Tag Archive for: Yoga

Experimenting with my daily routine: Execution

The thought of waking up at 6 am every morning was a little daunting. But it was also exciting, because the earlier start meant I would have time for lots of other things, too. In true form, I got a little overzealous and decided to try also incorporating some other aspects of the ayurvedic daily routine, like oil-swishing, tongue-scraping, and self-massage. Even before I started it seemed like a lot to me, especially considering I don’t normally function before 8 in the morning, but I was ready to dive in and try it.

Well, my plan failed miserably. The first day of trying all this new stuff, exciting as it was, was totally overwhelming. I underestimated how challenging it was going to be just to wake up earlier in the morning. I had always considered myself a morning person, but I just wasn’t used to getting up before 8 am. I really struggled with it. The other factor I didn’t consider was that waking up earlier would mean going to bed earlier. If I wanted to be up by 6 am, I needed to be in bed by 10—which, considering I sometimes don’t even get off of work until after 10, wasn’t realistic for me.

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Experimenting with my daily routine: Revisions

I hadn’t thought before about all these interconnections between the different pieces of my daily life. There is a delicate balance to it all, and making one change can tip the scales and require us to make a host of other changes in order to restore that balance. I believe that I can change my life if we want to, but I’ve realized that I need to approach these changes more gently in the future. I’m finding it strange to hear myself say that, because I have long considered change and movement to be driving forces in my life. I have never thought of myself as a “routine person”; I’m more the type to just fly by the seat of my pants and take life as it comes to me. But it seems that even I have a certain rhythm, and if that rhythm is disturbed, it can really throw me for a loop. When I tried my new routine, I found that it was messing with pretty much every aspect of my daily life, and that stressed me out. I didn’t like it at all. In the end I had to let go of trying to change my whole routine and focus exclusively on just waking up earlier. I am happy to say that I now wake up closer to 7 am and go to bed around 11 pm. This may not be exactly in line with what ayurveda recommends, but it is still a step in the right direction, and it is a more moderate change that I’ve been able to adapt to.

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Experimenting with my daily routine: Conclusions

As I’ve been studying ayurveda and becoming more aware of my doshas, I’ve started to get a better feel for when I am going out of balance. In doing my experiment, I could feel my vata spiking and I quickly realized that I was doing something that was not good for me. I may have been going by the book as far as the ayurvedic recommendations were concerned, but I had to disrupt my whole natural rhythm in order to do that, and that didn’t feel right. It felt very much like I was going against the grain. I think there is a lot to be said for following our own intuition about what works and what doesn’t rather than trying to force change on ourselves. If the ultimate goal of what we do is to improve our health and quality of life, we can make changes, but we have to do it in a way that is kind to ourselves and in line with our natural wisdom.

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Teaching to Learn

It is not uncommon for Yoga teachers to fall into the trap of spending so much time teaching that they neglect their own practice. This Axis Yoga Teacher Training student has found out early on the importance of always being a student of Yoga. As described in the following account, self-study of the asanas heightened overall teaching abilities. As student and teacher in one, this yogi now moves forward in sharing the joy of Yoga.

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Teaching to Learn: Intention

Throughout my time here at Axis Yoga, playing the role of the student has come very naturally. I have always enjoyed the student perspective; gaining knowledge so that I can pass it along and utilize what I learn outside of class. I have yet to fully grasp the concept that I am the one now, who is expected to become the “teacher”. In my own modest opinion, I joined this program with every intention to do just that, become the instructor but, at the same time, I do not ever want to stop playing the role of a student as well. One of the most echoing comments I heard during my teacher training was along the lines of, “you have to want to teach, in order to learn” and that right there is the most important idea to remember, it keeps me grounded and reminds my ego, I am not trying to be the best, I am just trying to do my best. With all of those ideas and thoughts tumbling through my citta at this point in the training, I decided that in my third and final experiment I would focus my energy and my personal training in the direction of teaching.

