Well I officially have 9 out 10 yoga teacher training weekends under my belt!  I am in a bit of disbelief that this journey will come to an end in just a few short weeks.

This weekend was yet another beautiful one for me and my Yogaversity family.  It’s pretty incredible for how chaotic and busy my life has been this month, that I can step into that loft and all my worries just seem to fall away.  It’s like everything comes into focus and becomes so clear.  There are so many things I am going to take away from this experience.  I can pin point things now right off the bat but also know even further down the road, after things sit and marinate, I will reflect back and still realize how many ways my life has been impacted.  It’s sort of the feeling I had after studying abroad, if anyone can relate to that.

This weekend we learned how to give students proper adjustments.  In order to give a proper adjustment you first have to be able to observe and pin point what is misaligned in the first place (unless it’s simply a feel good adjustment).  This definitely takes some practice and a ton of observing.  We practiced adjusting each other in standing poses, back bends, seated forward bends, and twists. It was a fun way to learn how it should feel from both the student and teacher perspective!

Of course a majority of the weekend was spent practicing our teaching skills! We had to teach a 75 minute class in groups of four.  I volunteered to teach the beginning section since I hadn’t yet.  This meant centering the class and taking them through warm ups and sun salutations.  We only had about an hour to plan our entire sequence and had to get certain poses in to the sequence.

Through out that hour my nerves definitely built up.  What will I say, how will I say it, will it come out right?  I was especially nervous for centering.  Centering is the first portion of class when a yoga teacher leads their students through a short meditation.  There are all different types of meditations from simply grounding your students through breathing exercises, to body scans, or taking an inspiring concept and speaking to that.

I decided to speak about patience.  Patience is something that I am constantly trying to bring in to my life.  It was even my “word” for 2014.  I thought it was fitting to speak about, especially to my fellow teacher trainees.  Sometimes we get caught up in just getting to the destination, and forget that it takes time to cultivate a talent or skill.

I referred to the saying, “The expert in anything was once a beginner.”  (TWEET THIS) It’s one that has really stuck with me through out this experience especially.

Our class went great.  We are all still learning, finding our voice, and learning how to get comfortable standing in front of a class but there has definitely been progress from just a few weeks ago!