Jan – (6) On Gratitude
Coming to the end of YTT is defo bittersweet. My heart is so full! (Why these people all so good-hearted???) Gratitude is the affirmation of goodness. So, here goes. Thank you, JESS: For being such an earnest teacher; for giving us your 100% every minute of the hours, regardless of the gazillion things you may have had going on; for sharing your wisdom; for practising what you preach and being real. Thank you, ALEXIS: For your unassuming and steadfast presence; for settling all the things that need to be done but may not be seen or acknowledged; for taking care of us kindergarteners; for your assuring words and precious smiles (which are confirm genuine cos rare lol). Thank you, ASH: For being so candid and open; for bringing out the bubbly in me and making me feel comfortable to show my crazy. for caring about my well-being. Thank you, CAROLIN: For being so level-headed; for your tactful honesty in sharing your thoughts; for emanating resilience and composure (I feel calm just being near you). Thank you, JAS: For your pure heart and righteousness; for being a good listener; for inspiring me to be kind and thoughtful. Thank you, KEXIN: For your voice; for being unafraid to raise questions or concerns so that we may all learn; for giving me an alternative perspective. Thank you, KRITHIKA: For your perseverance; for being generous in sharing your knowledge about Sanskrit and yoga philosophy Thank you, NATALIA: For being so endearing; for showing me the power of determination; for being my first Russian friend. Thank you, REENA: For being down-to-earth; for being the humble constant; for inspiring me to balance my Vishuddha Thank you, XUAN: For being the first to stay back and revise with me; for our fruitful discussions; for taking my burns in your stride and being a true bro. Most of all, THANK YOU ALL for accepting me and helping me grow. I’ll definitely miss spending so much time with y’all, but I’m sure we will keep in touch! Can’t wait to see where life takes us all. To infinity and beyond! Love, Jan @saltfrosted
On my yogi journey: Ash (final)
wow it’s been 5 weeks. Tried to plan out my posts according to schedule & left this last one so I could reflect on my last class So today was my finale community class & it was a bittersweet ending But I know for sure that this won’t be the last time I am teaching Entered this YTT knowing I was severely unexperienced (and boy I was right), but everyday has been a learning experience & I’m glad I decided to meet my fears head on & take this leap of faith Looking to where it’s brought me now, I am very humbled & thankful for this journey – these memories will be kept close to my heart. This might be the end of my YTT but it is definitely the beginning of other great things to come. When you start to feel like things shoulder have been better this year remember the mountains & valleys that got you here They are not accidents and those moments weren’t in vain You are not the same You have grown & you are growing You are breathing, you are living You are wrapped in endless, boundless grace and things will get better there is more to you than yesterday. -MHN- Thanks to: – my classmates, who have been nothing short of lovely, always helping each other out & it’s really in the smallest of actions that I see genuine care & concern we have for this family 🙂 – Jess, for always believing in me, in us & patiently guiding every single day, you were tired & drained but I saw how hard u pushed yourself to teach us & impart your knowledge & that’s more I can ever ask for :’) – Alexis, you’ve been the silent supporter from the start, fixing technical stuff for us, taking amazing pics & for that I’m extremely grateful 🙂 And so, my final signing off, With love, Ashley
Natalia 6/6 Vishudda chakra
Vishudda is fifth chakra located in throat area, the function of this chakra is expression and communication. Vishudda means “pure” and “purification “. This chakra element is sound. Sound is important instrument of communication and expression. Singers or other voice artists have very balanced vishudda chakra. This people can clearly express their thoughts, to realize their ideas, wishes and great orators. Those out of balance can also use their voice as a weapon to hurt another person by not speaking or by yelling, screaming, or crying. Person with blocked vulishudda chakra have difficulties in communication, expressing their ideas. This people can feel not appreciated it’s can make them angry, sad and jealous. To energize vishudda chakra can help few things like: -Express yourself, trying to speak about something you are confident; -begin process of deeper listening and ask questions; -practice be in present, when others people speak; -singing mantras or singing any songs; -using chakra’s color blue. It’s can help stimulate fifths chakra.Meditating on blue color, can also help; -to do yoga postures also can help to remove neck blocks : Camel (Ustrasana), Plow (Halasana), Bridge (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana), Fish (Matsyasana), Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana). Stay calm and healthy, namaste!