 

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Teaching to Learn: Goals and Results

For this experiment I had more than one goal in mind. I wanted to not only take the time as it presented itself to get together with other students and friends so that I can practice my instructing and build the confidence necessary to move on in my teacher training. Also, I wanted to focus on my own personal understanding of the asana and the many postures that I was now hoping to pass along to those who were interested in deepening their own practice. I decided in the beginning that each day/night I would attempt to sit down and plan out a simple yoga class; utilizing the tools and concepts we had been learning through our teaching workshops I started off well. I found it fairly easy to start, my intentions were simple; “growing and evolving”, “hip opening”, “chest opening”, even just choosing apex poses and then working backwards from there. By week one, I had remained consistent in writing out my “lessons” and later practicing them myself at home or with others. This exercise quickly became one of the most valuable along with my sadhana practices. I found that over time, the lessons were becoming more dynamic, they involved more themes and patterns than what I had originally felt comfortable manipulating into yoga practices. The most enlightening part of it all for me was the internal understanding that came with the practices. As I was work-shopping specific asana’s for myself at home such as; Vrkasana, Navasana, Trikonasana, Ardha Chandrasana, and Bakasana I was noticing how much better my comprehension was of these poses and many more like them. After choosing a pose to workshop alone, I was so much more prepared and confident when it came to working with other students and friends in getting them into these same postures and guiding them through a full practice. My proprioception had improved greatly I was actually becoming perceptive of the “fullness” in my back in arm-balancing poses which helped me to hold them better and breath into them deeper. I was much more aware of the hips and the many ways to open them in postures such as Virabhadrasana one and two. It is thrilling to be so knowledgeable in your own body and its movements that you can verbally help others to understand theirs as well. The rewards to instructing have started to really shine for me as well as the rewards of self-instructing and self-discipline. I would not feel as ready as I do at this time in my training to go forth and help others with their yoga practices if it had not been for this personal experiment and my new sense of so many skills. I have been provided with multiple tools and concepts to take with me for the rest of my life that will always help and encourage me to keep doing just what I am now.

 

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Teaching to Learn: Realizations

Near the end of this experiment I decided, “You cannot stop now”. So I have developed and remain to nurture that intention, to keep teaching myself through my instructing of others and to allow the others to teach me while I pass along the know-how that I will hopefully continue to gain as I continue to deepen and sharpen my own yoga practice. I plan on teaching a few days each week to friends and family with no expectations of making money only gaining practice and experience. A very honest and humbling realization presented itself to me as I was preparing for this paper, I have grown a great deal. From the first experiment to this last one, from day one to every day since then; It was as though I had planted myself in a garden the day I enrolled in this teacher training program. And with the nourishing hands of the teachers here at Axis and through the encouragement of all the others in the program we have all grown in this garden, into a community of glorious and flourishing pupils who will continue to spread and seed others and their lives with the compassion and nourishment we received here ourselves. I found much more than myself and my potential dharma through this program, I discovered a family of like-minded people that will always have a spot in my heart as I continue now on my own path and they on theirs. I am grateful and blessed for all that I have been taught and for all that I will be able to pass along.

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One Step at a Time

Using Ayurveda and western medicine as a guide, this Axis Yoga Teacher Training student found a path to a healthier body. This student found success in making significant dietary changes by taking it one step at a time. Healthy substitutions were made gradually rather than trying to change everything at once. The end result was a combination of both expected and unexpected accomplishment and a commitment to a healthier future.

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One Step at a Time: Realistic Goals

My initial interest was with the pancha karma process but after my first experiment, I fully acknowledged that I have a tendency to overwhelm myself with challenges as a means of self-punishment.  While this process sounds like something I would like to do in the future, I knew it was above and beyond what I was capable of at that time.   Since the start of the yoga teacher training, I increasingly realized that the current state of my food intake was affecting other portions of my life.  I was so removed from the intake process that I really had no idea what I was putting into my body and in what quantities.  I chose to focus on my food and drink intake due to a recent visit to the doctor when a change in diet was recommended to control my mood swings and emotional sensitivity.

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One Step at a Time: Step One

In recent years, I found myself loading up on a lot of processed foods and diet sodas for periods of time until I would feel awful and sluggish and then I would go through bouts of healthy eating where I would make all of my food at home with no processed or “chemical-ized” foods.  This cycle would continuously repeat itself with no rhyme or reason and very little awareness on my part.  I knew that this was not healthy nor was the amount of diet soda I was taking in.  As my first step in this experiment, I knew I had to cut the diet soda.  I had to face the fact that I was addicted to the caffeine and/or chemicals in Diet Coke.  I really had no idea how much diet soda I was taking in until I said I was not going to drink it.  I sure was surprised when I went through intense caffeine withdrawal.  The withdrawal was so severe; I would liken it to quitting smoking.  I was not pleasant to be around as friends, co-workers, and studio mates discovered.

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