all done. what?!?!

Woah. I’m officially a yoga teacher. This is crrrazy! The past week was full of practicums. Every single one of them (16 in all) was amazing. Everyone brought their own personality, flair, and soul to the class. As one of our teacher trainers said “It’s not about the asana anymore – it’s about the soul“. That really stood out to me. As someone who sees yoga as not only a meditation and a practice, but a creative outlet to share heart and spirit, this statement cultivated a lot of emotion in me. We’ve moved from a place of “right leg forward into a straight leg lunge” and “keep that, now rotate your left thigh in” to being able to communicate our hearts and intentions into a class. It’s really really amazing. From Chels’s instructions of “Sparkle your toes!“, to Krista’s description of Warrior III as “like you’re in the garbage compressor in Star Wars! Hold it apart with your toes and hands!”, not to mention Kim’s beautiful class with the theme of our kula, our community, that we’ve built together, integrating our strengths into each pose (“in this pose you may need some of Dani’s strength, or Krista’s humour”), every single class was so special. After each practicum we gathered in a circle and gave everyone feedback, which was almost always positive. There were really no areas lacking in anyone’s class – it seems that all of us have gathered a strong sense of alignment, sequencing, philosophy and anatomy. Yeah team!

We spent a few of our breaks having yoga-playtime at Lakeside park, and hula hooping! Gahhh. So fun. I’ve decided to try and pick up this hooping thing this summer – the beautiful Leanne inspired me with her crazy moves.

For our graduation on Sunday, we had a lovely little ceremony, MamaJoy spoke some amazing words, and we gave each of our teachers a little gift: handblown glass figures of a man in sukhasana playing guitar for Dan, a handblown lady in a leg-lift pose, using Joy’s favourite muscle, the psoas, for Joy, and some ceramic bowls that a roommate of Elissa’s mentioned she needed for Elissa. We received our certificates and had some more hula hoop playtime before reconvening for an awesome potluck at Lotus Guesthouse, where some of the yogis stayed…soo much delicious food. I definitely need Amber’s mango-avocado salad recipe and Johan’s swedish meatballs… so much yummm. I ate a lot.

Today, well, I really didn’t know what to do with myself. I thought I would have a massive sleep in, but as I am such a FOMO’er, as soon as I woke up and saw the bright blue sky, I ran out the door to hike pulpit rock with Kim, Sky, and Shannon, all YTT’s… so fun. I love hiking pulpit. If you’ve never done it, or don’t live in Nelson, it’s a 45 min hike straight up up up, across the lake. At the top there is a stunning view of Nelson. So fun. I met all my boys back home (as well as Zak and Layton, we’ve acquired two new British boys, Stu and Danny who are staying for a while), and we lazed in the backyard before driving out to Procter for the day. It was like, 28 degrees and amazing. We took an awesome 2/3 hr walk around the beautiful forest and the hidden lookouts, before heading back down to the beach, and taking a jump in the chilly Kootenay Lake! I may or may not have been topless. Carpe Diem bitches! Too much fun to be had today, and tomorrow I babysit my friend Amy’s little man, Matthais. He’s 9 months old and adorable and giggly. Maybe have an evening yoga sesh in the living room? I’ll keep y’all posted, so maybe you can come over and play with me!

I actually, for real, taught a class.

Sunday was fun. A nice wind-down day after the ashram, and before our practicums began this week. And my practicum was…first. First thing, Monday morning. Needless to say, I was getting a little antsy-pantsy and nervous. But after some lovely sessions, practicing with boyfriend and other friends, I began to feel like it might not be a total gongshow. So Sunday was the perfect way to calm my nerves before things began to pick up steam. A wonderful, very balanced class with Dan in the morning (inhaling the world into you, and exhaling yourself into the world – the man is a genius, I swear). We played with Rajakopottasana (King Pigeon pose), using a strap to encourage our back leg toward our hands – I am still nowhere close, my darn hips are just so tight, but maybe one day…

I spent the break having lovely coffee dates with friends from YTT, on the gorgeous sun-soaked Oso Negro patio (best coffee in Nelson/planet Earth) and then with one of my besties who I used to live with, Kristen, who just came back to town for a quick visit. I loooooove her. After some fun soul-sisterin’ time, we spent the afternoon doing a bit more teaching practice (spontaneous – get in a group of two or three, shout out two very opposite poses to the teacher and they have to instruct them! kinda style) and talked about yoga history, including the Advaya Vedanta and classical history, as well as the more tantric philosophies like Kashmir Shaivism. Pretty neat. That night I taught Kristen and our other pal Eli my practicum class, it went well, and was fun, and I went to bed feeling okay.

