WoW Cataclysm, Yoga Practice, Work, Yoga Teaching

The latest World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm came out a week ago today. It raised the max level from 80 to 85 and added a ton of new content. A lot of people are already level 85; Brad and I are 83. The only way to be 85 this soon is to blow through the new areas as fast as you can without doing much else in your life and without taking the time to enjoy the game. I think that's sad. Why is it a race? I like taking my time enjoying the time I spend playing, and doing other things between playing.

I went to my first Ashtanga Primary Series class with Lisa since August. That was great. I should have gone to her Monday class yesterday, but I chose WoW over yoga. Tomorrow, I'll choose yoga over WoW again. I could go to Kimberly's class tonight, and I probably should. I think I'm being lazy. Going to a 6:00 class at Yoga Shala means giving up my entire evening. I used to do that all the time and love it, but now I only want to do it once or twice a week.

Last week was a busy week at work. It was the last major week of our peak season. There's still some loose ends to tie up before the books go to print, but the worst is behind us. That's another reason that WoW wasn't a priority for me. I was lucky that I didn't need to work any overtime, but I came home exhausted and just wanted to rest. Sitting at a computer for a few more hours was the last thing I wanted to do.

My second yoga class as the regular teacher was on Saturday. I was nervous as I waited for the class ahead of me to end. The attendance of this class would be the first time it was a reflection of what they thought of me as a teacher. Two or three people hovered by the door with  me, but that was it. I hoped that wasn't the whole class. People came pouring in. The first class had 9 people, this class had 13. Yay, it's growing! I know it will fluctuate up and down and that's fine, I'm just glad it grew by 4 the first week rather than shrink.

The pregnant student wasn't there. I was both relieved and disappointed. I ended up not teaching anything a pregnant woman shouldn't do. I forgot to teach Bakasana and Navasana as I'd like to. Normally by the time we get to that point, class is nearly over. I remember when it seemed agonizing to fill an entire hour with yoga poses, now I really think an hour and a half or 2 hours would be more productive. I always struggle to decide which poses to leave out this time. That's a good problem to have, so I can't complain. I'm also thinking about throwing in some lunges, twisting in lunges, and binding in the lunges like Ken used to teach. That will mean deviating more from the primary series that I've been clinging to for dear life. It's a good foundation to start from, but I'd like for my class to be different every time. I remember getting bored of my first yoga class because it was the same every time. Then again, primary series can be practiced consistently for years. I could drive myself crazy thinking of this. :)

Big Life Change

I've posted before about my life changes, from what I ate to who I spent my time with, where I lived, and what I did with my time. But now I'm at the beginning of the biggest life change of my life ever.

Marriage was a big deal, but it wasn't a sudden change. The wedding was formalizing a relationship that grew over a few years. No one was shocked. No one said, "Wow, I didn't think you would get married."

It really surprises me that people have reacted to the news that I'm pregnant with "I thought you were going to be childless!" Thanks, Dad. All you had to do was ask. It seemed obvious to me that it was the next step for me and Brad.

I'm in the middle of the first trimester which seems to take forever... in terms of morning sickness and everyone saying, "Don't worry that's only in the first trimester, it will pass soon." 7 more weeks seems like a long time to feel nauseous, but I guess it should be a comfort that it will go away at a predictable time. 

My biggest problem with the first trimester is the idea that it's supposed to be hush hush secret that I'm pregnant. This is something I've been working towards for years: getting my body in shape, getting our house, having 4-door reliable cars paid off, no debt, etc. And it's supposed to be a big secret! Why? Oh because I could have a miscarriage and it would be awkward. Seriously? That's a good enough reason to keep really exciting news to myself?! Seriously?

I went ahead and told my friends I see everyday, and my supervisor/team at work, because if I didn't, they'd worry about what's wrong with me. Why would I hold super exciting news in and worry people who care about me?

