The Life of a Yogi
Nothing
like a little kirtan to get you energetically charged for the last three days
of teacher training. I think the actual kirtan session was a little shorter
this module, but it was so vibrant that it totally didn’t matter. I’m buzzing,
as I’ve become accustomed to feeling after chanting in such an awesome group of
people.
Today
we started with sun salutations, pranayama,
and dhyana with Andrew (who was my
mentor last module, and whom I greatly miss this time around). I really
appreciated the whole morning – his instructions were so clear, using just
enough words and always taking his time. That’s something that I have trouble
with in my everyday life: remembering to take my time with things. I realized
this morning that starting to just change that
might help me become more mindful and compassionate, and really live the
teachings.
Then
we had the review of the Dharma III series with Sri Dharma himself (most of the
pictures below are from that – Yoshio and Melissa demonstrated for all of us beautifully).
That session ran almost an hour overtime, but I don’t think anybody was upset
by this; Sri Dharma showed us so many fun (sometimes crazy) variations for use
in our personal practices that I kind of felt like a little kid at Christmas.
We
had a short session of chanting with Adam (stellar), followed by Master Sadhana
– the last one with Sri Dharma for this training. I found it less challenging than
yesterday’s practice, but the noon class is never really easy… It almost gets
harder as your practice progresses, because to do all the advanced variations
that Sri Dharma offers is just completely exhausting (I don’t even do all of
them yet and I have a hard time tackling that practice some days). Anyway, it
was a beautiful practice, and savasana was glorious.
After
lunch we finished up with assisting and adjusting, which is sort of a hard
session, but not in the way you might expect. It’s difficult because all the
trainees are so good at all the asanas, it’s hard for any of them to act like
beginners, or do the poses badly on purpose (so that the person “teaching”
actually has something to adjust). I guess that’s why we have the internship
process where we have to practice teaching – because the actual situation of
teaching a room full of people who are unfamiliar with the series is impossible
to imitate in these modules.
We
had another small group teaching session, followed by Maha Shakti with Adam,
which were both great. I really love all my small group members, and it’s been super
cool to see how they’ve progressed since the last module. Adam’s class was
pretty challenging, but by the evenings I just get to the point where I’m too
exhausted for it to make a difference whether it’s hard or easy. The best I can
do by the night practice is to try and stay present.
Although
I still adore asana, I feel like I’m finally
starting to connect with the other limbs as well, which is a really awesome
step for me! Everything is just sort of coming together, and I’m starting to discover
a lot about myself, particularly the nature of my ego and the habits of my
mind. But at the same time, I’m starting to be more compassionate towards
myself too, instead of berating myself for things that are beyond my control
(like my mind wandering away in meditation). It’s a cool thing to witness… And
also to begin discovering my Self as the eternal witness.
~Danielle
Yoshio & Melissa
demo for Sri Dharma.
Just before the
kirtan…
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