Ain’t no mountain high enough
As YTTC is coming to a close and with exams looming over our heads, the saying “It’s not the destination that matters, but the journey” has never felt so real. Because I have experienced so much progress though I am not even where I would like to be yet, and I know when I get there, the destination would not matter because the journey to get there took so much effort and patience. Love the satisfaction of executing a challenging asana but love the process of getting there more. With love, Afiza (YTTC OCT 2015)
Improving one’s own practice
Svadhyaya is practiced as a self-reflection process, where one silently meditates, in Asana, on one’s own behaviors, motivations and plans. Svadhyaya is, in a sense, for one’s spirit and mind a process equivalent to watching one’s body in a non-distorting mirror. This self-study, in Yoga, is not merely contemplation of one’s own motives and behaviors, but also of one’s circumstances and the environment one is in, assessing where one is in one’s life, what is one’s life direction, if and how desirable changes may lead to a more fulfilling Self. Above from Wikipedia. Since beginning my journey in YTTC, I have been in a constant state of Svadhyaya. From being conscious of my alignment and how I am not being able to achieve certain postures because my hips are tight (need to work on that), or my arm strength is not there yet (working on it), to daily life and my relationships with others; how I treat people, how I react to what others say. I was lying on my room floor after class one day, tired from the day’s activities and thinking about having to work later at night. Then my mum came into my room talking excitedly about something. I was focusing so much on feeling tired that I did not process whatever my mum said. After a while, I realized my mum was still talking to me and felt guilty for not listening! It has happened countless times before without me realizing because I wasn’t practicing Svadhyaya (sorry mum). I snapped back to the present and tried to salvage what I could gather from her words and give a reply, thinking how bad that I wasn’t paying attention to her for so long and not even realizing this. I would like to think that it was through focusing on asanas that I was training the mind to be present. More reasons to love yoga. With love, Afiza (YTTC OCT 2015)
What is my worth as a teacher?
Sitting down with Nicole one day for theory, she shared with us what a teacher should be charging for their expertise and time. It then dawned on me that soon I would be graduating and needed to start thinking of finding students. What a daunting task. Several of my family members and friends have said that they would like to join my class when they saw my IHA related posts on social media, but I have not responded because I was apprehensive about charging them money. Would they think it’s too pricey? Would they rather pay for a gym membership which would allow them to attend an unlimited variety of yoga classes? I have always wondered why people paid such high fees for Personal Trainers when they could just look up exercises for weight loss etc. on the internet. Then I realized that there is just too much information online and people would be willing to pay for convenience and if they believe that they will benefit from the investment. This got me started thinking more about lesson planning and how to tailor-fit a 1 hour session for a student so that they would not be disappointed. Coming back to one of the 8 limbs of yoga, Yama: Asteya (Non-stealing), I would be disappointed in myself too if the student felt like they just wasted their time. I think if one gives it their best effort, with the best intention of helping, and equipped with the training and knowledge from this course, one should not be embarrassed to ask to be paid for their efforts. With love, Afiza
Teaching experience
During the course, I experienced that teaching friends in the course with me and teaching a total stranger who had limited yoga background was very different. It is a much more challenging task to transfer the knowledge of what we learnt during the course in detail, and still keep within the limitations of that 1 hour when I was with the beginner student. I wanted to impart some of the passion I had gained for yoga to this new practitioner, so that she too would see the benefits of yoga not only from a physical aspect but from a mental one. Alas, I could only focus on the physical. It took a lot of effort to correct the alignment of the beginner student and at the same time be conscious that there were others in the class who could perform the asanas well. They were waiting for instructions while I was busy adjusting that one student. Some of my classmates were kind enough to chirp in with their own verbal adjustments as well! For this reason, I think that everyone should take private lessons as least once, so that they may learn proper alignment themselves doing the postures, and know that there are props available to them to help them achieve that final posture. One may not be able to execute an asana perfectly today, but with constant work they will most certainly get it in the future. I love that yoga is a journey to self-discovery. With love, Afiza (YTTC October 2015)
How Yoga has changed my life
4 September 2015 As we take on more responsibility at work, as a wife, mother and building our financial nests, we tend to neglect the most important, our precious health and well-being. Yoga is a good life skill to own. Very often, yoga is only partially understood as being limited to asanas (yoga poses). As such, its benefits are only perceived to be at the body level and we fail to realize the immense benefits yoga offers in uniting the body, mind and breath. When you are in harmony, the journey through life is calmer, happier and more fulfilling. Some of the yoga benefits are all-rounded fitness, weight loss, stress relief, inner peace, improved immunity, living with greater awareness, better relationships, increased energy, better flexibility and posture, better intuition and the list goes longer. Yoga is a continuous process. I’ve been reminding myself since the start of my yoga journey to keep on practicing. So far, I have been very disciplined practicing pranayama (breathing), surya namaskra (sun salutation) and the asanas at 5.30am every morning for the past 1.5 weeks. The initial struggle having to wake up before dawn was excruciating, but as I slowly got into the momentum, I began to feel more amazing each day. The deeper you move into your yoga practice, the more profound are its benefits. You will never know until you try. Namaste, Youyi
Yogic Diet – The 3 Gunas
