to support the knee.

Our practice was active hip-openers. Active hip-openers are when you open your hips with the help of gravity- think of splits. In fact, our peak pose was the splits, Hanumanasana. Hip openers can be a little volatile. We store a lot of emotion on our hips and when we open them, it kind of releases all of that emotion like flood gates. After 2 hours of hip openers, we were all really for bed.


Lunch with the yogis on the lawn.

After lunch we talked about the benefits, risks and contraindications of hip openers. If you have knee or ankle injury, be hesitant. We then got into groups of 4 and sequenced a class- fun!

That being said, it's Friday, so we're going to treat you with a video of Surya Namaskar A (Sun Salutaton A). Surya Namaskar come from the Ashtanga tradition of yoga. In Ashtanga you do Surya A, then Surya B as a general (or targeted) warm-up. It seems pretty easy, but it's harder than you think.

Stay grounded,

S and M

12

Today we looked at the anatomy of our cervical spine (where the neck meets the skull). We looked at the benefits and contraindications of inversions(where the head is below the heart), we then looked at how to get in and out of them. We looked particularly at headstand and shoulderstand.

For our practice we worked on invervions (derrr!). M is good at headstands, so is S. We're both working on going up with feet together, pausing midway, going all the way up. And coming down with feet together, and pausing halfway, and then coming down completely. It takes a lot of core strength and balance but we'll get it soon enough! Shoulderstand was eye opening. When we were in London, we went to Jivamukti in Ladbroke Grove and they would go into shoulderstands so non-chalantly that we didn't really know how to get into it, until today! We could now stay up there forever.

Our lunch was with some really cool yogis in the studio because it was a rainy day in Van-city. We saw our teacher, R, doing awesome handstands in the middle of the room. Our other teacher, E, was into a real deel hamstring stretch. Kinda like our own personal circus during lunch.

After lunch we went over our sequence that we did in our practice and its component parts. We then practiced taught with 3 friends. And that was the end of our day!

We got a ride so we didn't have to walk too far, and we did laundry tonight! It's the first time since we got here- which is kind of gross. We packed all of our yoga stuff (and some street wear) and walked over to the laundermat. All of our stuff was already in the process of being wash and S forgot to put his socks in the wash. We had to emergency stop the wash and put S's socks in. It didn't have the suds power after that and our clothes didn't have the fresh smell we thought it should've had. We're going again next week.

Oh, talking out our friend CB, we didn't make it clear that our unisex pants are more for lounging than bending-and-farting (yoga!).

We wanted to videotape a series of Surya Namaskar A (Sun Salutation) but we're tired and in pj's. We'll do it tomorrow!

Stay grounded,

S and M

11

M with the unisex pants

First day of Module II and there are 3 new people joining us. They did Module I way back either in October or February, and are now doing Module II and III.

In the morning we started with Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Chapter 2, verse 1. It talked about the Tapas (enduring intensity for the sake of transformation) and the Svadhyaya (Self-reflection). Then we went into some reflection time and answered these 2 questions, we're putting it out there so you can answer for yourself:
How do boundaries serve you in your everyday life?
How does expansion serve you in your everyday life?

Our practice was finally HANDSTANDS (Adho Mukha Vrksasana)! They were wickedly fun, and our peak pose was Pincha Mayurasana [pinch-a-my-your-ass-ana] (forearm stand- much harder than handstand).  Right afterwards we went into Savasana- kind of wild! It's like going on a wickedly awesome roller coaster and as soon as you get off, lay on the lawn!

Lunch on the lawn with the yogis. Although some yogis have been going to Starbucks lately. We're on a spending limit, so it kind of hinders our budget to go to Starbucks so cheese sandwich is for us, and sometimes we go all out with rice and beans!

After lunch we learned all about inversions- anything when your head is below your heart. We talked about risks and contraindications (people who shouldn't do it). Pregnant women, if it's not their usual practice, and menstruating women apparently should also not do it. A funny yogi, E, talked about a girls period with the word "mensies" and also "pubic cleanse". We were all in stitched. M hopes he doesn't say that in class- it's too funny yet uncomfortable. The final verdict was if a girl is on her mensies, and feeling comfortable to go up into inversions, do it! If not, don't do it.

