Class Sequencing
I was quite apprehensive about this part of YTT, as I’ve learnt over the years as a dancer that I am not the most creative when it comes to choreography. Additionally, I also have a rather limited repertoire of yoga poses due to lack of exposure. I am glad that we were taught a very structured way of approaching this, and was encouraged to leverage the internet to broaden our knowledge of poses (tummee and Yoga Journal were important helpers!). I also find myself paying more attention to the sequences in yoga classes nowadays, trying to pick up new ways of stringing poses together or to dissect the sequences to explain how I feel about the class. Below are my reflections after creating a number of sequences as part of YTT: – I am most comfortable with creating sequences that build towards an ABI peak pose – probably because I have most experience with this type of classes, and because generally speaking, the preparation poses are similar. – I struggle with beginner/intermediate seated poses that work on strength and balance, as well as advanced supine poses that are not just relaxing/cool down. For the latter though, I’ve also realised that poses like halasana and shoulderstand can be challenging for some individuals. – I should probably challenge myself by creating more sequences that work on flexibility. I am not as confident to teach these sequences, while I think is attributable to self-consciousness that my degree of flexibility varies widely for different body parts (e.g. relatively flexible hamstring, but tight hip flexor and IT band)? Friends have been asking if I am looking to teach yoga after YTT. My initial answer was “not immediately after”. However, I am now interested to come up with creative sequences and sharing these with others – maybe I’ll give this another thought… Nge Hwee 200 Hour YTT Feb-May’21
Chakras
Today we learnt about the 7 Chakras in our body and therefore how we should learn to sequence our classes so that we can allow the energy to flow from bottom up. I guess this explains why there were some occasions I’ve been to some classes before and felt particularly imbalanced but couldn’t quite wrap my head around why! I’m definitely hoping to learn how to activate and work the weaker chakras in my body day by day now. Hopefully when I am able to teach in the future, I am able to help others be more aware and do the same for them as well. Emilyn 200 Hour YTT Feb-May’21
Sometime after 2nd weekend of YTT: Shoulder Injury
During the start of YTT, many students discovered and practised Yoga due to their past injuries. I was so glad I did not have any physical injury that may impede my YTT training. I wish I did not jinx myself that day. Just two weekends in, I joined my family for a fun day out at Sentosa for HydroDash – where all can climb, slide, leap and bounce at the floating Aqua Park. I might have overestimated myself and ended up falling face down and heard a ‘tuk’ on my right shoulder. I PANICKED. Did I dislocate my arm? No. However, it hurt so bad when I tried raising my right arm above my shoulder and I could not muster the strength to push/pull myself over the bouncy floats. I most probably have over-strained or pulled my muscles. I was so upset with myself. I just recovered from a cough/flu in Feb 2021 and this shoulder injury might pull me back from giving my 100% for my upcoming YTT. I know I will recover in the next 2-3 weeks, but I become frustrated that I might fall behind. While dealing with my frustrations, I thought back of the 8 limbs of yoga, which was just covered during YTT. The eight steps were said to act as guide on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life. They serve as a moral and ethical conduct and self-discipline; turn our attention towards our health; and they help us to acknowledge the spiritual aspects of our nature. One of 8 limbs of Yoga lingered in my mind – Niyama, Santosha (contentment, embracing the moment for what it is, whether difficult or enjoyable) and Isvara Pranidhana (surrender to the divine). It took me a few days, but I accepted the fact that getting injured was out of my hands. I may not be able to do many of the poses coming weekend or the next; but isn’t that the point of yoga? I remembered the many reasons why the students joined YTT. Yoga helped many of them to recover from their old injuries and they are still doing the sports that they love. The incident made me appreciate yoga more and I felt more at ease stepping back to heal first, rather than over-push myself. Grace 200 Hour YTT Feb-May’21
I Am Here
It feels surreal to have finally begun my yoga teacher training course. It is something that I have been meaning to do for years, but never felt truly ready until now. Yoga has an incredible impact on my life. It is a philosophy and practice I would like to immerse myself into even more and hopefully one day, be a muse that shares it with the world in my own ways. I think the reasons that I was not ready for this in the past have very little to do with time and money. What held me back for so long were the unkind expectations I had placed on myself, the negative thoughts of discouragement and fear. I would go into detail, but I do not want my past to take up any more space than it does. My first exposure to yoga was its spiritual and philosophical practice when I was 16. I have struggled for a long time with anxiety and panic; it is so unpleasant. It is the feeling of losing all control. At 14, I turned to doctors and medication to try and fix it, but it only made me feel more vulnerable – like a prisoner in a meatsuit. At 16, I let that all go and decided to try meditating, which helped radically. After which, I started to practice the asanas as well and completely fell in love with how it made me feel connected to myself from the outside in. Since then, yoga has nurtured me so much. I lost myself again a few years later, but it held my hand and walked me back to who I am. It taught me how to show myself love and patience, and therefore being able to translate that to everything and everyone else. It made me a nice person. Now, I am here. I am quite confident I will not go astray again but if I do, I am very confident that the practice of yoga will guide me back to myself; back to here, wherever that may be in time to come. I may have practiced for some time, but I am still a beginner, still slowly learning and unlearning. I have so much progress to make, so much that still needs to be let go of and that’s okay. I am excited to grow and unfold. Raemier 200 Hour YTT Feb-May’21
