In August, I met Genie at a mutual friend's birthday party in downtown Denver. She was friendly and energetic. We met while I was deep in yoga teacher training mode. Genie is all about creating opportunity. She encouraged me to teach lunchtime yoga at her workplace, Useful Networks, once a week. The programmers could use a yoga break and I could use the teaching practice. Of course, I accepted the generous offer!
Thirty-minute classes were challenging. I needed to take these programmers away from their world of code and move them into a relaxing place for them to really experience yoga. Most of the participants were completely new to yoga. Some had practiced yoga regularly for some time. Each week, there would be some familiar faces and some new faces. Overall, I could see a general improvement and increased enjoyment over time--in my students and in myself. Over time, I felt more comfortable to play with the sequence, the music and the theme.
One of my favorite classes was my 'memories of Costa Rica' theme. To celebrate my thirtieth birthday, I traveled to Costa Rica with my family. My theme covered rainforest animals. I had my class flying like birds (in prayer twists) and swinging like a monkeys (in gorilla pose). My goals were to bring awareness to spinal movement and lengthening, and to present modifications, such as flying during revolving crescent lunge, in a playful way. The theme for this class came from a genuine place, and it felt great!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Teaching a Donation Yoga Class @ CorePower Grant Studio
I was set to teach Sun Salutation A in a round-robin donation class. The Extension Teacher Trainers were leading a special class for a non-profit cause, Yoga for the People. The yoga studio was packed with high-visibility CorePower staff members, fellow Extension students, friends and other eager yogis. My breathing was labored. My body was tense.
Marley could innately sense how nervous I was. Right before my turn in the round robin, she placed her hands on my shoulders, and suddenly, like magic, I just felt better. I found my seat as a teacher and my Sun A went as smoothly as I could have visualized it. I could see the room was mat-to-mat in the front mirror, but my intention to set the tone for the rest of the class held true. I was grateful for my Extensions experience, and that gratitude was able to shine through in my cues. After class, Marley acknowledged how quickly I made the transformation right before it was my turn to teach and I acknowledged how powerful her encouragement as a teacher was. Namaste!
Marley could innately sense how nervous I was. Right before my turn in the round robin, she placed her hands on my shoulders, and suddenly, like magic, I just felt better. I found my seat as a teacher and my Sun A went as smoothly as I could have visualized it. I could see the room was mat-to-mat in the front mirror, but my intention to set the tone for the rest of the class held true. I was grateful for my Extensions experience, and that gratitude was able to shine through in my cues. After class, Marley acknowledged how quickly I made the transformation right before it was my turn to teach and I acknowledged how powerful her encouragement as a teacher was. Namaste!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Yoga Teacher Training Extensions - Group Meeting
Marisa was absent on Sunday, so Monday night was the first time we met with her. I was feeling out of sorts. I realized it was the time of day that was throwing me. I had to quiet my mind from the day of work and commuting and I was having a lot of trouble. I couldn't focus on teaching. I forgot the names of body parts, the names of poses. I left like I had undergone a partial lobotomy, and somehow survived. I promised the group I'd be my better self next time.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Yoga Teacher Training Extensions - First Meeting
There was a lot of excited & nervous energy in the room. Marley V was the lead teacher trainer for Extensions, and today she was especially brilliant. She is in love with Extensions and all of its participants. She was glowing. I think that light penetrated the heart of every student and teacher trainer in the studio that morning.
The Extensions students were broken into smaller groups. Surprisingly, Kiara and I were both put into the same small group lead by Marisa V. Our group was well-balanced with vata and pita doshas.
Finally, the whole Extensions class taught round-robin style. I wasn't nervous, but I still don't feel comfortable in the seat of the teacher. Marley's feedback was that I need to dance between cuing and adjustments. I need levity and I know it.
The Extensions students were broken into smaller groups. Surprisingly, Kiara and I were both put into the same small group lead by Marisa V. Our group was well-balanced with vata and pita doshas.
