My Yoga Journey | Tirisula Yoga Studios and Certification Courses

What is Yoga Teacher Training all about?

Have you ever thought “I can’t even do headstand how can I ever dream of becoming a yoga instructor”? . Well, the good news is you are not alone! And the best news is… Yoga Teacher Training is not about getting the perfect posture. It is about enjoying the process, through which you will come out a better person with a much deeper understanding of yoga, and more importantly, of yourself.

For me, it is about awareness. Each class taught me valuable insights about mind and consciousness; and that we are only part of a much bigger universe. I learnt about being happy is to be at ease with yourself, with no expectation of self or others. These awareness help me look at life with different lenses and not live life in a motion.

It is about building trust. Trust that your teacher will guide you through the process to ‘rewire’ your brain, and trust your classmates as they teach you, and you teach them.

It is about building confidence to stand in front of a class. As I go through my lesson planning I gain empathy with different kind of students by putting myself in their shoes. I learnt how to use my facilitation skill to guide them through a class. And more important, I learnt to use my voice – its tone and volume to command or relax a room.

How I found Yoga Teacher Training

How I found yoga is somewhat…typical! Being tired of the corporate life, looking for something to ‘detach’, challenging myself with each poses… and here I am – a nearly graduate of the 200 Hours Yoga Teacher Training. Who would have thought that I could (in a very near future) become a yoga instructor!

Believe it or not – my decision to participate in this course was very impromptu. I have always been enjoying yoga, coming to Tirisula for the past two years where teachers and classmates are like my family. In each practice I became more amazed at my body and what it is capable of; and that made me realize that I have not connected and listened to my body at all. In today world we often focus on working our mind but neglect our body; or more importantly – the wholeness of mind and body. I started to feel curious about how my body works, and how each poses that I enjoy so much can have a positive effect on me.

As simple as that – a curious thought that urged me to embark on the TTC journey. Reflecting on my 2 months study – that curious thought has helped me open countless doors of yoga knowledge that I will forever be thankful for.

And interesting enough – in the second lesson by Sree – we were taught to always be curious, ask lots of questions and make conflicting stories!

Handicapped!

Yoga isn’t for everyone. If you’re healthy, strong, flexible and inclined towards being a part of a larger collective, then yoga is a perfect match. If not, then please do Tai Chi!!

That’s how I felt when I had to undergo emergency knee surgery in 2017.
I was a university level basketball player and in 2005 I had a terrible fall on the court. I was told that I had a tear in my ACL and needed to hang up my sneakers and retire from my budding career in the WNBA. I was also told that I could either get surgery done or I could just strengthen my leg through exercises and continue with life.

As an irresponsible, impatient 20 year old, I chose to do neither. So I immersed myself is my 20s and everything that it brings with it – first jobs and with that financial freedom, relationships, new friends, and a level of delusion I can’t believe I had and seriously wonder why countries allow people in their early 20s to vote! Every time I wore high heels and danced the night away, I would sprain my knee and the tear in my ACL would increase a little. I would lie in bed for a few days, binge watch TV shows and get right back to it after that. This went on for a decade.

In 2017, I was not dancing, I was not wearing high heels. I was in my most sensible pair of flat sandals and was standing still in a book store, when I suddenly felt my right knee shift out of position and intense pain followed. I couldn’t straighten my knee and had to be wheeled to the A&E. The MRI showed that my ACL had said enough was enough and had decided not just to tear completely, but decided to also take a little piece of my meniscus with it as it slid off. Surgery was the only option. I was brave about it until a week after surgery and I was told to lift my leg up from the bed (like in Eka Pada Uttanpadasana, but only to 45 degrees!). I couldn’t and the pain was so terrible that the physiotherapist had to yell at me to lift my leg 5 degrees off the bed. Needless to say, it was one of the most trying times in my life and I wouldn’t have come through it without the support of my amazing husband!

