Havenne's Spot

[havenne17]

I thought I would start journalling my way through my yoga journey in a funny sort of way. Today I started my 200-hour yoga teacher training. wow......

Before the first class we had to read Freeman's "Mirror of Yoga" which is completely philosophical and heavy going..... And then write a paper on What is Yoga?
Now, I had just finished Sam Chase's "Yoga and the Pursuit of Happiness", a much more accessible book. The title is a trick question - see if you have an answer to that one.

Anyway, I can't remember a time I didn't do yoga and participated in a regular class that met 3 times a week for years. Now I'm looking to lead yoga for the differently-abled, seniors and for therapy.

Anyway, 9 hours of class with easily 3 hours of asana (that's poses) has me wiped out. See you tomorrow night.  

[havenne17]

Day 2:

another 3 hours of asana (poses), discussion of the yamas (ethics), more critique of postures. Now reading some of Iyengar's "Light on Yoga" for a famous teacher's viewpoint.
We did some chanting in Sanskrit today. That was magical.
Got started in longer meditations - honestly, that's easier than you would think if your head doesn't always run away with you.

Got more reading to do and need to look up a pose sequence ahead of tomorrow's class.  

[havenne17]

I made it through my five-day lead-off intensive, 9-hour days with at least 3 hours of asanas (poses) a day..... I can't do things like wheel pose or handstands or twist myself into a pretzel (no, there's no pretzel pose that I know of....but a whole bunch that sorta look that way....) but I know a lot more about props and how to use them. I can do a variation on warrior 3 and tree pose with my hand on a wall. It's better.

Things I find challenging:
lots of thin bendy people who are all so extroverted
the business end of yoga
not being able to hear well in cavernous studio spaces
the sanskrit names of poses

Things I am good at:
the voice - the teachers tell me I would be good with the meditation parts
stringing together poses + transitions
the spiritual end.....the thinking end.... the personal end....  

[havenne17]

Made it through the second weekend intensive, this one on Anatomy and Physiology. Next will be Breath work: who would have thought there was so much to inhale and exhale, much less all the problems that could be solved by just breathing correctly! [and that's just from reading the book....].
I'm going to a couple classes a week, writing essays, reading, doing my usual home practice......and meditating!

Learning some interesting techniques by going to class.....  

[havenne17]

Almost done with the papers.
I am in final edits for a Reflections paper on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, as translated by B.K.S. Iyengar, with commentary. Spiritual ideas about yoga, mostly about meditation and the path to enlightenment. Exactly 3 sentences out of 196 are about poses.
Sanskrit is wild. It's not spoken as an everyday language by anyone, kinda like latin - it's a liturgical language. The concepts don't translate well, many words of english needed to give something close to the right idea.  

[havenne17]

Made up a yoga sequence celebrating the discovery of Peace. The peak poses are Warrior 1 descending into Humble Warrior and Warrior 2 followed by Peace Warrior (which is sometimes called Sun Warrior or Reverse Warrior).  

[havenne17]

Oh my..... still riding the bliss from a weekend spent with heavy-duty spiritual yoga..... I will process tonight and post tomorrow.

Aum........  

[havenne17]

Looked at the date....yeah I didn't get back here.
Lots of crazy stuff in life, disjointed, since I'm trying to go into business for myself as well as do yoga.

Was thinking today about my idea structuring yoga sequences around the yoga sutras.
Was also thinking about my preferred yoga style, fluid and graceful. Spaces between.

hmmmmmm. So over the Sun Salutations  

[havenne17]

So, I should start by saying that yoga has sutras. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. These sutras are more like bible verses, telling you what you should do and why. So, we were assigned to read a particular translation and commentary about the yoga sutras of Patanjali. Patanjali was this Indian guy from approximately 2000 years ago who laid out the ethics and practices of yoga, which don't have all that much to do with the exercise-based classes we all take today.
Yoga is a spiritual practice that can be combined with compatible religions. It doesn't mesh well with anything too authoritarian or fundamentalist, but goes well with many other churches/temples/paths. Deities or not, yoga doesn't tell you who to believe in.
Originally, yoga didn't really have the poses we know today. Mostly, the physical part was about how to sit for long periods in meditation. Yes, there was attention paid to the health of the body and I have heard the poses called "prayer done with the entire body".