Finally, the whole Extensions class taught round-robin style. I wasn't nervous, but I still don't feel comfortable in the seat of the teacher. Marley's feedback was that I need to dance between cuing and adjustments. I need levity and I know it.
Friday, October 3, 2008
CorePower Yoga Teacher Training Extentions
What is Extensions?
Extensions is a mentor program targeted at developing the teaching foundation created during teacher training, and growing into a fuller, richer, creative expression.
Extensions is a way keep on the track of being a dedicated student so I can teach from a place of authentic experience and connection. It means figuring out what I need to work on as a yogi and instructor in order to deliver a class that is true to where I'm at as a teacher and what I want to get across.
The program lasts seven weeks long. During the first three weeks, we meet with everyone in the program to go more in depth into assists, theme, music, voice, and intelligence of the sequence. During the next four weeks, we are put into a small groups of four or five with a mentor. During the last month of the program, we take we've learned and apply it in a real life setting. We are required to go to beginner's classes to assist. During the small groups weekly meetings, one person will teach a full class in a CPY studio to the group utilizing music, assists, theme, and voice. The mentor will observe the class and provide written feedback.
What am I thinking?
I am not sure if I am in the right place for Extensions. My dot-com job has been unstable. Spending money on additional yoga training doesn't seem like a financially responsible idea.
Well, it's either going to cost now, or it's going to cost later. I have the time before ski/snowboarding season, and I have the energy to commit. What am I waiting for?
Extensions is a mentor program targeted at developing the teaching foundation created during teacher training, and growing into a fuller, richer, creative expression.
Extensions is a way keep on the track of being a dedicated student so I can teach from a place of authentic experience and connection. It means figuring out what I need to work on as a yogi and instructor in order to deliver a class that is true to where I'm at as a teacher and what I want to get across.
The program lasts seven weeks long. During the first three weeks, we meet with everyone in the program to go more in depth into assists, theme, music, voice, and intelligence of the sequence. During the next four weeks, we are put into a small groups of four or five with a mentor. During the last month of the program, we take we've learned and apply it in a real life setting. We are required to go to beginner's classes to assist. During the small groups weekly meetings, one person will teach a full class in a CPY studio to the group utilizing music, assists, theme, and voice. The mentor will observe the class and provide written feedback.
What am I thinking?
I am not sure if I am in the right place for Extensions. My dot-com job has been unstable. Spending money on additional yoga training doesn't seem like a financially responsible idea.
Well, it's either going to cost now, or it's going to cost later. I have the time before ski/snowboarding season, and I have the energy to commit. What am I waiting for?
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Serendipitous First Yoga Class @ 24 Hour Fitness
Since mid-August I've been wondering, what comes next? Got my answer! Last night, went to a yoga class at 24 Hour Fitness with my friend Kiara. The instructor was a no-show. I looked over at Kiara and she said, "You should teach this class." My mind was racing.... I thought about the "Enlighten Up!" movie that Harper and I watched the night before and its theme question, what does yoga mean to you? I thought about all the amazing things I learned in yoga training from my mentors. It dawned on me--I am a certified to do this! And then I realized my responsibility to share yoga, to teach. And so I did! 25-ish people got the yoga they showed up for, they were so thankful to me, and I got an INCREDIBLE gift.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Yoga Teacher Training OmWork: Book Summary
Book: “Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic”
Author: Darren Main
It’s interesting to me how the Universe comes together when something is meant to be. For me, it was reconnecting with my friend, Kiara, and participating in Corepower’s Yoga Teacher Training because of that friendship.
I read Darren Main’s book, attended all three days of his workshop and listened to his podcasts this summer, and they were all very validating. This man has a gift that he is able to share and communicate with others, and that is what separates scholars and teachers. In “Path of an Urban Mystic,” Darren makes the lifestyle of a yogi more palatable for the mainstream.
I climbed my first fourteener this summer, Mount Yale in Buena Vista, Colorado. When I returned to camp after summiting, the weather was ominous, so I hid in my car and curled up with Darren’s book. The passage about pratyahara was perfectly timed as my mind and my heart were open to hear its message. It’s uncanny how the Universe finds the right moment to send us messages when we are most receptive.