We’ve only just begun – Kex (6/6)
So I decided to do some HIIT yesterday after teaching my last class. I’ve completely stopped all forms of cardio and weight training with dumbbells since the start of YTT to avoid getting injured. Immediately, I noticed how light I felt compared to my HIIT days before YTT. All that squeezing of pelvic walls have helped tremendously in my agility. I am now able to jump about with ease and I land much softer compared to before. I was really shocked when I did burpees with little effort. Tucking in the ribs and using the core has become second-nature! I also gained a lot more stability; one-legged balancing postures have always been my nemesis and I never really felt rooted to the floor, especially when it comes to HIIT/balancing exercises like jumping lunges. I was AMAZED at what my body has become! On the surface, I actually seemed to have gained a little weight, probably because I was doing less cardio, more body weight training, and I wasn’t controlling my diet. But I realised my core strength has reached a new high. 3 years of high intensity workout and dumbbells training never gave me such strong core. When I had abs I never had such strong core. NEVER. Yoga did it for me. And it was such a cumulative gain it took me by surprise. The next thing I want to do is to find how to achieve a balance between HIIT and Yoga. The problem is I usually feel really tight after HIIT and it sets back my yoga training. There must be a way to retain this level of strength and flexibility while I get my cardio in! So yea, this really feels like the beginning of the end of a lifelong journey in Yoga. I came into YTT wanting to deepen my practice, and what I got out from it is way more than I would’ve ever imagined. It’s eye-opening and life-changing and I couldn’t have asked for better company, better teachers with me throughout this journey. THANK YOU to my beautiful classmates; for sharing such positive energy with me day in day out, for being so sharing and genuine, for helping me with school work while I was away, for staying back and working on my teaching with me because I needed practice…. How blessed I am to have met all of you beautiful souls. THANK YOU Jessica and Alexis for providing such a safe and loving environment for us to grow. Without your encouragements, I wouldn’t have believed that I am capable of teaching. But because you first believed in me, in us, that I saw my own potential and soared from there. Days at Telok Ayer may be over for us, but we’ve only just begun. Namaste, kex
Week 5. Reena (6/6)
and we are done with teaching week!!! time really flew by pretty quickly the past week. now i really have a clearer idea on how to sequence a class and how a class should be. im really glad i stood out of my comfort zone and be a part of this YTT journey. it’s been one of the hardest and best decisions i’ve made in my life! i can clearly say that i’ve grew a lot stronger physically and mentally and many postures that seems impossible now feels a little more accessible! there are really many alignments that i didn’t know existed until i learned so much from Jess these past weeks and am so thankful for that now that i can apply what i learn to help people around me as well! i hope i can take this practice outside and help others become better practitioners themselves:) given the choice i’d still have made the same decision to join YTT. i truly enjoyed every moment of it and all the wonderful people i’ve met in my journey. i’ve learned a lot from everyone and especially Jess who so patiently guided us throughout this period. yoga is really more than just being able to do cool poses and take cool pictures but to me, it’s really about being present every moment on the mat, being aware of my body and during meditation, to allow myself to let go of certain things that no longer serves me. yoga is truly from within and being able to finally understand that after my YTT journey is my greatest take away. this is not the end. i truly believe it’s just the beginning:) Reena
Willingness over Flexibility – Kex (5/6)
“Yoga is not for the flexible, it’s for the willing.” Yoga is really about discipline that comes from the self. One must be WILLING to put in CONSISTENT effort in practice to reap any benefits from Yoga. And this I only truly understand now, 4 weeks into practice. I never thought I would be able to reach this level of flexibility and strength but I did! And it was through weeks of just trying, and failing, building strength, and trying again, to get us all here. It’s amazing to witness our growth and I’m just so proud of all of us, because we were all WILLING to put in the hard day. We each fought our own battles to stay committed to the mat and we have risen above the challenges like phoenix from ashes. We were also all WILLING to totally suck and fail at teaching, in order to improve. Teaching is daunting at the beginning. To me, it’s like rock climbing. You start out feeling apprehensive, then mid-way through scaling the wall you may look down and fumble a bit or you may miss a step and sustain bruises from banging against walls (#truestory). But by the next time you’re on the wall, your bruises have healed, muscles grown stronger and you feel a little more confident, you know how to avoid the missteps and you’re used to the height. It took me 3 times to feel more comfortable with teaching. But by the end of the 3rd time, I felt like teaching more. I successfully turned fear into enjoyment! Or rather, there’s enjoyment in a healthy amount of fear. I really enjoy leading a class (more than I expected), because each class is different and the need to react to unforeseen circumstances in class is a mental challenge that keeps me constantly engaged. I love that adrenaline! Truly, when you’re willing, you’ll be surprised at what you’re capable of. I think everyone in class will agree with me on that. 🙂
