The Teacher Training has Begun

The Yoga Teacher Training at Rama Lotus began this weekend and I'm really delighted to be a part of it. Teaching a group of highly motivated students is quite different than teaching non-optional yoga classes although the material is the same! (That's not entirely true as in the YTT we're going into way more depth, but it is the same stuff.)

When groups of people get together for trainings of this nature, things happen and some of it is stuff we like and some of it is stuff we don't like. Resistance will likely show up at some point. Then we get to practise being with ourselves in a way that can really make a difference. It's when we're in resistance that we tend to bother the people around us, not when we're moving ahead.

Removing the obstacles by observing where they are and getting them out of the way is a useful practice. I say this because I'm in a course myself that goes for 7 months and I am experiencing resistance there too! The obstacles are what can blow the whole thing - all the great work you've put in, all the great ideas and plans - and it's important to know that they're there.

We acknowledged the resistance on Friday night as the course began and just suggested that it might come up. Even though (especially because) we're doing yoga and people are spending the weekends doing what they love, resistance will still come up. It doesn't matter what we're doing really - just trying to get together and honour our commitment will have the places where we're not committed show up.

So we don't need to pretend it's all "nice-nice," just because we're practising yoga. In fact, practising yoga can be like hauling out the trash, because you're removing the parts that aren't you and getting them out of the way, and sometimes those parts are smelly and are not part of a picture people have of themselves as yoga teachers/practitioners.

Ultimately though, practising yoga, digging deep and working on yourself will make you nicer, or seem to, because your obstacles will be reduced or you'll be well aware of them, which has a similar effect because to acknowledge how things are is about as good as we're going to get - perfection as an ideal isn't real. Knowing what stops you and being honest about that has a calming effect on the people around you, ever notice that? So you may not get "nicer," but it will seem that way because you'll be able to be with reality, which includes the people around you, who are the ones that get to decide whether you are nice and good to be with or not.

Anyways, the training has started and I love watching the transformation that happens as people begin to get yoga and get themselves and create a group that lifts the whole community. The bonds that are formed in the YTT support the whole centre and go beyond it.