KC – I’m not strong enough, but I’m stronger now (6/6)
I’m never a person of strength, neither physically nor mentally. It took me years to be able to do Chaturanga, then took me years to gather the strength of courage to sign up for YTT. I thought I’ve lost my precious time away by being slow in building strength. Now almost at the end of my YTT journey, I realised that I did not. Those years were spent to let my now self know my capabilities and my limit, to know I have the strength to do something I have not done before, and to know the strength will definitely come even if I don’t have it now. I’m blessed to be in this YTT journey with Jessica being the most encouraging teacher. Ya u need someone who can push you out of your comfort zone in life. I’m not strong enough, but I’m stronger now. Wong Khai Chin July’19 Weekend YTT
Marissa (2/6) – alignment & awareness
Over the last 2 days of YTT, we took some time to examine each other’s postures/spines. Personally, this has been one of the modules of YTT that I have found the most helpful. As someone with scoliosis (both skeletal and muscular scoliosis- as I have learnt), suffering from constant muscle imbalances and discomfort is something I deal with on a daily basis (and it does have affect my mood as well). It had even put me off yoga for a period of time, as I was building more muscle on one side of my body, and was aggravating the muscle imbalance and discomfort. However, as we learnt over this weekend, yoga – when used correctly – can in fact be a tool to help to correct scoliosis. Beyond just learning to analyse a person’s spine in detail (e.g. identifying imbalances and which way the knees/body are rotated), I really appreciate the extra time and attention that Jess placed on getting us to develop sequences and provide specific adjustments/instructions to address each person’s issues, and I look forward to putting this into practice. Beyond the physical teachings, I also appreciate how this week’s lesson has helped me to become more aware of my body, and also trained me to practice more awareness on a daily basis. For example, just remembering to stand completely straight and correct any imbalances has been such a challenge! As we learnt in the first week of YTT, yoga is the “observer observing the observed”. Probably my biggest takeaway of this YTT is learning to bring this practice beyond the mat as well.
