week 2

We have three new classes and instructors this week:
1) Yoga of Sound - which is all about learning how to pronounce Sanskrit and then using it in various chants. I really love this class because I feel like I'm back in music school when I learned to sing in German, Italian and French. So fun!
2) Yoga Anatomy - exactly what it sounds like, an anatomy class where we learn the names of different bones/muscles/etc. specifically in relation to different yoga poses.
3) Anusara - this is a style of yoga which I had not practiced before. One of the main reasons I chose this training was because I wanted to get exposed to new techniques/philosophies so this fits right into my goal.

I absolutely love the Anusara teacher - he is a lot like me so I feel right at home with him. He is not the stereotypical earthy, spiritual, calm, etc. teacher - he's loud, energetic, talkative, goofy, etc. He said something yesterday that really hit me - he said that as an instructor, you want to be the same person inside the classroom as you are in the rest of your life. While that sounds like common sense, it was a turning point for me because I've been feeling like I had to develop some sort of yoga persona and be all zen-like when teaching. Now I can stop feeling like I have to act the part and I can just relax and be myself.

Along those lines - this week we were assigned to mentors who gave everyone an "assignment" to help draw out certain qualities in them. For example, my roommate Kim is shy so his assignment was to stand at the door to the classroom and greet everyone who came in with a hug. Mine was "be outrageous." Huh? That could mean anything - I like clear/specific instructions so the first challenge was just to figure out what it meant to me.

I have no fear of speaking, singing or dancing in front of people so I tried to think of something that would make me uncomfortable. Whenever I see people in class wearing just a sports bra and shorts I always think that I could never do that - I'm way too body conscious and would hate feeling like people were looking at me. So that's what I decided to do today - I wore only a sports bra and skirt all day and I'm happy to say I survived. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be which I suppose is kind of the point. I wouldn't go far as to say I enjoyed it, but it was less than torture. I think it was a good exercise for me because it's important to feel comfortable in my own skin because students will be able to sense whether or not I am confident in myself. Here I am...no I didn't get bad tattoos, I drew symbols for peace, love and happiness in marker as a reminder to be lighthearted and fun.





Well this is getting quite long so I'll stop rambling for now...