One of my motivations for YTT was to deepen my yoga practice, and hopefully achieve some
breakthroughs.
As we come to the end of YTT, I wanted to document some of my personal breakthroughs:
– Better balance in one-legged standing poses: I’ve always been shaky in holding these poses
(part of the reason why I prefer Flow to Hatha classes in the past), but practice makes
perfect, especially after doing 3x standing sequences each weekend
– Side crow to EPK1 to Fallen Angel: first time attempting Fallen Angel, and also first time
stringing the three poses together
– Astravakrasana, transition to a plank: when we first learnt this, I was not strong enough to
fully straight my elbows to create space for the bottom leg, let alone go into chaturanga
arms to bring the leg back. Was pleasantly surprised when I executed it smoothly (almost
sufficient to go into a EPK2) when I was mock teaching my sequence ahead of the
community classes.
– EPK2: has never been able to float my back leg, I think due to weight distribution (not
leaning forward enough) and not having my elbow supporting the side of the torso. Figured
this out in time to include it as part of my community class!
– Fish: realised that I have not been able to do this as I did not lean back enough and was
having my shoulders almost above my elbows.
– Pincha mayurasana: learnt the proper setup, technique and drill exercises for what I find the
hardest amongst all inversions (besides chinstand, which I’ve not tried before). Still working
on that balance without the wall and keeping a straight line without banana back
– Bunny hops and handstands: did not spend much time on these before YTT, and was quite
pleased to be able to hold these for 2-3 seconds without the wall. Looking forward to being
able to do this for outdoor photo-opp moments!
Nge Hwee
200 Hour YTT Feb-May’21
