Natalia. Yoga is only exercise ? 1/6
Yoga is not only about exercise, it’s more about relationships with yourself and world. This is the most hard part of yoga, be less egotistic, destructing, less lazy. To be more helpful people around, environment, calm and wise. Goal of yoga not to get beautiful, muscular or only healthy body ( which asana do), but to be less selfish to be more in harmony with yourself and surrounding. Yoga practice training not only our body, but our mind and soul. That’s why after regular practice we can feel more calm, wise and energized in same time. Namaste!
Natalia. Why pranayama? 2/6
Pranayama is 4th limb of yoga, “prana” is “energy” or “life sours”. Breathing is the most important sours for our body, without breathing human can leave just few minutes. We come here with our first breath and leave our body making our last breath… With breathing techniques like Ujjayi Breathing, Nadi Shodhana, Kapalabhati, Bhramari simply we can bring more awareness and energy to our life, improves our health. Bring more oxygen to your brain and body. Simple pranayama practice can be don every where you feel comfortable. Best place for practice is outside on nature, because yogis believe that with prana you take in energy of this place. But also can do your pranayama at home or classes. Pranayama is techniques which exists and show their effectiveness through centuries. Just breathe!Namaste ?
Jastine (4/6)
Taught my first community class today! I honestly could have done so much better if I were not letting my nerves get the better of me. I have always had this problem and it is really hard to shake it off. I never truly know how to not be nervous for the things that I do that I care about. How do people remain calm?! On a brighter note, I believe that I will teach better with practice. Everyone will, with practice. I am now super excited for my second class tomorrow. May I remember to play my songs that I have carefully curated for my community classes (with love) and also to complete my sequence. All the best everyone! I am looking forward to another day of teaching with you guys. Everyday is just so much fun, especially as we get more and more comfortable with each other. Jastine
Jastine (3/6)
We are here at our fourth week of Yoga Teaching Training and we ended day 1 of community classes today. It scares me how fast time is passing by. Super proud and happy to see that everyone taught so well today. The hard work and perseverance were admirable. May tomorrow and the rest of our teaching go smoothly. I will be teaching my first community class tomorrow. Not entirely sure how to feel about this but I know I tend to overthink things and unnecessarily worry. This makes me want to talk about my very close friend, Lyssetta, who by the way also did her Yoga Teacher Training at Mandala. For many years, she has been seeing me through all my panic attacks, whilst being emotionless (that is her, really) and the best part is she makes it seem as though that being worried or anxious is a joke. For almost all our conversations, there are a few things she tends to say: (1) there is nothing you can do about it; (2) you just have to do it; (3) don’t worry too much (x 1000000). But usually she also says: I have faith in you. I melt each time this emotionless and sarcastic person says this to me. But importantly, she trusts me. May I then also have trust in myself. Let’s do this! Jastine
Sequencing (6/6)
One of the greatest lessons YTT has taught me is sequencing. While both doing and teaching an asana the most important thing is to sequence movement strategically. Having worked in project management and client management I believed I had a fair bit of experience in strategizing solutions effectively. Yoga however has taught me the importance of sequencing in strategy specifically, the art of knowing to do x first, followed by y and then z. Simple instructions like “extend your arm, internally rotate it and then bind” has made so many poses more achievable and painless for me, compared to when I was just asked to “get your right hand to meet your left”. It is so important to take a step back, go to the basics and really address the root cause of problems while strategizing a solution – sequencing is an important part of strategy and I will remember to use this across various aspects of my life – yoga and otherwise. Love Krithika
“Do You Even Know Your Body?” (5/6)
This week we spent time observing each other’s posture and spine health. Each of us seemed to realize something new about our bodies that could be very easily solved with correct posture and consistent yoga practice. It is alarming how little we know of our own bodies even though we’ve been alive for decades. I for one thought my right forearm was a big issue but through yoga I realized that it is probably a byproduct of poor form of my shoulders while moving, and that is what I need to work on. The same applies when people can do an asana on one side with more ease than on the other – a lot of us don’t realize or don’t think about why. YTT has helped broaden my curiosity about why my body is in a certain way and how I can help achieve balance and correct posture. Love Krithika
Facing Inner Demons (4/6)
During my first inversion practice: First attempt: “You can’t do this, don’t even try” Second attempt: “Are you kidding me? You’re not even good at downward dog and that’s the regression for this pose. Don’t even bother” Third attempt: “Forget it, you’re just not good enough for yoga” The mind can really mess with you. While trying to achieve “the impossible” I encountered some thoughts in my head that I previously did not realize I entertained. I am somebody who gives my everything to help someone or to solve a challenge – during inversion practice however I realized that I only really follow through a challenge for others, not myself. Yoga has helped me tame the voice in my head and make my conversations with myself kinder and more forgiving. By recognizing that some things I tell myself do not serve me, I was able to have a more constructive approach towards solving my own challenges. Right now, this has helped me with headstand practice, in the future I can see this helping me achieve more “impossible” things! Love Krithika
Should I Push Harder Or Should I Rest? (3/6)
There is a fine line between strictly abiding by the “mind over matter” maxim and pushing harder, and truly listening to your body and resting when needed. I am someone who went from doing a terrible downward dog to being able to do a headstand in 1-2 weeks. My body felt like it “broke” sometime between weeks 1 and 2 of YTT but I kept showing up to the mat and emerged stronger. What did I do though on the mat? Nothing – I just watched and rested. Sometimes even though the body can’t do anymore the mind still can. And I truly believe that the mind is any day more powerful than the body – by simply listening and vicariously learning through my friends around me, I still learned and progressed, albeit in a smaller way. My goal was to progress overall, not to bend my body and contort it into various asana “shapes”. The only way to progress towards this goal was to rest, but mindfully. This is not a story to boast of any of my achievements – it’s just a reminder to myself that when the going gets tough, it is important to commit to your progress, and one part of that commitment is allowing periods of rest every now and then. Love Krithika
Strength & Flexibility (2/6)
“Yoga isn’t good for my back” – I’ve heard statements like this for years. Yoga isn’t simply about bending into an instagrammable shape though – asana is a product of strength and flexibility. Having gone through YTT I have started to notice people around me and their form while doing physical fitness. I notice that those with least injuries have solid technique and have been able to build both strength and flexibility. I know of strong inflexible people with joint issues and flexible people who have nearly zero endurance. That’s what I love about yoga so much – that when done properly, it works on both of this equally well. The body is like a machine and in order to be well oiled it needs physical fitness containing both strength and flexibility training. The next time I feel tired staying in Warrior 2 for long or in binding in Marichiyasana C, I’m going to try to push myself for an extra second… Love Krithika
Mind Over Matter (1/6)
I used to think of failure as an indication that I’m not good enough. Sure, you can try again and keep trying till you succeed but sometimes you just run out of energy and patience and succumb to a feeling of “meh, I’ll just try something else. This isn’t for me”. Physical fitness was that for me – something I could just never be good at. After YTT though I realized that it’s not my body that needs to become fitter – it’s my mind. Initially I took it personally that I just wasn’t as strong or as flexible as I thought I was – but that was just my ego talking. It was my ego that was comparing me with others and that placed expectations on myself. Behind all that, I just wanted to learn, grow and become stronger and fitter, both mentally and physically – at my own pace. One great thing about yoga is that it has a unique capability of presenting the practitioner with the clear difference between the mind and the body, and I am so glad that I was placed in this precarious situation in a safe environment among a loving teacher and kind group of people. Love Krithika