But, still I've kept the news off of Facebook and haven't told a lot of people yet, not because of fear of miscarriage, but because of fear of people thinking it's wrong for me to tell this early. I do recognize the possibility of miscarriage, but I try not to worry about it, and I'm just going on like everything is perfect until proven otherwise.

Now that the exciting news that I'm going to be a mother is out. OMG seriously? I'm going to be a mom? Oh crap, how do you keep an infant alive without breaking the law? I've always been the baby. I don't have much experience with babies. For now I'm just going to focus on keeping myself and my sweet pea sized child healthy.

A lot of people keep telling Brad and me that our lives are going to change a lot. First of all: NO DUH? SERIOUSLY? Yeah, we thought of that long before we started calculating ovulation days with charts.
Second, that implies that nothing changes until the baby is born. EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT RIGHT NOW! Obviously my body is changing and I have to be careful what I do and eat. I need more sleep, sometimes I feel like crap for a really good reason, so obviously my life is different, and of course that affects Brad too, since he lives with me.

Of all of the changes in my life now and when the child is born, the hardest one for me to handle emotionally is my yoga practice. My practice is very important to me and I give it 100% credit to my body and emotional state being ready for this. Of course I can still do yoga and I still should, but it's very different now. I'm not just thinking about me when I practice. I'm thinking about that little tiny heartbeat inside.

I've been attending Beryl Bender Birch's workshop this weekend. I signed up for it knowing we were trying to conceive, but not expecting to actually get pregnant this early. I've talked to my doctor, Nydia, and Sreedhara, and read the pregnancy section of every yoga book I have (that's a lot). Every book says something different, but it seems to be the consensus that I can do anything in the first trimester as long as I feel ok. Even my family doctor told me to listen to my body and that it will tell me if something isn't right for me.

The workshop is wonderful and I love it, but it is a new experience for me. I've been to a workshop with her before, that part is essentially this same, but I am different. I'm no longer pushing myself as far as I can. I'm doing child's pose instead of downward facing dog in sun salutations, skipping vinyasas between seated poses, not doing navasana or any tough ab work (because the books say not to and because it feels terrible), and not pushing very far into twists. Next weekend I'm going to David Swenson's workshop in Austin, and knowing what I know about him, I'll have no problem modifying my practice as I have been. You learn more from listening at workshops than from doing asana anyway.

I plan to continue to teach yoga as there's no reason for me practice every pose I teach. A good teacher isn't practicing while teaching anyway.

Teaching at Spectrum

It feels like yoga teacher training ended a long time ago, but it was just a few months. I put a lot of thought into if, when, and where I want to teach for money. (I still have my free weekly class at work.)

I subbed a little bit at one studio, but didn't push for a regular gig there. I still haven't been paid for the last time I subbed. I'm sure if I push them they'll pay me, but it's annoying that I had to push for my first paycheck, and then will have to push for my second.

There's a new studio opening up off if I-10 in the Leon Springs area. That's a bit of a drive for me, but I've made peace with the fact that I have to drive at least 30 minutes to get to a yoga studio. They're having auditions and I thought about trying to get in on that, but I decided not to.

I decided to teach yoga at Spectrum! They eagerly hired me thanks to the very kind recommendations of some friends who teach there. Spectrum is special to me because it's the first place where I practiced yoga. I used to go to 4 classes a week to get my money's worth out of the monthly membership fee. I went to 3 different teachers and they were all great! This is where I learned the basics of yoga including to never push myself to the point of pain. These teachers taught me so much and sparked a desire to learn more on my own.

I'm really excited that I'm starting as a teacher at the same place that I started as a student.

Reflection on Yoga Teacher Training

I subbed again at Synergy last night and it was great! Only one student came, but I had fun with that. I asked her what kind of class she wanted and gave it to her. That was neat for both of us, especially since she's done yoga before and wanted a powerful vinyasa. I had fun seeing what she could do, but warning her to be careful not to hurt herself. She can bind in Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana. Very cool.

