We have come together from as far away as Dubai, Japan and Brazil, from Los Angeles, the Bay Area, San Diego, Mexico City, and some of our group is from here in Cabo too! It’s been an incredible month. I will miss this wonderful group when our training finishes in a few days. Time is passing so quickly. Breathe into every moment. Enjoy this incredible time as much as you can. Love everyone.
We are deep into our study of yoga philosophy in our Shiva Yoga 200hr Teacher Training program! It’s not easy to make sense of the different systems of philosophy that inform the practice. There’s even a lot of confusion with terminology and even understanding the difference between modern styles of yoga and traditional systems of practice. It helps if we break things down a little. We have ‘modern styles of yoga’ — like Iyengar Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Dharma Yoga...etc. These ‘modern styles of yoga’ are using different ‘traditional systems of yoga practice’ to take you on a journey to the center of your Self. The most common ‘traditional systems of yoga practice’ are: Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga and to a lesser extent — Mantra Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and Laya Yoga. We also have different yoga and yoga related philosophies — like Classical Yoga, Samkhya, Vedanta, Jainism...etc. These philosophies influence the different ‘traditional systems of yoga practice’ and help to explain what the experience is when you reach the center of your Self. When you divide things up into these three categories, it makes it easier to understand and make sense of things.
We do a lot of studying in my Shiva Yoga® 200hr Teacher Training program and the students work on a lot of creative projects together. One of the chapters in the training manual is on Lineage and how important it is to honor our teachers in yoga. We owe a big debt of gratitude to our teachers and to their teachers and to the original teachers who were trailblazers.
Hot and sweaty twisting themed Shiva Power® class! We are exploring a lot of cleansing, mudra, bandha, and pranayama this week in my Shiva Yoga 200hr Teacher Training program.
Hatha Yoga uses the physical body and the energetic body to move beyond the mind and ego and experience the Ultimate Reality. Tantra philosophy tells us the Universe is a balance of masculine and feminine. When you find perfect balance in yourself you get to experience the Ultimate Reality! Before you practice mudra, bandha, and pranayama — first use the cleansing practices and asana to purify the physical body. Remove excess mucous (kapha) from the respiratory system, remove excess wind (vata) from the digestive tract, and stoke the digestive fire (pitta) to help remove excess body fat and prevent digestive problems. Awaken the subtle sense perception with Trataka. When the body is ready — use mudra, bandha, and pranayama to bring the masculine and feminine energy together, unite the opposite upward and downward forces, and balance the nervous system.
Dharma talk before class in our Shiva Yoga 200hr Teacher Training Program — meditation and the technology of concentration, meditation and Samadhi.
Learn to ride your horse to the destination. Yoga answers the question — Who am I? What’s the true nature of the Self? Quiet your mind and in stillness experience the true nature of your Self.
Focus on the positive. What did you do really well? What could you improve upon? Analyze your experience. When you start teaching regularly you won’t get feedback from your students like you do in a Teacher Training program. The students who don’t have a positive experience just won’t come back to your class.
We started our Shiva Yoga 200hr Teacher Training this week at Baja Soul Yoga in Cabo San Lucas! We are off to a great start. This is a really nice group of trainees and future teachers. Here’s some highlights from our first day together. Our first class on Wednesday morning was a big hip opening Shiva Power class. It’s hot here in Cabo and this was a hot and sweaty morning. I had fun practicing with this group and taking them into the fire. Lots of fun variations and peak poses.
Growth for me has always come in waves. It’s non-linear. We spiral up, always moving forward but sometimes feeling like we are moving backwards, or even standing still. There’s that old saying of — 2 steps forward and 1 step back. I like to think of life as a series of plateau’s, broken up by rapid increases in elevation. I feel like I am in one of these major growth phases right now. A sharp increase in elevation! The next level of evolution on my journey. Rapid expansion! It feels a little like I have been walking along for sometime at the same speed and I feel like I have just stepped on one of those moving walkway’s at the airport. Whoa! Accelerated growth! It’s a little scary. A little exciting. I feel a little vulnerable. This is the place to be. Right here. Right now. What’s next? What’s on the other side? Where will this next phase of growth lead? Not sure. Surrendering into it. Trusting the Universe has a plan. No fear. No resistance. Just breathing and enjoying the ride.
