Renee – Teaching session (5/6)
Finally I have done my first teaching during this weekend, and still got one more next week. When I receive Alexis’s email regarding the teaching schedule about 1 month ago, I was so stress and got severe migraine for the whole afternoon lol, no idea what I was so worry about, maybe because lack of self-confident, maybe is my OCD makes me want to get everything to be perfect, I know this is going to kill myself, and truly, I spent almost 3 weeks for just 1 sequence for beginner!!! Form choosing the asanas, add in and delete, add in again and delete again, to memorize the cues, and practise myself, it’s suppose to be simple & easy, but I don’t know why I made it so complicated and gave myself so many pressures. I realise it’s really different while you practising on your own and teaching people. Luckily I survived on Sat and I know I need to improve my voice projection. One more week to go, hope I can make it after so many hairs dropping haha.
Renee – Progression (4/6)
Times fly! We are now coming to the end of YTT and we have lesser and lesser time to practise together. But I’m glad to see my progression and improvement during these 2 months. Since day 1, I thought I am the worse YTT student in mandala history, weak foundation, lack of strength, lack of flexibility, don’t even have time to practise, always far behind my classmates…But Jess corrected my thoughts and told me that I don’t need compare to others because everyone is different, just try my best and be aware of my own body is very important. True enough, I can see the difference and improvement almost every week along the journey. I got no arm strength to do the Chaturanga at the first 2 weeks but I can do it now, though not the perfect one. I can’t do headstand at the start even with Jess’ help, but now I can slowly come up myself. And for the wheel pose, finally I can push up last week after I try and fail so many times, Jess told me she was so happy when she saw I finally did it and it meant my body was ready for that. I know I still have a long way to go and my body still has so many restrictions to do certain asanas, but I will take my own time to practise & cultivate, I will be there and complete the transform, eventually.
Val – Thoughts as YTT draws to a close
Thinking back to the start of July, I remember dreading the 3-month long commitment for YTT but it literally whizzed by. We’re at the tail end of it, most of us having concluded our community classes and we’re just a weekend away from the practical and theory assessments; it’s bittersweet. Whilst I’m happy to soon have my weekends back, I fear that my practice may plateau without Jess’ guidance, reminders and encouragement, I fear falling back into bad habits and can’t help wondering “what’s next?”. I wish that there was more of Jess to go around. But on a happier note, I now have a bunch of new (well maybe not so new anymore) yoga friends (albeit tons younger), newfound knowledge on alignment, sequencing and its application, a deeper practice – I hope. So within me, I celebrate the small achievements that I have made in this short span of time and be happy with the sweet. Thank you Jessica, thank you Alexis and The Yoga Mandala, for this extremely satisfying (and sometimes crazily stressful) journey and growth. Love you lots!
ZMao – Of Endings (6/6)
Everything has to come to an end, sometime. These 15 weeks of YTT training at the Yoga Mandala have been a whirlwind ride. We started out as strangers on a crazy 200 hour adventure, and we have all ended having taught at least two classes, achieved countless breakthroughs, and more importantly, gained new found friendships. Before this YTT, yoga was a nice thing you did at studios, usually by yourself, without really knowing anyone around. Just arrive, breathe and sweat, and leave. I’ve since come to realise that yoga is a lot like martial arts in the sense of having “tribes” and “clans” and “shifus” and “disciplines”. I love reading chinese martial arts stories, so to be able to see myself in a parallel universe feels really exciting to me. I’m really hoping that this ending is not so much a conclusion as the start of something new – with this tribe that, through fate and circumstances, I can say proudly that I belong to. And huge thanks, of course, to Jessica our ever patient, loving and fun shifu for pouring our heart and soul into teaching us. May we all work towards greater heights together <3
ZMao – Discipline (5/6)
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. – Bruce Lee Discipline is a key aspect of the yoga practice and it permeates all aspects of our lives. Every picture-perfect yoga pose, and every flexible body, is a product of discipline. Whilst I do not think that there is any necessity to “achieve” anything within the yoga practice, the fact remains that every good and beautiful thing in this world requires hard work and discipline. It takes discipline to show up on your mat even if you’re tired or lazy – but your body will thank you for it later. It takes discipline to calm your mind and take deep breaths – but that is the essence of practice. The same applies in life. Everyone wants to have good relationships – but that takes hard work and discipline. Discipline to spend time with that person, discipline to be fully present in that person’s presence. Discipline to sacrifice that which needs to be sacrificed for the sake of the relationship. At the end of the day, each of us must choose what is important to us and what we want to spend the finite life of ours chasing. It takes discipline to make that choice too.
