The third week – the path of yoga
Stress of a yoga course
Stress is not the first thing that would pop into my mind when thinking about a yoga course, but this is also a part of reality. At the end of the second and beginning of the third week there was so much tension. I was puzzled in the triangle of letting things go, living the present moment and the exams. Not even mentioning the preparation to my classes, to my teaching practice. We spend the whole day in the school, our program is super intensive only with a few breaks that is barely enough to eat and reboot between the classes. So, when shall I study? When to prepare for my teaching practice? Shall I study or just swim in the sea? Or shall I go to the nearby café to have a chat with my inspiring teammates? Or I just need some me time to be alone, relax and daydream? And what to do on Sunday? Massage or spending the day with studying? There’s no right or wrong answer, but one day is only 24 hours over here as well, and I can’t squeeze in everything I want to. You may frown as you read this wishing to have problems like this. But in this physically, mentally and emotionally charged period this is just extra stress, when you need to meet so many different expectations. And while the greatest teaching of yoga for me is to listen to my body and to my heart and follow the rhythm I know I need, calm my mind and not to push too hard – the prussian style tests and the preparation for them doesn’t seem to be yogic at all.
Teaching
We start teaching this week. Everyone has a class twice. We teach just small groups, what I find a good start. My group is really cool – but true, it would’ve been impossible to have a bad team here. We make our first steps together with Adam, a guy from the US, Eva a girl from the Netherlands and with Sabrina from Germany. My first teaching practice was a 90 minutes class. This was a nice challenge for me. I worried about finding the right words, saying the right instructions while showing the poses and using up the time allocated to me. I made a plan, and used my Tuesday lunch break in an empty yoga hall to practice the whole sequence, give instructions to my imaginary students and to measure the time. It was time well invested, good for my body and for my soul as well, so I felt relaxed before my class. The greatest support came from Ishi: as a yoga teacher I don’t need to be better, more fit, more spiritual or more anything, I simply have to teach what I love in yoga, share the passion I have and have fun. This switched something in me. I was thinking about how much I like the poses that I chose for this practice, I have my very favourites among them, so I will love my sequence for sure. I was smiling throughout my whole class. I was enthusiastic and was happy to be there and share. Of course the old myself didn’t disappear: I worried a bit about the time, but it was also OK at the end. And of course I worried about my Friday class. Here I prepared differently, as I had no time to physically practice the whole sequence again. I planned the updated version, and visualized it. I closed my eyes and imagined the flow, watching every detail as a movie. It went well, I am happy with the asanas and the flow. I got some recommendations, some advice on what to say and what not, and what to pay attention to as it might be important. So, I only need to prepare for my last teaching practice for next Wednesday.
Financial and emotional chaos
I had no idea, that this island can be so expensive and I will have so much trouble with managing my finances. My main challenge was my accommodation in December. I got the information, that the hostel of the yoga school – where the volunteers stay usually for a relatively low price – won’t open until the mid of December. This is not exactly an uplifting news, as I was counting on this option. Then I was told, that the price doubles for December. Well. No, thanks. This all, 10 days before December. Deep breath. Relax.
I didn’t find a reasonably priced accommodation for full December at my first attempt in early November, so this project seemed a great challenge. Finally yesterday I booked a cute place close by, for a bit higher price than planned. But I liked the place and the vibe there. Then during the night I received a note, that it was a mistake, they don’t rent out the place for a monthly price in December, so I either stay only for 3 weeks, or pay way more for the full month, or they pay back my deposit and I look for another place. I’m still considering the response I will have on this.
Money should not be such a big issue. I thought I made peace with this when I left my office job last year. But I had to face it here again, that when two people say, that they don’t have much money, it can actually mean totally different things. Everything is so relative. Especially when a community is about to be formed and the main shared activity is to eat well in nice restaurants, that happen to be more expensive than the places I used to eat at in Budapest. So if I join the group, I have to spare money later. If I don’t go, the next day I won’t understand the references to the stories and experiences shared, we won’t release tension together and I will feel as an outsider. This creates a lot of tension for me, from the beginning, and I find hard to find the balance. Yep, I know, I should let it go and enjoy my time here.
The flip flops disappear
The flip flops just come and go in this island. Maybe because before entering to every restaurant, shop, café, office, yoga hall – so basically everywhere, we get the shoes off, and get in barefoot. So in front if every door you see plenty of flip flops, and maybe the less attentive ones go home in something different that they arrived in. This is how my brand new, Indonesian flip flop went missing. I waited a couple of days hoping for the new owner to return them. Many flip flops disappear in the yoga school, but many also appear after a while. Many, but not mine. I bought a new pair of them and gave some secret power to them. Whoever takes them from me without me knowing it, bad karma on him/her…
Why do yogis wake up early?
We are told, that traditionally they wake up with the sun, have asana practice right after, and once finished they go on with the day as everyone else. Bug we figured out their secret. There are so many things to do before the day starts. Among others, the morning cleansing techniques, that is way more than the classic brushing the teeth and washing the face. The basic routine every morning before anything else starts with cleaning the root of the tongue with a little tool designed for this (not too special, similar tools are available in Europe too). After this comes the cleansing the gum and the mouth with salt. An alternative to this is using pure coconut oil and rinsing mouth with it for 15 minutes. The next one is my favorite: cleaning the nostrils with salty water, that sounds surreal, but is actually a good feeling. We finish the routine with washing the eyes with salty water, that is actually not as easy as it sounds. We should blink a couple of times in the salty water, but it keeps flowing out of my palm. I guess I need a small glass for mastering it.
Once we finished these four, we can continue with an exotic routine (totally optional): drink a lot of salty water and vomit it right after to clean your stomach. This is followed by pranayama breathing technique, focused on the belly, on the stomach, then moving the abdominal muscles so that they do a whirling movement, that is massaging the internal organs.
If finished with this as well, we can drink a bit of water and can start the one hour long meditation and continue with the 1,5-2 hours long yoga practice. So, then the day begins.
Asanas
Did I tell, that I can do the headstand? Not only did it once for the show, but I can do it every time it is in any if the sequence we do. I was also the model on that class when the pose was analysed and I held it for minutes while our teacher was explaining it to us.
Physically this was the most exhausting week. We went through two really intense weeks, now we give classes for each other, that are assessed by our teachers, so everyone wants to perform well, that result in strong sequences. Yesterday every was really tired and prayed for the end of the day to have some rest on our only free day.
“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” – The Bhagavad Gita
This is an amazing journey. I am grateful to my body every single moment, and I tell how much I love it for allowing me to go through this training. It gets ip super early for me, even though it would sleep until at least 9 am. It is practicing with me, assists to the deep bendings, goes through the trillion+ vinyasa and even if it is trembling, still holds the next boat pose. And ignores the always renewed attack of mosquitoes. I’m grateful for myself.