Summarizing the teachings I've learned from the Teacher Training Course in a brief blog post is nearly impossible, as we've had countless hours of instruction and training and homework in the past month. 

Yet, the idea that came to mind to share was a fundamental learning that Yoga is more than an exercise class. 

In the West, we equate yoga with a class of postures (asanas) that are promoted to have healing properties - and they do having healing properties, when done consistently and properly over time. 

There is so much more to yoga though, than asanas as exercise. The postures are also intertwined with a spiritual path.

We have thoroughly studied and practiced the basic asanas, plus have had exposure and attempts at advanced postures.  We've done a pregnancy class and a children's class and chair yoga for modified poses. We've team taught each posture individually and taught full yoga classes - one for beginners and one  All Level.  We've learned the benefits of each pose and the contraindications for those needing to avoid or modify certain poses.

The experiences of leading 1hour 30 minute classes were daunting and yet exhilarating for me!  I am excited about continuing the yoga teaching journey, and yet I know there is so much more to learn.

Yoga is a lifestyle,  and taking the TTC has strengthened my own yoga practice through self discipline and awareness of the nature of mind, body and spirit.  My foundation from the month immersion has prepared me to continue on the path of yoga for myself and teaching others.

With a big test on Tuesday, and barely a free minute, I hope you will understand and support my need to be brief this week.  I'm hanging in there, and by God's grace I will pass - even though I can't imagine how I will possibly know all that we've been taught for an exam.  The sanskrit terms alone are overwhelming - yet I KNOW somehow, that I will pass.

I also know that I've grown and evolved and experienced very profound teachings, given by incredibly knowledgeable, loving and dedicated teachers.  The TTC has been a formidable life challenge, and I'm so grateful that I have taken up that challenge.

Back to class and then studying!

Sending You Love from the Bahamas,🌞
Thank you for taking this journey with me!

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This week's update is a short one, as every minute of my time this week has been taken up with the Teacher Training Course classes, homework teaching preparations and my karma yoga.

A friend who reads these updates requested that I write a bit more about the 5 parts of a yogic lifestyle that I mentioned in an earlier post. 

You may recall that I've learned the five points of yoga are Proper Exercise, Proper Breathing, Proper Relaxation, Proper Diet and Positive Thinking/Meditation.  When all 5 are practiced in a balanced fashion, the body, mind and spirit are nourished and healthy.  

Dr. Susan Lord was the speaker one night at our satsang, and she talked about how our bodies stop sending signals after long periods of our ignoring them.  

For example, people who never drink water or fluids during the day.  They are chronically dehydrated, but do not feel thirsty.  The body has stopped sending the thirst signal to these people.  

Or, the people who repeatedly give up eating a meal during the day, soon discover they aren't even hungry for food at that meal any longer.  It doesn't mean the body doesn't need the food, but the signaling system of the body has shut down for that activity.

The body is amazing, and whether from a scientific perspective or a spiritual perspective, we thrive best with balance in our lives.  I'm also learning that Western science is starting to confirm, with thousands of studies, the positive effects of the yogic lifestyle.

Ahimsa (non violence) is one of the major tenets of yoga.  Not killing is one of the reasons for a vegetarian diet.  The other reason has to do with understanding that eating food that is closest to the source of energy provides the most nutrition and is the most beneficial.

Eating meat is eating something that is by definition devoid of energy or dead.  I've eaten meat and fish my entire life, and I've not really questioned that what I was putting into my body was dead flesh.  Yet, at the most basic level, that's what our burgers and salmon and steaks are made from.  I've not thought about it, because it is just an accepted part of the culture I grew up in.

I'm thinking about it now.

The myth that yogis do not eat enough protein is just that, a myth.  Beans and nuts are excellent sources of protein.  Yogis do eat dairy products, other than eggs.  For vegans, the dairy concern about not getting enough calcium is another myth that we hold dear - cows milk is not the best source of calcium.  Dark green, leafy vegetables are much better sources of calcium.  I prefer no dairy if there are vegan options.  Luckily, here, everything made also has a vegan option.

Here at the Ashram, I've become a believer that a vegan diet is not only sustainable, but is delicious and full of variety and flavors and textures, when the food is prepared well and with love.  Our two chefs, Ambika and Gigi are expert at vegetarian and vegan cooking.  We are well nourished and our taste buds are also happy.

We are among the fortunate in the world who do not experience hunger.  Yet, our Western diet and food choices are causing record numbers of chronic and painful diseases, obesity and death. 

