This was a big weekend of teacher training for me. I took my last test, and while I still have one more weekend to attend, it’ll be more tying up loose ends instead of studying for exams or preparing classes to teach.
Friday PM
We spent Friday doing some student teaching. Since I taught my one hour class the last weekend of February, it felt good to know that I didn’t have to worry about that this weekend. We all get feedback after we teach, and even though it’s meant mostly for the person who taught, I always learn a lot. I can apply a lot of the feedback to my own teaching.
I ended up betting in two hours of practice in which felt really good. I hadn’t done much yoga throughout the week, so it was really nice to do it on Friday night.
Saturday AM
We spent the first part of Saturday talking about assisting. We watched a few video clips of Pattabhi Jois (he developed ashtanga yoga) giving assists back 20 or 30 years ago. It was quite eye opening to see how assisting has changed so much since then. Assists are much more gentle now, in part I think because we know how much individual anatomy can effect how poses look on different people.
Someone with short legs and a long torso and long arms will have no problem touching the ground with their hands in a standing forward fold. Someone else with long legs, a short torso, and short legs, will have a harder time reaching the floor.
Saturday PM
We spent the afternoon practicing how to lead meditation. We were each given 30 minutes in which to lead a small group through a meditation. Since we weren’t given more than a few minutes to prepare, it was a bit nerve wracking for me. I’m one of those people who likes to prepare, so I was forced to just go with it and wing it.
It actually went better than I was expecting, considering I’m much more comfortable teaching asana than I am at teaching pranayama or meditation. I’m really glad I got out of my comfort zone and did it.
Sunday AM
Sunday morning we took a test on anatomy and philosophy. I did really good on the anatomy part, which I was expecting thanks to my previous classes in anatomy and physiology. I spent more time studying the philosophy part and was more nervous about that too.
I ended up doing better on the philosophy section than I thought I would do, which was a nice surprise. I guess I’ve picked up more of it than I thought I did. I was really happy with my mark on the test overall. I guess all that studying paid off.
The instructor we have for the anatomy content is also an orthopedic surgeon. She decided to spend the rest of the morning talking about hip and knee replacements and how to teach people with them. She even brought in some artificial hips and knees for us to see that she had taken out of patients. They had all been cleaned and sterilized so we were able to actually touch them and get a feel for them. It’s pretty impressive how much can be done with artificial joints.
Sunday PM
We ended off the weekend with some more teacher training. Even though I wasn’t teaching, I still learned a lot hearing the feedback for my fellow teacher trainees.
It’s pretty cool to see people coming into their own when it comes to leading a yoga class. We’re all starting to figure out what kind of classes we’d like to teach, finding our own voices, and just getting more comfortable being in front of a group.
Final Thoughts
Teacher training has absolutely flown by. It’s hard to believe that I’m just about done. I’ve learned so much since I started teacher training back in September. At the same time I feel like this 200 hour training is just the beginning for me. There’s so much I still want to learn. There’s yoga teachers I would love to do trainings with. I feel like that the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.