I've been reflecting on my teacher training and I'm really, really glad that I decided to do it. I've made some excellent friends, become a part of a great yoga community in San Antonio, learned so much about yoga asana and philosophy, and learned a lot about myself. Knowing the sanskrit names is pretty cool. I forgot how hard they were to learn until my student last night asked me how I was able to learn them.

Yoga teacher training changed my life more than I ever imagined it could, and I'm so glad it did. :-D

I feel better now. I needed that.

I got a call from the owner of the Synergy studio right as I was leaving work for the day. She urgently needed a sub for hot yoga and already had to cancel the 4:30 class. I accepted and showed up ready to teach at 6:00. Good thing I always keep a yoga outfit in my car.

Only 3 people showed up. That's a good number for getting used to this teaching thing. Enough that it's a class rather than a private session, but small enough that it's not scary. One student was a first timer last week (on her free classes) and came back for more (that costs money now). Yay! I must have been alright.

Today felt a lot easier. Probably because the group was smaller and I didn't have 2 classes in a row (in the heat). It just overall felt better. I was able to be myself more and teach the way I teach my work group (yay for having all that practice on them). I guess I was just overcome with nervousness and anxiety last week, and coming back again meant they liked me enough to keep me on the substitute teacher list.

Where's the Becky I was a year ago?

A year ago I walked into my house and told Brad I needed to be a yoga teacher more than anything and the I HAD to sign up for teacher training. I couldn't wait to do it and finish it so I could teach yoga already. I believed that teaching yoga was necessary for me to be happy.

I went through the program, discovering Ashtanga yoga at the same time, and it changed me a lot. My body is noticeably very different, but much more has changed. I understand more about yoga philosophy, diet, the poses themselves, and much more, but there is still so much to learn.

Now that I'm official (pending yoga alliance paperwork going through the system), I'm expected to teach yoga. I feel pressured to start teaching somewhere. That's what I've been working towards, right? I poured all of this money into it, now I should get to work and start making money, right? Well...I don't know.

Yoga was never about making money for me to begin with. I have a full-time job and a stable life style. I just love yoga and want to share it with others. Sure, yoga school plus books and workshops costs us a bit of money, but not THAT much. I've deepened my practice and stuck with it. My body has healed from the problems that used to cause daily pain. All that makes it worth it.

I feel like I know just enough to know that there's a WHOLE lot I don't know, and that makes teaching scary. I've got my free class at work still going, and I love that. There's no pressure there, and it's not a big committment. For some reason committing to a regular class outside of work terrifies me. Then again, teaching the free class at work terrified me and made me very nervous at first.

My job can be pretty stressful and busy at times, and it's a priority for me to be successful at work. Is balancing that with a regular yoga class going to be a problem? It shouldn't be. I had perfect attendance at teacher training without any problems. Teacher training was a big time commitment. I basically gave up my entire weekend every other weekend. Maybe that's why I'm scared to commit to a regular class now. I just got my freedom back. Obviously teaching won't take up that much time.

Then there's last week's subbing. Subbing 2 hot yoga classes in a row was HARD. I was very nervous and I did my best. I have a lot of room to grow, and I'm comparing myself to the best teachers, which isn't fair to myself. When I came home from subbing I was stressed, agitated, and anxious. I hope they liked it...I hoped they weren't disappointed. I should have talked louder and gone slower. Maybe I made it too hard... Yoga should be a stress reducer, not a cause of stress, but starting out as a new teacher is not easy.

1 Week Until Teacher Training Graduation!

The big day is a week from today. April 25 at 11:30 I'll be working as a group with 3 of my friends to teach a free public vinyasa class. We're ready!

In my class at work I've been focusing on teaching with minimal demonstration. Last week went really well. I was able to observe them more closely and correct their alignment, which they appreciated. I'm really enjoying this stage I'm in as a yoga teacher. Every class I teach is my best class ever as I continue to get better.

