I waived the white flag this weekend and by that I mean my white cropped hoodie…because I was sweating as I surrendered!
My word of the weekend is: SURRENDER
Warrior's surrender and we can see that as a negative thing but it’s really sometimes beautiful.
We are all warriors
We are going through life’s challenges and sometimes we need to wave the white flag. And weekend #3 of yoga teacher training was a white-flag waving moment for me. But before you think I gave up on the training, let me explain!
I had a knee injury and had to have surgery a year ago this month and I am still recovering. It drives me crazy and frustrates me to no end but even saying that, I know that it had to happen for a reason. I believe that reason was to slow me down but I am still exploring the why behind it all. So this brings me to my white flag moment of surrender.
I cried like a baby
I was able to hold it in during class but as I recorded myself on the way home (that’s how I capture all this goodness by the way - voice recordings are amazing!), I was crying. Because I was in pain mostly but also because I was waving the white flag.
Weekend #3 was another amazing weekend that I learned so much but unfortunately my knee was not cool with how much I pushed it. I knew it was tight and not feeling great as we were breaking down Warrior 1 pose but I pushed through; like a Warrior! Unfortunately, several hours later my knee let me know that what I did was NOT OKAY and I paid for it. I was in so much pain during the afternoon sessions that for the last hour or hour and a half I had to pace in the back of the room. I couldn’t stand still or I would have broken down. At one point I thought about telling the instructors I had to leave but I paced and listened to yoga philosophy and did everything I could not to cry. I surrendered to my knee in that moment and said that I would not do that again.
The silver lining to my white cropped hoodie
Like many Warriors, one thing I realized during my battle this weekend was that I have some serious support in that room. I can’t tell you how much I was impacted by my fellow Warriors. Several of my fellow students asked how I was feeling as they could tell things weren’t quite normal with me, the instructors were incredibly kind and understanding and I even had one fellow student, who is a Reiki Master, give me a treatment before the class on Sunday. Seriously, having others in battle with is a game-changer!
And in addition to all of that, the actual teachings of this weekend were great too! Like I mentioned, we broke down Warrior 1 but we also took our first steps into Pranayama. Breathing techniques have always been of interest to me as I learned several after going through some traumatic experiences in my life and now I know the anatomy behind it all. It’s truly fascinating!
What you speak actually happens...for real!
Plus, the super bonus for me this weekend was this: I posted on my Instagram last week that I have not belly-laughed in too long and how I wanted to change that. Enter = yoga teacher training. I literally belly-laughed several times!!! What you speak, happens. I believe it! Want to hear the most funny one? Good, because I was going to tell you anyway! The subject that stops so many people from attending a yoga class came up...farts. Yep, I said it. Farting in class is real and we talked about it. And I loved the instructors comments:
"I actually take it as a compliment because that means you are really relaxed."
"I typically just ignore it. But hearing it is one thing, smelling it is another. My tip: get some essential oils on your hands and wave them as you walk around the room."
Hahahahahaha! This is what is great about my yoga teacher training. We are learning anatomy and yoga poses but we are also learning the day-to-day, actual things that will happen in class! I love it!
Just a few of my other takeaways:
Breath can truly transform your daily life
Breath can affect your posture and visa versa
I have practiced taught some more over the last 2 weeks so I am getting better. By no means am I great but I am getting better. Bless my poor husband for being my student. I need to keep practicing!
We had scripts for walking students through a pranayama exercise and oh how I love scripts!!! They were fabulous!
I have such an amazing small group, there are 3 of us who have partnered up and those ladies are A-MA-ZING! I feel so blessed that they sat next to me and we have partnered up. I am learning so much from them!
So, I surrendered this weekend and will likely have to keep waving that white flag for a while in training but because I have some amazing people surrounding me, I know I will still be successful.
Bring on the Savasana, with lots of bolsters and blocks for my gimpy knee. I am ready for some rest so I can gear up for the next weekend!
