At the end of October I started my yoga teacher training with a local studio here in Bend and weekend number three of seven begins tonight. Each weekend there is both excitement and trepidation. Each weekend we’re forced out of our comfort zone a little more, encouraged to explore ourselves and our lives a little more, but that’s not enough…we have to talk about it. It’s not just internal reflection, but we have to share what we find….and sometimes we don’t like what we find. And I can’t help, but think “Why on earth would I ever share THAT?”
The hardest part about teacher training isn’t the postures or the meditation, but learning to live your yoga. And it’s hard!!! Cultivating awareness and mindfulness to live according to the yamas isn’t easy and it’s definitely not “fun” when you begin to realize just how frequently you violate the yamas. The yamas are kind of like a code of ethics to encourage bliss and happiness and to end suffering; there are five yamas, as follows: ahimsa (nonviolence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), braymacharya (moderation), and aparigraha (non-attachment).
Yoga is and always will be a work in progress, hopefully someday soon it will get easier.
I have no idea where this quote came from, but it’s something like this:
“I do yoga, I meditate, I chant and I still want to slap somebody.” And that’s how I feel on most days, okay maybe not most days, but probably more often than I should.
Here’s to another weekend of yoga teacher training! Namaste!