9 months after surgery and PT, I felt good – I had reached good flexion and extension in my knee and all was well. I decided to try and join something a little more restorative and I tried my hand at yoga. It did not go well. I couldn’t do 70% of the poses. Something as simple as Virabhadrasana 1 was hard to do and lets forget about Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana! I was dejected and demoralised and almost gave up after the first class, but then I had paid for 10 sessions so decided to just continue with it while it lasted.
I’m glad I did. My body responded. My knee felt more stable as the classes progressed. I was able to bend further and lower and even if I couldn’t get into complicated baddhas, I saw that my body had the confidence in itself, even if I didn’t.

Yoga IS for everybody. The “ideal yoga body” aspiration isn’t. It’s okay if you can’t do a headstand or a full chakrasana. It’s okay if you can’t even do Virabhadrasana 1. Just keep doing it how much you can and slowly, but surely, your body will start to surprise you. I have experienced this over and over again. Nike got it right, quit thinking – “JUST DO IT”! 🙂

Lesson planning and teaching

Yoga instructors develop a lesson plan for each class. As students, we don’t think about the amount of effort a yogi puts into planning a class to ensure you get achieve progress within one class and get value for your money and time. Certain instructors make their classes feel integrated and smooth flowing, but only highly experienced yogis are able to make teaching effortless.

If you decide to join a YTT-200 course, the training will expose you to how much effort, practice and confidence goes into becoming a Yoga instructor. In the Tirisula program, trainees are required develop a lesson plan and conduct a test class among classmates. Three days were dedicated to lesson planning. During the first day, we made and applied a plan for Ultra Beginner students; the second day was for Beginner students; and the third day was for Intermediate students.

I missed the second day (hence I am making a blog specifically about this topic), which meant that I went from test teaching for Ultra Beginner to Advanced. Some people might struggle to shift their mind-set from student to teacher — and I quickly realized that I was one of those people. Lesson planning can be challenging. Applying the lesson plan on actual students is even more challenging.

There are three key aspects to consider:

Student level

Students coming in will have different levels of experience and ability. So, classes are segregated between, Ultra Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Your style as a teacher will fit one of these levels better than the others. The trick is figuring out which one and also continually trying to improve on teaching for the other levels.

Program and sequence

There is a flow to the segments of a class. Generally, there is a teacher’s welcome, checking for injuries, opening chant, breathing exercise, warm up, asanas, cool down and closing chant. During warm up, you can include simple test poses to see the average ability level of the class. As for asanas, the ideal sequence is from standing, sitting, prone, supine, and lastly, inversions. For every pose, there should also be a counter pose. Transitioning between segments of the class and between asanas is also important to maintain pace, energy flow and momentum build-up.

Teaching technique

Aside from the lesson plan, the actual teaching part is important to rehearse. There are four key things to consider for teaching:

Demonstration (show to students how to get in and out of a challenging pose)
- Instruction (guide the inhale/exhale, describe the exact movement and mention the asana name with a clear voice and relaxed but firm tone)
- Counting (sync the breathing for consistent movements)
- Adjustment (improve alignment and stretch with touch and motivating words)

During the course, I really struggled with applying my lesson plans. I am still at the stage where I understand the technique but am poor at verbalizing it. I fixate on recalling what the next step should be that I pay no mind to the student, which is a quick recipe to becoming a horrible yoga instructor. Being a yoga teacher is not easy, and for people like me, it does not happen over the course of a month. It’s an ongoing process of learning and applying then passing the knowledge on.

Our master trainers tell us that a high percentage of those who complete the YTT 200 do not pursue a Yoga teaching career; and I hope I do not become part of that percentage. I have a long way to go before I can say I have confidence in my lesson planning and teaching skills. I don’t know if I will make it, but I hope I do. One thing is for sure though – I learned so much from one month of Yoga teacher training than two years of being a Yoga pupil.

Taking YTT 200 with an injury

Eight years ago, I injured my left knee. I can’t recall what exactly I was doing but I’m certain it was nothing important or strenuous. I felt a sharp pain every time I landed my foot on the floor of whenever I bent my left knee. It felt like someone was driving a thin metal-cold knife right under the knee bone. But a few months passed and my knee was back to normal.