We did some teaching practice of Surya A, Surya B, crescent, handstand, and forearm stand. We did good!

On the way home, we stopped to buy some bread, and fruit for lunches. We also talked about starting all over again in a new city. We're scared our families won't visit us, since our families, with some exceptions, didn't visit us in London. But, at the end of the day, we trust that the Universe knows what it's doing with us, and we rest in it's abundant Knowledge.

Our video is of the handstand (Adho Mukha Vrksasana) workshop we did in class today. It's hard to see M's feet, but when S told her to lift her feet, she lifted one foot at a time. Warning: Don't do this without a buddy. If you need any of us, we'll either see you soon enough or go give you personal classes because we love you so much that we don't want you to get hurt.

Stay grounded,

S and M

10

Official 1/3 done our training!

We started off with our regular walk. We didn't see any live bunnies. It was a major surprise! We did see, however, a dead bunny. M thought it must have been the one we saw yesterday. Yesterday, we saw a black bunny with white paws, and today, it was roadkill.

We had a morning anatomy lesson on breathing. We later had a lesson on going with the flow- pretty much sequencing.

Then we had a full-on 2 hour practice. In our previous practices, we've gone up against the wall, had some down time. Not today, it was a killer 2 hour class with ALL of the externally and neutrally rotated postures. It was long, it was deadly, it was great. S and M both came out glowing... just as the rest of the 34 yogis in our class!

Whatsupasana

No lunch on the lawn today. Everyone was really busy studying, and cramming. At lunch, S and M noticed how people study; some meditate, some cram, some get silly (S). Toward the end, some of us were sitting in the reception area, and M and S were making all the poses so that people could name them. S made up the Whatsupasana, it wasn't that funny, but all the boys laughed. 

Immediately after lunch, formative assessment time! It wasn't too difficult, both S and M did extremely well, the questions were not too hard, and we both now know what we need to review. 

After the assessment, we corrected it. Then we practice taught Surya Namaska A with breathing cues. It felt good, but we also need a lot of practice.

We got a ride to No.1 Road and Westminster from our fellow yogi, Y. It's fantastic, because we got home at 5pm!!!!! Record time, since we would usually be home by 6pm or later. We just don't know what to give Y for giving us a ride home. Tea? Coconut water? Power bar? Lunch gift certificate? Ideas are welcomed.

No homework tonight, just the one we didn't do last night. So off to enjoy the evening!

Stay grounded,

Tired after a long practice. S wearing OUR new harem pants from Lulu Lab
We're sharing them because they're unisex

S and M

9

Fantastic news friends, we got a ride to the nearest strip mall! It seems pretty insignificant but it made the world of a difference to us. M had enough balls to ask, Y, if it would be a problem to drop us off to buy some t.p. on the way home, and actually, she had to pick up her kids across from the strip mall, so it worked out perfectly. She even offered to pick us up tomorrow morning. M is a little bitter sweet about morning driving, she kind of enjoys the walks now, and S does too. It's the afternoon that we dread.

Not so zonked tonight, we didn't have a big practice, more like a workshop of Surya Namaskar A (Sun Salutations). We really worked through Plank (Phalakasana) and Chaturanga Dandasana which are much, much harder! We had props under our hips for chaturanga, and M couldn't even lift herself off after she had the correct foundation.... can't wait until handstand!

Before practice we went into the Yoga Sutras. M has no comment on that because she called the bullshit card a whole bunch of times. S thinks its more the fluffy stuff of yoga, yet some of the suggestions from Patanjali are grounded. S connected more with people who interpreted Patanjali, than what our classroom thought. We think we're both too scientific to be so fluffy... there might come a point where that changes.

Lunch with the yogis on the lawn, as per usual.

After lunch we talked about the idea behind Surya Namaskar A and B and how to sequence it. Afterwards we talked about hands-on assist. We had to sit in front of our partner and feel their energy without touching them. Some people had really interesting experiences, S's partner saw browns and blue, S saw red in his partner. M felt hot, but we were in a room where they just finished a hot yoga class.