Igniting the passion for yoga sharing
Hitting a roadblock in my yoga journey, I have since embarked on YTT to take my journey to the next chapter. This process has taught me immensely, expectantly in my theoretical knowledge of yoga history, in my language understanding of the Sanskrit, in my technical understanding of the physical asanas and in my experiential awareness of pranayama in yoga practice. However, it has also uncovered areas of growth for me in areas I never expected. One of which was the joy of knowledge sharing. I never knew I’d enjoy sharing the knowledge of what I have learnt to others who need it. Applying the knowledge and sharing it with others was the icing on the cake of this YTT experience for me. I am by no means a good teacher, I stutter, I fear, I stumble, I doubt, I fumble. But I enjoy having helped others in the poses. And I found myself enjoying it most when I help people who are daunted to do yoga due to their injuries or inflexibilities, by offering alternatives and options, and emphasizing progress not perfection as the key to the practice. I knew I have always wanted to share my yoga passion with people around me and have always faced difficulties in encouraging people to join me as I almost always face the same answer that they are not flexible enough. To which I always respond with “we don’t go yoga cos we are good but cos we aren’t good”. However, YTT has opened my eyes to variations and options that may make these poses less daunting and hence lower the barrier for these people to jump on the bandwagon and get started on the journey of progression, and not perfection. Sophia July’19 Weekend YTT
Pincha Mayurasana
Aside from pranayama, the other goal I had set for myself was to embark on my inversion practice as an advancement and progression in my yoga practice. I always had self-doubts, that I was not strong enough, my arms are not pushing enough, my shoulders are too weak, to hold myself in those inversion poses I see others get into so effortlessly. Hence, I am always trying to work on my basics like upper body strength, amongst others, to build up my strength so I can have a strong foundation to kickstart my inversion practice. Therefore, I have never tried inversions on my own, unless I have spotters, for fear of all the dangers my head was telling me and scaring me into not get started in the first place. Like horror movies that I watch, my mind plays the craziest, impractical games on me. And this flaw of mine or hindrance to my inversion practice, was never more rightly and precisely flagged out by the one and only AMAAAAZZING Jess of Yoga Mandala. The scene is still fresh in my mind, whereby she went round the YTT group to point out areas of improvement in their Pincha Mayurasana, and when it came to me, she said it was my mind. That my body was perfect for it but my mind is stopping me. This realization hit me, more so because it came from her. I was annoyed with myself at not being able to harness the potential of the body I am in, but I pushed these emotions aside and kept on pushing myself through these mindless fears, whenever I am into my inversion practice. I have since dared to take risks, calculated risks, and there have been improvements, slowly but surely that I know. I am excited what my continued practice continues to hold as I push my envelope along with each inversion that I do, for each inversion practice is an opportunity of growth. Slowly I may take, but surely I know I’d get there. And this I guess is the patience yoga practice inculcates. Sophia July’19 Weekend YTT
Theory and Sankrist
I was not aware that the YTT at Yoga Mandala places such emphasis on Sanskrit. Imagine my utter shock at being told to memorise them. Through rote learning and pure memorizing, I’ve somewhat managed to scrape through though I could manage a lot better. However, what struck me through this mundane process of strict memorizing, was the beauty in the simplicity of the language itself. Imagine, “Kapalabhati” was meant to mean skull-shining breath which sounds cute but there is more to it than being cute. Its richer in meaning than the name suggest. The purpose of the breath is to bring such rapid energizing stimulus to the sympathetic nervous system, and hence the name. Then there is the word “Asana”. Meant to mean as an easy comfortable pose, all the asanas are seldom easy and comfortable. Ironic? I do not think so, rather, I feel we are supposed to harness our bodies’ prana and unlock the potential energy within such that these poses eventually become easy and comfortable. There is such richness to this sacred and ancient language that I feel studying it is critical in feeling a deeper connection to the roots of yoga which itself originated from this ancient language. Also, studying this ancient language will at least ensure some form of continued propagation of this sacred language which is already getting lost on people today and this is an enormous pity. I have learnt so little Sanskrit but have amassed such admiration for it and its role in yoga, and this is just the tip of the ice berg. Imagine how much more I could uncover if I were to delve deeper in this language in my yoga practice. Sophia July’19 Weekend YTT
Pranayama and Meditation
Prior to YTT, I attended my first pranayama and meditation class at my gym with my trusted Indian yoga teacher. Since then, I’ve forever declared pranayama and meditation class to be the toughest class ever for myself at least, and even ‘swore’ in jest to never attend another again. Nonetheless, I recognize and am aware of the benefits of this practice and have always wanted the discipline, mental strength to pursue this field of practice with rigor and regularity. However, the fear of the austerity in being still and oblivious in the face of discomfort, had seen me attend only a handful of pranayama and meditation classes subsequently over a span of a few years. Therein seated deep in the corner of my heart, though, was the desire to attempt this field regularly for at least 6 months. Hence, imagine my delight to be exposed to the various breathing techniques and meditation opportunities at YTT. To me, prana or vital life force energy that is flowing through our bodies, is the most important part of yoga, and lays the foundation of the yoga practice. The poses or the asanas are a means to an end of connecting the various channels of our body into a seamless, stronger and better being overall. The deep intentional breathing during meditation or during the asana practice, removes energetic blockages within the body, unleashes hidden potential energy, purifies the body and enhances overall body circulation. It serves as a constant reminder to continue practicing pranayama on the mat and outside the mat. Sophia July’19 Weekend YTT
Inception
It was day 1 of YTT. With a heart full of trepidation, expectation, anxiety and thrill, the nostalgic feeling of going back to school hit me again, except this time it’s almost 10 years later. Practical started and it was everything I wanted. Alignments, alignments and alignments! The trainer – Jess’, meticulous attention to detail, posture and alignments was food to the hungry yoga soul in me that was calling out for such instructions. Even in the simplest of poses that people overlook and pay no second attention to, you can be sure they are the most deceptively difficult. Simply put, if it’s easy, you’re not doing it right. You can expect even standing still in Tadasana, mountain pose, can get you sweating. Even breathing in pranayama can get your body warm. The practical has made me unlearn all that I know, stripped me of all bad habits and misinformed knowledge, then reequip me with newfound knowledge that I have to keep close under constant application and reminder. It opened my eyes to all the poses I ever did. It had realigned the way I view the poses, the way I enter them and gave me newfound appreciation for them and understanding for them. Sophia July’19 Weekend YTT