My biggest challenge is talking louder. That's really hard for me. I hate to feel like I'm yelling, but projecting my voice so that a whole room can hear me is not yelling. The room we're doing our free public class in is HUGE. I'm going to have to make sure people can hear me.

Since 4 of us are teaching the class, we've divided it into 4 sections. During each section, someone will be teaching, someone will demonstrate the full pose, someone will demonstrate a modification, and someone will be walking around helping people. I feel like that's a great way to take advantage of such a large team of teachers.

I'll be teaching the first part of the class, explaining that it's a modified version of the Ashtanga Primary Series, teaching the bandhas, and explaining our theme of ahimsa with emphasis on David Williams, "If it hurts, you are doing it wrong." Then I'll teach Surya Namaskara A and B, and Padangustasana and Padahastana. After that my job is not over. :-) I'll walk around during the standing poses correcting people, and smoothly slip in to demonstrate Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana (since I can bind it), then I'll demonstrate modifications for the seated poses. Beginning at Baddha Konasana, I'll demonstrate the full poses.

And now, I'm on my way to Yoga Shala for a workshop on Bhujapidasana-Kukkutasana.

Awww, Shucks

My yoga students left an envelope of cash in my chair at work today that says, "Thanks for being an awesome yoga teacher!"

Awwwwwwwww, my class at work has been and always will be free, and they wanted to pay me anyway. How sweet. I don't have to declare this on my taxes...right. :-P

Yoga at Work

I changed things up a little with yoga at work, but not so much that it was a shock to me or my students. I like the idea of introducing new concepts gradually so it doesn't feel like the same old thing over and over again. That's hard to do with an Ashtanga-based class, but since I'm not restricting myself to exact Ashtanga, it's very possible. It just requires me to think, prepare, and continually step up to a new level, so I'm never too used to the same thing, always learning something new to pass on to the class.

The aromatherapy and music were a big hit for not a whole lot of effort. I enjoy playing with aromatherapy oils and people were really impressed that I mixed it myself (quiet whisper: it's really very easy).

They also liked beginning with the Moon Salutation and then doing the Sun Salutations. I did Chandra Namaskara A twice, then Surya Namaskara A twice, then Surya Namaskara B twice. I think it was neat to have the variety. People seem to get this "oh no, not again" face when we do Sun Salutations over and over again. It also helped warm them up more gradually than just diving into Sun Salutations.

Next time I'll toss in Chandra Namaskara B too. I ordered Vinyasa Krama which includes more information about the Chandra Sequence. Right now I'm getting it off of a poster, which I find tedious and a little frustrating. I can't look at a poster while practicing very easily, and the book should have more information.

In the end, I had that "awwwww man, I don't have enough time to teach everything I want to teach" feeling instead of, "hmmmmmm how do I fill the next 20 minutes..." That was a great feeling to have, and made me feel like I'm really finding my groove.

I thought it was really neat that the class was half men. It really bothers me that yoga has been feminized to the point that some men aren't comfortable doing yoga. I even considered it as a thesis topic or at least as part of a thesis on common misconceptions about yoga. Yoga and Pilates were both invented by men, for men. Women weren't even allowed to do yoga at first.

Some people blame the Western culture for yoga becoming "feminine," but I try to be careful throwing the blame on the West so easily without further research. I think it's very interesting that Pilates and Yoga both have the same issue. Pilates was invented in the West (Germany) by a man to help soldiers (men) recover after WWI.

In light of all that, it really is great to see men practicing yoga. They also openly enjoyed the aromatherapy and asked for more after class.

I'm really getting into yoga music, trying to figure out what I like. I spent several hours of today listening to the previews of yoga music on iTunes and chatting with other yoga teachers about what kind of music they like. Currently playing: Yoga Groove and loving it.

Awesome Yoga/Massage Weekend

Yesterday was a really awesome day.