Keeping it short because we have a formative assessment tomorrow and we need to study. That AND, there was a new True Blood last night that we're going to watch today.

Stay grounded,

S and M

8

Welcome to the weekend! and to our raunchiest blog yet...

We started off with anatomy of the core - think of abs and include diaphragm and pelvic floor. Rewinding to Friday's edition of anatomy, we all stuck our hands down our pants to feel our sacrum, coccyx and our vestigial tail- yes we have a tail. Forward to Saturday's edition, we had another session of self palpation. Our pelvic floor is like a hammock of muscles  that holds prevents our organs from falling out of us, and it has 3 orifices (holes); anal, vaginal (for women) and urinary. We talked about Mula Bandha- what do you think of when you hear that? Lock, Root Lock, Donkey? All of the above (donkey was S's answer).  The Mula Bandha is an energetic seal within our pelvic floor used to harness the innate energy in our body.  Down to the practical part, we all got comfortable on the floor, turned off the lights and started to feel our pelvic floor. Rachel instructed us to isolate and contract our anal muscles (this is all very subtle), after that we were instructed to contract our vaginal muscles, and breathe through our vagina. It got a bit sticky because there are 8 guys in a class full of girls, and they don't have a vagina. So she said "boys, just play down there", someone else added, "bring your junkey into you, your taint".
The last one was to try to stop the flow of urine- all encompassing!
So if you come to one of our classes, and either S or M instruct you to stuff your balls into your belly, or breathe through your vagina- now you know we want you to engage your pelvic floor and harness the energy!

We did a really good practice, where not surprisingly, we engaged our energetic seals. It felt really cool after Kapalbhati breathing through your nostrils (only exhaling through your nose), we exhaled completely, inhaled, held our breathe in, and lowered our chin to make a throat lock. All of the energy was harnessed in the middle of our body- around diaphragm area. To M it felt like she had a huge ball of energy that she could Dragonball Z across the room.
S was paired up with a cute girl, F, during our practice. During savasana, M usually falls asleep, and it's S responsibility to wake her up. F took a long time to get up from savasana, so S kinda nudged her to get her up, to which she said she was just taking her time. We're sure F is never going to practice next to S again because he disturbed her savasana!

We ended yoga school at 1pm and went to a bbq in White Rock (South Surrey). We met the funniest pothead that told us he didn't like Toronto because the first time in the city he went to the Keg and they didn't have steak, the second time he went to Swiss Chalet, and they had no chicken. He hates the water, and even the soda pop tastes like the gross water, it's like Kandahar he said. He almost fell over as we were leaving and S had to put his hand on his shoulder and kind of hold him up. He also sleeps on the top of his truck, where he built a platform with plywood and covered with astroturf. We love Vancouver!

Our yoga homework:
Anatomy Colouring Book p.51
Read Yoga Sutras 22-41
Write a teaching script for paravritta trikonasana from tadasana
And bring earplugs for Monday??????

Today our mission is to study, do some groceries and maybe a field trip to the Lululemon lab.

Stay grounded,

S and M

7

It's Friday! But it's still not the weekend for us yet....

Pine Cone Alley

We did a really fast walk to the studio and made it to the studio in record time, less than 50minutes! One thing we forgot to tell you about was the amount of pine cones we see on our walk. We actually go through what we call pine cone alley, and just choose one at the beginning of the street and try to kick it all the way down the street. At one time, we have had 4 pine cones going. We're so talented! We also see bunnies in the front lawn of a medical building across from the hospital. They're cute!

We opened with Philosophy, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras 5-15. M doesn't really understand the Sutras anymore because there's one particular section of the Sutras that talk about the vritti, which are the vacillations of the mind. Those vacillations could be good or bad, and then, M gets lost. S has told her that she's just complicating things, and that "we're good!". S has given up a lot of things, along with M, and S has really learned to understand his reactions to certain actions and to be non-attached to the outcome. M has no idea what that means, but is comforted in the fact that S say's "she's good".

