I N T E N T I O N

My intention this month is
Courageously Take the Seat of the Teacher and Practice Teaching.

the final exam and coursework are due this week!

P R A C T I C E

Practice daily. Use your daily practice to cultivate your technique. Enjoy the Sacred Preparation LIFT OFF playlist on Spotify. We are working with the seventh chakra Sahasrara. The practice theme for this month is Aura. See the Virtual Class Studio or Live Class Recordings to support your practice and learning.

M E D I T A T I O N

Practice daily for 3-11 minutes. Use your meditation this month to elevate your consciousness.

C O U R S E W O R K

The Final Exam and Coursework are due this week!

J O U R N A L

Reflect on this experience.

O N G E N E V A

Share encouraging words and get ready for the Community Classes and Celebration!!

Prep
Bring your questions, comments, thoughts

Call Flow
11:30am-11:45am (15min) Opening: Tias Little Quote from The Practice is the Path
11:45am-12:15pm (30 min) Talk Topics: What’s Next?
12:15pm-12:45pm (30 min) Forum/Conversation: Open
12:45pm-1pm (15 min) Questions and Closing

Opening: Tias Little Quote from The Practice is the Path

In the beginning, the path is often defined by attitudes and beliefs that we bring to the mat. 

Within our connective tissues we hold a history — a personal narrative of thoughts, memories, and ideals. We may harbor inflated (or deflated) expectations of ourselves. Much is at stake, and a potentially crippling crisis arises. Caught in the quandary of self, we struggle with feelings of pride or shame. There is anxiety and a gnawing apprehension: Am I getting this right? Am I good enough? Am I worthy? Unbeknownst to ourselves, we each lug around a heavy pack stuffed with a longing for acceptance and a fear of rejection. 

At the beginning of the trail, and from a vantage point that is extremely limited, we equip ourselves with ideas and beliefs about the journey. In the beginning we make elaborate assumptions about the way we should be. The soul is yet to pass through the gates of fire, loneliness, and deep silence that build maturity and wisdom. We have yet to experience loss and suffering and to witness directly the beauty and fallibility of our own small, fragile selves. 

When we first come to the mat, our beliefs may have been molded by an overarching religious structure that is wont to divide the world in two: right and wrong, good and bad, male and female, pure and sullied, true and false. Armed with fixed convictions, we unwittingly block the flow of the soul-self, which is fluid, shadowy, polymorphous, and full of a raw and wild energy. 

The enduring spirit of the soul-self is nonconforming. 

At the beginning of a yoga path, we may simply wish to become sleeker, sexier, more efficient, or more powerful. We may have a burning desire to get away from where we are. Progress on the path typically becomes a kind of self-improvement project. We may use the practice as a means to escape either the pressures of work, our personal history, or the drone of our own thoughts. Because we are driven by self-interest, the path is inevitably narrow, and we can only see a few yards ahead. 

These first years involve hardship. Physical hardship. We experience pain in our knees, back, and shoulders. In many instances, we seek out physical hardship through “power” practices that are strenuous and uncompromising.

 If we make it through the early trials of practice, the body and mind start to break open. We become less constricted and guarded, less myopic. The dimensions of the path widen, and we begin to see bigger and broader horizons. The path is no longer prescribed by our three-by-six sticky mat. 

From the vantage point of a more panoramic view, we become more available to others. In the flow of our daily lives we are more adaptable, more able to meet the demands of changing circumstances. One of my Zen teachers would always ask, “How wide is your path?” 

Might we see in time that the path is everywhere? Might the way of our path, like the old Tao, include all things? (In this book) we will travel the path together, a path that enables us to see beyond the confines of our own perspective. Each vista on the path is inevitably circumscribed by the view we are afforded, just as we must experience the world from the limited standpoint of our own small selves. 

In the journey that lies ahead, we must leave behind the person we always thought we should be and travel, step by step, to where we are. There is really only one way to do this, for as we will see (in the chapters ahead),  the practice is the path.

-Tias Little Santa Fe, New Mexico August 2019 

Next Steps

Celebrate at Beckets

Rest

Wrap up email will come your way with a survey and of these next steps.

You will have access to everything as it is until August 15, at minimum. So take time to review, glean notes. 

Submit your certificate to YA and become an RYT-200

Take each of the following steps slowly …

Get your bio edited and ready to send

Have your picture taken

Take classes where you would like to teach

Ask to be on sub lists, don’t be surprised if there is hesitation because often there is hiring admin that needs to be considered

Apply to teach a class - currently we have no yoga classes after 4:30pm at the 20th St. Y

Work your business plan, continue your education, and practice.