“Seeking outside for a solution to suffering is a guarantee that peace and contentment will remain elusive because the problem does not lie within the external circumstances…. Only the truly numb can deny we are all searching for something. As long as we deny our true nature, we will feel within us an emptiness that is intolerable. This desire to search is the most natural thing, and the unavoidable result of believing that we are not whole.”
Darren’s fly-fishing analogy of the ego casting the mind out and the Spirit reeling us back in is as beautiful an acknowledgement of the flow of life as vinyasa is.
At any given point, I can be caught reading five books at one time. Another book that I am in the middle of is “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Coincidentally, within the same week, I read a section of that book that completely coincided with Darren’s book.
“We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy’s fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, begging for pennies from every passerby, unaware that his fortune was right under him the whole time. Your treasure—your perfection—is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart.”
Over the course of this summer of yoga teacher training, certain life experiences started to make more sense to me. About five years ago, I lived in Portland, Oregon, for one year. I had moved to be closer to my long-term, long-distance boyfriend at the time. I worked at a recruiting agency and had a ‘devil’ of a manager. With ten years in such a cut-throat, bottom-line business, she was a hardened woman. Despite her confident professionalism and attractive appearance, there was nothing sweet about her presence. When my relationship had ended and I was leaving my job with the recruiting agency to move back to Colorado, Melissa said only one thing to me. “Find your bliss, Michelle.”
It is not easy to really comprehend such things when your mind and heart are not open or not ready to hear such things. I took Melissa’s deep message to mean that I should focus on what makes me happy. For years after leaving Portland, I was a woman with no identity to speak of. I had either forgotten who I was, or maybe had never realized who I could be. I could be whoever I wanted. Upon moving back to Colorado, I made a promise to myself to become the woman I always dreamed of being. And I am happy to say that I feel a lot closer to that woman than ever, especially after yoga teacher training and reading such digestively insightful books as Darren Main’s. Melissa’s message has much deeper meaning to me now than it did back then. Coming from a boss that I feared, her message is able to transcend a mere well-wish to find temporal happiness.
A summer of yoga teacher training allowed me to tap into pratyahara, withdrawing from the senses and pulling my attention inward, and for this I am forever grateful. I thank all of my teachers, my gurus, for all the love and compassion they put into the training experience. That mentor-like compassion and desire to share made yoga and teacher training more palatable for a student like me.
Author: Darren Main
It’s interesting to me how the Universe comes together when something is meant to be. For me, it was reconnecting with my friend, Kiara, and participating in Corepower’s Yoga Teacher Training because of that friendship.
I read Darren Main’s book, attended all three days of his workshop and listened to his podcasts this summer, and they were all very validating. This man has a gift that he is able to share and communicate with others, and that is what separates scholars and teachers. In “Path of an Urban Mystic,” Darren makes the lifestyle of a yogi more palatable for the mainstream.
I climbed my first fourteener this summer, Mount Yale in Buena Vista, Colorado. When I returned to camp after summiting, the weather was ominous, so I hid in my car and curled up with Darren’s book. The passage about pratyahara was perfectly timed as my mind and my heart were open to hear its message. It’s uncanny how the Universe finds the right moment to send us messages when we are most receptive.
“Seeking outside for a solution to suffering is a guarantee that peace and contentment will remain elusive because the problem does not lie within the external circumstances…. Only the truly numb can deny we are all searching for something. As long as we deny our true nature, we will feel within us an emptiness that is intolerable. This desire to search is the most natural thing, and the unavoidable result of believing that we are not whole.”
Darren’s fly-fishing analogy of the ego casting the mind out and the Spirit reeling us back in is as beautiful an acknowledgement of the flow of life as vinyasa is.
At any given point, I can be caught reading five books at one time. Another book that I am in the middle of is “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Coincidentally, within the same week, I read a section of that book that completely coincided with Darren’s book.