Afterwards we dove right into anatomy of the muscles of the hip. We focused on all of them, including S's favourite, piriformis (a small muscles that helps to externally rotate the hip that hooks into your greater trocanter and your femur). It's S's favourite because he's been dealing with piriformis issues for about a year now.  M's favourite is the psoas, a muscle that attaches from the inside of your spine, around T12 level, all the way down to your inner trocanter, it helps us pretty much keep upright without falling backwards.

Before our practice, both M and S were really tired. We didn't think we could actually complete it, and were hoping for an hour long savasanaaaaaaaaa (dead corpse pose- basically lying on the mat without moving). But alas, Erica was flipping hard, yet we survived. Our peak pose was Uttitha Hasta Padangustasana- standing on one leg while holding your big toe of your other foot to the side.

Lunch on the lawn with the yogis... and Rachel!! She's one of our teachers, and she's great. S went in a little earlier to study, M stayed outside the entire time to work on her tan- as if she needs it, right?!

After lunch, no asana lab :( We did some practice teach, where S and M paired up for the first time during the entire training and it was good. M managed to boss S around in Spanish, while S reprimanded her for not using verbal cues.

Afterwards we all sat in a really tight circle and each expressed how he/she felt about the week. There are a lot of English as a second language people in our class, and we all felt for them. It's really hard to learn anatomy, sankrit, history, and philosophy in an entirely new language. We all acknowledged that they were very courageous, and at points, you could see that there were tears in their eyes when we all validated them. After sharing, we packed up and started walking home.

Lo and behold, the owner of the house we're staying in, stopped to give us a ride home. We were, as the British say, chuffed! We got home in record time, 5:30! M did her daughterly duties and called home, S got to studying.

Tomorrow, we don't have to go in to the studio until 8am. We're going to get to sleep in until 5:45am. Lucky us!

Stay grounded,


S and M

Bunnies on the lawn of a medical centre

6

Yet another great day!

Walk was good! M's blisters are starting to become less noticeable, and therefore less painful. She wore her converse today, with S's socks. S wore his barefoot trainers, with socks, his knee and hip felt better.

We started off with the intro to the Sutras (thread, like needle and thread) and looking at the Sutras 1-4. They're actually really nice, it talks about how you need to leave all of your vacillations and just be at one with The Seer (you). The most popular Sutra is probably: Yogaś citta-vritti-nirodhaḥ- translated to: yoga is the restraint of mental modifications. Sounds fluffy, but what defines you? A teacher? A lawyer? A peacemaker?... let it go, and be at one with The Seer, the real you. Deep, huh?!


We jumped into anatomy of feet and ankles. We have a stir-up made of the tendon that runs from the big muscle beside your tibia and a tendon that runs from your calf muscle. These tendons meet at the bottom arch of your foot and create a really cool stir-up- how 80's!


Our practice peaked at Ardha Chandrasana. It didn't seem like a really hard practice, but it was really slow, and really meant to tune you into every single muscle in your body, and what 
it's job is. M thinks it was the nicest practice she's done.


There was no yogi lunch on the lawn today, it was raining, we all sat in the studio and studied. While we were moving around, S farted! It was a pretty loud fart, yet no one looked at him. There are some really grounded yogis in that room. 


After lunch we had our second Asana Lab, remember? Circle of love, acceptance, and feedback. We did Trikonasana, Vira II, and Vrksasana. Neither S or M got to go into the middle mat to get feedback. Someday!
At the end we had practice teaching, where we practiced how to give simple action commands to our partner to get into the general form of a pose. S paired up with J, a really cool yogi. Eventually, 2 other boys joined the club. They all decided to get matching yoga tattoos, it evolved to each of them getting a single letter, so that all together they can spell yoga.... to eventually all four boys coming in at the end of the month, shirtless, with one letter painted on their chest, to spell yoga during our practice. 


We also got something that made S a little scared, a revision pack. It's 5 pages of revision questions for our final of Module I on Tuesday.  M is scared too, but as Erica (one of our instructors said), trust the process. What makes S & M feel better is the fact that everyone is there to help us, and nobody wants us to fail.


