|
Please enjoy this entry from our guest blogger, Derrick. He just completed the yoga teacher training with the Maritime Yoga College. Week 14 - April 25th & 26th: Although I am incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity, it is hard for me to grasp that we have completed our 200-hr yoga teacher training with the Maritime Yoga Teacher College. It is hard to believe that each of us participated in at least 10 yoga classes over the last two days. It is hard to accept that this journey has come to completion and yet it's exciting as we start a new one. Each of us came to the teacher training for our own reasons and we transformed in our own ways, and now we each leave onto our own path. Through this teacher training we have gained the skills, knowledge, and confidence to competently guide others in the practice, and we have forged friendships with each other that will carry through the rest of our lives. Witnessing the growth and transformation of each other has been deeply inspiring and moving. As we came together for our graduation ceremony we overflowed with gratitude and love. Gratitude for the opportunity offered through this yoga teacher training and the experiences we shared together. Love for ourselves, love for each other, and love for the earth. This experience has been life changing. I feel more in touch with my self and my purpose. I personally recommend that each have the opportunity to take such training like the one offered by Maritime Yoga College. Your life will be better because of it. Namaste 
0 Comments
Please enjoy this entry from our guest blogger, Derrick. He is currently taking yoga teacher training with the Maritime Yoga College. Week 13 - April 19th: This past weekend of yoga teacher training was especially special as we gathered together in the countryside to share in our favourite foods, in practicing mindfulness, and gift giving. Yoga teacher training has been as much focused on illuminating our minds and strengthening our bodies, as it has been about opening our hearts; I believe that to be able to hold space and guide others through their yoga practice mindfulness and an open heart are essential. Mindfulness and mind-full-ness are two separate phenomena. Mind-full-ness is common in our society as we are forever checking off lists, creating new lists, and moving from one task to the others without being fully aware of our bodily sensations and emotional state. Mindfulness is the intended practice of being present in the moment, of observing rather than concentrating or to perceive rather than to judge. Mind-full-ness is a condition of our fast-paced-modern-lifestyles whereas mindfulness is a timeless practice of being present and aware. Mindfulness can be cultivated almost anywhere at anytime! You can practice mindfulness by aligning yourself to your breath and the sensations of your body and mind. You can ‘take a step back’ from your thinking process and just observe how thoughts arise without being intentionally thought. As you step back from your ever-flowing stream of thinking you free up space for yourself to just be and to just ‘see’ or perceive the world as it is. Such perception fosters presence which is absolutely necessary when sharing with others. To be fully present with others is the greatest gift we can give. Often when we are with our friends and family our minds and our hearts are elsewhere - overwhelmed by how full our minds are. If we can connect to our breath, and take a moment to just observe we are better able to attune to the world around us and become incredibly present within the space and time of the moment. The present moment is the only time we have to exercise our great powers and so cultivating mindfulness is absolutely essential for unlocking our fullest potential! When we are able to open up the space for ourselves, in order to achieve our greatest potential, we can do so for others. Healing ourselves and actualizing our greatness is a gift to the world, perhaps the greatest gift we can give.   Please enjoy this entry from our guest blogger, Derrick. He is currently taking yoga teacher training with the Maritime Yoga College.
Week 12 - April 12th: During our past weekend of teacher training we came to the last pose in our manual that we are taught to teach, savasana. The English translation of savasana is corpse pose. Savasana is generally done at the end of a class and it allows for the practice to be integrated and for deep relaxation to happen. Some say that it is when you relax that you enter savasana, but it is certainly true that when you lay down in savasana you do begin to relax. Savasana is stillness; as you drift deeper into stillness and relaxation you go into a sleep-like state where the subtle systems of the body are rejuvenated. You will find that savasana is often referred to as the most difficult pose and here is my theory as to why. The stillness of savasana allows for thoughts and emotions to rise to the surface of our conscious-awareness. These thoughts and emotions may be completely random, perhaps stimulated by the movement of the practice, or they may be the thoughts and emotions that have been suppressed and submerged, for any number of reasons. In the time-crunched modern society we share there is often little time for relaxation and stillness, and we often find our day full of activity and lacking in rest. When we move from task to task at high speeds we often miss the subtle activity of our thoughts, emotions, and intuition. The wisdom of our body speaks softly at first, but as it is ignored it will ‘speak’ louder and it will manifest thoughts and emotions into physical symptoms. At the root of much illness and dis-ease is stress, and psychic or emotional stress can be addressed before it manifests in physical symptoms, but we have to be open and able to listen. Such deep and active listening is at the core of any yoga practice. At the beginning of most classes you do breathing exercises to link the mind and the body in the present moment and actively scan the body - using the breath - to identify any sensations. Throughout the practice we work towards maintaining this mind-body connection and cultivate mindfulness that we carry into the rest of our lives. The time we have spent in our Yoga-Teacher-Training program has allowed us to practice deep and active listening with our bodies, and as in many relationships the more we invest the more that is returned. We have been listening to our body ‘talk’ through the asanas, in our food diaries, and in meditative states - such as savasana. The wealth of knowledge our bodies contain would flood the largest of libraries. Take time to listen, and you will learn.  Please enjoy this entry from our guest blogger, Derrick. He is currently taking yoga teacher training with the Maritime Yoga College.
Week 11 - April 5th: As we come to experience new wisdom and practices there follows a time for integration, wherein we digest the knowledge and absorb what we need to know and integrate it into our lived reality. It is hard for me to believe that we are near the completion of our teacher training. The consolation of an ending of such a wonderful journey is the what follows, a time to process, reflect and integrate. I feel this magnified by the full moon, lunar eclipse, and Easter that occurred this weekend, all which also provides wonderful opportunities to turn our gaze inward as we digest new knowledge and awareness and absorb it into our very being. The asanas we focused on today were meditative postures that are practiced by some yogis for hours of meditation. A regular practice of the other postures helps to strengthen and relax the body in order to prepare it for such long held seated poses. Deep meditations are important for the reconfiguration of our nervous system, better coherence and efficiency of the mind, and the development of more grey matter in the brain. Many people find it difficult be comfortably seated in sukhasana (ironically called easy pose), padmasana (lotus pose), or virasana (hero pose) for much longer than a few breaths, and consequently long meditations are not accessible unless seated on a chair or laying down. This is not to say that the benefits of meditation are only to be found in certain poses, for mindfulness can be cultivated in almost any posturing. The bones of our bodies differ in the structure and so some poses will never be accessible, whereas there will be other asanas that feel incredibly comfortable because are bodies naturally move into such shapes. The knowledge and appreciation we foster of our bodies’ intricacies, and the strength and power we cultivate through our practice of yoga, are the goals of the practice - and it is a constant practice. The truest integration I have felt thus far, from my practice on my yoga mat into the rest of the activities and relationships, is an improved flexibility. I happily reside in my body thanks to my yoga practice, and my mind and the way I engage in the world is much improved too. Through this yoga teacher training I have had the opportunity to deepen the impact of my practice and to cultivate the skills and knowledge needed to help others do the same. I am thankful. I am grateful. I am complete. |
Archives
May 2017
Samantha Sambrooke
Director of Teacher Training for the Maritime Yoga College and Registered Holistic Nutritionist. Categories
All
|
RSS Feed