Inter-Module Weeks 1 &2: Adjustment

The Life of a Yogi 

          Being a yogi is hard. These last two weeks have been a whirlwind; in some ways it’s hard to believe that it’s already been two weeks – and yet sometimes I think to myself, “It’s only been two weeks?”

          The homework is a lot – probably around two to three hours of work every single day (between the asana, the breathing, the meditation, the journaling…). Each of the different areas of work has a certain number of “faults” built in, so that if you miss a practice one day it’s not the end of the world. I feel like I started at a slight disadvantage, though, because I was quite sick the first day after the training (I felt like I had the flu for 24 hours; it was really odd), and I had to use a fault in almost all of the practices.

          Thank goodness that didn’t last too long though! I feel like I’ve caught up for the most part, but it’s still a big shift in my daily life. I’ve been getting up a lot earlier to try and get all of it done before I leave the house most days, and while that feels great once I finish the practices and start my day, it’s difficult to motivate myself first thing in the morning – to take that first step out of bed. It was, of course, much easier when I had a whole community of people practicing right along with me, a designated place to go, and Sri Dharma right there with us. But it gets easier as time goes by, and every time I think about my fellow trainees, it’s a source of strength and drive for my daily practice. I’ve found that dedicating my practices to them really helps me a lot with regard to mental focus and endurance.

          I am learning to love early-morning asana (something I NEVER thought I would get into), and even though the seedless meditation is hard for me, I know it’s important for me to do – maybe actually because it’s difficult. I am absolutely loving the journaling assignments – even though I don’t always adhere strictly to the designated topics, it’s nice to feel so in-touch with myself – to take time out of my life twice a day every day to actively reflect.

          I think the hardest thing is that the rest of my life is also in a state of flux right now… But then again, maybe I should be thankful that I have to do these practices every day because they are incredibly grounding. There’s a lot to do, and a lot for me to figure out outside of my requirements for this training, but I am finding myself less inclined towards worrying than I used to be.

It’s not changing rapidly, but I am noticing myself slowing down more, and being generally less hot-headed than I used to be. All in all, I feel great so far, and even though it’s hard work, it’s worth it. I’m looking forward to being back with my trainee group in November, but I think we’ve all got exciting individual growth ahead of us before then. For now, I’m off to do my evening journaling!

~Danielle

Day Eight: To Be Here

The Life of a Yogi 

          I’m really overwhelmed with happiness right now, so I apologize in advance if this is completely incoherent. I actually cannot even begin to explain the joy of today. Everything was perfect… Sunshine pouring into the temple, a cool breeze outside, just enough asana, and plenty of chanting to close the day.

          We had our morning sessions with Sri Dharma, which were amazing as usual. Then we had a large-group Dharma II practice, and I got to practice assisting, which was so exciting because I had never done it before; it was really a treat to just be able to observe bodies and see how much you can read about where a person is in their practice. So helpful for me from a teacher’s standpoint!

          Then we had Yoshio for Dharma IV, which seemed to fly by today… I felt so open and just physically ready for anything. This week has changed so much about my body, my mind, and my emotional state. I just hope I can continue to flow in this direction as I move into the inter-module homework phase of the training!

          After lunch we reviewed the homework assignments with Adam. It’s a lot, but I am so excited to start putting everything into place – and to see the effects of a committed, long-term practice. Then we had an Om Japa class with Adam, and after we finished chanting the Om for about 20 minutes, I felt like I was floating. The closing Satsang ceremony was beautiful, and I could just feel the joy radiating from everyone – Dharmaji included. It was almost like another spiritual discourse session – he spoke so beautifully about so many things, and I wrote down so many little tidbits because they were just deeply inspiring to me.

          At one point he said, “All these rituals we do are just for us to express how grateful we are to be here.” I feel like I could have chanted with everyone for another four hours before I fully expressed my gratitude towards this opportunity and the full experience of this week.

          It wasn’t too tearful of a goodbye tonight, because of course it was really just “see you later”. I’m so excited to tackle the work ahead of me, partially because I know I have this community of support now. I can’t wait to see everyone again in November, and I’m sure we’re all going to have fantastic journeys leading up to that time!

          Just one picture tonight – of myself and Lisa, my roomie for the week!

~Danielle

Day Seven: Connection

The Life of a Yogi 

      

       Whew. We just finished a 2.5-hour inversion workshop with Kim, and I can tell already that my arms are going to be sore tomorrow! It’s the best kind of sore, though, because I know all of us worked to the point that we made great leaps forward in our own individual practices; I know I did!

          Of course it’s not supposed to be about the accomplishment – doing all these crazy poses isn't what matters most. But as a very wise Dharma Yoga instructor once told me: If you observe the incredible changes you can make to your physical body in just two hours of mindful practice, just think about how empowered you really are to change every other aspect of your life, through those same intention-based efforts!

