Teacher Training
Ever have moments, hours or days where no matter what you do, you can’t seem to focus on what you’re suppose to be doing? I, for the life of me, could not focus on myself in my Hot Power Fusion class last night. Yoga requires you to shift the focus onto yourself and whatever your body and mind needs in that moment. Instead of focusing on myself in the mirror or honing in on any of my body parts in a particular posture, I kept letting my mind wonder elsewhere. I kept thinking about how much more stiff my body felt than normal. I wondered why I wasn’t sweating as much as I normally do in class. I kept letting myself get distracted by the people walking by outside and all of the people coming in and out of the studio. I worried if I remembered to lock my car. I started thinking about what I would journal about for class tonight. I think I even spent more time looking at the cool blue leggings someone was wearing as they walked by outside window than I did looking at myself in the mirror during the entire class.
Granted, this was a Hot Power Fusion class by candlelight. I typically have a hard time focusing on one thing in particular in these classes anyways. I especially struggle with my balance because I can’t see myself. Even though I tend to weeble wobble my way through the candlelight HPF classes, I absolutely love them. They’re dark, intimate and without the overhead lights on, so much easier to suspend judgment on myself because I can’t really see what it is I’m doing. Trust me, balancing on one leg in the dark is a whole lot harder than it seems.
Class tonight was taught by Mandy. Her classes always have an extra layer of special because she runs the room with a lot of love. I love how she’ll throw in an option to smile in any given pose. This always shakes me out of my hot yoga serious face. I totally want to use that cue when I start teaching yoga. And at the end of class, she always offers her time to answer questions or even just to receive a hug. Seriously, what’s there not to love about that?
Later on in the evening during our group session for yoga teacher training, we learned about the Eight Limbed Yogic Path that’s taught in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. The Eight Limbed Path is an eight-step guideline on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life. Some could say this was the precursor to all of those numbered lists articles written online about how to live a happier life or do insert an activity of your choice here better. The seventh limb of the Eight Limbed Yogic Path is Dharana. Through the practice of Dharana, we train the mind to focus on a single point (or object) for a prolonged period of time while being able to avoid any outside distractions.
I clearly failed at achieving Dharana in the Hot Power Fusion class tonight. I wasn’t able to focus or concentrate on any one thing or even myself at all. Instead, I let all kinds of outside distractions take over my mind. As a result, all of that noise hijacked my yoga class. The cool thing about yoga is that there’s always something new to learn. Tonight I learned an important lesson – the importance of learning how to shut out the noise from the outside world during class, along with being able to quiet the distractions running through my mind. I want to make a real effort in practicing Dharana in tomorrow night’s Hot Power Fusion class. In fact, I’ll start the class off tomorrow night by focusing on one of my new favorite sayings, “Trust the process.” I’m tried of beating myself up. I’m sick of the negative self-talk, I’m ready to start really enjoying my teacher training experience. After all, its just yoga and it should be fun.
Interesting CorePower Yoga Fun Fact: The Buddha (pictured here) is always placed at the front of the yoga room. So when you walk into a studio and see Buddha, you’ll always know where the front of the room will be for class. Great for people like me who like to hide in the back row when trying out a new class.
Class #16, Hot Power Fusion By Candlelight with Mandy at CorePower Yoga Greenwood (HPF-10)