Yoga teacher training – part 3

The final week of my yoga teacher training course starts in a flurry of activity! Meal times are spent quizzing each other on Sanskrit names of the asanas and cramming sessions for self-study.  Every free moment is spent helping each other with our adjustment and alignment of the postures. Our newly acquired knowledge on pranayama (yogic breathing techniques) is put to the test as we lead pranayama classes for each other.

Every day our final examination creeps closer and closer. What started out a few weeks previously as an initially very relaxing learning process was quickly intensifying as we neared the completion of our yoga teacher training.

The daily dance meditation or yoga nidra classes become firm favourites. For one and a half precious hours each day we released all of the thoughts and pressures from our stressed and overactive minds.  Whenever the opportunity arises to take a long walk on the beach together, we jumped at the chance to spend some time talking of our dreams and how far we had progressed.  There was still some calm found during a seemingly chaotic time.

As examination day looms the pressure is palpable in the air. Suddenly the once chatty meal breaks become silent, pens furiously scribbling, noses buried in piles of books. What is this mudra? What asanas should women avoid in pregnancy? What is the hatha yoga sequence? What are the five don’ts of yoga? and so on the study continues.

It is during these last few days I become incredibly grateful for the meditation techniques I have come to learn, and steal a quiet moment whenever I can to put them into practice.

What started out a few weeks previously as an initially very relaxing learning process was quickly intensifying as we neared the completion of our yoga teacher training.

On the final two days we teach each other a final class.  What an amazing experience! Here are four completely different humans, joined on this journey together being able to apply this wealth of knowledge we have been given. It was so wonderful to see how much each of us had grown, to the point where we could each lead a flowing and beneficial yoga class.

The memory will always stay with me after we had each completed our final teaching session: The heart-felt applause, positive feedback and the new-found deep respect for our teachers, each other and ourselves on this shared journey.

In consideration to the last four weeks, the exam proved to be the easiest part! My pen had trouble keeping up with my brain as I applied all of this new-found knowledge to paper. What a relief to be done. I put down my pen, and with a grin from ear-to-ear I hand in my answer sheet to my also beaming teacher!

That afternoon as the sun was starting to sink over the Arabian Sea, the four of us sat dressed in our whites before our teachers. One by one our names were called as we moved forward to receive a garland of flowers and a certificate stating that we had completed the requirements to become a yoga teacher.

In the four weeks I had not felt so excited, and boy was the excitement contagious! The joy flowing from all of us filling the air around our beings was electric! With the formalities over we ran to the beach to say goodbye to such a beautiful day in Goa.

With a heart full of gratitude I said my thanks to the universe while holding hands with my beautiful yogi friends.  It dawned on me that while our yoga teacher training course had ended it was not the end of the journey.

Quite the opposite really.  This was only just the very beginning.