Teaching Practice | RYT200 Reflections | Yuqi
Yesterday, we had our first try at teaching a full one-hour class. Personally, I feel that the challenge to designing a class sequence is to know which body parts you want to target, and ensuring that your class sequence can flow smoothly accordingly. I wanted to play music for my class because as a student, I love yoga classes where they play music. So another challenge for me was to find suitable songs and check that the class sequence flows with the playlist! I actually took quite some time to build the playlist but I really enjoyed it though ? It was definitely a good experience teaching a full hour class, although it is only to our own classmates – whom we are already familiar with. But it was important as I learnt what are my strengths and weakness, and how to manage my time well. And multi-tasking! – giving instructions, demonstrating and adjusting. My first community class will begin next Saturday. I’m actually pretty nervous yet excited to teach my own friends and share with them what I’ve learnt during YTT. Looking forward to the next weekend when teaching classes start! But I also realise that I’m left with 8 sessions in YTT… 🙁 Yuqi @yuqii
Inversions | RYT200 Reflections | Yuqi
If I remember correctly, we started learning about headstand on the 7th day. While my classmates managed to come up to a headstand, I remained stuck on the ground, unable to bring my legs up. It’s not even about trying to hold a headstand, but I couldn’t even bring myself to a headstand position! And so I remained on the mat, doing cat-cow, trying to improve my upper body flexibility and watching my classmates. I was rather worried actually – what if I can’t achieve headstand by the end of YTT? can I still consider myself as a teacher? I went home, read different sources on what to do to achieve a headstand and googled my worries on not being able to invert as a teacher. I decided that, ok, perhaps my body is not ready yet. There are a lot of elements needed to put together a safe headstand. Maybe if I slow down and take my time to work on the different parts of the body separately, it will eventually come together and one day I will be ready to invert? With every unsuccessful try, I reminded myself not to get frustrated or beat myself up for being unable to invert. Somehow I felt that it would be unhealthy to do so. (reference to 8 limbs of yoga) 4 lessons later, we learnt Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Stand). There was a lot of shoulder-opening exercises to warm-up and prepare the shoulders for forearm stand. Similarly, my classmates could bring themselves up to forearm stand after all these exercises. But me! I was stuck, again. I found it really hard to relax my shoulders and my neck-shoulders always felt so uncomfortable in Ardha Pincha Mayurasana (Dolphin Pose). I couldn’t keep my forearms flat and steady on the ground, they always tend to move as I move my upper body. There was absolutely no way I could do Forearm Stand. And so we were given the wheel as a prop to practice Forearm Stand. Holding onto the wheel would help to keep the forearms steady on the mat, but here comes another problem – I had the tendency to shift my gaze – my head wasn’t steady and would often drop and my eyes would gaze backwards. Because of this, I took a really long time to be able to come into an assisted Forearm Stand. But when I finally achieved that, it felt great! After this, I was asked to go into a headstand (against the wall), which I definitely didn’t think it was possible because I haven’t been able to do so in the past 2 weeks. But I gave it a try, and when my legs went up to the wall so lightly and quickly, I was like WOOOOAAAAAAH. I was so shocked that I came down to the mat immediately. It felt super easy compared to 2 weeks ago! This was definitely proof that my shoulders had opened up so much from the shoulders-opening exercises and forearm poses on the same day. ^^^^^^^^^^ This was all in March Fast forward to today, 20 April, I definitely feel that my tight shoulders have opened up so much compared to when I first started YTT. I can now try to do a Forearm Stand with my forearms steady on the mat (sounds simple but it really is a personal achievement for me! haha). I really am satisfied with all these changes that I’ve felt in my body so far and hope to achieve more as I progress through YTT and my personal yoga journey. Yuqi @yuqii
How to stay hydrated before and after yoga class?- Shivonne
I would like to share how to stay hydrated while practicing yoga. I am kind of people easily get thirsty and dehydrated especially doing exercise or staying outdoor. It has become a habit to bring a water bottle along wherever I go . However, many yoga instructors discourage drinking water during the yoga class. Many of them believe drinking water during yoga practice is a distraction for your mind and interrupts your breathing and flow. What’s more is that slurping and gurgling noises may disturb other students in class. If you drink way too much before and during practice, you eventually have to leave class and rush to the toilet. Having a lot of water moving around in your stomach can be uncomfortable while you are practicing certain postures. ( Yes, I’ve ever felt that water was throwing out from my throat while doing inversion due to too frequent water intake in the class.) If you got watch some sports games like soccer or cycling, you will notice that those athletes spit out their drinks instead of swallowing it. Or some will only rinse their mouth or take sips of water in between the games. I think this shares the same rationale as discouraging fluid intake during yoga practice . Unfortunately people like me who easily get dehydrated might feel sick if not enough fluid intake or sweating too much while practicing yoga more than a hour. The trick to stay hydrated is avoiding becoming thirsty to begin with , as thirst can be a signal of dehydration. If you are heading to a super sweaty or outdoor yoga class, make sure you drink up before you arrive. Do not drink a whole bottle of water right before the class begins, otherwise you might end up feeling bloated during the class. The best way is keep you hydrated is always having a couple of sips of water in between the sequences and postures without filling the whole stomach. Also, re-hydration is just as important as pre-hydration. Don’t forget to drink after class in order to replace the fluid you lost during practice. Nutritionists recommend drinking at least 0.5L of water after the practicing. Nowadays sports drink are very popular but myself still prefer drinking lukewarm water after exercise as most of the sports drink in the market are with sugar contain or with gas. Understand there are a lot of researches showing that sports drink not only help re-hydrate the fluid loss and also replace electrolytes and energy before and after training or competition. I would say depends on your own preference. Especially yoga is not really a very intense exercise thus we don’t expect the body will be losing that much electrolytes during our practice. At least for myself, I don’t really fancy sports drink.
