Tag Archive for: Teacher Training

Marrying Yoga and Religion: The Present

 

Even though I have had access to these treasured teachings for over five years, my practice has ebbed and flowed. I have often resisted them, felt too busy, lazy, or too tired to find the energy to implement the practices into my daily routine. After I reflected upon my recent journal entries, I recognized the need to adjust the length of my meditations and at the very least have the mentality to try and implement them at least once a day even if it means for a short period of time. I also discerned I must try and let go of my perfectionist tendencies towards meditation and strive more for consistency. I began to understand I should try and have less of an all or nothing attitude and find alternative ways to include these essential spiritual traditions into my life. For example, I found at times I needed to surrender to the fact I might need to break the routine into smaller pieces, or do them at different times of the day depending on what each day would bring. Thus, another reason why I conducted this experiment was because I predicted it would give me more of an incentive to stick to a regimented routine. Even though most days I was able to fit the techniques into my schedule, there were a few days over Thanksgiving where I had to remind myself to do just a little instead of nothing. Ultimately, I gained better insight into the need to let go of my need to do everything perfectly, which surprisingly included my approach to my meditation practice.

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Marrying Yoga and Religion: The Future

Another motivation to choose this task for my third experiment was to seek (and am still seeking) clarification of how I can serve humanity after receiving my 200-hour yoga certification. I am at a crossroads in my life where there are many different directions I can go with my next career choice. Additionally, I sought (and continue to seek) peace amidst an extremely stressful and anxious time, which is a result from many changes in my life in a short amount of time. Having recently moved to a new area of Colorado, gotten married and enrolled in a yoga teacher training I have had my hands full. Another motive behind the experiment was to practice going really deep into my meditations to find the quiet space within in order to fully hear the voice of the divine. I recognized from my journal entries the more consistent my meditation practice, the deeper my meditations became and the clearer my Self-realizations. According to the SRF lessons,

“The real meaning of any scripture can be known only through direct experience. That inner knowledge is accessible to all men who attain soul- perception or Self-Realization. Followers of all creeds may apply Self- Realization Fellowship teachings:  basic spiritual truths that develop man’s potentialities for living a godly life. Our humble desire is to help you, through these teachings, to expand your consciousness until you understand by your own Self-realization the eternal Truth behind all great religions, and to foster goodwill and universal brotherhood in the name of the one God” (Introduction to Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, 1956, p.1).

Even though I have experienced many deep, blissful meditations and felt one with God, I wanted to know more about my purpose and how to go about, “fostering goodwill and universal brotherhood in the name of the one God”. Another motive for the experiment was to meditate deeply enough to still and calm my mind to think clearly about ways I can also implement more service into my life while also fostering goodwill and universal brotherhood.

Some of the Self-realizations from my meditations were in relation to my next career path and inclination to personally “foster goodwill and universal brotherhood” (1956). Many of these were similar to others I have contemplated over the years, but in conjunction with this focused experiment I was able to gain more clarity and openness to the reality of importance of doing my best to bring some if not all areas to fruition in the future. Among the realizations I had over the course of a couple of weeks included teaching yoga classes to those in my new community: farmers, gardeners, Christians in the Lutheran church, the elderly and factory workers. These are special populations of which may not otherwise have access to yoga outside the mainstream and of whom I would feel comfortable teaching. Next, I continue to have a strong desire to teach mindfulness and yoga to youth to help decrease anxiety, especially since I have struggled with anxiety in my life, especially in my years as a teen. Additionally, I am inspired to teach yoga to teenage girls with a focus on body image and self-love. This is also an area I battled with as a youth and feel I could have benefitted from learning yoga at that age. Finally, I felt guided to teach yoga to athletes and to help them incorporate visualization techniques into their individual and team sport practices. My high school track coach used visualization techniques to prepare our team for track events. From my personal experience, this is an area of team building that was extremely effective and can carry into other areas of life. Even though this experiment did assist me with getting quiet enough to listen to God to help me gather ideas, I now realize I need to listen and gain a better understanding of the needs of my new community in Northern Colorado. This will set me up to create an optimum match with my strengths to special populations and their greatest needs. I plan to continue this journey by talking to other experts in the field and with people in my community after the conclusion of my yoga training

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Marrying Yoga and Religion: The Plan

Overall this personal experiment has tranquilly propelled me deeper into my connection with the divine light and exploration of Self-realization. This process has guided me towards clarity in a variety of inclinations to serve humanity. Expansion of my meditation practices coupled with letting go of my perfectionist tendencies uncovered several areas where I can contribute to my community through yoga. Hereafter, my intention is to continue to meditate upon these Self-realizations and to visualize confidence in myself to carry these ideas into reality. Ultimately, I know I need to follow my Guru’s teachings as best I can even if just for a few minutes every day. This approach will best prepare me to plant the seeds necessary to accomplish my Self-realized intentions towards a much greater mission of love and service to all humanity. My faithful connection with the divine combined with loving and serving others goes hand in hand; for me to truly live up to my full God given potential, I must have both in order to reach authentic Self-Realization.

