This past weekend was Weekend Five of my Yoga Teacher Training a.k.a Yogaversity.  I can’t believe we are half way through! That means 100 hours down, 100 to go.  Ahh!

I have learned so, so much in these first five weekends about my own practice and the proper alignment of the asana practice as a whole.  It’s crazy to look back and realize that for two years I may have been doing poses with improper alignment or simply just not known the reason for that alignment.

Knowing that reason or the “why” is something I’m really coming to value during this process.  I’m so grateful to be learning from teachers who have such an immense depth of knowledge.  If I’m going to become a yoga teacher I’ve realized that it’s important to me to know where Yoga comes from and how it’s gotten to where it is today.  And let me tell you, there is A LOT to learn between the two.

This weekend we covered…

Reviewing the rest of our manual which included inversions (!) and seated forward bends and twists.  I definitely need the most practice with inversions.  Going upside down, and the hesitation my body faces, is definitely mental.  I know I just have to practice, practice, practice, and get out of my own head!

We ate lunch and had discussion outside and it was ah-mazing! Hello spring, it’s nice to see you finally!

We continued our discussion on the history of Yoga through Tantra yoga.  Tantra brings together all of the older forms of yoga and starts to advance it.  This is where we start to see the first signs of hatha yoga.  We also learned about the 8 (now 9) rasas that, in simple terms, help us decode the world around us.  They are different emotional states.

The way we wrapped up the weekend was pretty amazing.  Mitchel had us choose one of the rasas that resonated with us the most and write how it appears in our life.  He then had us take what we wrote and turn it into something more universal that a group of people could relate to.  This is what would become our first practice in centering.  You know when you go to yoga and the first five to ten minutes are more meditative?  That’s centering.

And guess what?  I shared mine!  It was really scary but I knew I wanted to do it for that exact reason of being scared.  I think it’s the thing I’m most nervous about in this journey, using my voice.  It was so beautiful to share those words with this group of people who I’ve really come to respect, appreciate, and love!

This weekend was a transition into our second part of teacher training.  The next five weekends are going to focus much more closely on the actual teaching of yoga.  We have some pretty awesome guest teachers coming too! Until next time my friends!