It began with Ken's last yoga class at Yoga Shala. I enjoyed the class as always, but we were all sad that he's leaving. After class on Thursday Ken said that I need to work on my chaturangas because I was dipping my shoulders down and sticky my back end up too high. I knew I was doing that, but for some reason it hit me more when he mentioned it, so I focused on that during every vinyasa on Saturday, feeling like I was doing chaturanga in slow motion to try to do it correctly, and he said I was stick straight. Yay! It's very important to get that right because I do a lot of vinyasas, and dipping my shoulders down could hurt my rotater cuffs.

Immediately after that I had a deep-tissue massage that was wonderful. I was still a little sore from Thursday's class when I went back for more, so she worked on my sore areas a lot. It really is neat to have a massage therapist working on my sore limbs because I've been working them hard than on a sore back like they used to.

Then, I went straight to the Synergy Studio to catch the end of Judith Lasater's Restorative Yoga workshop. She's a neat lady, and a famous yoga teacher, so I'm glad I was able to participate in part of the workshop. Restorative yoga is very prop heavy. Some teachers feel nervous without props, but props tend to annoy me. It was a good experience and I learned a bit about Savasana, but it was just alright for me. I also got a cute picture and a signed book out of it. :) Now I have 2 books signed by famous yoga teachers. That's pretty neat.



Today I'm on a yoga high. I decided to try out something new and different for my lunchtime yoga class. One cool thing about teaching yoga is that I get to be creative. My classes are Ashtanga-based, but not Ashtanga because most of the students are beginners, so true Ashtanga would be too much for them (they're still too much for me at this point), and I like saving the room to be creative and improvise.

I have this poster from Matthew Sweeney hanging on my wall for decoration, so I decided to use it as a reference too. I don't know the Moon Salutations at all, and I've practiced them once in a class several months ago, so I decided to start with Chandra Namaskara A, so I don't overwhelm myself trying to learn something and then teach it in one day. Because I love being creative and my body just felt like doing certain things as I practiced Chandra Namaskara A over and over again. I decided to throw in some of my own variations to tomorrow's class. So here I am, trying to learn something new and teach it with variations tossed in at logical spots. I might be a little too excited.

Here's the lesson plan for the Chandra Namaskara A.

Chandra Namaskara A
Sitting on feet (like virasana but sitting on feet) (up to 10 minutes)
Engage your bandhas and begin ujjayi breathing
Exhale Extended Child’s pose (come to the pose to rest any time you need to)
Inhale all fours (spread hands, legs hip width apart)
Exhale Downward-facing dog
Inhale all fours
Exhale Extended Child’s pose
Inhale up on knees like camel

(Variations are in parentheses, add to 2nd round)
Exhale sit on feet for 5 breaths (half-moon side leans)
Inhale all fours (5 cycles of cat/cow)
Exhale downward-facing dog for 5 breaths
Inhale all fours
Exhale Extended child’s pose
Inhale up on knees like camel for 5 breaths (or camel pose)
Exhale+Inhale Sitting on feet
Exhale Extended child’s pose for 5 breaths
Inhale Sitting on feet for 5 breaths


I did all this because I should be writing up my practicum report, and making asana sheets for yoga school, and I'm procrastinating.

I've also been really into my essential oils and aromatherapy, spending the last week reading all about them and experimenting on myself and my friends. I mixed up an aromatherapy blend for tomorrow's yoga class. Since the class should be both relaxing and energizing, I mixed a blend of relaxing and energizing essential oils, lemon, lavender, mint, eucalyptus, and orange. Brad says, "So a little bit of everything?" and I protest, "No, a little bit of a bunch of certain things, every oil has a purpose!"

The raid in WoW is about to begin, but I'm skipping it tonight to work on my yoga class for tomorrow. I think I'm also going to add music. Oops skipping WoW because I'm too excited about yoga isn't very balanced of me. :-D