I woke up at 6 am, nervous as all hell. I practised my sequence, went over the cueing in my head, had a big shower and ate a huge breakfast… Getting to Shanti at 8, I set my mat up at the front of the room (it felt SO weird), and waited to begin… I made an awesome yoga-nerd playlist for the class (MC Yogi, Buddha Sounds, Pretty Lights) and began to teach my 45 minute Vinyasa Flow. The focus was really on shining our inner light through a solid flow and heart opening poses. And once I got going, it was just, fun. I loved it. At points I was nervous, and at other times I was having a sweet, mega awesome fun time. Afterwards, we sat in a circle and I received feedback from the group which was so lovely, and so so helpful. I really can’t wait to start learning more, and teaching more. THIS, was why I signed up for teacher training. That exact feeling.

And then I got to relax!! As a lovely treat, Avalon painted my nails last night – seafoam green with leopard print on my middle fingers. So I can flip people the bird, leopard stylezzz – jokes, thats mean. But it was fun to practice this morning with leopard paws…. For the next week I get to enjoy all the beautiful classes of all my peers, and so far (we’ve done three other practicums today) it’s been amazing! Everyone brings their own authenticity, smile, and fresh energy to the room. I’m having so much fun….I kinda don’t want yoga school to end.

Yasodhara Ashram

Holy crap, was it ever beautiful. After a gorgeous ferry ride across Kootenay Lake on Saturday morning, we arrived at the ashram. It’s set on a big piece of property right on the lake, with massive veggie gardens, a pebble beach, and beautiful walking trails. We enjoyed a class with Dan in the Radha room, where he led us through a beautiful sun/moon, playing with opposites kind of flow (it was the full moon that night), before we ate lunch in the dining hall. Almost all their food was grown in their garden, all vegan and gluten free, and the coolest part, was that everyone eats in silence. So you choose your food from the buffet, and then sit, and just, enjoy. It was so awesome. At first I felt awkward, but then I really began to feel the beauty of it, the mindfulness of just simply, nourishing yourself.

After, we walked over to the Temple of Divine Light. Yes, it was as cool as it sounds. It was built based on Swami Shivananda Radha (the female Swami who founded the Ashram in the 1960’s) dreams and visions. It’s a huge, pure white, dome building that sits close to the lake, with white crystal chandeliers and lights and incredible acoustics. We Om’d the shit out of it. Haha, jokes, but seriously…It was so…vibrational? That sounds mega hippy-dippy but that’s the only way I can describe it. After playing on the beautiful pebble beach, yoga nerding out big time with some fun yoga photos (to come, if I ever figure out this insert-photo contraption….) and enjoying the sunshine on the lake, we headed back to Nelson. Definitely a day that won’t be forgotten.

actually, teaching.

today we had our first, real, teaching practice. After creating our 45 minute sequence for our practicum (mine is a “wake up and flow” style vinyasa practice, since my practicum is at 8am on Monday haha), we got into partners and practised with each other. I was with Chelsea, which was awesome, as she’s already taught classes and so I was able to get really valuable feedback from her… and… Teaching wasn’t as scary as I thought. Actually, it was fun. Really fun. I had the sequence of my class laid out, with which postures I wanted to focus on (heart openers, like Crescent Lunge and Vashistasana or Side Plank, leading to my favourite pose, Wild Thing), and felt a little nervous to start. But I got in the flow of it, and before I knew it, I had taught a 45 minute class. It was..awesome, and refreshing, and exciting. Chelsea taught me her class after, which was full of fun surprises (also a Vinyasa flow style) like transitioning from Dancer’s Pose to Ardho Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose). She integrated them beautifully, and it was so, so fun. After, we sat in a group and all explained what we liked as a teacher, and what we liked as a student. It was a pretty common theme that everyone seemed to enjoy being a student, and learning from each other, and as a teacher, it seemed that no one really noticed, or cared, about any of the small mistakes we make. As one student said to me today, “I had an epiphany! It’s all part of the process!” So tonight, having a few friends over to teach them my class as well – more experience, more feedback.

