Start of the final week: The Heat is On

The final week was launched yesterday. My morning practice was ridiculous, I felt the flu draining my strength and had to sit down most of the time. It's a very humbling experience to sit down unable to do asanas when the rest of the class is working their hardest. In this time and age we live in, we are so prone to push ourselves at any cost, that we forget to how to take a rest. I had almost full 90 minutes to observe my feelings on this issue.

There was also another reason why I didn't want to push myself too hard - I knew I was going to be paired with another trainee and we were going to start our 90 minute one on one classes. The tension in the Sanctuary was building steadily and finally after breakfast we were told who our pair was. I got a really wonderful teacher/student Cigdem :) We flipped the coin and Cigdem was teaching first. All the trainees were spread out on the Sanctuary Premises and we went to a one room with a very nice view over the sea.

Cigdem taught me the full 90 minutes class and she was so good! It was mind blowing. We only started this training little over 3 weeks ago and now we're actually speaking 90 minutes full on! When they told us to 'trust the process' (tongue in cheek) we were a little bit hesitant, but now I really must agree with them. Whoever came up with this teaching training - I tip my hat to you. It does really work!

Today, it was my turn to do my first 90 minute class. After morning yoga I spent an hour in the steam room to open my lungs and relax my body (I love that room!) and after lunch it was time to bite the bullet. We went to the same room and Cigdem was my student. She was such a sweetheart and really worked hard to give me her best practice - I really appreciate it. I kept on talking and teaching 99 minutes (9 minutes overtime) and felt really good. The teachers came to check on us, but were really discreet, I didn't even notice them all. I still can't believe I was able to do it AND my student gave me stellar ratings :). I need to work more on the floor series and in fluency to hit the 90 minute mark. My student told me it's because I'm a perfectionist, that I want to correct everything, which is kind of true. But for the first time, it was pretty good!

Now we're divided into peer groups. I will be teaching my next class together with another student on Sunday. We will divide the class into two and will do some of the standing and floor series each. There are 6 of us in each group, so the class is more crowded and will take us closer to experiencing bigger size classes. Next week when the actual training is over, I will give my first public class and I'm sure that will get my heart racing. But as John says - your heart races, but your breathing never does :)

So the heat is really on and I'm feeling, well quite blissful. If you're considering teacher training I can fully recommend this one. We had soooo many struggles in the beginning and now every single one of us is doing so well. I came here to find out if I wanted to teach yoga and if I could do it. Today I got my answer. I feel that I've finally found my calling.

Thanks for reading, more entries soon.