“Everything else can wait, but your search for God cannot wait”   (Paramahansa Yogananda) and love one another (George Harrison).  These were George Harrison’s last words before he passed.

Reference
Yogananda, P. (1956) Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons. Los Angeles, CA.

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Self-Study

The Axis Teacher Training Program is successful in creating well-educated Yoga teachers for our community. However, many students find immense personal growth that they hadn’t expected on their journey to becoming a certified teacher of Yoga asana. This student is a true example of this personal growth. And presents yet another case that shows how life’s lessons are presented when we are ready to receive them.

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Self-Study: Looking In

Twelve weeks ago I entered into the Axis Teacher Training Program with the intention of fulfilling a longtime desire to become yoga teacher certified and maybe one day to teach. I’m less than three weeks away from reaching that goal and I’ve come to realize that this training has become so much more than a certification process. It sounds cliché, but it’s been a life altering experience.

A lot can happen in twelve weeks. The Universal Force, or whatever you would like to call it, has been testing me. Man, has it been testing me. Thank god I learned how to deal with a lot of my anxiety in the last experiment, so I didn’t have a nervous breakdown last week. Instead, I had a lovely meltdown. Ok, two lovely meltdowns. Life gets heavy sometimes and it’s about how you deal with the crappy situations that makes the difference between moving through them or getting stuck in a rut. In these moments, more than ever, I am thankful to have a consistent yoga practice in my life. When I refer to yoga, I’m no longer referring to simply the asana practices I associated with yoga before entering into this program. Yoga has evolved to become a spiritual journey into self-discovery; a journey to become a better human being through meditation, pranayama, reading of spiritual texts and community.

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Self-Study: Looking Back

In class recently we were asked to recall our first experiences with yoga. Mine was in a Unitarian Church on a school night (I was 16) with my best friend. We were both intrigued by this thing called yoga, which neither of us had ever experienced; small town Iowa didn’t have a blossoming yoga community at the time. I remember how everything felt foreign to me, the instruction on how to move your body, the instruction on how to move your breath so it sounded like the ocean (I didn’t learn the word ujjayi until years later), the smell of incense in the air and most importantly, the feelings that came up during the whole experience, especially in savasana. My first savasana was the closest I had ever felt to being connected to the world around me; the spiritual energy was intoxicating. I remember walking out of the church into a cold winter Iowa night and feeling awake and conscious to the world around me in a way I had never felt before. That night I knew that yoga would change my life, because I had just felt it coursing through every fiber of my being and I felt alive.

Fast-forward 13 years and yoga is a huge part of my life. What’s funny is that I still get those spine-tingling moments after all these years. My yoga experience, to use yet another cliché metaphor, has been like an onion, I keep peeling back the layers and there are more underneath. I feel like every layer is revealed to me at the time I most need to receive it. When I was first introduced to yoga I practiced asana, and then transitioned to power yoga when I needed more of a physical outlet. When I was seeking a spiritual path I was introduced to a studio that focused in the concepts of yoga as presented in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. Over the last 6 months, as I’ve had many ups and downs I’ve been seeking out a way to feel more balance and moments of quiet in my life. I had never really practiced Sadhana before Axis, but over the last 12 weeks practicing mediation in combination with specific breath techniques I have experienced some powerful moments of stillness that have allowed me to find more moments of quiet throughout my day and to go back to my breathe when I’m feeling myself starting to tip off balance. I don’t think it is an accident that I started a yoga teacher training program at the same time that my life is being turned upside down and I’m having to reevaluate who it is I am and what it is I want. The sense of calm and peace that yoga has brought into my life is perfectly timed with the insanity that my life has become. Further proof that my life lessons and experiences unfold as the time is right for me to accept them.

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Self-Study: Looking Forward

The biggest contribution that yoga and more specifically this training program have provided me is a sense of community. Through Axis and my own yoga studio, I have found a connection to people who share my philosophies of yoga and people I can lean on when things are hard. The lessons I’ve learned through reading, studying and sharing yoga with the wonderful community at Axis yoga have been life changing. Whether through the practice of meditation, asana, pranayama or reading of spiritual texts, I really believe yoga has something to offer everyone. Maybe this is my where my journey is taking me, to help others in in their own physical and spiritual journeys through the practice of yoga.

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Pancha

Many, if not most, of the students who complete the Axis Yoga Teacher Training program will describe how Yoga has enriched their lives. Often times in ways that were completely unexpected. This student’s story of performing panchkarma for the program’s Ayurvedic experiment is another example of attaining gifts other than those sought.

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Pancha: Observations

For the past year and a half, I have experienced various symptoms associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I have tried with limited success to use Western medicine, elimination diets, exercise, and stress management to alleviate these symptoms. In particular, at this time of year when we are transitioning from warmer to cooler months, I know that my pitta is aggravated from the summer’s heat as well as some of the foods I typically enjoy.

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Pancha: Hypothesis

I chose to practice panchakarma for my Ayurveda experiment to help neutralize my seasonally aggravated pitta as well as to invite healing for my IBS.

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