参加RYT200的感想
经过这段时间的教培课，我首先向每一位瑜伽导师致敬，你们真的太棒了！ 深感做一名瑜伽导师真心不容易，一开始以为瑜伽就是凹各种造型， 瑜伽导师也只是把自己会凹的造型再教给别人，感觉自己应该也没问题吧！ 培训课还没开始时是各种踌躇满志跟期待。 可是，当培训课正式开始后，之前种种的想法通通 被推翻了，才知道瑜伽的知识面太广，自己懂得真是太少了，梵语、指令、 排课，对我来说通通都是挑战，瞬间对自己只有怀疑加否定，连继续下去的 动力都减少了许多，不过好在老师同学都是超级真能量，鼓励着我继续努力前进。 通过这些天的学习，虽说在体能以及各方面都在循序渐进，但是在排 课跟带课指令方面总是感觉很压力，排课的理论要点掌握的还是不够精细，每一次 的排课都有很多问题，但是我相信只要继续努力，加上老师的细心指导，我一定可以 克服眼前这些困难，加油，伽人只会越挫越勇！ Li Juanjuan
Over? Or only just begun?
So……most of us have already taught our final session for YTT. I must say, getting a chance to invite and teach our friends was scary to the moon and back, but strangely exhilarating as well. We all found ourselves saying the same thing after the hour is done- “It’s OVER!” But then I started questioning…is it really over? Or only just the beginning? I suddenly found myself at a different crossroad once again. Can I really do it? Can I teach? Can I make a difference? A month back, we were asked if we seriously wanted to teach after this course is over. I didn’t have the answer then. Honestly, I think none of us did. We all started this journey for different reasons, it only made sense that we were headed towards different destinations. Jess gave us her thoughts after we’ve done our final round of teaching. And after I read the comments she had for me, I bawled my eyes out in the middle of my office. My colleagues were giving me suspicious eyebrows by then. It felt like my heart broke and mended itself back together at the same time. I know it probably doesn’t make any sense to whoever is taking the time to read this. But I don’t know how else to say it. This YTT at Mandala has given me so much, taught me priceless lessons, shaped me to be better. It made me realize that there are so many things I want to do, so much I want to give back. Somewhere along the way, I had my answer already even though our teachers never asked the question out loud again. I’m a little clueless on where or how to start. But yes. Yes, I want to make a difference in people’s lives. Yes, I want to help people. And yes, I do want to teach. Anthea
Of Bhakti and Thank Yous (6)
I was reading my classmates’ blog posts as part of our journalling for YTT and I was suddenly flooded with emotions and reminded about the positive energy of our yoga community. I’ve never felt this before in my almost 3 years of doing yoga at studios. Maybe because all along I’ve practiced mostly alone. My schedule always saw me rushing in and then out of the yoga studio, I never really had the chance or perhaps I was just too introverted to make friends. However… the feeling with YTT at The Yoga Mandala was different. There was so much Bhakti (Love). And as Jessica and Alexis so willing shared that love and positive energy with us in their teaching. They were constantly encouraging us and making us stronger… so did all my YTT mates! Coming to YTT definitely felt like having different people from all walks of life come together to share that same love and passion for yoga with you. And that’s one awesome feeling. I joined YTT 3 classes late because of my scheduled South Africa trip. But everyone still warmly welcomed me. Charis even passed me her notes so generously to let me take photos of them so I won’t miss out too much on the theory lessons. And when I was doing the sequence for the first time, and I had difficulty in super soldier… i still remember Leo who was beside me whispering to tell me to point my knee to the sky. The next thing I knew, I could do the pose. It’s so many little things.. that if I were to carry on, this post might go on for a while. The group lunches we always had without fail every Saturday and Sunday.. It was always inclusive. And for every breakthrough in a yoga pose you previously couldn’t do, there’s always someone there cheering you on for your little improvements and tryings. Whether its our trainers Jessica and Alexis (and Mario too) or our fellow classmates.. Someone to tell you you’re getting better and stronger. To have someone to bounce off ideas with, and to give you advise on how to better your asanas, and to tell you not to give up. So happy and thankful to have met these people and the lovely teachers. I have learnt so much from all of you and I hope this Bhakti shared between all of us here will never end. YTT is definitely the highlight of my 2018. What a great way to also end 2018 with it. I have thought about doing YTT for the longest time, I’m just super glad I finally glad I did it – with Yoga Mandala no less. It won’t be long before we all graduate, so here’s to the last burst before our exams this weekend. Jiayou guys! Namaste, Janice @jannypenny
practice and all is coming and remember to also enjoy the journey (5)