If you would like to continue working with me, you have options and I would be thrilled!

Join my Geneva: Kat's Class Yoga Community .. I’m divesting from a lot of social media, but I’m going to begin inviting students to join me there. There is also already a OYTT Alumni Geneva room that you can join - this is where you can connect. I’ll post up opportunities, training and continued education, resources, and make announcements.

7 weeks for 7 chakras .. begins April 16 - in person at Arise (I’ll also be recording it so that if the time does work you can still do it.) We’ll take 7 full weeks to map yourself through the chakras.

Immersion .. begins April 24 - call and self-study (this counts for all of your 30 hrs of continuing education)

Mentorship … I ask that you commit to a minimum of 4 sessions. Mentorship can also count as continuing education in the categories of Yoga Lifestyle, Technique, Training and Practice, and Teaching Methodology. I offer that on a sliding scale, but since you are my YTT grads (to be), choose the lowest option, which is $25 a session. My email inbox is always open for you as well. I am happy to correspond with you here, but if it starts to get a lot more complicated, I might say, hey, it sounds like you need a session.

Personal announcement: I’m starting YTT this weekend with Selena Garefino whom I also now receive coaching from, finally - a year later, after our first session.

Closing: I have loved getting to know you and this time has changed my life - you have all changed my life and I am so grateful. Thank you. If you wish, we can pick this up tomorrow.

Please note: there was an issue with the sound recording during the practice so it was deleted. The sequence flow is included in the notes.

Closing Ceremony

We are going to start with short movement practice about 10 minutes.

We’ll spend some time writing, coming up with some potent questions to ask yourself. 

Your questions can be about any area of your life. (refer back to Angelus Chakra Six, LIFE DESIGN)

We’re going to cast a circle of protection to make this time and space sacred.

This is being recorded so if you want to spend a little extra time with this ceremony later you can. The New Moon is on Monday, which is also an Eclipse. My intention is to actually to go through this once and then sit with it until the New Moon and do it again. You are welcome to do that if you wish. At the end I have some more specific details on that, otherwise we can allow this to be what it is now.

Come up with three questions.

As you are coming up with the questions, free write your thoughts and feelings until you land upon a question.

Your questions can be about any area of your life. (refer back to Chakra Six, LIFE DESIGN)

Your questions can be about yourself, someone you know, or someone who hasn't even come into your life yet. Which direction you want to go. Where you want to live. It can be about anything. 

And those questions are going to come to you intuitively. So don’t feel like you have to come up with something that's not arriving naturally. 

I don’t want you to be shy when coming up with these questions. Allow yourself the freedom to have these questions arise. Often we seek answers, but we don't ask the questions we need to ask. No one is going to see these questions but you. No questions are silly or wrong in anyway. 

These need not be yes/no questions. The best questions are open ended. Question that don’t have a yes or no answer. 

The best questions do not use "enough" or “more” rather "When" or "How."

The best questions define expectations, are measurable, and are specific to what is being asked.

The best questions are not compound questions; do not include two questions in one.

Ask questions you really want to know!

Don't worry about whether you are doing it right or wrong. These questions are going to arise through your meditation, through your practice.

A good example would be … you wouldn’t ask .. Will I be happy? … but … How do I keep happiness alive?

Write and write and you're going to begin to land on land on three questions.

As we go into meditation, after we move, I’d like for you to listen for these questions, you can write down anything that comes to your during your meditation, but see if you can create a bit of space for quiet during that meditation time. So make sure you have a pen and paper near by. Make sure you have a bit of room to move and if you are seated you can do some of these things seated and modify.  

Let’s get started.

So we are creating a circle of protection around us, we are calling and casting in sacredness around us for this time.

So I am going to cast this circle for us. I am going to speak an affirmation. And then we will into movement, meditation, writing. 

I would also like to express my gratitude to each and every one of you for going on this journey 7 month journey with me. It has been intense, but we had a lot of fun, and we have all learned an incredible about. The level of transformation is only going to deepen over time, over the course of your engagement with this practice as teacher and as a teacher, hopefully both. I am very grateful to your for trusting me with your most precious resource, your time. I’m grateful that you have been real with me, open with me. I felt free to be authentic, to be myself. Thank you very much.

Please gently close your eyes.

Affirmation

I sit here in peace and protection.

To feel the universal intelligence of Light in my body.

Each chakra up my spine stores miracles waiting to happen.

I prepare to allow each center to build, open, and receive all messages from the Universe.

I detach from my expectations of what I think this looks and feels like and I turn in to what the universe has to share.