Good news! We're changing up our lunches! We have had cheese, tomato, and hummus sandwich for the last 4 days, but tomorrow were going native: casamiento (beans and rice), avocado and bread! It seems like Friday, but we have to go in on Saturday too, only until 1pm. 
After that on Saturday, we got invite from our one Vancouver friend, R,  to go to a bbq, we think YES!


Homework:
Craft a teaching scrip for Trikonasana
Colouring Anatomy Book p.40 and 65
Read Patanjali's Yoga Sutras 5-16
Review foot and Ankle anatomy
Try to memorize all the neutrally rotated standing poses as well as externally rotated standing poses - (WHAT?!)


Stay grounded


S and M


p.s. Our friend, Bell, suggested we either do a yoga dictionary with all the terms to make it clear for our non-yogi friends or link to a yoga dictionary somewhere out there in the big inter-web. We'll see what we can do for you this weekend. 

5

What an amazing day!

Our walk was better than the last 2 days. M wore band-aids (plasters for international friends) and socks with her birks, S just wore birks- bad idea, but read on that later!

We started off by talking about the anatomical position of Virabhadrasana III (standing T pose). M had it completely wrong, but she found the error of her flexions and extensions pretty quickly, and fixed it in class. S was pretty on the ball, because he's cool like that. After a brief anatomical review, we delved into the history of Yoga.

What an amazing history it has, it is so rich, so thought of, so all encompassing. For tonight's homework we need to write a reflection of this morning's lesson. S's reflection is the fact that it IS all encompassing. M's reflection is that of the OM. OM is actually A-U-M-Silence. It stems from the Upanishads and it signifies the 4 states of consciousness: waking, dreaming, profound sleep, and the fourth state, which alone is real. In its simplest form: creation, sustainment, death, and re-birth(silence)- blew M's mind!

In our practice, Erica lead us very systematically through several neutral and hamstring poses to reach our peak pose of Virabhadrasana III. We were placed along the wall, with our body and legs in neutral position and our right foot (our only weight bearing appendage) in flexion at the hip. That again, was very difficult, for S it was a moment of enlightenment where he clearly saw the inbalances of his body.

Lunch with the yogis on the lawn, cut a bit shorter due to studying.

After lunch, some intro to sequencing and how good/bad sequencing can make your class or break it. There are cases where you go straight from wheel to savasana, right? Then some intro to verbal assists: "Charlie, you're breathing really well, ground your foot into the floor more, nice!"

Lastly, some Asana Lab. This was our first asana lab. We all got into the circle of love, acceptance and safety, and did Vira I, Garudasana, Parsvottasana... and Erica and Rachel chose 3 people to do the pose on the mat. We gave props for what the person on the mat was doing well and we also gave verbal assist on how to better their pose. S was secretly wishing it wasn't him on the mat, M was hoping it was.

On the way home, S's idea of wearing birks in the morning turned sour. His feet started blistering. M gave up her bandaid (plaster) to help him out. It wasn't made any better. S ended up taking off his sandals and walking barefoot for over 2 kilometers. You better believe he's taking a long bath tonight!

Bad news friends, no bike! It turns out that the fellow yogi who was offering her bike, has already, but not to M! Oh well, I guess this is the prime time for her to build up callouses on her dainty feet and breathe through the pain.

Tonight's homework... not so much!:

Anatomy review worksheet

read the first 5 Sutras of Patanjali

Read p3-4 in Sequencing section

Review neutrally standing poses p.49

Write out a paragraph on something that inspired/surprised you about the History of Yoga

Write a script on how to get into the general form of Virabhadrasana III

Stay grounded,

S and M

4

Cream Crackered!

We're tired and it's only the 2nd day!!! Yesterday we were pathetic, falling asleep on the couch at 8:30pm. M failed to listen to the voice of reason when he said to go to bed at 8:30. S and M still got up at the same time, and tried to upload the Tadasana instructional video- with no avail.

After our 1 hour long walk.... I know we're really emphasizing this long walk. It's 3.5km and M has some serious blisters on her feet. She's been really strong and S is really proud of her.
After our 1 hour long walk, we step into the studio, again, first ones in, in our heads we're secretly "yes!"-ing. Our morning is filled by an anatomical overview of the muscles, basic skeleton, spine and planes of movement. Seems pretty easy, but our heads are a little blocked up already.

