Day Two: Willpower

The Life of a Yogi

       I have discovered the secret of sitting for long periods of time! At least, it’s what worked for me today: Just decide that you aren’t going to move – no matter what. Because once you make the choice to do something, your mind sort of settles down; instead of constantly evaluating, “Do I need to move? Can I actually do this?” you just do it! As Sri Dharma said this morning during spiritual discourse, “You have to get serious about it!”

          Today was a physically challenging day. We all had soreness to contend with in the morning… Plus, Dharma III at 10 AM followed immediately by Master Sadhana with Sri Dharma was definitely not an easy series of practices. Again, though, it was necessary to simply make the decision to do it. The feeling when we arrived at savasana at the end of noon class was just overwhelming; it’s not that the practice had been so torturous that I was waiting for savasana the whole time – on the contrary, I got so absorbed in focusing on the asana and the breathe that when Sri Dharma told us to lie down, I felt a little surprised, along the lines of, “Wow, we made it!”

          After lunch we started the breakdown of Dharma III, and we made it all the way through the Shiva Namaskara vinyasa. It felt like we spent a lot of time talking about some things – just an assortment of questions people had about teaching in general – but at the same time, this entire day seems to have flown by. I’m getting excited to practice teaching the whole series, because it will be something new to explore.

          We finished the day with Maha Shakti and Sri Dharma’s new Monday night class, Meditation & Purification. Both practices were exactly what I needed (I’m guessing I am not alone in feeling that). Sri Dharma spoke in greater detail about seedless meditation, which was one of the practices I had the most trouble with between modules; we practiced it for what felt like forever, but in reality I have no idea how long it was.

          All in all, the day seemed to just whiz by… And it was filled with so many things – at points, feeling like my body was made of lead, and at other times, feeling like I could fly. I guess that’s kind of what this is all about, though: learning to be steady in all circumstances.

~Danielle

For some reason, I was really inspired by this green light this morning.

Yoshio and Melissa demonstrate postures during the asana breakdown, while Adam elaborates.

Day One: Different

The Life of a Yogi

       I feel like I can’t adequately express my delight at being back in this place, with all these people. This morning I actually woke up feeling quite neutral – not too nervous, not too excited… It sort of unnerved me a bit, because it wasn’t the norm for me.

But after the first om of the day, everything shifted. Of course there’s something unique and special about doing om japa on your own (which was one of our dharana exercises for the first month between modules), but there is something utterly miraculous about chanting the om all together at the beginning of each day. It just feels like all of the energy becomes focused in one place; at the same time, I myself get this feeling of being physically very high up and far away from the sound – like I’m watching.

The day began with a check-in of sorts. Adam spoke a bit about the decision to hold the training on schedule, and acknowledged that some people are not able to be here right at the start; it seems like the LOAY team is going to do their best to make sure everyone gets all the information covered, and they’re extremely open to working with people on a personal basis, which is awesome. We then went around the room and shared a bit about the experiences we’ve all had over the last two months. It was interesting to hear about other people’s struggles, as well as what came easily. Of course everyone had slightly different stories, but overall it seems like each one of us grew immensely, realizing the great power of a consistent home practice.

          After that we had a master sadhana with Sri Dharma, which for me personally was a little difficult to get through. After the craziness with the hurricane last week, I wasn’t really able to fuel my body the way I am accustomed to, so little things feel off for me. Then again, by the end of the practice all of that seemed to melt away…

          After lunch we had a session with Adam on pedagogy – discussing methods of teaching, and taking a closer look at how to teach. It was actually kind of challenging for me: We had to teach a partner about various niyamas, and I’ve never been all that great at speaking. It was a great exercise, if only because it made me realize that my ego is really judgmental today (I kept tripping over my words and then thinking, “That was a silly thing to say. Get it together, loser!”).

          We closed the day with Dharma III, taught by Melissa, and Yoga Nidra, taught by Andrew. During this module we’ll be learning to teach Dharma III, so we’ll be practicing it a lot in our small groups. At one point during the Dharma III class, I caught myself thinking, “How on earth am I going to get through the next seven days?”

This series is really physically challenging, and I feel less prepared for this module than I did for the first one. Throughout the day I sort of got caught up making little comparisons between the last module and this module – it’s cold outside this time, I don’t feel as receptive right now, I see myself being very harsh and judgmental now… But then I just sort of took a step back and thought, “Hey. You’re here. It is what it is. Just experience the experience, one moment at a time if you need to, and let go of everything else, because it’s not necessary to compare it to the last module. It will just be something different.”

~Danielle

Inter-Module Weeks 7 & 8: Uncertainty

The Life of a Yogi 

There is only one thing that is certain about the second module of this teacher training right now: It’s going to be an adventure – a true test of our collective ability to “stand supreme in any condition” (as Dharmaji says a yogi is always able to do).

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, everything is a little wacky. I myself did not have power until Wednesday evening in my home, and I am extremely lucky to have gotten it back when I did. Everything is pretty tenuous right now; Dharma Yoga has been closed since Monday at 2 PM, and the staff has not been able to get back into the building – which is still without power, last I heard. We received an email from Adam, the director, saying that we will be going ahead with the training as planned (we will be allowed into the building on Sunday), possibly with a condensed schedule because of the limited natural light inside the building.

I’m still just as enthusiastic to come together with my fellow trainees once again, but I am nervous for those traveling long distances… And even those traveling short distances (gas is a rare commodity right now, and public transportation is not even close to reliable). My host for the training is still without power, heat, and hot water in her apartment, so I have a feeling this week is going to be the epitome of simple, yogic living. Thankfully she has a gas stove, so we can still cook a little bit!

I’ve just accepted the fact that it’s not going to be as easy as last time. Of course these difficulties will help us all appreciate how easy we had it during the first module – we had the ability to control the temperature in the temple, to buy fresh green juices between scheduled sessions, and even to play music in the temple as we arrived each day. We are all hoping the electricity will be restored soon, but one never knows with these things… “One day at a time” seems to have become the theme of my life lately.

I’m sure many of my trainee friends have already had to deal with their fair share of adversity just in traveling to the area, but I have a feeling we are going to rise above the hardships beautifully – supporting each other and moving forward just as we did last time we were all together!

As my roomie said once, “This teacher training group is passing through some serious karma… Be happy those karmas are burned off.”

~Danielle