It’s official! I signed up for the 200 hour yoga teacher training course. It starts at the end of February and goes until June. I’m a mix of excited/anxious. Anxious because I’m embarking on something totally new and I just want to get started to remove the scary “unknown.” Anxious to leave my kids and hubby on weekends and Monday nights. Anxious that I’m getting in way over my head. I guess I have to start getting into the yoga mindset; slow down, breathe and erase any expectations – just go with the flow (hah).
As anxious as I am, I’m also excited. Excited to push myself out of my comfort zone and do something that scares me. I’m excited for the challenge because challenge = change. I remember reading this quote before I decided to embark on this yoga journey, and it always stuck with me:
“Great people do things before they’re ready. They do things before they know they can do it. Doing what you’re afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that- that’s what life is. You might be really good. You might find out something about yourself that’s really special and if you’re not good, who cares? You tried something. Now you know something about yourself”
― Amy Poehler
Knowing that this course is coming up has got me thinking about the type of yoga teacher I want to be. I’m sure this will grow and change as I go through the course, but one thing I want to communicate is that yoga is for everyone. Walking into a dark, loud, intense spin studio, a weight room with big muscles everywhere or a step class isn’t for everyone. Yoga on the other hand, will meet you where you are at in your practice. I love this. Yoga isn’t a bully, and it makes you strong physically (so you can do a spin class or lift weights one day) and mentally.
In our fast-paced world stress is at an all-time high. Stress raises the cortisol hormone in our body, which can result in a weakened immune system, inflammation and chronic illness. When you step into a yoga class, you leave all the noise from your day at the door. That hour of stretching and meditation will do wonders for your stress levels and your overall health.
Yoga also makes you more in tune or mindful when it comes to your body, which can improve your eating habits. Learning to be more mindful and intuitive can change your relationship with food (for the better!) and help you ditch diets all together. You’ll learn to trust yourself, and love food again. I have way more to say on this topic, but I’ll save that for another post.
Yoga also gets you thinking. The end of most yoga classes includes something called “savasana.” The part of the class where you lay on your back, relax your body and your breath, and meditate. Sometimes the teacher will have you choose an “intention” or focus at the beginning of the class, and savasana is a good time to really meditate on your intention. For me, my intention for the year and most of my yoga classes is thankfulness or gratefulness. I try to start each day with a thankful heart. It takes practice. It takes intentionally thinking about being thankful, especially in a hard moment with my kids, but yoga helps train our brains to stayed focused on positive thoughts.
This is what I know and love about yoga so far. I can’t wait to learn and share more as I embark on my yoga journey.
Namaste (not 100% sure about the definition of this yet, but will keep you posted).
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