On my yogi journey: Ash (part 5)
So, tmr marks the last day of community classes & I can’t help but wish it will never come to an end. But all good things must come to an end, and I can only be thankful that the journey was a beautiful one. Just observing my classmates around me has made me realised how much we’ve changed in these 5 weeks & it’s in the smallest of things that I see everyone’s growth This is what community is about, we support each other & bring out the best in everyone Initially was a little bummed that I couldn’t do my electives due to some reasons however, here’s a quote I saw a few days back & I couldn’t help but feel like it was speaking to me here goes nothing: Every closed door is a humbling, and sometimes painful reminder that all along, God has something better. – MHN – & indeed His plans are always greater than mine With love ♡ Ashley
Jan – (5) On Growth
At the beginning of YTT, Jess uttered this phrase several times, “the body changes very fast (one)”. It’s week 5 now and as I was watching my course mates fool around after class just now, I couldn’t help but feel the warm sensation of wonderment. It wasn’t just because their bodies have grown so much stronger. But their spirit too. The transformation is MADDD (good mad)! We’ve been challenged – physically, mentally and emotionally. Every one of us stepped outside our comfort zone, which is ironically inside one’s own body and mind. And when we found the right amount of trying and trusting, look what has happened! Sometimes, we don’t see it – our growth, or we refuse to acknowledge it because we can be quite hard on ourselves. We just need someone to get close enough to say, “Look at what you just achieved!” And it’s a blessing that everyone has been so sincere in giving one another feedback. (I’m saving the ‘Thank You’s for my next post.) “There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.” – Josiah Gilbert Holland Love, Jan @saltfrosted
Natalia 5/6 Meditation benefits.
Meditation is the thing, that can helps to release your stress and improve concentration. This is common reason why people do meditations. But meditation has many benefits for you, except just stress release. Meditation can help to reduce your anxiety, treat anxiety disorders, phobias, panic attacks. Regular meditation can help in anxiety during high pressure work. There are many researchers and studies around it. Emotional help is another benefit from meditation practice. It’s can help to get more positive out-look on your life and yourself. Positive thinking and optimism! Self-awareness is another effect of meditation. Regular practice can bring more understanding of yourself and people around you. You will easier to recognize thoughts which harmful for you and bring them in to more constructive way. Meditation can generate kindness of yourself and others, improve your empathy. It’s very important to understand and feel others, be helpful to each other. Regular practice definitely can do it for you. Meditation can help fight addictions. You will able to control your cravings like alcohol, food, shopping and other. It’s helps to build discipline and control your impulses.
Natalia 4/6 “Back pain and yoga”.
Naw days people spend long time in same position like sitting in offices, standing at shops, using phones, computers for hours . All this things have negative effect on your spine. Same position through hours make activate the same gropes of your muscles and made compression on your spine. Weak core, weak spine muscles are reason of back, shoulder, neck pains. The only way to help your spine is right physical exercises. Yes, it is! You can spend a lots of money for medications, comfortable chairs, pillows…. But physically strong spine muscles is based of your now and future health. Why yoga? Different asanas activate different gropes of muscles, straiten back muscles and core. This muscles keep body straight and hold. When this muscles are strong, back pain can be released or avoided. Other thing, that asanas gives is muscles stretch. Yoga gives stretching and relaxation that relief tension of muscles. Holding positions gives flex and stretches other muscles, giving flexibility. For people with lower back pain need to decreasing stress at muscles, improve blood flow , which gives nutrients . Third thing is breath, yoga improves body flexibility and improves blood circulation . All this aspects and even more yoga gives, that’s why this is one of the best way to treat your back problems. Namaste!