Two years ago, the same thing happened. On a random day, I bent down from a standing position into a squat to pick up some things on the floor, and the same sharp pain came back. I couldn’t bend my knee without feeling the invisible thin knife slicing through the joint. And this time, my entire knee began to swell. Climbing a flight of stairs was a struggle. Lifting heavy luggage was a struggle.

By this second bout of injury, I was already active in my Yoga practice. But the injury made it excruciating to do simple poses like chair pose. And after every practice, my knee would swell and I had to take a few days rest so it could partially (no fully) recover.

Unlike the first time, the pain had no plans of leaving me. Three, four months had passed and the trauma on my left knee remained. My movements had severely been limited.

When I attended Yoga classes, I couldn’t perform any asana that involved kneeling or the lotus position. Doing cat and cow and then moving into a low lunge was a NIGHTMARE.

My knee was stiff but its insides felt so tender. Whenever I pushed my knee beyond its limit, at the end of the class I always got the feeling that my lower leg was about to fall off – like when you lift the drumstick off a whole roasted chicken, and the cartilage and skin begin to tear. All you need is to pull it towards you and the chicken leg comes right off.

And my Yoga teachers gave different pieces of advice like strengthen my thigh and avoid placing weight on my left leg. They also suggested Pilates to help strengthen my leg.

But, rather than strengthening my left leg, I developed uneven legs. I could barely stand on my left leg without support or without the pain searing through. So, I would place most of my weight on my right leg to compensate — my right leg basically became more macho than my left leg.

When I visited the rheumatologist, he said I had early onset osteoarthritis. Because of two prior injuries, my knee has decided to have an accelerated “wear and tear.” He also told me there was nothing I could do about it other than to ensure I didn’t add to the progression. I wasn’t supposed to do any running, jumping and mountain climbing.

I was only 29 then and I had an old person knee problem. I was horrified. And one of my biggest fears in that moment was that my knee condition would require me to take a step back from doing Yoga.

But instead of slowing down, I decided this was a push towards the right direction. I took the diagnosis as a sign that I needed to find a place and time where someone would teach me, specifically and properly, how I could continue with my Yoga practice without my knee holding me back. I wanted to find a way to excel in my practice despite having a chronically injured body part.

That was when I decided to take the Yoga Teacher Training 200 course.

I had apprehensions; I was afraid my knee would act up and I would have to give up the course half way. Giving up the course was not a practical option for me since I was flying all the way from Philippines.

But lo and behold, our batch is in our last week of training and I am still in one piece. My left leg has gained strength over three weeks, which was possible because of three key aspects in the training:

Daily asanas that were heavy on technique (which were really challenging on certain days but beneficial every step of the way)
Knowledge of the muscular and joint system (I understood which thigh muscles to pull so that I could relieve the left knee of stress, pain and overextension)
Awareness of the fact that Yoga can really be used for therapy.

An injury will come in different shapes and forms. It might be inevitable, especially as our physical bodies get older. But it should not stop you. Instead, it should inspire you to want to get better. An injury does not mean you have to stop Yoga; rather, it means you need to take a new approach to your practice. It might also mean the current way you treat your body is not proper or optimal, and that you need to seriously make a change; and giving more attention and taking on an educated approach to your Yoga practice is a great way to start.

4/4

6 Master Yogi Quotes to Inspire Your Practice

In one of our lectures in the YTT 200, we were asked what our favorite quote was. There are hundreds of quotes by famous people to choose from, but when someone asks you point blank and out of the blue which quote you live by, the answer may not come easily. Picking a quote – the quote – that should define what you stand for prompts you to reflect at the very least, or make you feel vulnerable at the most.

But throughout our lectures in the program, our teachers have showered us with insight and wisdom – a few we can barely pronounce but all we can truly apply in our lives.