Tomorrow, we get to go all the way across the lake to the beautiful Yasodhara Ashram (http://www.yasodhara.org) on the East Shore for the day, to practice in their temple, eat their amazing food I’ve heard so much about, and walk around their property. I’ve had a few friends stay at the ashram for periods of time, and apparently it’s incredible… So stoked!

dan the man & headstands & teaching practice

This week, we’ve gotten to start practicing with Dan Clement, the third teacher (besides Joy and Elissa) of our curriculum. He’s amazing. He’s like a beautiful cat-man. So graceful and strong, while staying so grounded. He’s been practicing since the mid 1990’s, and before, he was a wild animal rescuer for the SPCA and a guitarist in 80’s nu-wave bands. Fuck. Yeah. We’ve covered some yoga history and philosophy with him, while also getting lots of teaching practice in. We’ve discussed the history of Krishnamacharya, Patthabi Jois, and BKS Iyengar – their immense impact on Western Yoga as well as yoga ethicse (ie, what do you do when you wanna have sexy time with your students? NOT DO IT. or, what if there’s a theft issue in your studio? How can you handle that tactfully and efficiently?)

Today was one of the funnest days so far. The morning started off with Dan serenading us on his guitar to the Gayatri mantra (slowly learning it! awkward syllable by awkward syllable!), and a mega awesome super fun headstand practice. I’ve been integrating headstands into my practice for around a year now, but I’ve always felt that it’s been an awkward pose – either working too hard in my core, or kicking my legs up flaily-style. However, the way that Dan cued us into headstand this morning was gamechanging. I could try and explain it via blog, but why don’t you just come over and we can play yoga together and I’ll teach you? Inversions like headstands and shoulder stands are so great because they help to decrease blood pressure in the legs, slow down the heart rate, drain the lympatic system, and increase mental clarity. These benefits really kick in after three minutes, so it’s best to stay upside down for this long, or use the wall to help you out. Anytime I do a headstand I think of my friend Bara, her funny stories of studying for exams and her dad telling her to “STAND ON YOUR HEAD BARA! LET THE BLOOD GO TO YOUR BRAIN!” I think her pops had something figured out…

I stayed for Elissa’s mixed level class at noon, and we had a sweet, super strong practice with some core work, lotsa plank pose, a few Bakasana’s (Crow pose – ie, hannah’s current favourite arm balance) thrown in the mix, and a lovely cool down with some twists and back-bends. That afternoon, we split into groups of 5/6 and taught a 45 minute class together. Our group set our mats up in a lovely little circle of joy, and we used a 30-40 minute sequence that we had created that morning, and each of us taught two poses. By the end, it was like we all taught the class together, integrating a theme of strength and surrender, and each bringing our gifts to the table. So fun, and so satisfying. Later, I found out that I’ll be the first student to present my practicum (45 minute class) to the rest of the group, next Monday! I’m a little nervous, but I got some tricks up my sleeve I think…

foodnerd

Sunday we covered more pre-natal yoga with Joy! We strapped bolsters to our bellies with straps, and Joy led us through a wonderful hatha flow class that was easily modified for mamas. It was really frustrating, fun, and hilarious at the same time haha.. She did a great job of making me feel more comfortable with providing modifications for pregnant women, and being aware of what poses are great, and which ones are not so great with certain stages of pregnancy. Pretty cool stuff.

That afternoon we got treated to another four hours with Todd! Mind-blowing. He integrated the idea of Doshas into our Prakriti, or our constitution. Essentially, every single person has certain dosha qualities that will stand out in their bodies and minds, such as Kapha, for someone very grounded. However, for most people, we have a few different qualities, such as Pitta-Kapha or Kapha-Vata, etc. For myself, as a very upbeat but also “all over the place” kind of person, I assumed I was Vata, (air quality), so smaller, lighter, but also quite indecisive. He also explained the Vikriti, or “disease states” that arise when one dosha dominates, and is not in balance with the others. Also interesting to note were the six basic tastes of Ayurveda, sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent – each one increases, decreases or balances each dosha. Eg, the taste of sweet is related to earth and water, and increases Kapha, while decreasing Vata and Pitta. Todd also stressed the importance of breakfast . Our meal time should be reflected of the pattern of the sun across the sky – Ayurvedic and Buddhist traditions state that you should consume most of your calories before mid-day – ie: front-loading your nutrition, while maintaining respect to where you live, so if you live in very seasonal BC, like I do – a raw food diet probably isn’t best for our cold, wet, winters. You likely won’t get the warmth and nourishment you need. His words really struck a chord with me – I’ve tried several different ‘diets’ like this, and found that I truly feel the healthiest when I’m eating warming and nourishing foods. Todd also discussed the food issues that seem to plague modern day society, such as gluten and dairy intolerance. It seems that they have both arisen out of the industrialization of the food industry, as we’ve moved further and further away from traditional practices, in favour of higher production, with lower quality.

