I'm a 200-hour Registered Ayurvedic Yoga Teacher!

Well everyone, I did it. I completed my 200-hour Ayurvedic Yoga Teacher Training, and we just taught a free class as a group (over 40 people attended, it was a full house!) and got our graduation certificates today. So I'm officially a yoga teacher now.

I felt a need to take this training when it was advertised this past December. It just felt like something I needed to do, like a natural extension of me. I wanted to learn something new also, and I had no idea what to expect.

Well, I can tell you it was an amazing experience. And difficult, not gonna lie. Anyone who says yoga is easy...I argue it's anything but easy. It was difficult on the physical level for one thing. I became acutely aware of muscles I hadn't used in a looong time, of how compromised my posture was, and how much strength it actually takes to hold your body weight up and maintain balance. It was difficult on the emotional level, because with every forward fold or twist of the torso, it was like I was squeezing out past traumas and emotions I thought I had buried. In some classes I cried, in some I became angry, and in some I experienced joy. It was difficult on the spiritual level because I was forced to face my past hurts, ask what my life means, what any of this means, and how can I live a better life. In a nutshell, yoga teaches us how to die. I know that sounds morbid, but it's true. It's like taking a deep dive into yourself, taking stock of life, and finding ways to bring yourself greater peace.

I was the oldest student in my class. The other students were all around the age of 30, and I'm 50. I'm so proud of this 50-year old body and what it has done, not just in this training, but throughout my life. Physically, I now have greater core strength, better overall strength, better flexibility, better posture, and better breathing. Emotionally, I'm now in a place where I'm glad I faced my past hurts, because I'm much more at peace and content. Spiritually, this gave me a lot to think about, and I'm now trying to live my life with greater gratitude, love, wonder and purpose.

One of the most important things I learned in my training is "this is your yoga practice, this is your body and you need to honor your body." When I started exploring yoga 20-plus years ago, I felt intimidated in classes, trying to fit into this little box of forcing my body into the poses everyone else was doing. It drove me away from yoga honestly. Now that I honor my body, and adapt a pose to my body instead of my body to a pose, or take a break when I need one, or work in progression toward a pose, I enjoy yoga very much.

I used to see it as a physical practice, an adjunct to my exercise routine, which I did to stay flexible. I'm sure many Westerners see it this way. Once I learned the roots of yoga, and that it's much more than just a physical practice, yoga is now in my heart. I do some form of yoga every day, or I don't feel balanced.

Speaking of balance, that's the point of Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Yoga. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical system that's been in practice for thousands of years, and is the sister science to Yoga. Ayurveda is the science or knowledge of life, and Yoga is about union with our higher selves and whatever greater power is out there. Together, they integrate mind, body and spirit, and are therefore a holistic system of well-being. We did not become Ayurvedic practitioners, but we learned some concepts and practices of Ayurveda and integrated these with our Yoga practice.

The point of an Ayurvedic Yoga Class is for a student to come away feeling balanced. This isn't the type of class where students walk in and we jump right into a sequence of poses. We practice Pranayama, which are Ayurvedic breath work techniques. We do Namaskar, which are meditations in motion to honor the powers of the sun and moon (they are surprisingly physical - in our group class today, I taught the Namaskar portion, and the students were quite surprised how challenging this practice is). We do asanas, which are the poses so many think of when they think of yoga (actually, asana means "to sit," and the asanas were postures to allow people to engage in meditation). And we do meditation, to focus the mind on a single point and bring a sense of calm. All of these practices make a beautifully well-rounded and balancing class.

In addition to this, we learned Ayurvedic practices for our daily hygiene, diet, sleep, and how to live in harmony with the seasons and time of day. Ayurveda is about bringing the body into balance and maintaining that balance, and Yoga helps with the spiritual healing and discovery of one's soul.

It was a beautiful experience that has transformed me on so many levels. I can't wait to share what I've learned with other people. I will be a student for life, always learning, and will share what knowledge I gather in order to help others find their path to balance and peace.

Namaste,

Jeannette