To be honest, I don’t know. After quitting my corporate job and I was thinking of what should I do or learn before moving on to something permanent. I stumbled upon Tirisula & saw the course commencement date and figured why not. I took it as a sign as I have been rejecting corporate offers because my gut is telling me no & my last day was originally 31 May. So I took a plunge & took a step out of my comfort zone.

After 2 weeks in this course, I realized that I am not at all equipped to be a teacher, I have no confidence to take on potential risks for students yet. And Sree shared a story about a fisherman relaxing onshore, & how an English man tried to convince him to make more money just to build a house to relax but the fisherman told him that he’s already relaxing and he doesn’t need a big house for that. That struck something in me, and I have always based my motivation around money for survival. But that would be an endless goal because no amount is enough. We will always want more and end up sacrificing more.

I know clearly that I wouldn’t want to go back to corporate life as thinking back on the potential political culture & human relation problems gives me the shudders. For now, I will focus on projecting my energy and drive into refining my practice. Things will fall into place one day.

On physical asanas, I love the:

– wheel pose and handstands: because this brings me back many childhood memories of my gymnastics and dance I did when I was young.

– headstand: because after learning the right techniques through this course, I realised upside down on my head that I have never been this engaged coordinating so many things together in 1 single activity – keeping my balance, shifting my weight, using the right muscles, maintaining correct posture, remembering to breathe, listening to my breath, gaze, relax and making sure I don’t bite my teeth hard. No wonder headstands are called the king of asanas.

– crow pose: because I wasn’t able to do it before because I didn’t have arm strength and so I worked hard everyday in building arm strength. 3 months later and I realised I was able to do this pose during the course, it was a feeling of reaping the fruits of dedication, belief in myself, hard work and labour for me.

On the pranayamas that I’ve learned so far, I enjoy:

– Kabala bati: because it helps me to wake up in the early morning when I’m feeling sleepy;
– Ujayyi breathing: because it helps me to keep my energy and stamina when I’m doing Ashtanga yoga;
– Bastrika breathing: because it helps me to breathe properly when I’m doing forward bends;
– Anuloma Vilom: because it is very relaxing and I can do it before I sleep to calm and cool my body down.
– Half Yogi breath: because it is a relaxing breathing exercise I can do lying down on my bed before I sleep.

On the philosophy part of yoga, I love how our trainer, Sree, breaks down Patanjali’s sutra in sanskrit more understandable in simplier and more digestible format for our class to understand in english terms. Without which, with Sanskrit language barrier, I wouldn’t be able to gain and learn valuable insights, precious gems of knowledge of this ancient Vedic wisdom that is so useful to know.

I’m midway into my 200-hour YTT and here has been my journey:

– Waking up early to attend a 8am class has been difficult. However, I try my best and learned to sleep earlier and look at my own time-management to reduce unproductive hours wasted on areas that are counter-productive to my learning.

– Our trainers really make me look forward to learning and growing. Thanks to Sree, I learned to develop a learning attitude not only in Yoga but also in our general knowledge and in life as well. I have found that by instilling in myself a desire to learn something new everyday, my knowledge and perspective widened.

– Through Yoga’s philosophy, I have also learned to simplify my life. I used to shower with liquid soap that I pump from a plastic bottle that comes from another plastic refill packaging. I now make small adjustments in my lifestyle such as switching over to a bar soap that comes in cardboard packaging instead. I know this will make a positive impact to our environment and it makes me happy how small changes can make a big difference.

– Yoga has also helped me examine and look inwards more. I used to busy myself with the external world so much that I neglected my body internally. Learning about our body’s digestive system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, blood components etc, has helped me gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of my own physical body. I have found that our good physical health should not be a given and we should take good care of our body holistically. Even giving our body more sleep is also treating it well.

– I have also learned that everyone is different and our physical abilities can be different at different points in time. Even though we may not be able to do certain asanas now, it doesn’t mean that we cannot train our body to do it in the future. Our body can improve if we put in enough time and effort to practice. Also, what we tell our mind is also very important to overcoming our fear. Just don’t be afraid to do any poses (even headstands) and we are already halfway there.

– I learned that Patanjali offered his solution in his yoga sutra how to help us union our body, mind and spirit to reach the ultimate state of bliss. I also learned that to be happy in life, lead a simple life, be happy, do what we like, and align our body and mind. I’m still trying to figure out the/my spirit part :p

– I’m very thankful I learned so many tips, techniques and good advice from the trainers. I’m very grateful to Sree, Paalu and Weiling for teaching us so much. I look forward to learning more from them and guiding me in this journey of how to be a good teacher.