          I can’t believe tomorrow is the last day of the first module; the time has just flown. Today was really fulfilling because most of the physical practices (except the aforementioned clinic) were not as hard as previous days, and so I found myself moving much more gracefully and being much more present in my body, as well as physically grounded. We started our day with pranayama and sun salutations, led by Kim. Several people mentioned afterwards how wonderful that session had been. Even though we start almost all of our days the same way, something about today was special – the energy in the room, all of us moving together and just feeling each other… Somehow it was stronger today.

          As another trainee said to me later on, “Today was really a day of connecting the dots.” She and I had just been discussing our lives and what paths brought us to yoga, and it was just funny how they seemed to intersect several times. Earlier on, I had a similar thought when Kim finished our morning session with a passage from The Dhammapada – a book that I had just bought a few weeks ago and happened to have sitting in my bag! All throughout the week, I’ve had instances where I’ve said to myself, just for example, “Oh, I would really love to do that Govinda chant that Sri Dharma did the other day,” and then, less than 5 seconds later, we do just that. It always makes me smile – I think we are all becoming more receptive to each other, and it’s beautiful to see it unfolding.

          The morning progressed with Dharma Gentle (so tender and restorative), followed by Maha Shakti and Yoga Nidra with Sri Dharma. Both of those were amazing – just what we all needed. We had lunch, followed by some small group practice teaching and then the inversion clinic! I’m sure everybody wants to see the incredible postures that my fellow trainees were working on in this clinic (as well as the ones Kim was demonstrating), so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

~Danielle

Day Six: Peace

The Life of a Yogi

          The first few days of this training seemed to follow a pattern: really enthusiastic one day, really tired the next… Now, it seems to be the same pattern, but much more condensed; this morning I came in and was feeling so well-rested and ready to absorb everything I possibly could (I wrote three entire pages in my personal journal before lunch!), and by the evening I was just totally spent.

          We started the day with Adam because Sri Dharma was running a few minutes late. When he came in, he apologized for being late (as if any of us could have been upset about it!), and he explained that we should all “experience everything”, so that we can relate to all of our students more and be more understanding. It was actually a very inspiring way to start the day. We did some more pranayama and then had a marvelous discourse about karma (instead of the scheduled dhyana). Then during the spiritual discourse session, Sri Dharma read from The Bhagavad Gita. The whole morning left me feeling extremely serene; not necessarily as enthusiastic as I was one day one, but just sort of open and available – no expectations.

          We had a small group practice teaching session before noon class, which was fabulous today. I can see everyone in our group progressing in their receptivity and clarity in communications with each other, which is beautiful to watch. Then we had Master Sadhana, but with Bernadette today. It was a very difficult class, but I actually felt great through most of it. The sun was shining in through the window during savasana, and I sort of felt like a cat napping on the floor (they always seem to find the sunniest spots, you know?).

          After lunch we had a long session where we broke down the asanas of the Dharma II series from an anatomical perspective, which was pretty fun. Since our group is becoming so close, we wound up going off on tangents a few times in our discussion, and because the people in my group are so awesome, I learned how to do two new arm balances (not perfectly, but at least the logistics and a few close attempts)! Then we had Dharma III with Andrew, which was a beautiful practice – but extremely tiring. By the end of the anatomy session, I was already quite tired; oddly enough, I think it was because I wasn’t being as disciplined about sitting and listening and taking notes – on other, more rigorous, days I have found that the difficulties of sitting actually wind up giving me more energy later (at least compared to today). Good to keep in mind for tomorrow I suppose!

          Anyway, Dharma III was really difficult. I mean, I’ve taken a lot of Dharma III this summer (twice a week almost every week since June), and I’m frankly in love with the series. It’s just that my body is totally exhausted, and partway through the practice I realized that I had had maybe two sips of water since about 8 AM this morning (and I sort of went, “Ohhhh that’s why I can’t stand on my own legs right now”).

          Then we had a discussion about teaching Dharma Basics, led by Andrew. It was short and sweet and very informative. More and more I’m realizing the importance of really living our lives from a place that agrees with the teachings, so that we can bring not just the knowledge, but also the immense compassion, to each of our students. It’s a huge responsibility to be a teacher; as Sri Dharma said this morning: “Remember, you are becoming a teacher; you have to do everything straight and nice… Many teachers are not perfect; they have many habits, but don’t let your students see.”

Now I’m starting to get excited for the home practice aspects of this training, because I think those things are really going to help me cultivate the groundedness I need in all the limbs of yoga. But two more days to go! I am very much looking forward to Dharma Gentle with Kim tomorrow morning… Plus we have a Yoga Nidra class with Sri Dharma. I think those two practices are going to give me the steam that I need to get through this last push!

~Danielle

Dharma playing with Baxter

Another trainee getting ready for noon class