Forrest Yoga Mentorship Program Commences: Nov 15, 2009

After 2 burly weeks of post-teacher training drama--reentering the workforce followed by 7 plus days of the swine flu--I was super excited about starting the mentorship program with Steve Emmerman and Talya Ring. I couldn't wait to taste an all intensive Forrest Yoga filled day where everything outside of the studio drifted into a distant memory. Another entire day focussed on honing my practice, my connection to spirit, developing my assisting skills, and last but not least teaching a class to the public!

Chanting the morning songs outside of training with Steve and my fellow mentees, Bill, Eleanor, and Stacy delighted my spirit so much, that for the first time in 2 weeks, I felt that incredible sparkle of my spirit fill up my body and the whole room. Bliss.

Everyone's energy in the room was heightened today during the asana practice, and I could feel the tremor of excitement within the strands of my leg muscles as I grounded through each standing pose. My legs and feet have become extremely important in my practice, and I'm just discovering how much energy they are capable of storing and releasing. Some days I feel like a tadpole that's just grown legs--they feel like a completely new part of me. I've had them all of my life but the strength and the support that I'm discovering in them, makes me feel like I'm just now learning how to use them.

My intent for my practice today was to go into the dark parts of my body, the parts that I dance around because there's so much stored in these places that I don't really feel like feeling; but I'm at a point in my practice and in my life, where I have to start facing the uncomfortable realities. The dark and scary parts.
This intent takes courage and it requires my legs.

It was an amazing practice--about 40 people in class today. Turbodog Spirit Center felt so alive with all of us. It made me smile.

After practice, the 4 of us, Eleanor, Bill, Stacy and I did some process work and were partnered with a "mirror" or a "butt-kicker." Eleanor is my "mirror maiden" and it was great to get to connect with her. I'm so thrilled to work with her. She did the training in 2005 and realized that she wanted to get back into it and start bringing more yoga to the St. Louis community. I admire her courage and her motivation, and I feel that she will definitely be a good kick in the pants for me over the next 12 months when I need that extra push to get stuff moving.

After process work, we then worked hands-on-assists with Steve and Talya's direction.
1) Side bends with neck stretch
2) Badakanasana Forward Fold
3) Forward fold with extended leg
4) pigeon
5) dolphin
6) cobra
7) downward dog

I felt slightly rusty even though it had only been 2 weeks, but for some reason my hands felt a little hesitant today. The hesitancy wore away and I found myself excited about working with the puzzles of the human body. My natural tendency is to want to help fix everything, but I soon realized that less is sometimes more.

I also became very aware of how necessary it will be to continue to practice working with assists on many different people of different shapes and sizes.

A lunch break with some socializing was a happy break. I found myself to be quite exhausted--still recovering from the swine flu, I could feel my body craving a nap. No time for naps. :-)

After our break the 4 of us had 30 minutes to write up an intro class that would start in less than an hour.
We were a bit frantic putting the poses together, and I could feel the nerves of us rise a bit as we came face to face with the fact that we would be teaching a 90 minute class by ourselves. I got excited, and was curious to see who would show up and how everything would flow.

We drew straws, or rather, numbers to see what order we would teach in. Stacy went first, then me, then Bill, and then Eleanor. It was a good set up. There were 4 students that showed up. 3 of them were very new to yoga, and the other student was a pretty familiar face in class. The body sizes were all very different, and it was interesting to work with the dynamics of each student. Their energy was very supportive, and the genuinely just wanted to learn and do their best.

What I'm learning is that new students are such a joy to work with for the most part, because they are discovering parts of their body in a very different way, and you can see it in their eyes and feel it in their bodies how they are slowly gaining connection to their bodies and what is stored in their "tight and sleepy" parts.

There was one student who wanted to talk to me constantly when I was assisting him, and I realized that I need to work on figuring out how to maintain my role as teacher to lead a student into the different aspects of the pose without them questioning or commenting on everything.

Teaching was a blast. I was by no means perfect but I really enjoyed it. And I had a great time teaching the difficult poses of dolphin, agni sara, chest opener on the wall, forearm balance/dolphin on the wall, and Suns. Throughout my training I had not taught any of these poses, so it was a good challenge to see how I could lead my students as clearly as possible. I did it, and learned a lot about what works and what doesn't work.

One of the most interesting sensations happened to me while I was teaching, and that was that I felt like an antennae for information. I was feeling/empathing so much from my students that at times I felt overwhelmed and a bit unsure of what to do or say. I found myself pacing around. I was picking up on so much that I wasn't sure how to multi-task and accomplish half of what I was picking up on. Talya told me afterward, that the best thing for me to do is to try and slow down the amount of information that I'm taking in and putting out. Slower deeper breaths, and more grounding down through my feet.

I know that all the information will be very helpful in the long run, but currently I am just trying to figure out how to keep my students in a good space where they're being inspired and motivated to keep connecting to their body. One breath at a time.

The class went very well, and the four of us did a great job. I'm so proud of how far we all came throughout the day. I am very aware of how much more I want to practice my assists and my teaching cues.

My intent for the next month is to continue to practice and to hone my skills in assisting and cuing. Now, I need to send out some emails to get more hands on time with my friends or any aspiring yogi. :-)

That's all for now.

Anne