300hrs Advanced Vinyasa Teacher Training journal

I kept a journal about my Pregnancy Teacher training, and I feel I couldn’t do otherwise with my advanced teacher training. I started today my 300hrs with Jason Crandell and though the doubt of spending a large sum of money for this training kept me from signing up for it more than a couple of times, the gut, my super intuitive trustworthy gut, shouted at me with a megaphone that this was the right thing to do. So I signed up last year, a little bit pushed by my sister’s lovable contribution towards the tuition, a little bit encouraged by my friend and teacher Gandha who had recently signed up. What was most obvious to me was the build up to it and how different my circumstances were compared to my first ever training. This time around, I was not sorting out a sabbatical leave that didn’t exist in my employee’s benefits but I was sorting out who was going to take care of my little one for the weeks I would be on full-time training. This time I did not have time to build up the excitement and nerves I had first time around mainly for two reasons: no time for that and because I am already a teacher and I feel like this training is REALLY for my knowledge, to enrich me as a teacher and as a person. It’s not for me to start teaching. Overall, I feel there has been a more adult-like approach, if you know what I mean. If anything, I was more nervous about how the daily routines of Leonardo would be taken over by my mom and how she would survive with a 15 months old who is mainly interested in climbing anything that he sees, preferably things that are unstable.

My only preparation for this training was a sloppy attempt to read the Baghavad Gita which, at this stage in my life, is as good as taking a sleeping pill. Oh and course I prepared my bag, lunch and all the necessary the night before to feel like a responsible student.

05 August – 1st day of training

The first day of my training and of my conscious attempt to leave home and mommy life behind the door started with a challenging crying alarm at 4:15, followed by another one at 5:15 and finally my real alarm at 6. Off to teach my 7am locally, jumped on bike, parked at the station and off I was toward Triyoga Camden. Was already dreading the 8am commute but it was not so bad and I remembered how more civilised and human the tube is in London in August at the height of summer holidays. Reached a quiet Camden and realised I had actually never been to the Camden branch. Gandha had already saved me a spot front row (told ya, responsible student!) I oddly felt like I was going to meet some kind of celebrity that morning but as soon as I walked into the room I told myself “don’t be ridiculous, this is just a yoga class setting and Jason is just a teacher”. Well I guess he is a celebrity in yoga land (see what I did there? #ifyouknowyouknow). There were so many mats laid down and I soon realised I will probably not meet or remember half of the trainees on the module.

Jason quickly set the tone in his eloquent thick American accent way. He looked exactly like I had imagined him in my head and discovered he has a hilarious sense of humour. I have never trained with a male teacher and in some ways I was really interested in seeing how the dynamics or the atmosphere in the room would be different.

We practiced in a way I have never practiced before and for a length of time I have not practiced in a very long while. It felt good but challenging, different and controlled. I was grateful for the movement and the sweat.

After lunch Andrea his wife was going to sit with us and record a podcast for Yogaland. We were very excited but at the same time it felt so normal and just an ordinary situation. You start deconstructing this persona you built in your mind and realise they are just normal humans as you are!  They constructed it around Jason interviewing Andrea and asking her questions about the beginnings, the roots of where the yoga journey started. We listened quietly and at some points it felt like a very intimate conversation between the two of them. Then the Q&A started, the whole debate about Yin Yoga and Bernie and we all got to exchange a few thoughts with them.

9 August – 5th day of training

12 August – week 2 of training

I write this last entry as I make my way back home after the last day of Module 1. I recognise that familiar feeling of sadness knowing that something you were deeply enjoying will not take place again next week. You know your body and mind would probably not be able to take anymore at this point but I think in every training I did, there is always a strong sense of belonging to that group with whom you share a prominent part of your life which is yoga and teaching, that you will miss. It was a short time to form strong bonds but we met some lovely people and even the brief connection has brought warmth to my 2 weeks.I felt like jotting down in the form of a list the things that most stuck with me:

I am oddly drawn to anatomy though I don’t think I will ever be able to confidently speak about it like I would want to.

I have never activated my feet with that level of nuances

Yoga provides with a set of options which may or may not be the answer for your body

There are always several viable ways of doing an asana

We are meant to adapt our practices and our physical activities to our modern bodies so we can better address our weakness and remain functional

A slow active practice is often harder than a fast paced passive practice

Chatturanga is great but it’s too easy to get it wrong. I don’t put a lot of chatturanga in my sequences

We can take a posture and tweak it to a level of detail that we can experience that posture in a hundred different ways in our body

Experience is learning nuances of a pose and finding ways of troubleshooting through trial and error

Repetition is good

I have a householder yoga practice (again #ifyouknowyouknow)

 

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