“We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy’s fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, begging for pennies from every passerby, unaware that his fortune was right under him the whole time. Your treasure—your perfection—is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart.”
Over the course of this summer of yoga teacher training, certain life experiences started to make more sense to me. About five years ago, I lived in Portland, Oregon, for one year. I had moved to be closer to my long-term, long-distance boyfriend at the time. I worked at a recruiting agency and had a ‘devil’ of a manager. With ten years in such a cut-throat, bottom-line business, she was a hardened woman. Despite her confident professionalism and attractive appearance, there was nothing sweet about her presence. When my relationship had ended and I was leaving my job with the recruiting agency to move back to Colorado, Melissa said only one thing to me. “Find your bliss, Michelle.”
It is not easy to really comprehend such things when your mind and heart are not open or not ready to hear such things. I took Melissa’s deep message to mean that I should focus on what makes me happy. For years after leaving Portland, I was a woman with no identity to speak of. I had either forgotten who I was, or maybe had never realized who I could be. I could be whoever I wanted. Upon moving back to Colorado, I made a promise to myself to become the woman I always dreamed of being. And I am happy to say that I feel a lot closer to that woman than ever, especially after yoga teacher training and reading such digestively insightful books as Darren Main’s. Melissa’s message has much deeper meaning to me now than it did back then. Coming from a boss that I feared, her message is able to transcend a mere well-wish to find temporal happiness.
A summer of yoga teacher training allowed me to tap into pratyahara, withdrawing from the senses and pulling my attention inward, and for this I am forever grateful. I thank all of my teachers, my gurus, for all the love and compassion they put into the training experience. That mentor-like compassion and desire to share made yoga and teacher training more palatable for a student like me.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Yoga Teacher Training Class #3
I slacked. Maintaining a blog turned out to be a lot more work that I originally thought. Also, yoga teacher training turned out to be a lot more life-consuming than I originally thought. So this is one of the last blogs that I drafted during the first training. Another day, another blog, another training.... :)
Stream of Consciousness :: What makes a great teacher?
good listener. strong desire to share information in a way that makes sense to the individual student. will try different methods to convey the message until the light bulb goes off. tries to find parallels between subject matter and everyday life. patience. observant. gracious. realizes that each person's potential varies. realizes the students' merits.
love/compassion. confidence. acceptance. inspiring. enthusiastic. humor. flexibility. positive. modifications. clear language. creativity. modesty. always a student. remember where you come from. "remember the days of humble beginnings."
Stream of Consciousness :: What makes a great teacher?
good listener. strong desire to share information in a way that makes sense to the individual student. will try different methods to convey the message until the light bulb goes off. tries to find parallels between subject matter and everyday life. patience. observant. gracious. realizes that each person's potential varies. realizes the students' merits.
love/compassion. confidence. acceptance. inspiring. enthusiastic. humor. flexibility. positive. modifications. clear language. creativity. modesty. always a student. remember where you come from. "remember the days of humble beginnings."
Monday, June 9, 2008
Yoga Teacher Training Class #2
Cherry Creek is the epicenter of traffic! One Farmer's Market could mean you get to your destination 15 minutes later by car, and that destination could possibly be two blocks away. Kiara and her prefect timing called me at 1:10pm when I was in a line of traffic trying to make a left on Alameda to backtrack to Cherry Creek South Drive, road otherwise known as the one I live on. She was just leaving Apple in Cherry Creek Mall because she got off her shift early enough to make it to the second day of training. I told her I was stuck in traffic and my car was almost out of gas. Me made a quick plan to mean on the other side of Cherry Creek. Like Superman, using my condo as the phone booth, I switched into yoga clothing, flew across the Creek and Kiara swept me up in her Subie.
It's funny. Being from New York originally, I always forget that Colorado's time clock runs on a different scale. No matter how many years I live in this state, I still have that perma-state of rush as my life metronome. Although Kiara and I were late, the class hadn't really organized yet.
It's funny. Being from New York originally, I always forget that Colorado's time clock runs on a different scale. No matter how many years I live in this state, I still have that perma-state of rush as my life metronome. Although Kiara and I were late, the class hadn't really organized yet.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
CorePower Power Teacher Training
The universe spoke and I responded.