It has always been a dream to do a headstand unassisted. I’ve been trying my hand at doing an unsupported headstand on and off for a year now. It took me a really long time to learn how to engage my core and stack my hips to do a knees to my chest tuck, but whenever I try to extend my legs, my butt will tip back and land on the wall and then I would have difficulty getting my legs (and butt) off the wall again. When I first got down to doing srisasana at The Yoga Mandala, I had issues with rotating my hips. If I over rotate or tilt, my legs land on the wall and i am unable to lift it back off. But if i cautiously raise my legs, my hips are under rotated and my legs would be at a 45 degrees angle with the CG is actually more on the front side of the legs. It was during YTT practice sessions that I learnt from tips from Alexis that I had to engage my thighs to internally rotate my hips, (and tuck the ribs to engage the core) and point the toes. But.. to actually tell the body to do that upside down was a totally new challenge altogether. Also leaving the wall was another obstacle. I had to face my fear of not using the wall was when we were to take a group photo of all of us in headstands. It was challenging because everyone had to stay inverted for the same duration while the photo was taken. I did a knees to chest tuck and slowly tried to raise my legs. But then, i tipped over. It was freaky to fall over, but not as freaky as I imagined it to be. I guess that gave me a bit more courage to keep trying more. It was later on when I attended make up asana practice recently did I learn from Jessica more tips and refined my methods to get into unassisted headstand without kicking up. Method 1 involved doing a one legged pike. We had to straighten one leg up and slowly bring the other leg up. This method i felt was easier than the tucked knees to chest method. And it was easier to meet my legs straight. However soon enough i began to feel weightlessness in my arms. I started to have a mini panic inside but apparently it meant that i was doing my headstand correctly and all i had to do was concentrate and balance. Later on I learnt that the tucked knees to chest method required myself to think pointed toes to the sky. Even though my knees are slightly bent in this variation, I could almost straighten them after learning to point my toes and engage my thighs and core more. It was an awesome feeling to reach this breakthrough. It has taken me long to reach there but i’m finally glad I did! Thanks Jessica and Alexis for the tips and tricks. This is one part of my yoga journey I won’t forget 🙂 Signing off, Janice @jannypenny Writing my thoughts from my headstand epiphany day, 8 Nov 2018.
Journey #6
Gratitude. Inspired by Leo This is going to be a an intimate post by me because I want to express my gratitude to these friends who have shaped my thoughts, and ultimately myself. First of all, I am immensely thankful to both Jessica and Alexis for being great trainers. Your wisdom and knowledge have truly inspired all of us. Jessica, you left a lesson that resonates with me, and it will always always be etched in my head. You taught us that our obstacles are our self-constructed fears, and how to get over that. In the context where most people around me are rather pessimistic about life, your wisdom is the light that helps me to see that our world is how we perceived it, and success only comes if we can overcome the obstacles. Apart from your wisdom, your knowledge in Yoga and how to do certain transitions have definitely make me a stronger and confident practitioner. I really respect you !! Alexis, I’ve always felt this warm and motivated feeling whenever you notice our progress and praise us. I dont know why. Maybe its because I’ve always found you pretty intimidating. Despite that, I know that you are really a sweet trainer, and I also really respect you a lot. Thank you for showing concern when you felt that I was struggling. Thank you for providing the strength for us to carry on. To my dear classmates, thank you all for accepting me for who I am. Though I am the youngest and childish, all of you have never ever saw me as a little kid and just ignore. In fact, your acceptance and help have helped me greatly when I couldn’t understand who I am. I admit, my energy level is crazy high and not all of you could appreciate that, but I still want to thank you for appreciating me anyway. I apologize if I could not express myself properly. There are so much to say but I just don’t know how to. I wish I have found the right words to say. But, meeting Melissa, Kristine, Charis, Anthea,Janice, Leo and Mario is the cherry on the cake. The YTT journey maybe coming to an end soon, but I hope this is also the start of our friendship. Once again, I love each and everyone of you and I appreciate who you are, regardless of what you are. Wanwen
Journey #5
One more weekend till I’ve graduated ( if i can pass all my exams with flying colors hahahaha ). I honestly do not know how to feel about this. Ive been spending my weekend mornings for the past 3 months with Jessica, Alexis and my YTT classmates, and I am getting used to this routine, despite a rather happening night before. Throughout this YTT journey with them, I grew pretty attached to some of them because we literally went through all the good and tough times, and shared the smiles, laughter ,sadness and tears together. I would not have been able to persevered till the end without their encouragement and immense help. I remember how Leo took the initiative to get a space for us to practice our practical exams on each other so that we will feel more ready. I am honestly glad that happened. The practice helped us to be ready but more significantly, the night strengthens the bond among us. The jokes shared and the muffins Kristine got to reward everyone for their hard-work. Wanwen
