I am now a yoga teacher.
That thought still surprises me. When I first heard Innerstellar was offering a teacher training in 2013, I thought how great it would be for all the young yoginis to have the opportunity to become teachers. It didn’t seem like a choice that a person like me would make. How was this unconscious limited thinking defining me? Not young enough, thin enough, flexible enough, strong enough. Basically not already a ‘perfect’ yoga teacher. You know the image: that willowy long haired thirty year old doing a wildly balanced and complicated pose against the backdrop of a rocky canyon or a tropical sunset.
Plus I already have perfectly wonderful work/service in the world. I wasn’t looking for a career change.
Nevertheless, the call that began as a whisper got louder each month until I signed up. To make sense of the choice, I told myself that it would improve my physical asana practice and deepen my spiritual understanding of yoga philosophy, and that I could integrate what I learned into my existing consulting and teaching. I also knew I would be deep in intense astrological transits during the training. I thought, why not plunge into something scary that’s designed for transformation rather than sit around and wait to see what Pluto, Uranus and Saturn were going to dish up for me?
So I signed up and jumped in.
During the training I bonded deeply with the lovely group of eleven other women who chose this path. Most of us didn’t imagine we were doing it to become yoga teachers. Everyone was at some kind of life turning point though. We laughed and cried together as we learned to teach and deepen our practice. We faced our inauthenticities and our fears. I faced the “I am aging” part of my second Saturn return by hanging out with a group of women who were thinner, younger and have their lives mostly in front of them, and was delighted to feel more connections than differences. And with the gentle help of a spotter, I finally broke through my fear of inversions! (see proof in photo... crazy!)
My life was squeezed and turned upside down as I found 40 hours a month out of an already packed schedule to devote to classroom time — plus there were hours of reading and written homework each week. Housecleaning was out of the question. Quality time with loved ones was a priority in the hours I could find.
The crazy thing is I have discovered I love teaching yoga way more than I thought I would. I am assisting the amazing Michelle Cordero in her class at Flying Yoga on Wednesday mornings, and have taught a number of classes to a really positive reception. I have been thrilled that the Stellarflow training was so good that we could graduate and begin to teach a quality class. The personal growth and transformation as well as a radical improvement of teaching skills for each person was really quite remarkable.
My gift to each one of you from this intense experience is to offer:
* Follow your inner callings even if you don’t know where they will lead
* Do something that scares you
* Meet new people with an open heart (yours and theirs)
* Learn something new whenever you can
* Do something that takes time and discipline
* Resist the feeling that you’re too ……….. (fill in your limiting word) to do something you feel like doing
* If you’re facing intense astrological transits, don’t just wait for them to be over. Be proactive. Be more Plutonian than Pluto!
* If you do yoga, consider taking a teacher training. If you’re considering a teacher training, seriously consider Stellarflow, a wonderful vinyasa style steeped in Forrest Yoga principles. It truly can be a life changing experience!