Thoughts on a Yoga Weekend (plus discount code)

I'm thrilled that I've recently begun my Yoga teacher-training. This feels like an achievement in itself, as there are so many providers out there that it's difficult to know what course to enrol on- what will give you the right tools to be the best teacher you can be? 

This is me fired-up for my first day of intensive face-to-face teaching in my Tibetan-orange top, from Asquith (N.B. Discount Code at Asquith for you is FITPIXIE20). I felt like I ticked all the right boxes for a thoughtful outfit, but how would I fare when it came to being a thoughtful student? 

Use code FITPIXIE20 at Asquith xx

I was a little nervous- I hadn't completed all of the pre-course study (there's a lot of it!), I haven't been doing yoga for the recommended 5 years, I don't yet know all the Sanskrit terminology, and there's not a single asana in my yoga repertoire which I don't want to improve... 

But, I needn't have worried: all of us students seemed to be feeling the same way, but the best part was when we started the first morning not with introductions, but with yoga. That was Liz (the tutor)'s ingenious way of putting us all into the right frame of mind.

Just Some Entry-level Reading!

Of course, over the intensive weekend there was far too much to take on board for me to summarise here, but here are the key things I've taken away from my weekend: 

1) I know nothing. This is said not in self-deprecation, but because I feel the way for me to get the best out of my studies is to acknowledge the huge gaps in my understanding. This statement becomes a permission to ask the obvious questions, and to be open to the answers. 

2) Being good at yoga and being a good teacher of yoga are two entirely different things. This is also a pretty obvious and yet entirely liberating thought. Of course you have, as a teacher, to know what you're talking about, but you don't have to always be the best in the room at getting into the splits- or whatever it might be. Your rôle is to inform and guide your class through their own practice: it's about them.

3) It's my interpretation that a lot of what people teach in classes called 'Yoga' is not yoga (I can hear you gasping at the controversy here!). Do you have thoughts on this? I'd love to hear them, so leave me a comment if you want to weigh in! 

Namaste Kitty

And one further thought: I'm learning to trust the process. So, when Her Furriness decides it not study time for me by sitting on my book, then that's OK!

Namaste xx