As for the yogic diet, this is landmark research out of Benson-Henry Institute at Harvard showed that in 4,452 patients who practiced yoga over a 4 year period, "Total utilization of health care services decreased by 43%, clinical encounters decreased by 41.9%, imaging by 50.3%, lab encounters by 43.5% and procedures by 21.4%.
http://www.drmccall.com/uploads/2/2/6/5/22658464/yoga_lowers_health_care_costs.pdf

If you are interested, there are many cookbooks for vegan and vegetarian meals.   Be adventurous and try some of the recipes!  You may be surprised just how delicious the food is.  Practice the 5 points of yoga, and you may be surprised at how amazing you will feel!

And now, I must get back to my homework for Anatomy class and review for our asana teaching practice.

Wish me luck - only a week and a half to go!

Sending You Love from the Bahamas,🌞
Thank you for taking this journey with me!

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WEEK TWENTY EIGHT - THE SANDS OF TIME

The lovely sand art was done by a fellow TTC (teacher training course) student when we were chanting and then listening to a lecture, after having walked on the beach for a silent meditation walk.

For me, this week has flown by , and yet simultaneously, it seems like it's been a really long week.  When I thought about what I wanted to share, the issues of time came first to mind.

The phrase, the sands of time refers to the passage of time being akin to the flow of sand in an hourglass - steady.
It does not stop for anyone or anything.

It is also a phrase from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, describing the mark that great individuals leave on history.

For me, time is one of the great challenges in my life.  I've had a tendency to be a little late my entire life - not unforgivably late, but late nonetheless.  I've had to say I'm sorry many, many times for being late.  

I've definitely not accomplished the "steady" part of time.

TTC is an incredible practice of time management, as we run from one class to the next and are expected to be on time for everything.  Not one minute late -

Yet, fitting everything in is quite a difficult endeavor.  Deciding between doing homework, checking on unread work emails or the messages from my kids back home or refilling my daily herbs or chatting with a classmate or going to the beach are just a few of the choices I face daily in our short break times.  Most of the rest of the day is filled with classes and changing into yoga clothes or our TTC uniform, worn for our lectures and for satsangs.





As I write this, I am also doing laundry and praying that things will dry quickly, as I have a class to get to in 15 minutes.  Let alone, trying to go to the bathroom in between.  We are allowed to use the restroom while class is going on, but then we may miss something really important from the lecture.  And we never know when a hint may be given about something that will be covered on the test.

It is a rigorous schedule, and I'm learning that my time management problem stems from trying to fit in too much into the time I have.  I'm just making it on time to everything, with barely a minute to spare most of the time.

It is very difficult for me to put completely aside thoughts that are unrelated to the course, and yet it is what I need to focus on doing more and more.  I'm getting a little better at it, but being on time is still a virtue I'm practicing.

We've learned much this past week, and we've already been practicing teaching in pairs and once to the whole class.  It's overwhelming, yet stimulating and interesting.  I feel very alive and engaged in every moment of the day.  I'm exhausted at the end of the evening - in a good way.

Daily we practice yoga - proper exercise, proper breathing, proper relaxation, proper diet and positive thinking and meditation.  We are living yoga, and our lives are enriched by this total immersion.

I'm only half way through the course, but I have a feeling this second half will go even faster than the first 2 weeks.  

I'm not sure if yoga is part of the mark I will leave on history, as Longfellow alluded to as he wrote about the sands of time.  

I am certain that the path of yoga has greatly expanded my horizons and broadened my perspective. This Ayurvedic-Yogic study that I've embarked on continues to feel like a path I was meant to take.

Sending You Love from the Bahamas,🌞
Thank you for taking this journey with me!

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Sivasana or Corpse Pose is the perfect relaxation for me - and boy do I need it!

I started my Teacher Training Course this week, and it earns its label as intensive. After only a few days of classes, I now understand the challenge of the course.  Somehow I thought it might be easier for me since I am familiar with the routine after being here for 6 months.

It is easier for me than for newbies, who just arrived for the first time to the Ashram.  But, my gauge of easy or difficult is not as a comparison to other people, but rather a measure of how difficult I am personally finding the course.

The material is good and very interesting to me - lots of it, but that I expected, and am able to absorb pretty well.  Plus, I plan to use my free time reading and learning from the resource texts, which will even better prepare me for classes.

Sitting in a cross legged yoga position for just shy of 8 hours on the first and second days was a major challenge for me.  Exhausted, sleep came easy, but waking each night in the middle of the night with aches and pains as I rolled over has not been fun.  And of course, a bathroom trip then ends up as part of the disrupted sleep.

There were breaks between classes, but the total hours in yoga seated position was 8 hours.  On the third day, I chose to sit in a chair for 3 hours of class.  My lower back, hips and right knee just couldn't handle the long hours of that type of sitting.  

