Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training Week One
Week 1 The Shock to the System
Where do I begin? Driving up last Sunday to Lenox, MA, a boiling of fear, excitement and wonderment churned in my tummy. Part nerves. Part relief because I was finally doing something I wanted to. The first night was about getting settled. Seeing who was there with you on this journey. Among the 48 students, there are at least five from Connecticut, including me. But some came as far for this adventure - a woman from Hawaii, a gentleman from Iceland, a woman who works with prisoners from Sweden, and a yoga teacher all the way from Japan. All feeling that same bundle of nerves and excitement. All curious about whether this was the exact place they needed to be. Receiving our schedules, it was all daunting. Am I really here for a full month? Am I sure I really want to do this? It is scary, yet empowering. I’m am here and I need to face my fears.
First night before my first full day of class wasn’t full of sleep. I kept waking up. First at midnight, then at two. Then again at four, and again six minutes later. Time just seemed to drag on beyond that point. Five thirty the alarms were set all about the dorm room I share with 20 other women, who are all in my classes. Our first class starts at 6 am. A morning yoga practice lead by a different teacher each day. We move though the motions anticipating what the morning will bring on our mat, and eventually off our mat in our classes. The first morning the class was gentle, but giving us what we needed. And yes my yoginis, there was chair posture! I smiled thinking of you all as I settled into it. Practice ends around 7:30am, and then a rush to breakfast. The schedule is packed and pretty intense during the week. We do have Saturdays completely off.
- 6 -7:30am Morning Yoga
- 8:30am - 11:30am Morning Class
- 1:45pm - 3:45pm Afternoon Class
- 4:15pm-6pm Afternoon Yoga
- :7:30pm - 9pm Evening Class 3x during the week
My teachers are amazing. The knowledge they possess and are willing to share with me, I feel privileged and humble. There is so much to learn. But I will admit, after finishing this first week this is a pretty intense program. I find myself filled up and struggling with different emotions that do come up. Missing home, feeling a little ill and resisting some of the practice. But I know that acknowledging how I feel about those little things that come up, and talking with the great support group (classmates, teachers, etc) that is here, makes me feel a bit better. It’s an overwhelming program at time. Where there is very little time for yourself and there is so much to learn, and do. My body hurts. But I listen to myself, my body, my heart and know when to push myself and when to back off. Right now I am a little cranky. And a lot sore. And if I do one more high lunge or Warrrior One I will….I will do it and learn from it and myself.
This is an experience. I have learned so much with this first week. And learning every little bit of the postures. Creatively sequencing the postures. And some fun amazing stuff I look forward to bringing to class when we meet again. In the mean time, I will check in next week.