Sometimes we support others and sometimes they support us! Community is so important. Feeling the love and support from those on a similar path. Connecting with others who share our struggles. Celebrating our triumphs together. One of my favorite things about being a part of a yoga teacher training is the powerful bonds of friendship that form.
There is such pressure on us these days to always be sparkly and bright. Isn’t there? I was feeling that pressure yesterday. I was feeling a little overwhelmed. Lots on my plate right now. Trying to breathe into it. My body was feeling tired and my brain was exhausted from a day of editing one of my training manuals. I didn’t feel like holding space for anyone and I was glad that I didn’t have any classes to teach after teaching one private lesson in the morning. When I get really tired like this my mind goes very negative on me. I battled through a practice last night and that helped a little. I watched some comedy on Netflix and that helped too. I did some reading. I knew I really just needed some alone time and a good night of sleep and I’d feel better today. And I did.
Happy 4th of July! I chose to move here almost 15 yrs ago. Love it. Love California. Love the ocean. Love the people. No regrets.
The world right now is going through a major awakening -- and that is always messy. I think something wonderful is going to come out of the many challenges we see around us.
Look at the judgment, criticism, and endless commentary as you move through your practice. The Ego behaves as if everyone asked us for our opinion on everything – but in reality, nobody asked us for our opinion on anything. Whether we verbalize the commentary or not – we have to listen to it. You’re either present or you’re not. You’re either in this moment or you’re not. And if you’re caught up in your head, judging the moment that just passed, you’re not really in this moment.
Handstand Workshop today at Aladdin Yoga in Shenzhen! We kick off our 3 Day Weekend Intensive today. Excited to work with these students. There are so many poses you can practice to improve your Handstand. Plank Pose is one of the best warm up poses for Handstand. If you have a solid Plank Pose and a solid Chatturanga (Low Plank) you are strong enough for most arm balances, including the Handstand.
When you take the journey inward and experience your inner Light — Love, kindness, and compassion, flows out of you to those around you. You ask, “How can I be of service” “How can I help?” “How can I make the world a better place?” We could say another name for the ‘pure consciousness’ within us is ‘love’. Not the kind of love that is selfish and asks, “What’s in it for me?
The Tripod Head Balance is an excellent intermediate Head Balance Pose. The Easy Tripod, with the knees on the back of the upper arms, is a great pose to teach you to let go of the wall and find balance in the middle of the room. My teacher, Sri Dharma Mittra, often jokes that Elephants and Dogs can do the Easy Tripod. Lol. The Tripod Head Balance is more challenging than the Bound Head Balance.
I’ve been very fortunate to have some really wonderful teachers in my life and on my yoga journey. Each of my teachers always brought a sense of lightness to things, they all found ways to be playful and to have fun. I try to bring this playfulness to all of my classes and remind the students that I’m training to become teachers to always remember to have fun when they are teaching.
Some more highlights from our Shiva Yoga 200hr RYT Teacher Training Program! I will miss this amazing group of Yogis. I am leaving Wenling today for Shenzhen! I am sad to leave. Leading these trainings is definitely a practice for me. Yoga teaches us so much about concentration, going into the fire, experiencing the present moment, and then letting go, surrendering. This is yoga practice. Over and over again. It’s like that when I lead these intensive Teacher Training Program’s too, just like another practice. It’s been an intense 5 weeks. Incredible focus and concentration. We went deep into the fire. Now, it is time to let go and prepare for the next adventure. Time is always moving forward. Concentrate, go into the fire. Breathe into each moment, live fully, and then let go, let it go, and focus on the next moment. Every ending is a new beginning! Namaste. Lots of love to you, Wenling! See you again soon.
