Rosetti: Reflection on Stay Home period during Covid-19 – YTT on Zoom!
Thanks to the stay home and work from home requirements during this global pandemic period, I actually get more “Me” time to practice yoga and reflect upon my life and this YTT / yoga journey. Still remember when I first enrolled in YTT, to be honest I did not think that I could commit plenty of time to in the training – both physical practice and theory parts, given my heavy workloads (most of my weekends in the past years I spent my time working…). However, with the supports / guidance from Jessica and all of the YTT-mates along the way, and also the fact that now I learn to consistently remind myself of the intentions that I first set when I registered for YTT – to learn more about yoga, to be stronger in practice, and maybe to pass on this good thing in life to others as an instructor, I realized that I can actually achieve more than I first expected. Believe that this applies to our lives too – with intentions, mindfulness / awareness, and supports from our communities / surroundings, we can achieve our goals, or even something / somewhere further than we could have ever imagined. 🙂 In addition, the past weekend was the first time YTT has been resumed online (on Zoom!). I feel very grateful that today’s technology actually enables us to stay connected virtually and allows YTT to continue despite physical barriers. This makes me feel that I am not alone in this journey. With the (virtual) supports from YTT-mates – we shared Instagram posts / massages to keep each others updated on our progress in our physical practice and sequencing/ teaching techniques (and of course online promotions on yoga outfits!). Hopefully we will all come out from this quarantine period stronger together, both mentally and physically! Namaste! Rosetti Feb’20 Weekend YTT
Rosetti: Reflection on Inversion – Headstand
“You need to open your chest. You hold back a lot to yourself ya” said Jess. To me this is not a just a simple oral instruction / adjustment, it made me reflect deeply afterwards as one said our body posture actually reflects our mental and physical health / state. Yes, it is true, very true that I hold back / hold up a lot to myself. This is partly because of the nature of my day job, as well as my up-bringing (as I always believe people are largely shaped by their up-bringing environment). I grown up in Hong Kong, joined the banking industry since I graduated from university. I would describe myself as a person whom has been immersed in a very competitive environment since young. To me, I do not trust easily and am always reserved since my instinct is that not everyone (or to an extreme extent in my work environment, no one literally) comes with good intentions, and so I need to be guarded and hold back myself. I am glad that I met Jess and all the lovely classmates during this YTT journey. During this tenure they make me realize there are kind people around me and it is always okay to open up and share – Life is actually a lot easier when we are share our experiences and emotions. It also does make me reflect on myself, from the deepest within, and reminds me that I shall be always mindful of how should I behave in daily life as a yogi, despite there is still a long way to go (and in fact yoga is a life-long journey!) Namaste! Rosetti Feb’20 Weekend YTT
Rosetti: Reflection on 8 Limbs of Yoga – How to apply Yama in my life & intentions set for YTT
1. Ahimsa – non-violence, not harming, kindness and compassion for all It actually rang a bell (or actually it is an alarm) to me when I was taught about this yama during the theory session. For all these years (more than 6 years actually) that I have been practicing yoga, my aim has always been trying to “stay health mentally and physically – de-stress and to build a stronger body” However, I did not realize, on the other hand I have been doing a lot of harms to myself in my daily life – I do smoke, drink often and always doing all-nighters (given my job nature). Through this YTT journey, I would like to improve and be non- violent and kind to myself – no smoking, excessive drinking nor doing all-nighters – And this would actually be one big step forward to apply Yama (and Yoga as a whole!) in my life and start applying spreading the good energy to the surroundings as well as people around me! 2. Aparigraha – non-possessiveness, non-greed and non-attachment “Learn to let go” is actually a big reminder for me as I am the kind of person that like thinking / attaching to the past – whether it is people, objects or emotions. That is why I would always have the feeling that I am being dragged by my past / old emotions To me, this is also relates to one of the Niyama – Santosha (contentment, embracing the moment for what it is) – I wish that with the continual practice / application of yoga, and of course this YTT journey, I can learn to live in and embrace the moment, and let go of the pass 🙂 Rosetti Feb’20 Weekend YTT
Estrina: The Permission to pause and slow down
Unknowingly, the past 7 years has been a rush. Rushing from appointments after appointments. Even while on holiday, it seems like the itinerary is always packed, to check off one location after another. I have always pride myself as someone who takes her holidays as a time to recharge and rejuvenate, not a fan of waking up early or rushing to tourist spots, I’d like to spend time at a location and soak up the atmosphere, read a book, have a nice cup of tea. But this cover-19 lock down, has made me realised I could slow down further (We can all slow down further). I can afford to spend time to reground, recollect my thoughts, reconnect with my feelings and to realign my goals in life. I’m making effort to declutter these days, not just things, people but also opinions. The rising of social media has made it easy for everyone to have a voice. The danger of that is if discretion is not applied, the loudest voice would shout out as being the most ‘logical’ and that’s dangerous. Spiritual deception is a concept I’ve been made aware of recently, and that’s probably a separate topic for another day otherwise, this post would be like Rachel’s 18 page (front and back) letter to Ross 😀 I hope you’re a fan of friends. If anything else that yoga has taught me is that while you can be non-judgemental, you can still stand firm with your values. 2019 has been an interesting year, and leading up to the start of 2020, I had an entirely different plan of what I was going to do as of now. I’m still learning and getting used to the fact that life is full of surprises and we have to adapt. Definitely learning to make the best out of every situation, to curse and swear when needed, but to internalise whatever lessons there are and move on. It’s okay to have a change of plans. I had a completely different topic set for today’s blogpost, but I’m not feeling my best today, and I’m giving myself a free pass tonight to pause, digress and maybe come back to where I had meant to take off. Taking time off tonight and just chilling with some of my fav things <3 Estrina Feb’20 Weekend YTT
Estrina: Getting into Yoga and its meaning to me
8 years ago, my mom dragged me to a yoga class at a community centre and I completely forgot about it until receiving a Facebook throwback notification recently. It’s a pity we didn’t take a photo back then, we’d probably have such a good laugh and time reminiscing. Yoga started out as just a physical practice for me and though it still is a huge aspect of yoga is to me, it isn’t all it has to offer. Back then, yoga was really just to ease my shoulders and upper back aches. I also enjoyed that while I could be practising with a ton of people in the room, I was free to make mistakes (of course taking the mat at the back played a part too ;X). Already caught in a rat race at work, I needed something non competitive for balance. The realisation that yoga could be something more than just a good sweat session came one day after attending a healing nidra class at the yoga barn. It wasn’t planned, it just happened to be one of the class that suited my timing. I was going through an uncertain period of my life and I thought I’d pop into the class out of curiosity and desperation to feel better. The initial thought that came to my mind 15 mins into the class was “sian… I am gonna waste 90mins here just sleeping.” But I was ready to eat my words after easing into class, I remember lying there and feeling a wave of calmness. I am slightly embarrassed to admit tears couldn’t stop rolling down my cheeks through the guided visualisation exercise. It felt like tears of release. Release of emotions and I felt at peace with myself, with life. That was the time where I had an inkling that perhaps yoga is more than just the physical practice to me, and I was ready to dig beyond the physical practice. A week after, after seeing that one mat was left for Feb 2020 YTT, I took a leap of faith 🙂 While there are no photos of the 1st yoga class I attended, here’s an old photo of me after at a yoga class 5 years ago at a community centre. No lululemons, no liforme, just a happy girl practising. Still proud to say, I’m still smiling like this after every class (Well, okay, most! Cannot exaggerate!) Till the next post. Be well, Estrina Feb’20 Weekend YTT