One weekend while I was snowboarding, I missed her. It had been over a year since we spoke, and as I waited for the slower people in my group to reconvene at the ski lift, I missed her. We used to snowboard together. We used to mountain bike together. We were even beer fairies together! Where did Kiara go?
At the end of the day, I checked my phone and I had a message. Believe it or not, the message was from HER. Kiara had called to catch up and ask if I wanted to go snowboarding before the season was over. Things started to fall into place. We reconnected. She mentioned that she had applied for yoga teacher training at Corepower and encouraged me to consider it. (This wouldn't be the first time that she inspired me to try something different!)
The thought of yoga teacher training had crossed my mind before. At one time, I had plans to move to California and start an interdisciplinary studio/practice that included yoga with my best friend from college. Friends and family had suggested it. But I didn't really consider the possibility until Kiara brought it up.
There are about 40 students in this CPY training class. It was like the first day of school.
Stream of consciousness about "what is yoga?":
harnessing energy. maintaining focus. being present. listening to yourself. listening to the others. listening to the instructor. listening to your body. listening to your heart! being purposeful. being thankful. showing gratitude in a physical format. flowing with breath.
Everyone in class had a different stream of consciousness. Some streams sounded like dictionary or encyclopedia definitions, some were reminiscent of a math proofs, and one woman wrote a poem (that was publish-worthy!) in a five-minute span of time.
We went over the origins of the word yoga. Wikipedia's page for yoga is similar to what we discussed. The term yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means "to yoke", "to control" and "to unite". The word yoga has different meanings for everyone.
Finally, as students we were advised to "always speak highly" and to practice saucha (cleanliness).
One weekend while I was snowboarding, I missed her. It had been over a year since we spoke, and as I waited for the slower people in my group to reconvene at the ski lift, I missed her. We used to snowboard together. We used to mountain bike together. We were even beer fairies together! Where did Kiara go?
At the end of the day, I checked my phone and I had a message. Believe it or not, the message was from HER. Kiara had called to catch up and ask if I wanted to go snowboarding before the season was over. Things started to fall into place. We reconnected. She mentioned that she had applied for yoga teacher training at Corepower and encouraged me to consider it. (This wouldn't be the first time that she inspired me to try something different!)
The thought of yoga teacher training had crossed my mind before. At one time, I had plans to move to California and start an interdisciplinary studio/practice that included yoga with my best friend from college. Friends and family had suggested it. But I didn't really consider the possibility until Kiara brought it up.
There are about 40 students in this CPY training class. It was like the first day of school.
Stream of consciousness about "what is yoga?":
harnessing energy. maintaining focus. being present. listening to yourself. listening to the others. listening to the instructor. listening to your body. listening to your heart! being purposeful. being thankful. showing gratitude in a physical format. flowing with breath.
Everyone in class had a different stream of consciousness. Some streams sounded like dictionary or encyclopedia definitions, some were reminiscent of a math proofs, and one woman wrote a poem (that was publish-worthy!) in a five-minute span of time.
We went over the origins of the word yoga. Wikipedia's page for yoga is similar to what we discussed. The term yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means "to yoke", "to control" and "to unite". The word yoga has different meanings for everyone.
Finally, as students we were advised to "always speak highly" and to practice saucha (cleanliness).
All in all, Day 1 was exciting. It felt good to embark on something new, something that felt like school but wasn't a formal academic school, which I have seen enough of for this decade of my life, at least. It was good to meet the instructors in person, rather than just on the phone, via email or on their websites. Lisa lead the class. Marley (named after Bob Marley) lead the C1 flow that opened the training. The other instructors were present: Heather, Marisa, Laura and Patty. I had no idea the first night went from 6:30 to 10pm. I honestly lost track of time while I was in there. By the time Kiara and I left CPY, we were starving for dinner, but realized that most food establishments were probably closed, so we decided to plan better next time we met up.
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