22 August 2015 I love to eat. I can’t imagine life without food. We are very fortunate that there are so many food options in our society today, both good and bad. Unfortunately, many of us make bad food choices. We choose meat over salads, processed food over fresh ingredients because they are more readily available, last longer and generally more affordable. As such, many adults including kids are trending towards an obese society. “You are what you eat.” It is a known fact of advice. However, people need to be educated on to eat healthily. Yoga is a good illustration as its philosophy teaches us to eat well. In yoga, we are taught the 3 Gunas, namely Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Gunas are qualities that create the essential aspects of all nature—energy, matter and consciousness. Rajas is a state of energy, action, change and movement. Tamas is a state of darkness, inertia, inactivity and materiality. I will elaborate more on Sattva as the yogic lifestyle strongly cultivates Sattva. It is a state of harmony, balance, joy and intelligence. Sattva is the guna that yogis achieve towards as it reduces rajas and tamas and thus makes liberation possible. To increase sattva, we should reduce both rajas and tamas foods, eat sattvic foods and enjoy activities and environments that produce joy and positive thoughts. Sattvic foods include whole grains, legumes, fresh fruits and vegetables. All of the yogic practices were developed to create sattva in the mind and body. Nevertheless, I still firmly believe that we should live to eat and not eat to live. Life is short; it would be a pity to deprive ourselves with the food we love. However it is important to always live in balance. Be open to enjoy real food. Namaste, Youyi
Meditation
29 August 2015 Meditation has never interested me. My ignorant assumption is that medication is boring because it is just sitting there doing nothing. It wasn’t until today, when I was taught the true technique of getting into meditation state of mind, would I have known that meditation is one of the most challenging aspects of yoga and it is a useful life skill if you can perform it. Meditation is exactly being in the state of doing nothing. It is experienced not mentally but by consciousness, which cannot exactly be taught but through guidance from the experienced and one’s own experience. In my opinion, the rule of thumb to meditation is to let go of your consciousness, turn away from your concentration and put aside the distractions slowly and not with an force. There is no intent of achieving and reaching a state at any stage of meditation. I would simply sum up meditation to be in a black hole situation. I have not attained the meditation state of mind yet. But I would love to experience meditation some day as it enriches our soul and it comes along with a list of health benefits such as emotional balance, increased immunity, increased productivity, relives irritable bowel, lowers blood pressure, relieves irritable bowel and calmness. Namaste, Youyi
Yoga in the Nature
15 August 2015 Today is the 11th day of the 200-hour yoga teacher training. After a week of break from the Singapore Jubilee weekend, we are back to the weekend yoga training routine. The idea was somehow daunting from the guilt of no practice for a week and also having sinned pigging out during my visit to Malacca over the public holiday. But hooray! I was in exhilaration when Nicole, our yoga instructor, surprised us on a yoga excursion to the Botanic Gardens! I love the beautiful Botanic Gardens. It has been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is an iconic Singapore garden destination in the heart of our city center. Practicing yoga in the nature is my very first time and it is such a great idea to be able to enchant our spiritual well being in the midst of our wonderful mother nature. We settled down at a cute sheltered pavilion, and laid out our mats all ready to start. We did our usual practices such as pranayama, surya namaskra and asana sequences, and also the most challenging pose to me at that point of time; the head stand without a wall! I managed to attempt my first headstand without the support of the wall! The feeling was pretty awesome and very accomplished for me. I did wonder if it was the power of energy from nature or was it being able to overcome the fear of falling. This accomplishment taught me a valuable life experience: Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t. When your confidence overwhelms, it can make the impossible seem nothing. It used to limit me because I set my own boundaries that I couldn’t do it. In life, anything that excites one’s spirit should be pursued even if one foresees the challenges ahead. This is very very true and should be embraced. Looking forward to making more impossible poses possible! Namaste, Youyi
Teaching
19 July 2015 Today is lesson 6 of the yoga teacher training and I taught the themed class for better skin tone. This is both exciting as it a new challenge and at the same time stressful, as I have not done this before. I made some miss-cue and my sequence was messy. I obviously did fairly badly due to my inexperience; hence I was too harsh on myself. We all learn from our mistakes. As a student, you only follow the instructions given by the yoga teacher. Not all teachers correct your misalignment. You would only become more aware of your own alignment when you start to teach. In fact teaching has taught me many qualities that I could not have learnt from a yoga class such as alignments and more detailed techniques. I am thankful to have the guidance from my supportive teachers Jessica and Nicole. They have been very patient and encouraging throughout the course thus far. They have taught me important teaching techniques. My classmates were a fun bunch to be around with and everyone has been helpful. I am indeed blessed to be part of this yoga journey with them. I am happy as I can foresee a promising yoga-teaching path ahead of me. Namaste, Youyi
Why I took up the Yoga Teacher Training Program
June 2015 I have always been physically active. I used to represent the volleyball team in junior college, participate the tennis club in the university, signed up the gym membership when I entered the workforce. Three years ago, I joined Real Yoga and started practicing yoga, as I wanted to slim down, look good and feel good physically. I was obsessed with hot yoga because I would sweat buckets with an hour of yoga class. It felt like I burned more calories than running or struggling at some gym cardio classes. After two years with Real Yoga, I discontinued my membership with them. All the downward dog and arm balances did toned me up but I noticed broader shoulders and chunkier arms. I did not like how I look, as I preferred the slim and slender figure. Ironically, I decided to embark on the yogic journey in June 2015. It didn’t just happened out of the blue; I felt I had to do something more meaningful with my life. I was a little fitness obsessed to look good but I missed the most important element that looking good comes from within. Apart from being active, the mind and spirit play more important roles to bring the glow in us, which eventually makes us look good, healthy and radiant. Yoga teaches us how to find balance, to become self-aware and to overcome our boundaries. The asana practice during the training used to be dreadful, but as I progressed every week, I became more aware of my improvement and it encouraged me to become better each time. Every lesson was very fulfilling and I am glad I made the choice to commit to this 200-hour yoga teacher training. I have been told before that sacrifices have to be made to be successful. With the moral support from my family and loved ones, there is no better reason to miss this opportunity. I hope to spread the goodness of yoga to the like-minded people. Namaste, Youyi