I was lucky enough to get a one on one session with Todd the following morning, and he blew my mind with his assessment of my Prakriti. He explained that my prakriti is actually Kapha-Pitta, and that I have a Vata imbalance – but no inherent Vata qualities. Essentially, I have the capability to be determined, focused, earthy, and grounded with very strong digestion and good health. But because I haven’t eaten meat for several years, and also feed myself with generally colder foods (lots of smoothies, sandwiches, salads, etc), am not getting the nourishment I need to nurture these qualities – and am instead getting too much Vata – too much airiness, lightness, and indecisiveness!! Hellooooo!! SO! I am going to start making stews, soups, yummy meat curries and such to keep myself grounded. I’m still gonna rock my smoothies though. Essentially, he suggested that through eating “warm”, I will cultivate the qualities of Kapha and Pitta that I have within me (which I’ve always felt I lack!), and start to see the Vata imbalances of being scatterbrained start to dissipate. Also, he told me which herbs to use to avoid hangovers, and minimize alcohol damage… To quote Charlie Sheen, “Winning!!!”

To learn more from Todd, check out http://www.toddcaldecott.com or http://www.foodasmedicine.ca

inspired

Isn’t it amazing how sometimes you can just see a cover of a book, read the brief synopsis on the back, and instantly think, hey, this is for me? And then you’re totally right?

That happened to me about a week ago with Todd Caldecott’s book, Food as Medicine, which focuses on the Ayurvedic practices of using the healing powers of nutrition to help your body. What stands out to me the most, is the concept of balance. I’ve been all over different food trends for the past few years, from vegan and detoxing, to green juice, and have been vegetarian for almost two years. Reading Kris Carr and Jonathan Safran Foer informed quite a few of my opinions, as they’re both very well researched and inspiring. However, I always felt like there was something just a little lacking in the way I was treating my body – I became quite focused on what I could and could not eat, and even if I craved red meat, I still would not eat it, despite the tiredness or lack of energy that not eating red meat caused. “Oh well, I’ll just eat more quinoa and kale!” was my usual response. And while quinoa and kale are amazing, and I lovelovelove them so much, I’ve found that eating meat sparingly the past two or three months has boosted my energy levels, and I’ve stayed fuller, longer, without having to fill up on carbs to get that feeling of  “fullness” that I wanted. ANYWAYS! I love everything I’m learning from Todd as it is beautifully focused on balance, balancing your three doshas (Vata – air and space, Kapha – earth and water, and Pitta – fire) through nutrition, so that your body thrives in harmony (rather than only on green juice, when you just really need some animal meat to fire up your B12’s). I’m not educated on holistic nutrition in any sense, but I know, in my gut and intuition that this is the way I need to nourish myself. After several years of seemingly running around in circles, trying to find not so much a “diet”, but a way of eating that both nourishes and heals me, I think I’ve got one.

We have the luxury of two full afternoons with Todd this weekend. He lectured from 2-6 today on the origins of Ayurveda in ancient India, it’s application to modern society, and the basics of the doshas today.  It was overwhelming and amazing and I didn’t want him to stop talking. I just wanted to squeeze his face and scream TEACH ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW! Man, he is amazing. So well spoken, generous with his time and answers to questions, and taught us all these seemingly intangible concepts in such a digestible way. Tomorrow’s another day full of pre-natal yoga (I think we get to wear bellies!!) and MORE Todd!! So excited!

Check him out at http://www.toddcaldecott.com – awesome website with so much information, if you’re curious.

See ya later friends.

2 weeks in.