For this post, I’ve put together six (6) of the key insights from our Master Yogis that I think are worthy of being enclosed in quotation marks:

1. “Do what your body wants you to do, not what your mind wants you to do.” The decision should happen on its own. The body is instinctive and has a natural ability to achieve physical homeostasis. The body is able to discern what is good or bad for it and we have to be in tune with what the body needs and what it rejects, rather than allowing the mind to dictate what the body wants and needs. For example, our body only becomes hungry when we need added nourishment. Craving for unhealthy food is a psychological announcement that is formed in the mind.

2. “There is comfort in consistency.” Maintaining a daily Yoga practice is difficult for most people because you need time, discipline and persistence. But we can push through the discomfort until we are able to ride smoothly through the consistency of a daily routine, which stabilizes your mood and provides you a reservoir of energy to push yourself to do more in other aspects of a Yogic life. So, having at least five regular poses that you do daily can be a big help to regulate your mood, establish consistency, and strengthen your connection with each asana.

3. “Establish a pattern of completion. Whatever you do, finish it; don’t leave it hanging.” Completing something no matter how challenging and no matter your mood relates to the previous insight. However, this one is more on reaching your destination no matter the hurdles and distractions. I think this also links to our habit of complaining and sour-graping. When we complain and have bouts of sour grapes, we place ourselves in a state of constant pain jealousy. We build the hurdles ourselves. We also steal ourselves away from what we need to do (relates to asteya, meaning non-stealing). Without completion, there is no consistency. Without consistency, there can be no relief, growth and vitality.

4. “Find a connection with pose; don’t be a slave to it. Being a slave to something is a form of suffering.” Our masters keep saying that we must enjoy the pose. It can be difficult to hear this, especially when you are struggling to hit the right spot for a certain asana. For example, you might still have a wobbly headstand or you can’t bind in Marichyasana C and D. The frustration can get to you and ruin your mood. But if you can control and manage your mood in relation to a pose, or to any another subject/object, you do not suffer. You can let go anytime. Only then can you be a master of your own mind.

5. “Where there is desire, there is also fear.” The fear can come from thinking that we are unable to achieve the desire or that we are capable but are unworthy of attaining it. The fear could also come from knowing that once we achieve our desire, we would have to move on to another desire, challenge, dream, and, basically, any object that becomes the destination of our life – and changing this destination might require us to redefine who we are and what we represent, which can be confusing and taxing. But Yoga is less about achieving desires and more being recognizing our desires and our human tendency to fall prey to these desires and suffer in the process. As we get older, it also becomes apparent that as individuals, we have basic desires that evolve and mature. However, these desires are basically the same ones that have driven us all our lives. And if we don’t recognize the fear we attached with out basic, individual desire, the fear will also evolve and mature, bringing us further from achieving our desires.

6. “A weakness is a strength, but at the time you labeled it as a ‘weakness’ was actually an inappropriate application of a strength.” Someone’s weakness could be another person’s strength. We can also take this lesson to mean that our abilities and limitations have a proper application; we just need to be able to discern opportunities to apply them in different situations. In addition, we also learned from the YTT 200 that appearing weak and imperfect could be a strength in a Yoga instructor. Students, especially beginners, feel intimated by a muscular and perfectly shaped teacher who does elaborate poses. Instead of listening and trying, all they can take away is how far the gap is between where they stand and how far the teacher has gone. In this scenario, both the student and the teacher fail.

These are just six of the many powerful lessons I picked up from our Yoga teacher training. Certainly, there will be more as we approach the end of our training program, and as we go off into our individual Yogi journeys. But these six quotes are a good starting point to define our ongoing practice and bring us closer to the quote that would define and direct us.

Productivity and Perseverance

Having to juggle both work and full time YTT together, it really forced me to learn to make full use of my time and prioritize all my tasks. I entered the course with the optimism that I would not have much issues given that it was going to be a lull period for me at work. However, it was a rude awakening when I realized how much I had underestimated the time and effort one had to put in for it.

