Teacher Training
Somewhere over the last ten years, I started getting scared. Scared of trying anything new. Where did my sense of fearlessness go? Now granted, I’ve tried a bunch of new things during that time like Bikram Yoga, going to beauty school, getting my esthetician license, starting an esthetician blog, quit bartending to work full-time in the beauty industry, started a career in marketing and social media, trying 180s and landing them on my wakeboard, moved to Seattle, fell in love, got married, discovered cliff jumping, created a yoga blog and now I’m enrolled in yoga teacher training. For every new thing I’ve tried, there was a whole lot of fear I had to overcome. But once I finally took the leap and tried each of these things, I fell in love with them and was so happy I did it. So what’s up with all of the fear? Why do I get myself so worked up over trying anything new? What am I so afraid of?
This morning, I conquered yet another one of my fears. I took my first Yoga Sculpt class at CorePower Yoga at the Ballard studio. You’re probably wondering why I’d be afraid of trying a Yoga Sculpt class. My honest answer is I’ve been too intimidated to go to one of these classes. The first time I heard of Yoga Sculpt was when I first started coming to CorePower to check out the studios and was considering enrolling into teacher training. A friend of mine who had been to CorePower before asked me if I had taken one of their Yoga Sculpt classes yet. I said no, but that I wanted to check them out. She told me she tried one and could barely finish the class. This is where the fear for me started.
After I enrolled in teacher training at Corepower, I started taking a bunch of Hot Power Fusion yoga classes because that was the teacher training I had enrolled into. I had also dabbled a bit in a couple of C1 classes, but other than that hadn’t explored anything else on the schedule. Yoga Sculpt kept looming in the back of my mind. Then I came across a post on the Corepower blog featuring Yoga Sculpt, Yoga Sculpt: What is it and am I ready? The post recommended new students take at least three C2 classes before giving Yoga Sculpt a try. My fear of Yoga Sculpt grew after reading the post. Great, now I had to add C2 classes to my “try something new” to-do list.
Fast-forward a few weeks later, I now had several Hot Power Fusion classes under my belt along with two C2 classes. Even though I was still technically one C2 class shy of the recommendation, I found out that one of our teacher training facilitators was teaching a Yoga Sculpt class on Saturday mornings. I decided enough was enough, put the damn class on my calendar and showed up for class this morning.
I purposely showed up for class a half hour early. I wanted to make sure I got a spot in the far back corner. It’s always been my thing to hide in the back of any new class I’m trying. Fifteen minutes before class started, tons of people started showing up to set up their mats and grab hand weights. I followed the crowded and grab a set of hand weights too – the lightest ones I could find. Knowing that this was going to be a packed class made me even more nervous. I decided to sit up and watch the rest of the people come into the room because I was too nervous to lie back on my mat and wait for class to start.
At 9:30 on the dot, Sunny walked into the room and introduced the class. At least there was one familiar face for me in the room. I stood up on my mat with everyone else and quietly hoped for the best. Sunny asked everyone to close their eyes and set their intention for class this morning. I heard Sunny’s voice in my head saying, “Trust the process” so I made that my intention for my first Yoga Sculpt class. I was here. I was going to do this now no matter what. No sense in letting my nerves take over my mind and my class. I surrendered my fear and did the best I could to let go of all my doubt. I could feel the fifth Niyama, Isvara-pranidhana kicking in big time.
Class officially began with a couple rounds of Sun Salutation, a series of postures I knew very well. I breezed through Mountain Pose, Back Bend, Standing Forward Fold, Half Way Lift, Crouch & Curl and then back to Mountain. Then in came Downward Facing Dogs, High Planks, Chaturanga, Upward Facing Dog and then back to Downward Facing Dog. My familiarity with all of these postures and their sequence made me feel confident about the class.
After the warm-up, things started heating up when we added the hand weights. With the weights came a whole lot of cardio, several repetitions using hand weights and some core work. Dare I say this whole experience was actually fun? Granted, I worked up quite a sweat. I think I sweat more in the Yoga Sculpt class this morning than I have in any Hot Power Fusion class so far. There were a couple of times where I had to slow down and catch my breath, but I never sat down or stopped taking the class. As we went through the class, I kept thinking about how much I had missed moving my body this way. I used to be so active with taking countless step classes, going out dancing on a regular basis and even running from time to time. I went from nervous to feeling amazing well before the class was over. By the end of class, I was already looking forward to taking the next Yoga Sculpt class.
I think it’s important to do one thing that scares you everyday. For me, it was taking this damn Yoga Sculpt class. Trying something new forces me to get out of my comfort zone and gives me room to grow as a person. Not everything new I try will be as awesome as this Yoga Sculpt class, but the act of trying it is enough of a confidence booster for me to say, “I tried it! I liked/didn’t like it and can’t wait/will never do that again.” And of course, when I let myself trust the process, all of that fear I created somehow manages to go out the window.
So why was I afraid of taking a Yoga Sculpt class? Pfft! I have no idea because that ended up being a whole lot of fun.
Class #18, Yoga Sculpt with Sunny at CorePower Yoga Ballard (Other CPY Class-4)