After break our practice consists of several Tadasana poses and finally going up against the wall and not doing handstands! As soon as a yoga teacher asks you to go up against a wall, the rest of the yogis either get excited or dread the handstand- to M's dismay- no handstands! We did a lot of hands against the wall poses, straightening our back, bringing our tailbone in or out. The most difficult pose was standing on one foot, having the other foot perpendicular against the wall all while making sure your hips were lengthened. S suffered through this, his hips were yelling for him to stop.

Lunch with the yogis on the lawn seems to be a regular thing now. It's really nice to sit outside, but we're both getting really sunburn!
After lunch some simple vs. dual action commands. An example of a simple action would be to press all four corners of your feet down- not something you could over do. An example of a dual action would be to lift the inner arches of your feet while bringing the outer parts of your ankle in. Sounds simple, it's not!
Lastly, we did some practice teaching. We practiced how to get from one asana to another using just simple action or just dual action or both!

After our day, we went to the dollar store to get a can opener and lined paper for our homework, and to the Superstore to get some cereal with delicious organic soy milk! We had an even longer way home (because we went shopping) - which most of the way M daydreamed about owning a donkey and riding him to and from the studio.

A piece of good news: Our yoga instructors have set up a google page for our training, browsing on the website yesterday M found a girl that has offered up a bicycle. We already have one bicycle offered up by the residents of the house we're staying at, it's more suitable for S- so we just need 1 more. We're crossing our fingers that goes through.

Our homework for tonight:
Reread Seat of the Teacher p 12-13
Colouring Anatomy Book p 1 and 27
Write out a teaching script from downward dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) to low lunge with knee on ground (Anjaneyasana).
Write out anatomical position for Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III)
Review neutral standing poses
Breathe

Here's the video from yesteday. We'll keep you posted on the bike situation.

Stay grounded,

S and M

3

We're not dead!

First day strength

We have officially completed the fist day of Immersion Module 1. We're tired, we're hungry, and we're sore.

We did our 1 hour walk to the studio, and realized we were WAY early. In fact, we were 40 minutes earlier than 7:30am! (We woke up at 5am).  We were the first ones in the studio, yet, right behind us were some fellow teacher training yogis. It was intimidating, they were more beautiful, more toned, more decked out in Lululemon- and we were scared.

We started by sitting in a circle in the Moon Room. We quickly talked about some housekeeping stuff, and got into discussing What Does Yoga Mean To Me? (refer to blog 1- our homework assignment). M didn't speak, but S shared a really personal moment of how a life-changing seizure a year ago CHANGED his life (and M's). At about 10am, we started our Hatha Yoga practice.  It was 2 hours long, it was hard, but if felt good. It felt so good that M fell asleep during savasana and had to be awakened by S while just before coming out of savasana.

Drawing alignment lines

We had lunch on the grass outside the studio with our new yogi friends. The afternoon session was A-MA-ZING! We discussed the value of alignment. We talked about what feet hip-width distance apart really mean and look like. We got to draw on eachother, from the middle of your ankle bone a direct line to the knuckle of your second toe. We also talked about correct alignment in downward facing dog; a straight line from the middle of your wrist to the space between your index and middle finger- that was mindblowing!

We also discussed the value of tadasana. How our job as teachers is to bring students to an asana, and make them feel like they're in tadasana; fully grounded, fully present, fully strong.  We had to pair up and practice getting into tadasana with another partner, and actually feel and see the instructions of getting into tadasana.

We concluded with basic anatomy; connective tissue (bones, cartilage, lymph, blood, fat, tendons, ligaments and fascia)

This is our homework for tonight:
Review Seat of the Teacher pgs 1-8
Read Tadasana in the asana section pgs 13-15
Read Ray Long's Book Key Muscles of Yoga pgs 10-18;22
Anatomy Colouring Book pgs 21-22
Write your own Tadasana script

All the while eating dinner, taking a bath, watching tv, fbooking....

Stay grounded,

S and M

trouble posting video, will post soon!