Coming to the end of the course, I found that I have managed to weed out so many activities that only served to help me pass time but did little to add value to my life (like mindlessly scrolling through social media or watching television). Productivity came not only from the removal of unnecessary activities, but also with proper planning of each day. This gave me a clear overview of how I was to spend each day and what pockets of time I had to squeeze in some extra studying or sneak in some rest time.

Though it was thoroughly draining, both mentally and physically, to have to be fully present and alert for more than 14 hours a day, it was also refreshing to see how we are able to push our body and mind this much (and maybe even more). This month has truly been a test of how much I could stay focused on the goal (to get through YTT) despite all the distractions around and how much I could persevere through the fatigue.

This has definitely made a positive impact on my lifestyle and how I will approach my days even after YTT is over. It is amazing how much one can learn and grow even in a short span of a month and I can only be thankful of the experience I got out of it.

Beyond an injury

Even before the start of my YTT journey, I had many doubts whether I could handle the poses with the injury I had. The fear of worsening the injury further and just the thought of having to apply pressure on it gave me little confidence that I would be able to do anything.

However, through the course of my YTT, I have learnt that a limit like an injury is not always a bad thing. What was more important was how I faced it head-on and pushed myself whenever possible. Working within limits did not mean that I was weak. It meant that I needed to know when my body needed to rest and learning how to better listen to what my body was trying to tell me. It also meant that I needed to be more aware of the right alignment and exercises to facilitate recuperation.

It was all a matter of finding balance. Strength versus flexibility, both physically and mentally. How working on strengthening my weak areas around the injury, brought relief to the injury itself. How changing my mentality and allowing myself more time to improve, gave me space to recover. How it pushed me to find the balance between giving up with the excuse of an injury and stopping just at the right moment to prevent worsening the injury. Despite the fact that the injury still causes inconveniences and I still hold back on poses from time to time, I am grateful to have improved the condition of and my outlook towards the injury throughout the duration of the course.

It was truly a timely reminder that limitations are not there to stop your growth but for you to learn ways to overcome it and come out even stronger than before. Believe that you can too!

Karma Yoga

Karma Yoga

In our YTT200 we learnt that there are four main paths of yoga are Karma, the yoga of selfless service, Bhakti, the yoga of devotion, Raja, the scientific approach and Jnan yoga, the yoga of knowledge.

I found hearing about Karma yoga and the action of “purifying the heart by learning to act selflessly in service of others” both very humbling and inspiring. This is because sometimes life can feel like it’s happening at a very fast pace, so it is easy to get caught up in focusing too much on ones self and therefore easily losing track of the bigger picture, of what you are here to be a part of and how you can help others.

Many of us carry out small kind gestures for loved ones and also polite and/or thoughtful gestures for strangers on a daily basis. This may be making a cup of tea for your partner after a hard day in the office or waiting to open a door for an elderly person but I realised it had been an embarrassingly long time since I had given back a significant amount of my time in a truly selfless way.

Of course it is unrealistic for most of us to selflessly give all the time as we are human (!) and have bills to pay, hobbies we enjoy, friends and families to tend to etc etc (the list goes on…) but every now and again it reminded me that it is important to set aside time to help serve your community. Whether it be volunteering at an organisation, organising something charitable myself or taking some unpaid yoga classes for those who are less fortunate I really want to make this one of my priorities in the New Year.

We are part of something far greater than than just ourselves and carrying out Karma practices is a wonderful way to remind ourselves!

Yogic principles in everyday life

Yogic principles in my everyday life

YAMA PRINCIPLES

From our study of Yama -Disappearance of all suppressions – which is the first of the “The Eight Limbs of Yoga” I found there were two principles that I found very poignant and therefore want to remember to integrate into my daily life moving forward.

1. Ahimsa is in the broadest sense can be defined as “non violence” to another human or animal and acting with love of all. On first reflection I found it difficult to understand the deeper meaning of this as I was focussing on the physical and other than killing the odd mosquito or spider I couldn’t see how violence could relate to myself..

However on closer look Ahimsa is a far more sophisticated concept with far more subtle meanings to consider in everyday life. These are the meanings that I would like to be more mindful of in my life.