In my root I am secure.

In my belly I dwell.

In my solar plexus I bring forth strength.

In my heart I embrace love.

I hear for I am in tune.

I see for I am clear.

I know sit it silence and embrace the messages that I receive.

Practice

Table top

Cat cow

Connect to each chakra along the spine

Down dog - 7 breaths

Forward fold - 7 breathes

Ardha uttanasa to uttansana - 3 times

Eagle arms in tadasana and fold grab opposite legs.

Crescent R

Pyramid

Forward fold

Eagle arms in tadasana and fold to trap opposite legs

Behind to let got the external and go inside

Crescent L

Pyramid

Forward fold - uttansana

Tadasana

Uttansana

Up dog

Plank to floor

Down dog

Child’s pose

Meditate 5 min.

Begin to think about some questions.

Your questions can be about any area of your life. About yourself, someone you know, someone you haven’t met yet, a new job, a new home. These questions are personal, and intimate. The best questions don’t ask more or enough, the ask when or how.

Ask questions you really want to know.

Take a moment to connect with to or image a part of yourself that is all-knowing. I know it can be hard to believe but you can predict anything you want to know about the future.

What the futures ends up as we cannot tell. But there is a part of you that knows. And you are going to give yourself a gift. The gift is an answer to any of the three questions of your choice. Which questions would you ask?

As you’re coming up with questions, free write your thoughts and feelings until you land on a question - it can be about anything.

Ask yourself questions and what you want to know. The truth is you already know what you want to know.

Go ahead and grab your piece and paper.

You can refine these questions later, but for now you are collecting information.

A question like … will I be happy? Happy is an end state .. and happiness comes with complications. Instead of creating complications for yourself .. ask .. how do I keep joy alive in my heart? How do I take what I already have and let it be in service of other people … for example

Write 7 min.

Wrap up the sentence your on and put your pen down and close your eyes again.

Take a moment to sweep your breath through your entire body and let what I say next to land in your heart.

I am willing to open my mind to the growth of my self knowledge, to the growth of my knowing.
I am invoking the powers within to enhance my life for the good and positive.
My intuition, my knowing reaches its highest expression.
I affirm my oneness with Source, with Universal Life Energy and I’ll pay close attention to messages I receive.
I will examine my hunches to examine how accurate I am. Surround me with additional vibrations needed to reach my knowing potential.

And so it is. 

Look at your first question, your second, and your third. Take the next 2 minutes to refine those questions and then we will close our writing with meditation. 

Go ahead and wrap up your writing again, then find your seat once more and close your eyes. We’ll spend a few moments in meditation before we close this circle. As we do, listen for the answers to your questions, write them down if you wish. 

(silence)

Keep your eyes closed for a moment longer and take yourself through your whole system, reflecting on the last several months, the lessons of last month and this month so far. Your sense of knowing, your crown. Then bring your attention to your midbrain, your third-eye - consider the lessons of sight and vision you received. From there bring your attention to the base of your throat, consider what you have listened to and said. Then allow yourself to drop generously into the space of the heart, feeling deep breaths and you expand your ribs and lungs. Allow yourself to land and dwell in this heart space. Then drop into the power of your belly, your sense of self, your strength. Then from there dip into the pool of your pelvis. Allow yourself to soak there for a moment, before rooting deep into the earth, feeling your ground of being. I would like for your hands to find your heart. Honor your practice. Honor this journey that you have almost completed. See if you can hold gratitude in your heart for this experience and for those - sisters and brothers that  shared this time with you.

Thank you for your time and attention. Thank you for your practice. Namaste.

I wanted to open up some space for questions, and I will talk about a few things before we close. 

This is the start of the path, there’s lots more to learn and there are things that you will continuously learn overtime.  I would like to offer up my time as a resource as you get started, formally through mentorship, but my email inbox is always open for you. Learning happens over time so be patient with yourself. Continue to practice, find a teacher you can trust and count on and your will grow in way you cannot even imagine. 

Along with my children and husband, teaching yoga has been the best gift of my life. My practice has taken me through everything challenging in my life and it always leaves with me a sense of wonder, awe, and joy. So please don’t stop, please stay on the path. 

A wrap up email will come your way with a short survey and next steps. So any questions about that may be answered in that email. So if you have other questions, please ask them now - about anything. 

Take time today to revisit these questions, refine the questions and continue to listen for the answers. 

Live the questions. 

If you are willing, I would like for you to sit with these questions in meditation each day until the new moon (April 8). Then write the answer on a small piece of paper and set them aflame (safely) to release the intentions out to the Universe.