The Power of a Teacher
When I signed up for the YTT, I was asked an important question, “Do you want to teach when you finish the YTT?” Although it was an obvious question, which I should have easily been able to answer, it wasn’t easy for me. In my view, it was a loaded question. Will I be good enough to teach? Will people listen to me? Do I have to be able to execute every pose perfectly to teach? It was a scary question – because it directly questioned my confidence. In this YTT, I have learned so many valuable lessons about teaching because we have a wonderful example from the teachers we are currently learning from every day. Not only are they delivering information and teaching us the techniques we need to perform, but they are also cultivating confidence. With the supportive environment we experience every day and the multiple chances we get to “fail” now so we don’t make those mistakes later, they are building us into strong teachers. It’s very empowering to impart knowledge on people. It’s exciting to learn something well enough to be able to explain it in detail. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that I know everything. That is far from the truth. But, our teachers say the same thing. It is a process – we should always be learning, always expanding our practice. In this YTT, I have been taught a valuable lesson – courage. So, now, instead of wondering IF I will teach when this course is over, I think WHEN? -Patricia Makatsaria
The journey to success begins with a single step
Jessica and Alexis seem to be more excited than we are of our own success. They cheer harder than we do ourselves, encourage us most when we feel discouraged, and they believe in us even though we don’t sometimes. And I thought, isn’t that essentially what teachers do? I hope I can become the kind of teacher who inspires her students. The same way Jessica and Alexis inspire us. I used to hate arm balances so much because hello… 2 words. FACE. PLANT. Jess’ advice? “Fall a few more times then no fear liao!” *flips table* But she’s right though. After accomplishing my very first one, albeit an awkward one that looked more like a shrivelled up pretzel than what it was supposed to be- astavakrasana by the way- I have to admit I got hooked. I couldn’t stop trying them all. Crow, side crow, fallen angel, grasshopper, etc. Initially, I couldn’t even kick my legs up over waist height. Don’t even mention inverting my legs to the ceiling. It wasn’t because I didn’t have the strength to, but because I’ve never believed I could. I was constantly afraid of falling, even with the wall at my back. It may sound a bit ridiculous, but there you have it. Aren’t our minds so powerful in that sense? Yes, I’m still scared. But I’m also much better at it than when I first started. Baby steps, baby steps. We can do this, we’ve got this. Anthea
Charis Lam 2018 September 200HRS (6)
This week, I taught a bigger class with 11 pax, including my friends, their friends and my two classmates. One day before my teaching, Jess told me that I could be more sensitive at the level of my students. She reminded me the importance of teaching with better delivery such as breakdown the poses and show them the easiest one (instead of final pose) in order to let the beginners feel less intimidating. On the next day, half way through the class, I realised most of students were not physically ready for too much cardio or strength poses. I reduced the difficulty on the spot, changed the plank knee crunches to plank hip dips; removed a few other poses and replaced them with some more manageable poses. I appreciate my friends for their eagerness to learn and keep trying although a few of them started to look exhausted towards the end of the class. In the end, I decided to change my headstand to Ardha Pincha Mayurasana with leg lift because it is important to practise with safety. After the class, I was anxious to get feedback from my teacher and friends. I wanted to know how my friends feel about the class and the professional opinion from my teacher. I asked a lot of questions and wanted to find out more details about their experiences. I’m glad that some of them enjoyed the class, they felt that the class was challenging yet manageable, they could understand the instructions, and they liked the shoulder and thigh press when they did the supine spinal twist before Savasana. At the same time, I found out that I have some issues with my voice. I knew that my voice is always very soft and gentle, and could be at higher-pitched at times. Due to my weak neck muscle and poor breathing, it was very difficult for me to do Bhastrika without accidentally using my throat. When I was teaching my class, I tried my best to raise my voice