New Beginnings | RYT200 Reflections | Yuqi
First day of YTT started on 25 February 2019. I woke up at 6am – I don’t even wake this early for work! ? I had mixed feelings as I got to the studio – I was excited to start YTT yet nervous on how it would turn out! I haven’t been very active since February started – Chinese New Year and post-CNY flu had me making up excuses to skip the gym. Fortunately, the first day went well and I liked that the class was a ‘cosy’ one – dispelling my worries of not being able to catch up in class or finding it intimidating to speak up! During the first class, we revisited the basics and practised the most essential – Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation). I always felt that my basics in asanas may not be accurate but I’ve never been corrected at classes before, so I was happy to relearn the foundational poses! I later learnt that asana means steady and comfortable pose. What works for someone else might not be the best for me, and ultimately I should get into a position that is comfortable for me yet allows me to engage the correct parts of my body. In subsequent lessons, I also learnt about the 8 limbs of yoga. There is really so much to yoga than just fancy poses! I felt so different after learning about Yama (restraints) and Niyama (observances) – I really believed these are ways in which I could improve myself and my life. I’m enjoying YTT so far. I learnt so much every weekend that whenever one weekend is over, I always look forward to the next! Yuqi @yuqii
Pre-YTT | RYT200 Reflections | Yuqi
When I first decided to take up this yoga teacher training course, I was confident that I really want it, yet unsure if I was making the right decision. Taking on YTT or not – was not an easy decision to make. It’s a 200-hours course, spanning over 25 days (weekends). I have never attended a 2 hours yoga class before, so how can I possibly pull through an 8 hour class?! Am I experienced enough for YTT? I have been attending yoga classes for years now but I wouldn’t consider myself a seasoned practitioner. Are the financial and time costs an investment that I can afford? Should I take the 50-hours and 100-hours options instead? What if I can’t commit? … and there were many other ‘what-ifs’ there were floating in my mind. But I really wanted to take on a complete yoga course to deepen my knowledge on not just yoga poses, but the philosophy as well. So I got in touch with The Yoga Mandala, made a trip down to the studio and yeah, I got such good vibes that I was almost certain that I wanted to do my YTT here. All the uncertainties that I had earlier – kinda just vanished. I confirmed my decision 3 weeks later and was so excited to begin YTT! 🙂 Yuqi @yuqii
Do you hyperextend your joints?- Shivonne
I would like to share a common mistake that many regular yoga practician used to make. While attending yoga class, we always heard the instructor say , “Don’t overextend your elbows” or “Do not lock your knees”. However,people usually overlook it and end up injuring themselves . What dose overextend or hyperextend actually mean in yoga? It means the joint movement in which the angle formed by the bones of a particular joint is opened,or straightened, beyond its normal,healthy,range of motion. The normal angle of the joint depends on whether it is a natural hyperextension or hypermobility in the joint. Look at the picture below,while straightening the arm, it should like to one flat line. If the joint goes beyond 180 degrees, it is hyperextension. What kinds of injuries might cause for hyperextension of joints? Hyperextension of joints shouldn’t affect much in our daily life. But it might cause injury to the body for those people keep doing routine exercise with their joints A hyperextended elbow or knee can damage ligaments,cartilage and other stabilising structure in and around the joint. How can we avoid hyperextend while practicing yoga? Do not lock your elbows or knees .Try to micro-bend and externally rotate your arm for those postures requires straightening the arms. Micro-bend your knee for standing postures or any postures require extend the legs.Don’t put all the body weight on the joints. Find support for your pose by engaging the muscles rather than joints. Doing yoga helps us stay fit and healthy. We should prevent ourselves from unnecessary injuries caused by wrong practice habits.
So.. what is yoga to you? SuZanne
I started yoga quite a few years ago (honestly i cant rmb how long has it been) but recent years people started to ask me “ why do yoga?” “What’s the meaning of doing all those poses?” “ what purposes does it serve?” I did not know what to answer. Except that “i feel good =)” “ it just an amazing feeling, i feel connected with myself” “i feel destressed “ (because it also happened tt i started yoga back then when i was stressed at work) It starts to create a lot of doubts about why i do yoga. And now i am relieved that i am right.i can tell everyone what it is. There is no right or wrong about what’s yoga as long as you feel that connection between your mind, body and soul. I feel that connection within myself – connect with my emotions: come into terms with my own emotions, let of those emotions that does not serve me – connect with my mind: i am stronger than i think – connect with my body : healthy body, healthy mind, bringing awareness to how my body feels in the asanas In addition, learning about Raja Yoga (king of yoga) _ the 8 limbs of yoga even deeper my understanding, especially Samadhi ( Enlightment). Well… i am still searching for it… but i know i working my way through it, like how this Ytt is the beginning.. I guess the social media has given some false images to people who has not experienced yoga before. Is it really about those fancy asanas..? But it doesnt mean we cant educate on it. I would also say, give it a try then you know more Yar.? And find out what is yoga to you=) SuZanne
