Day Eight - Yoga teacher training

So happy. Just so happy.

Every day of yoga teacher training is a challenge, but it is blissful work. I am learning so much about myself and the bodies we've been given. With each passing day, I am more convinced that this path is right for me. For the first time in ages, I feel like I am engaging in purposeful work.

And then today, Allison clarified what makes a good yoga teacher. It goes something like this:

• People come to yoga with different issues
  
• A good yoga teacher must have enough information to deal with all said issues

That doesn't mean that a yoga teacher must become a one-stop treatment shop for every disorder. Essentially, a good yoga teacher must help students be comfortable in the body that they have through breathwork and asana. It is then up to the student to take these lessons in compassion and loving kindness, and generate change in all aspects of his/her life.

And that's why it's so important for a good yoga teacher to know her body. If you can't accept your own body, how can you help someone else find that kind of peace?

That kind of responsibility may seem daunting - and not for the faint of heart - but it does not scare me anymore. I was mildly agitated by worries when she first uttered the words, but while reviewing the Bhagavad Gita this afternoon, we read a passage that swept the most strident doubts from my mind.

It is better to do your own duty

badly, than to perfectly do

another's...

I may not turn out to be the greatest yoga teacher of my time, but a yoga teacher I must be. So, yay!

NB. Our challenge for the week is mauna, which is the Sanskrit word for silence. This means, when not in class, teacher trainees must maintain silence. Those of you that know me well have probably just uttered one of two phrases:

(1) "She won't last 15 minutes" OR (2) "That's something I'd like to see"

Either way, I'll let you know.