to make sure everyone in the class can hear me. However, my method of using voice could be wrong all these while. When I listened to another instructor teacher conducting her class, I can literally felt her deep voice vibrating through the glass sliding door, which I need to start learning how to train myself to have a deeper and more charming voice. If I have neglected the training of my vocal in the past, I should start doing it now. This time I am going to do a Relaxing Morning Stretch Class for Beginner. This is a theme I always thought I will like yet I never teach before. I sincerely hope that my students will feel energised after my class. Thank you for giving me another opportunity to practise my teaching during my YTT journey. Since this is my last post, I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to my teachers and classmates. You all have inspired me so much for the past few months. Every weekend I wake up with excitement because I know that I can start my day with a bunch of great people. Each of us has different strength in yoga and have completely different type of personality, but all of us share the same love for yoga (and all of us are nice people :P). We endure the tough part of training and sometimes laugh at each other’s jokes. I hope the end of the course is not the end of our friendship. I will always remember the time we spent together. THANK YOU VERY MUCH everyone!!! 24th and 25th Nov Charis Lam
Charis Lam 2018 September 200HRS (5)
Two weeks before I taught my first two classes, I had a hard time deciding what type of class should I teach. I asked Jess about her opinion during the class, and she told us to teach something that we would like to teach in future after we graduated. I started to ask myself few important questions: What type of yoga do I enjoy practising and teaching? What kind of instructor would I like to become? What do I want my students to gain from my class? Should I teach different type of classes to gain different type of experiences? With the answers on my mind, it became much easier for me to choose the theme. I decided to teach: Themed Class: Yoga for Heart Opening I want to teach Heart Opening because I want to share my love with my classmates on Backbending. I think it makes sense to practise how to conduct a backbending class because I want to teach that in future. Intermediate to Advanced: Strength and Flexibility (Focus on body strengthening and hip flexibility) I want to challenge myself to conduct a more advanced class. Strength and Flexibility always complement each other in yoga, other sports and everyday life. Beginner to Intermediate: Yoga Flow for Strength Strength is one of my biggest weaknesses. I want to get out my comfort zone because I want to be an all rounder yoga teacher someday. Next step: Plan the sequence I took very long time to decide my sequence. I watched many youtube videos; I borrowed books from the library; I tested my sequence repeatedly; I asked my yoga friend to practise with me; I asked Alexis for her opinions; still, on the day before I taught my first class, I changed my sequence again. Whenever I close my eyes, I would kept thinking about the poses, how to improve the flow, do I cover all the warm up they need for the final pose, how to let the sequences make more sense (or perfect). But there is no such thing as perfect, I am still at my learning stage (and we can never stop learning), just nice for my body could be too much for others body. I gave myself a lot of unnecessary stress sometimes. I start to appreciate meditation a lot and doing it more often. Dhyana is my favourite hand gestures because it will help me feel more grounded and focus. I am a highly sensitive and emotional person. I can cry in less than a minute when I watch an ad; feel the pain when I watch movie or even read a book; I always overexert or over worried because I want things to go smoothly and I want to do a better job. Meditation really helps me to calm my mind whenever I am worried or insecure or have too much of other emotions. Finally, I taught my first two classes. I didn’t do a perfect job. Some of the parts I did better, some of the parts I need some improvement. I received some constructive feedback from my teacher and classmates. I tried not to blame myself too hard on the mistakes I made; at the same time, I reminded myself it is impossible to please every students who attend the class. All of us have our own favourite teachers and it could be due to many reasons: Teaching style? Sequencing? Adjustment? Voice? Attentiveness? And more. A special thanks to Mario for giving me advice on music after I conducted my two classes. He suggested me to remember which song for which stage of the class (standing, seated, prone, supine), so it will be easier for me to keep track of time. Many said, grass is always greener on the other side. I need to remember how I feel at this moment. If I can become a yoga teacher one day, I must always maintain my love for yoga and help my students to learn something whenever they attend my class. 17th and 18th November Charis Lam