Phew. It’s been five days. Where did that go? We’ve been busy, needless to say. We’ve been brushing up our teaching repertoire past few days with Elissa, and we also the pleasure of a workshop with Jess de Mars – a great Nelson physical therapist with a focus on breath work, AND we went on a hike!! 

The first day, Jess led us through a discussion on the safety of certain poses, how they may aggravate some bodies, and be completely fine for others – essentially; DON’T judge a book by it’s cover, no matter how an individual is performing the pose, if they are safely aligned, they may be feeling it just as intensely as someone who appears more “in alignment”. The second day, Jess led us through a slideshow and workshop she prepared on the anatomy, mechanics, and chemistry of breathing. Knowledge bombs, left right and centre. One of the coolest things we got to do was put funny tubes up our noses and see our breath on a computer program – whaaat?! Technology…

Overall, getting to learn how, as a future teacher, to recognize good and not-so-good breathing patterns in students was really enlightening. Shitty breathing is more common than we think, and hopefully, we can begin to help to reverse it. The next day began with a mega-lovely 1 hour pranayama meditation with Joy, which was helpful after our breath work the day before.

Yesterday was mega super duper fun. Seriously. We spent all morning breaking down the Anusara chant

OM

Namah Shivaya Gurave

Saccidanda Murtaye

Nisprapancaya Shantaya

Niralambaya Tejase

OM

and translating it back from Sanskrit to English. I won’t get into all the details of it here, but it’s super cool, and I’ve been repeating it in my head since. That afternoon, we got to go on a group hike up Pulpit Rock!! Yipeeee!! It was gorgeous, sunny, and we did a walking meditation for the last half of the hike. By the time we got to the top, I was just brimming with bliss, feeling fully alive, bathed in sunshine and surrounded by some seriously rad peeps. Had a group meditation at the top, ate some awesome oranges (thanks Joy!) and OM’d like bosses for a lil’ while…Bliss! So much Happy!

Came back down and headed over to my lovely lady Gillian’s house for some pizza-potluck action for her and our other lovely lady Ali’s birthday. All our lovely lovely friends. In one tiny tiny house. So. Much. Fun.

And today, I am again, exhausted, and so stoked at the same time. Spent the day discussing sequencing, Q & A’s, core strength.. Hit up my girl Sarah’s noon hour power class for some seriously fun shit. Detoxing twists, and even an arm balance that I didn’t even know I could do thrown in the mix! My man Zak and I made an unreal quinoa-coconut milk-green curry-celery bowl thing for dinner…Have I mentioned that he and our best friend/roomie Layton got home from Banff? Well, they did, and I am soo happy to have my boys home. I missed them.

and now, I sleep.

hannah’s rollercoaster of energy.

Holy Crap. I’ve been oscillating between being a yoga zombie and being the world’s most energetic person for the past few days. Is this normal?? Yesterday afternoon I felt like I would never be energetic again, felt tired and slumped and exhausted, and by the time I got home, I was bouncing off the wall again, and did a super fun Yogaglo arm-balance class with Kathryn Budig that kicked my ass. Then I was exhausted again. Repeat.

We’ve been dropping knowledge bombs like CRAZY in class the past few days. Covered some of the immense philosophy of tantra yoga with Elissa, and we watched Paul Grilley DVD’s with a careful eye, taking his anatomy knowledge to heart, but still remaining skeptical of the extreme flexibility (or hypermobility) of many of his students. Joy led us through a very helpful practice this morning of telling stories to partners, becoming very aware of our word choice and diction. So: from now on, no more “like”, “um”, “ah” and linking words that reduce the power of your voice. It’s not gonna happen overnight, but I really want to eliminate these words eventually.

Also been having lotsa fun with friends. Had a couple megababes over for a tapas dinner on Monday, olives and bread and brie and too many goodies to count! Unfortunately, the night ended at 11 with our neighbour in our duplex coming over to complain that the five of us on the couch (eating brownies and watching Beyonce flash-mob youtube videos and giggling) were way too loud. I am compassionate with her sensitivity to noise… But even I found that a little extreme! Oh well…

I’m on a mega-upswing with my energy right now. So, as I’m writing this, I’m devouring a peanut butter banana cacao smoothie. Going to hit up Sarah’s power class, and then another amazing asana practice with Elissa in the afternoon to follow. I’m sure by 5 pm I will be a zombie, but that’s okay. I’m having a lot of fun.