Many of the younger students in my class are faring much better on the achy side of things, but they are struggling with the early morning rise and overall non stop schedule.  So, we each have our challenges to overcome.  It is part of the transformative process, I realize, but it is tough nonetheless.

The teachers are excellent, and the content is delivered in interesting ways with lots of story telling interspersed with practical and theoretical knowledge.  We have daily homework, but it isn't too time consuming.

Our asana teachers believe that we should discipline ourselves to get to the beach each day.  They are big believers of the therapeutic benefits of the ocean waters here. 

I did get in the water for 10 minutes on the first day, but I've chosen to get some work done and to do a bit of laundry instead of the beach on the other days.  Today, this blog writing prevented me from getting in ocean time:)  I need to work on this discipline.  Maybe tomorrow, as it is a day of study and a lighter schedule.

The asana class in the morning is my favorite part of the day, as my body is stretched and relaxed and energized - amazing what a yoga class can do.  I feel great after the class!

We will begin partner teaching already in the first week, and I am excited about that too.

Since much of our learning has been introductory in the meditation, Baghdad Gita, philosophy, and chanting classes, I want to share a few things indirectly related to my teacher training course.

Since I've been here, I learned that Ayurveda is not a sister science of Yoga as many say, but actually, classically has always been an integral part of yoga.  

Ayurveda is one of the world's oldest, holistic healing systems that has at its core, the belief that good health requires a delicate balance of mind, body and spirit.  Ayurvedic principles govern the foods, eating patterns, sleeping and digestive patterns plus provide concrete tools for health in the form of medicinal herbs and supplements.  

Classical yogis follow Ayurvedic guidelines and treatments.  

In this study of living an Ayurvedic-Yogic lifestyle, yogis say that we need all the 5 points of yoga.
We're learning about each of the points in my yoga Teacher Training Course.
 
Proper Exercise (Asanas)
Proper Breathing (Pranayama)  
Proper Relaxation (Savasana)
Proper Diet (Satvic and Vegetarian)
Proper Thinking and Meditation

I will have much more to share in the coming weeks about the Teacher Training Course.  I'm off to class right now and for the next four hours before dinner.
As I write this, I'm sore and tired, but loving it so far!
Namaste,

Sending You Love from the Bahamas,🌞
Thank you for taking this journey with me!

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The Ashram is abuzz with construction projects at the moment.  In the distance, the sound of an occasional saw or the pounding of a hammer can be heard.  It's amazing though, with the number of projects underway, there is little disruption to the everyday flow of life.

And the typical incessant noise pollution that I became accustomed to from ongoing projects in the city, where I lived, is nonexistent here.  Even during the height of construction season, at the Ashram it is still peaceful and pretty quiet.

The construction crews are not taking cigarette breaks, nor coffee breaks, nor littering the area in any way with food wrappers and such.  They eat two meals a day, with us.  When they work, they generally speak in low tones of voice, rarely shouting and never displaying any disrespect either to the people, nor the nature around them.

If I happen to need to walk down the path where they are working, they stop and politely step aside, often with a smile and hello.  The construction crew seem more like gentle souls than the typical rough and tough image we have of construction workers in the U.S.

The work is done well and quickly.  The general manager of the project is a NASA certified engineer.  

People I encounter here are from so many different countries and walks of life. The guy who appears to be a strong arm maintenance man, was a successful corporate type in his prior life.  The woman working in the kitchen owns her own business back home and is cutting vegetables and fruit for her three months of karma yoga.  Others are lawyers, nurses, students, physical therapists, accountants and the variety goes on - all very fascinating.

I too am 'under construction' so to speak.  I've stopped trying to figure out 'what's next?' and am on this path of 'what's possible?' instead.  

It is much more fun and interesting to explore what's possible than to continually try to second guess the next step of life's path or to try to manipulate the path, thinking I actually can.  I'm pretty sure, I have little to do the path, unless I didn't get the lesson from the one I was on.

More and more, I'm learning that I don't have the control I thought I had most of my life.  It's freeing to accept that I don't need to have the control to contribute and live a meaningful and happy life.  

With yoga and Ayurveda being the wind beneath my wings, I am climbing skyward each day.   The overriding message here is that yoga and Ayurveda are merely pathways to God and self realization.

I'm sure I will learn so much more as I start my Teacher Training Course (TTC) here this week.  November is my birthday month, and what an amazing birthday gift to give myself - learning that will impact the rest of my life! 

Let it all Begin:)

Sending You Love from the Bahamas,🌞
Thank you for taking this journey with me!

If you haven't signed up for the blog post updates, please do.
I also welcome you to leave a comment below or post one on my BestYOU facebook page.
Sharing your thoughts is a gift to all of us!