Non violence in respect of animals

Importance of Vegetarianism – Although I have been a vegetarian on and off since I was young it made me think more deeply of the “violence” caused by eating meat and as a consequence I feel far more committed to not eating meat moving forward.

Non violence in respect of humans.

Importance of non violent speech to others and oneself – I found this a very subtle but important use of Ahimsa as although I try not to say harmful or violent things to others sometimes when in a challenging circumstance I find my interior monologue can easily be pretty unproductive and harmful to myself. A lot of us can regularly find ourselves being our own harshest critiques and the application of Ahimsa in this way was a good reminder to be kind to oneself.

2. Satya can be most simply defined as truthfulness but once again the meaning has a far greater reach in everyday life. Although I don’t make a habit of habitually lying by any means there are times where it can appear easier to not be 100% truthful with ourselves and others. Even though these are generally only harmless excuses or “white lies” I want to be far more aware of this moving forward as it is much better practice to be honest or alternatively not say anything at all.

The other meaning of Satya that struck me as very important is “living the truth” or living authentically. I know from my own experience that often we are afraid and therefore hold back from areas of ourselves that we are scared to reveal. This is usually due to a lack of confidence, fear of what others may think and/or because the aspect in question may contradict to social norm. The use of Satya in this context reminds us that as long as we aren’t harming ourselves or others that it is healthy, invigorating and refreshing to truly allow ourselves to be who we are and not what others expect we should be. Being authentic as a person not only puts yourself at ease but also others around you as it creates a relaxed and honest energy. It essentially gives you permission to shine unapologetically in all your unique glory (whatever that my be) as there is only one you so it is good to set yourself free 🙂

NIYAMA PRINCIPLES

The second arm of “The Eight Limbs of Yoga” is Niyama, understood as the freedom from all observations or more simply the principles a Yoga teacher should follow. I found that all of these five principles were incredibly valuable to learn and that I actually experienced the need to implement most of them at different times over the last month to help me in the course.

Saucha – Purity of thoughts

Thinking well of yourself, others and the world, not getting caught up in negativities (no matter what form they may take) or gossip and looking for the positive and good in all situations.

Santosha / Contentment

This ability to have equanimity in life is one that is challenging as most of have preferences and are easily lead by external factors including our senses and emotions which trigger both highs and lows. I have experienced this many times along the way while doing the YTT. One example was the day I got up into a headstand for the first time and was incredibly happy, invigorated and proud of myself and then was called to cue sun salutations (which I did terribly!) and within moments felt sad, totally demotivated and incapable.

It was a real lesson to not get too swept up in external matters or material objects (good or bad) but instead focus on carrying on walking your path whilst maintaining a calm, humble peacefulness within whatever goes on, much like a tree grounded in the earth whatever the weather conditions may be.

Tapas / Austerities transform impurities

This principle is often defined as self discipline and performing positive duties. The course has been invaluable as we have all (whether it usually comes naturally or not) had to work very hard and be even more disciplined and regimented than in our usual every day life. This has been particularly challenging for me due to having a baby because I found it even harder than usual to keep my routine and self-discipline strong when enjoying very little sleep and always having to be flexible to study around my daughters needs (which are often changeable) not just my own.

However the course has really helped me to establish far stronger self discipline and encouraged me to really rise to challenges and keep going against adversities. I am very grateful of this as it is not until you are pushed that you realise how strong you really are. I also really appreciated the opportunity to re priorities my days as I believe I had lost focus on what things served me, my daughter and my husband best best. I have loved making asans, pranayama, meditation and study priorities in my daily routine and want to keep this practice up.

Swadhyaya – Self study

Being very honest and healthily critical of yourself so you can progress with your own evolution. Looking practically and rationally at your own bad habits and patterns; how certain things affect you, your emotions and reactions because by looking at these you will be able to understand and therefore change behaviours moving forward.

Ishwara-pranidha – Worship of the Lord within us, surrender of ego

Through meditation I suppose this is a work in progress…