Week 1 of 200hr Yoga Teacher Training - Self love, morning rituals, sincerity
I just completed the first week out of a three week 200-hour yoga teacher training at Mar de Jade in Mexico. This one week feels like months as I have been growing and getting stronger in ways that I’ve never imagined.
We start the day at 6:30 a.m. with a cleansing ritual followed by four hours of asana (yoga), five hours of anatomy, methodology, and philosophy lectures, and one hour of meditation, six days a week. By the time the day ends, it is around 8:00 p.m. and I am exhausted. Our meals are vegetarian with ingredients that are sourced from the retreat farm. To ensure we keep our bodies clean and focused, we avoid all toxins (read: wine) and stimulants (read: coffee). There definitely have been moments when I asked myself why I am doing this to myself. I then remember my intention of deepening my yoga practice and embodiment so I can be more present and grounded in my body and bring this to my coaching. I take a walk on the beach barefoot and that never fails to wash away all the thoughts except awe and gratitude.
During the last seven days, as my body is getting used to this structure, I’ve been noticing some major shifts in myself. Here are three highlights that have emerged from week one that I’d like to share.
First, accepting and loving myself. We had a new moon intention-setting cacao ceremony on day three, Wednesday, January 13, 2021. As I was refining my intentions for the new moon, I noticed this theme that’s been consistently coming up the past few months which is, “I am already, always perfect.” This does not come from pompousness; it rather comes from being deeply grounded in who I am, knowing both my gifts and shortcomings and accepting all of them as they are. Because I accept myself, I love myself. The internal efforting or fight has minimized noticeably.
My existence mostly feels like a lotus flower effortlessly floating in the water watching the movie of life happening in front of my eyes. This ease and self-love provide me with a firm ground that allows me to be free from self-limiting beliefs that I had been beholden to. And this freedom has opened up immense spaciousness. This spaciousness has me write my own story that’s based on my love and intention, not based on fear or expectations. This spaciousness has me creative, explorative, and surrender. This spaciousness has me show up in a relationship with freedom because I do not need my partner to validate how I feel. This spaciousness has me meet others with compassion because I love myself regardless of how they are showing up. And it all starts by truly trusting and honoring the divine in me.
Second, building the morning ritual that sustains me. One cool thing about being at a retreat is that because it creates a collective container with clear instruction and structure, it is so much easier to build new habits. The intention of having this morning ritual is to cleanse and honor my body so I can drop in deeper, be healthier, and have more clarity of mind. With that, this is the new ritual that I’ve been doing and I am appreciating it so much that I intend to carry this out after the training:
Mouth cleansing: Brush and floss teeth and scrape the tongue. Put a teaspoonful of organic coconut oil in the mouth and swish it around as it removes bacteria and reduces plaque (10 min)
Nasal cleansing: Use a neti pot on each nostril followed by fire breaths (4 min)
Eyeball cleansing with a small cup (1 min)
Drinking herbal tea and taking vitamins including vitamin D, zinc, curcumin for immunity and anti-inflammation (2 min)
Breathing and body awareness exercise followed by a
gentle stretch (10min)
A couple of other habits that have been wonderful include limiting my technology use (including picture taking) only to an hour a day and walking on the beach after dinner to unwind and get nurtured by Mother Earth. Both helped me create space so I connect with others, nature, and the teachings.
Third, bringing my utmost sincerity no matter what. Every day we have one hour of self-study. I use this time to familiarize myself with Sanskrit.
Sanskrit is the ancient language in which many historic yoga texts were written. As a result, mantras (aka short prayers) and yoga poses are all in Sanskrit. When my teacher told us that we have to use the Sanskrit mantras in our teaching, my initial reaction was to resist. I wondered if I would ever use these mantras again. I argued that learning a new language is not something I am good at. (For the record, I am still learning to master English.) And for that precise resistance, I decided to bring my utmost sincerity. It is easy to be sincere and passionate when I like something. And despite my preference, I’ve made my commitment to this program so I want to challenge myself to bring the same level of sincerity to something that I resist naturally.
So perhaps the best way to end my reflection on week one is by sharing a mantra that I learned that touched me deeply:
