EARTH - Week 1 Friday Call

Call notes

EARTH September  
A Daily Practice, Consistent Self-Care, Conditioning + Bodywork, And Purpose
Friday 11:30am - 1:00pm
Date: 9.7.24
WELCOME CALL

Call Flow

11:30-11:45 am (15 min) Opening: Welcome, Parker Palmer’s model for education

11:45am -12:15pm (30 min) Forum: Introductions and your why
*switch forum and talk for today

12:15-12:45 pm(30 min min) Talk: Program Structure, This week: creating habit formulas and tracking your progress, Your Why, next week.

12:45-1pm (15) Questions and Actions, Closing: The Path is the Practice 

Opening: Welcome

Hello!! and Welcome!! to Oshkosh Yoga Teacher Training at the Oshkosh Y 2024! 

You may be startled by the informal, casual quality, this is so as not to be too performative. 

Part of my self-care is to hold myself in high regard and one way I do this is to not be overly performative. Because if I am, it becomes more about me - as your teacher, your guide and less about the experience we all share together. 

The structure of this program is NOT top down. It’s not this subject (gesture upward) where I’m the expert and you are all amateurs, lol. It’s really we have this subject in the middle and we are all Knowers (gesture a circle), we all have something really magical, special to bring to the table. 

So I ask - of you and of myself as we begin, to show up authentically and truthfully. To dial your GPS to the experience you want to have. So that when I fail you or disappoint you, which I will, you can still have the experience that you want. 

I want an authentic experience - I want to hold space for you as you go through a sort of right of passage on your yoga and life journey and .. I am learning too. 

Parker Palmer’s model of education: subject in the center, knowers all around

Beginner's mind: when people think they know something they stop paying attention. May we approach each experience with a Beginners Mind

A beginner's mind allows for inquisitive curiosity, respect for others especially, their differences, an opening to more possibilities, and a greater capacity to hold more.

As my teacher says, take my word for nothing, practice everything.

Foundational to the process of becoming a yoga teacher is studentship. A masterful student holds a beginner's mind. In what ways can you remain teachable throughout the entirety of this experience and allow for the teachings to affect the whole of your life - externally with others and internally with yourself. All of this is a raft to get you somewhere, eventually we will surrender the raft so know that what works now, may not work later and stay open and be willing to change and grow.

You will experience challenges. Consider contraction as an opportunity to deepen conversation. To crack open protective shells and reveal vulnerabilities in the form of asking questions, sitting in silence, reflecting, and reaching out.

Slow down. 

It takes time. Anything worth pursuing does.  

Trust the process.

Information becomes knowledge when you can use it and when you use it, you can teach it! 

So, let’s begin with ..

Introductions

Brandy, the Y. Kat, background, guest teachers (and why they are guests), what to expect

Who you are, your history. I’m Kat. Since 2005 I have been becoming a yoga teacher. I took my first class in the early 2000s because of Gwenyth Paltrow and Madonna’s arms in the movie The Next Best Thing with Rupert Evert where she has a one night stand with her gay best friend and they have baby and rise the baby but then madonna meets .. and she wants to have a family, bla bla bla - it’s a very dated movie with 1999 problems in the plot. So in my twenties I started practicing yoga - I was an athlete, I played college volleyball, I spent a lot time training for triathlons and i started to experience pain in my knee and the doctor said I needed to stop training and I was like but i have this race coming up, so I practiced yoga and ran the race and I did great so I was like there is something to this. Then I met and married my former husband. He was a Marine so we moved overseas. I worked for the state department at the US Embassy to Cote D'Ivoire, which is in West Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and at the US Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany. When we returned to the states I was at a climbing gm and saw these climbers moving with grace and strength and I was like, how?, and I want  .. they were yoga students and there was a yoga studio on my way to work, I lived in Old Town Alexandria and walked by a studio everyday and one day I took a class after work and then kept going back, and we moved to North Carolina and I started practicing at the studio there and then 5 years later I took a yoga workshop with Simon Park and that was it, I was in. I signed up for teaching training because I started asking my teachers for books and such and they said, you might want to consider teacher training. So I signed up and have been teaching ever since. I’ve studied with world-renowned teachers, I read every book I could and I followed this path that took me from my first class to now. You can check out my bio to see who I've studied with and what. My current teacher is Selena Garefino - you can find her on instagram. I’m happily married to Nathan, he’s a Hospital Chaplain and Spiritual Director. We created two children. Brendan and Owen - 13 and 10. Brendan uses a wheelchair because he has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Owen is full of raw and wild energy. We love being their parents. Brendan has a service dog - Harley, she’s a yellow lab. We have a Welsh Terrier, his name is Wendell Berry. He is a trained therapy dog and accompanies Nate in the hospital twice a week. 

Please introduce yourself. Share how long you have been practicing, if you have taught any yoga or other classes. Where you are from. Anything else you want to share about your life. And, because I’m me and this helps to tailor my approach to each of you individually, I would also love to know your sun, moon, and rising sign and your enneagram.

https://astro.cafeastrology.com/
https://enneagramexplained.com/how-to-find-your-enneagram-type/

why/how I created this YTT - because I love yoga and I want to steep in this practice - and my ability to steep in learning creates a place where learning happens.  

What my program stands for - just like in my classes and with me as a person, I stand for authenticity, and my goal for my student's experience - is that you feel safe. 

Big promise: My big promise is that you will be able to teach yoga classes with substance. 

Ask: So some of the questions I’m asking myself are:

What topics do you need to learn to reach the big promise?
How will I effectively deliver your (sacred) content?
How can what I say (my talking topics) support the ethos (ethos:   )? - I don’t know what that is yet.
What encouraging words can I leave you with, how can I support you? - You’re going to need to tell me because I am going to ask that question.

I combine video/audio learning with practice, meditation, journaling, coursework, reading with real time engagement through Geneva, weekly calls, and clinics. This combination is my unique recipe and, therefore, my content (columns on my YTT spreadsheet), which is how I support and build upon my topics. 

*Intentionality is everything when it comes to creating deep and meaningful experiences. For every reason, there is a rhyme. Everything that I do (in this course and others) is designed with reason and rhyme. I am curating an experience where every word, every act, and element takes on a symbolic meaning. Curating symbolism is how you speak to the subconscious mind. This is how you facilitate wholeness and totality in the learning experiences you design by finding those gossamer threads of meaning, linking your content, and making logical connections.

Documents:

Each of your instructional lessons or POV should be accompanied by instructional materials.

What worksheet, presentation slide, manual, or analog art could you create that will guide your audience through the content, support their learning, and allow them to use critical thinking skills to process and implement the instructional content you lead?

Re-cap: I am going to try to recap things for you. I’m going to be asking myself .. 

What elements, emotions, thought patterns, and circumstances must they consider? What do they need to know that they don't know?

What assignments will they complete? Like the seven-day intentions: What do they need to reiterate in this module and prepare for the next module?

What overall theme, feeling, or mood does each week invoke?

What tone do you want to set?

What is the general start-to-finish outline of the experience of the month/week?

What will they be doing or acting upon?

The being versus the doing/the philosophy versus the practicality/how do they implement?

What thoughts do you want to provoke?

What is the purpose of this week, call, clinic?

What do you have to say about the topic?

What topics support your unique point of view?

Each module has a sense of taking one step forward (in your framework). Meet your students where they are while giving them step-by-step subtopics to obtain the big result.

Promises

You will be able to teach yoga classes of substance.
That you will be able to make a difference in people's lives and make a difference in your own life.

Sacred Container set up

Framework

The seven-month program is organized around three levels: Level ONE Studentship, Level TWO Leadership, and Level THREE Spaceship/expansion

The intention of Studentship is to create a consistent personal yoga practice of substance and meaning.

How you'll spend your days.

You will create a personal daily schedule that works with the Ayurvedic concept of dinacharya, or daily routine. Within this structure, your body will realign to nature’s rhythms and you will feel more creative and vibrant.

We study the chakras as a map and engage with simple Ayurvedic practices to learn how to become your own healer and gain a clearer sense and expression of who you really are.

We layer your practice with asana, pranayama, mantra, mudra, prescriptive kundalini kryias, meditation, and the traditional 8 limbs. We dive into the history and evolution of yoga that will give you a new and expanded perspective of your practice.

An intimate group setting (12 max) allows for a meaningful connection with your lead and guest teachers, fellow students, and your own self. 

Structure / Container - explain about the course Workbook and  journal pages

I want you to take a moment each day and mind dump. I want you to take a moment each day to note your tasks and your events (appointments). I want you to take a moment each day to note your ideas. I want you to take a moment each day to plan, track, and take notes. 

Additionally you will keep a practice log that you will turn in. 

And you have a tracker that you will also turn in.

Earth

Foundations - 8 limbs

Asana, Breathwork, Meditation

The intention of level 1 is to immerse into the practice exploring how to get the most out of your time on the mat to create a sustaining yoga practice that will impact all areas of your life in a positive way.

September

This month is all about your personal practice.  

We start to learn technique in asana, pranayama and meditation. 

We also take a deeply personal dive using the chakra system as a map for self-understanding. This is challenging, so we start in week one to develop the framework for this whole entire program starting with daily practice. 

This includes self care, your personal yoga practice, and committing to a supportive conditioning and body work routine so you have the stamina and the strength to get through this program. 

Additionally, you will be asked to uncover an understanding of why you practice yoga and a broader purpose. What you begin to develop in week one and through this level; and will be a touchstone that you can return to again and again. 

So that when you have moments of doubt, which are guaranteed and a totally normal part of the process, you will have a stable ground of being from which to expand.

You may have moments of:

"what am I doing"

"what is this yoga"

"why am I here?"

"this is hard." 

And moments where you feel like you can't.  

In week two and three, we take a very intense dive into the chakra system. We have guest teacher and chakra expert, Erica Jago who wrote the book Angelus, which is a main text of this program. She’ll take us through what the chakras are and how that they can be applied in our yoga practice.

October 

In our second month we continue our self-care practices as we get to know Ayurveda. Yoga’s sister science, so we'll learn some really good self-care practices that are traditionally ayurvedic in nature to continue to develop a daily routine - something that you can count on for the remainder of these six months that we are together and to set the foundation for a lifelong practice.  We will also be getting into the history of yoga and briefly touch upon the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras.

Both are vast and require many many hours, even decasdes of study, The fullness of which is beyond  the scope of this program. We will get into Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga; it's really the tradition of yoga, it's the foundation on which our Western practices are built. We learn about ethical principles, we learn more about the reasons behind Asana and pranayama practice, we also learn some of the grander aspects of our practice which involve withdrawing from distraction - we're dealing with distraction, being able to concentrate and focus, being able to go into a state of meditation, and as well experience a sense of samadhi or Bliss

These first two months require a lot as we are setting up the foundation of potentially life long work. 

I want to reiterate that this is a life-changing experience. Inherent in all transformational work is a gamut of the full range of human emotions and experiences. So at this point, you might still be feeling very excited. You've committed, worked out much of logistics,  tomorrow you’ll have your books and workbooks, and manual. Perhaps you have a new mat or some new yoga clothes and you're full of hopeful, joyful, excitement!

In a couple weeks you're going to start to feel like "oh wow this is so much harder than I expected" and you'll go through these ups and downs and these highs and lows throughout this entire experience because that mirrors life.  I am here to support you every step of the way. I guarantee there's not a single thing I haven't heard before. People go through all sorts of experiences during a YTT. I have not had one program (this is my 8th time) where there hasn't been a breakup, where there hasn't been some sort of life change, so it will come. Know that you also have a group here that is going through this experience with you.  I am learning just as much as you are. So, may we please trust the process. This phrase is something I'm going to ask you to return to again and again and again - trust the process ....

Fire

Stepping in

Practice teaching

Air

Connection

Sound

Effective cueing

Sight

Threading a theme through the experience

Class design

Awareness + Consciousness

Space

Practice teaching

Sacred Container closing

A moment to breath, you can do it!

Intention
Informative and inspiring in a gentle, authentic way and that you feel safe to be yourself.

The Structure of the Program emphasis on setting a foundation, a frame.

• Platform / Manual  (screen share)

• Read, and watch the videos on the platform 

• link is in your email

• Workbook (which you will get tomorrow along with your books) which includes:

• Daily practice

• Daily meditation

• Journal prompts

• Coursework

• Reading - complete by the end of the month, book report due at the end for each

• Geneva conversations openers

Also in your workbook, at the top of each page you have: Day + Date (show camera)

➳ JOURNAL
﹢ MINDUMP
 ● TASK
-  IDEA
 ○ EVENT 

Use these icons to organize as thoughts arise. 

Then you have: Today I Choose

➳ SELF-CARE
➳ PRACTICE
➳ MEDITATION
➳ CONDITIONING
➳ BODYWORK
➳ NOURISHMENT
➳ HYDRATION
➳ SLEEP __HOURS

Use these to determine how you will use your time. By doing this, we are turning ideas into action and committing to follow through. 

There is a big difference between dreaming and reality. We are turning dreams into reality and developing manifestation as a skill. Expect things to not go as planned. Set yourself up to succeed. Allow your intention to be experienced through your actions.

• Weekly email - I send a  weekly email to keep you on track, it goes out on Sunday afternoon.
  

• Geneva - use for real time connection and conversation about your learning. We will get to anything we can in the time frame that we have and anything we don’t get to we can continue on Geneva. It is organized in rooms. The room will turn bold when there is new information. Set your notifications to on. Only engage with words so that we don’t get inundated with notifications when someone ‘likes’ something. Consider responding with words of affirmation and acknowledgment, sharing what came up for you in response to what was shared as well as thoughtful responses to the prompts. Something that I do is craft my responses in google notes, edit and then post it, so that I respond thoughtfully without the pressure to respond in the moment. We will be using Geneva for accountability, connection and conversations about your learning

• The Course Progress Tracker - for accountability (I’ll talk more about that in a moment). 
  

• Pre-submitted Qs via email - anything inside the scope of what you study in YTT. My aim is to help you master your confidence. Examples of pre-submitted Q's include (things that require a bit more thought) 

-  Big picture questions about your practice and your goals
-  Questions about your process and purpose. 

- Mindset issues or limiting beliefs you are working through.

- Receiving support when struggling or working through challenges.

- Practices you are mastering.

- Clarifying anything you are stuck on or unsure of.

• 1:1 Mentorship: you may schedule one session per level. You can schedule that via the link on the platform. If you need more, you can schedule - I have a very special fee for you for this during the program of $30 per session. You are welcome to email anytime.

• Partner/Pod - use direct message on geneva and make plans to meet - in person, online, however you wish. 

• Friday Calls - are meant to be interactive and conversational. 

• I want each of you to have a chance to speak and get support. We’ll do breakout rooms on some of the calls. We take time for Q + A.
  

• Saturday Clinics - are meant to be experiential and integrative, include class from 9-10am, typically we start with silent meditation and a check-in, then we dive into the content, work experientially, then there will be about a half hour at the end for questions.
  
  

• Classes - you are required to attend one class with me per week in addition to the Saturday class. My weekly class schedule is:

• Tues/Thur 9-10am Flow and 10:10-11am Restorative at the Downtown Y

• I am recording practices for you on the portal. So if  your schedule does not allow you to attend live, you work with the recording. Please schedule time in your calendar to take class.

Questions?

What you are working on in this first week

• Creating a daily personal practice.

• Creating a sustaining self-care routine.

• Creating a supportive and balanced conditioning and bodywork schedule.

• Intuiting the why of your practice and crafting a vision that serves others.

CLOSING: The Path is the Practice, Tias Little

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

syncretic: The Emerald podcast episode

Studentship EARTH - Week 1 Session 1: The Importance of Self-care

Discussion
You can’t pour from an empty cup. 

• When you take good care of yourself, the quality of your experience: while teaching, living, working, completing daily tasks, is more satisfying. When it’s more satisfying, it becomes more attractive, and easier; self-care then, becomes an obvious choice - something you look forward to - a gift you give yourself. 

• Out of consistent self-care practices comes a generosity, a warmth, and a confidence which puts others at ease and at the same time, inspires them.

• Dinacharya, translates simply as a daily routine. Later on we will get into some of the specific yogic self-care practices as they apply to your unique ayurvedic constitution and where you are in the arc of your life. A dinacharya could include: 

  • Meditation

  • Asana practice

  • Breathwork / Pranayama

  • Cleansing: starting the day with warm water and lemon or lime, taking care of your skin and other sense organs, dry brushing for your lymphatic system, and bathing

  • Eating to support and nourish for longevity in alignment with your constitution

  • Exercise: cardio + strength training

  • Getting outdoors

  • Appreciation and awareness of seasons and natural cycles

  • Working and living in alignment with your values

  • Stewardship of: body, mind, soul, relationships, family, children, home, land (yard), familiars (pets, birds, bees, insects, amphibians, and other mammals)

  • Rest, recovery

  • Fun, doing nothing

  • Learning, consuming, digesting

  • Sleep hygiene

  • Professional care - bodywork: massage, acupuncture; therapy, primary care, other healing modalities

Other Topics

• Mental health

• Disability/limitation

• Habit architecture

Studentship EARTH Week 1 : Session 2 - Personal Practice

Discussion

• An important aspect of yoga practice is developing a personal practice - a devoted sadhana, time spent each day where you meet yourself on the mat.

• It is from here that you will find everything you need (to teach excellent classes). 

• This is where you honor the practice, the lineage and make it your own. 

• Studying and learning are important aspects, and, it is the time and space you devote to developing your practice independently where your practice evolves and matures and becomes a real act of service - to yourself, your people and the whole world. 

• To be clear - a personal practice is, in part, taking classes, learning directly from teachers, reading, etc., and it is a quiet devotional time where you connect into the deep flow and source of Yoga that is already available to you.

• The Yoga Sutra (1:14) says that practice must be consistent, sustained over a long period of time, and devotional. 

• Your practice will continue to change and evolve over the years. It will be influenced by your personal life, age, responsibilities, the seasons, time of the day, the moon, injury, etc. 

• Practice is cumulative, so it doesn't matter so much what your practice is on any given day, what matters is your consistency, attentiveness, devotion, and your commitment to practice. 

 “During the next 40 days, I will partake 

in at least [MINUTES] of [NAME] practice 

on [DAY] at [TIME] in [PLACE]. “

“During the next 40 days, I will partake 

in at least _____________of _______________ practice 

on _____________ at _____________ in _____________. “

Earth - Week 1 Session 3: Conditioning + Bodywork

Discussion
A personal and teaching practice is maintained and sustained through the body. Therefore, having consistent conditioning and recovery practices are encouraged.

Conditioning can include:

• Strength training

• Cardio

• Cross-training

• Pilates

• Eccentrics

• Taking classes

• Playing sports

• Walking

• Hiking

• House or garden work

• Diet

  • Yogic diet

  • Vegan diet

Local Bodywork Resources

• Bartelt Acupuncture

• Courtney Cowie, massage therapy

• Fletcher Chiropractic, Dr. Kim Fletcher

• Liz Anderson, esthetician 

At the Y

• Whirlpool

• Steam room and Sauna

• Foam rolling

Conditioning Resources

• Oshkosh YMCA

• Y360

• Peloton

• Glo.com

• Ardent Fitness in Oshkosh

EARTH - Week 1 Session 4: Purpose

Discussion
In this session, I am inviting you to engage your intuition. 

• You are going to gain clarity around why you practice and what drives you. 

• From you here, you will gain clarity and understanding of why you teach and what drives you to teach. It is ok if you don’t know now, you will be the end.

I want you to fall in love with your personal and teaching practice.

You are creating a vision:

• Be as intentional as you possibly can as you sit down in the sacred space of listening. 

• Allow the creative process to bring you something that you couldn’t get to without the intent.

• The intent is in what you want to contribute and to understand (really, truly) the deeper reason of why you practice, and why you teach - this intent is to be acknowledged regularly.

• This is not an intellectual exercise. Let it be intuitive.

• Allow the vision to come to you.

• It will come in the empty space of listening.

• Let go of all the reasons you think, and see what comes from Spirit.

Ask … I practice because …        

Continued coursework for this week:

• Buy yourself a journal and keep it with you.

• Starting today, think about the reasons why you practice . When you read the statement “I practice because.” Allow your first response to be what you write down. Act upon your inner knowing and intuition.

• You “why” may come easily, the vision may take some effort before it feels just right. Be patient as time is unlimited - momentum will shift towards a grand vision statement.

• Your vision serves your family, friends, profession, community and your understanding is reflected in your behavior.

• Study the examples to see how your why can be crafted into a guide to more consciously serve.

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE there is magic there.

VISION I offer simple + profound space for introspection. I go into the mind to uncover jewels in the dark. I develop myself. I hold a container for magic. I practice clear, gentle self-care - the smallest or rituals that show the whole universe I am serious when I say I am enough.

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE I can connect with the Divine.

VISION I am balanced + in alignment. I am able to adjust back into balance. I create intimacy with Self. My gentleness matters. I focus my powerful energy for a purposeful amount of time, then I receive. I accomplish all I set out to accomplish. I live +cultivate an intentional life that is: harmonious + balanced- in right relationship with my environment and people. I make medicine. I create sanctuary. I experience peace + contentment with what I have. 

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE it gives me space to process, to be creative, and to make meaning.

VISION Each sentence I say is intentional and delivered with presence. 

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE it’s good medicine.

VISION My words are received like good medicine.

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE I receive the benefits of the practice.

VISION I am happy to receive and happy to give. I am open to receive all the goodness, love and prosperity I have longed for. My medicine is universal and accessible and I attract the people who need and want it. 

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE I feel at home when I do.

VISION I create the simplest of rituals that make life sacred. I am magic and so is my family - we are magic - we delight others. I am strong and able to show up in fall capacity for my life. I bring intention to the acts of service I do for my family. I see beauty and cultivate presence in the mundane. I make every act holy.

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE I connect to my Highest Self palpably/viscerally and bring it forward into all of my life with ease.

VISION I have beauty and joy in my life. I deserve what is meant for me. I deserve to be happy + bring happiness to the people in my life. _____________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE I can turn my pain into medicine.

VISION I bring my gentle + intentional medicine to the world. I am transmuting pain into medicine. I am creating a legacy for my children - a beautiful life for B + an opportunity for strength + service for O. I have the knowledge to prepare them. 

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE it keeps me in integrity.

VISION I choose to be gentle + intentional. My intention is powerful. I deserve to receive money + gifts for my excellent work everyday + my deep desire to bring healing + love through my connections. 

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE It regulates  my nervous system and is essential for my healing and balance.

VISION I inspire brave introspection to heal + harmonize the whole. I have a mindset that shifts into an uplifting and balanced state. I bring the most important lessons from my past with me. 

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE it brings meaning and my intention into the present. 

VISION My foundation is stable and I grow bringing wisdom. I healed my shame, abuse, trauma + addictions. I have courage, patience and strength. I am grateful that I see imbalance and I am grateful to be strong + sensitive enough to integrate disowned aspects + pieces of myself. I am enough.

______________

I PRACTICE BECAUSE my challenges serve to build character + compassion.

VISION The world needs people who are willing to learn and evolve based on new information - who can admit when they were wrong and out of integrity. I make change. I am balanced, serene, sensual, soft and comfortable in my body. My vision becomes reality through my actions.

“Even though your why is in service of your own heart, your vision sees your words and movements manifest in service to us all.”

EARTH September 
Personal practice, self-care, conditioning and bodywork. Purpose
Friday 11:30am - 1:00pm
Date: 9.13.24

WEEK ONE

Call Flow
11:30-11:45 am (15 min) Opening: Grounding, Sadhana from Janet Stone
11:45am-12:15pm (30 min min) Talk: 1. What you are working on this week 2. Exercise: creating your habit formula 3. Progress Tracker 4. Your why
12:15-12:45 pm (30 min) Forum: Share your why
12:45-1pm (15) Questions, Next week, Closing

Today we are going to start with words from Janet Stone.

OPENING: Sadhana: Daily Practice from Janet Stone
Sadhana is the foundation of living yoga, the well from which we draw as students and teachers on the path. Whether you are a yoga teacher or a dedicated lifelong practitioner, cultivating and sustaining the habit of daily practice is an integral part of moving from “doing” yoga to being yoga, allowing it to permeate your life, out of the studio, off the mat, in all aspects of your daily living. Through committing to home practice, we at once honor this ancient lineage and make it our own. This is the tapas (fervor) it takes to begin to turn our drishti (gaze) inward and see things as they are and not only through our myriad of misperceptions.

While most of us come to yoga through attending public classes, exposing ourselves to an experienced teacher or range of teachers, part of maturing as a practitioner involves establishing an independent practice, learning to listen carefully to our own needs as yogis, in the constantly changing circumstances of body, mind, and heart. Even as we continue to practice with and learn from the teachers who inspire and nurture us on this path, we become teachers to ourselves.

For many of us, developing a home practice—let alone sustaining one--can be a challenge to say the least. Possibly more like, impossible. In many of my conversations with practitioners I notice they’re trying to mimic the model of the public yoga class at home. In addition, practicing at home can seem like yet another obligation, flavored with discipline and routine, and nearly all yoga practitioners come up against resistance and aversion as a natural part of taking on a commitment, any commitment, really. However, when you consider the subtle and profound gifts of showing up each and every day to give your life, your inner and outer being, clear attention—well, they’re limitless. And, yet, still, we can resist, just like with anything that we “know” is the “healthiest” option.

So, we make small, little sweet commitments that can actually be joyful. I could list off an endless daily practice for you here and maybe you’d attend to it for a while, but, inevitably you’d drop it in the face of what you consider the reality of your living. So, each of us must create our own sadhana, one based on wisdom from the original teachings, one based on where we are in our lives, one that could be sustainable in the various circumstances of our lives.

I will offer a couple of suggestions as you step toward SADHANA:

• Create a dedicated place to practice within the home or bring a mini altar wherever you travel.

• Write down what you’re most wanting from this time…Clarity. Healing. Strength. Awareness.

• Write down your dream practice.

• Write down a realistic practice.

• Answer the question: what does living yoga mean to you?

• Include meditation and possibly japa mala or mantra recitation – profound tools for bringing focus inward and to the moment.

• Consider whether your practice could include Ayurvedic morning cleansing rituals?

• Keep the asana simple and most likely repeat at least half of it each day. Meaning, Surya Namaskar A or B or both or some other “form” practice that you can go to each time.

• It sounds small, but establishing a foundation of sadhana is an incremental process, and simplicity and humility are the keys to making it work. In addition, you might want to choose one of the yamas or niyamas to explore both on the mat and off, through reading, reflection, and occasional writing.

• Persistence. Persistence. Persistence. When you fall off the practice train, jump back on.

• Don’t spend too much time being hard on yourself or deeply exploring the tendrils of your resistance.

• Just renew your commitment and GO.

Committing to consistent sadhana can be - no, will be - a transformative experience (and those who know me, know that I do not use that saying lightly), both when you want to practice and when you don’t. You will learn from, play with, struggle against, and deeply immerse yourself in home practice. In doing so, you will find your foundations as a practitioner and as a teacher.

Thoughts?

1. What you are working on in this first week
Creating a daily personal practice.
Creating a sustaining self-care routine.
Creating a supportive and balanced conditioning and bodywork schedule.
Intuiting the why of your practice and crafting a vision that serves others.

Do you have questions about this? What would you like to say about this?

Next is an exercise.

2. Exercise: Creating your habit formula

• First: Write down all of your habits.

• Then: Cross out your least desirable habits. Be honest because eating potato chips might actually be really desirable.

• Now: Note where you can stack desirable habits; piggy back on a habit that is solid, like brushing your teeth or using the bathroom or one that is really desirable as a motivator like eating potato chips while going through all of your emails, so that one habit triggers sets in motion, another.

• Finally: Create a formula

During the next 40 days, I will partake in at least

[  MINUTES  ]  of  [    ACTIVITY    ]   at    [    TIME    ]

in [    PLACE    ]  before/after [  PROMPT  ]

For example: During the next 40 days, I will partake in at least
30 min of yoga, meditation and breathwork at home before screens.

Use this formula for 40 days as a personal intention and sadhana. Print out the Track Sheet and fill it out each day. 

Now, this is different from the tracker, why .. because I would like to jump start with a 40 day measure of time because 40 days is something you can do, 7 months - maybe more intense to commit to, and 40 days will give you good data as to your habits around practice.

3. Progress tracker and practice log

This is a system of tracking, not comparison or competition - think of it as data. As yogis, we are both artists and scientists, through the process of repetition there is revelation. 

• Link for chat: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JxjViikXXUK-oQOOP1zOzRSdniLsm8-doCuETHNYJ6k/edit?usp=sharing

• To use: make a copy. Sheet 1 is your progress tracker, Sheet 2 is your practice log, Sheet 3 is your coursework log. I will ask you to share a copy of this with me at the end of the program.

• You are an adult: I WILL NOT REMIND YOU TO TRACK, this is your responsibility. You will be turning this in at the end of the program so … stay on top of this. 

4. Your why
In the Angelus Teacher Enhancement Course with Erica Jago, we were guided through this exercise on articulating our “why”. This is to determine our why for teaching, but I want you to start with determining your why for practice. So let me walk you through. 

Be sure to have a hard copy of your thoughts with you at all times. Just a notebook. I use a Bullet Journal or Google Notes, but you can use anything you want that captures ideas as they come. 

Think about the reasons why you practice.  When you read the statement "I practice because:" I want you to write down your first response because you’re training to act upon your inner knowing and intuition.

The"why" may come easily, the second statement, about "vision" may take some finessing to feel right. Be patient. You have time to shift towards a grand vision statement. (This is not set in stone, if for now so don’t get too excited about getting it just right.)

Your vision serves your friends, families, and profession. Your understanding of this vision is reflected in your behavior.

I have some examples for you in your manual/portal. Study these examples to see how your why can be made into a strategy, a grand design, a plan of action, to serve consciously and intentionally.

Your why is in service of your own heart. Your vision sees your words and actions manifest in service to all of us.

FORUM / OPEN CONVERSATION
I would really like to set a precedent that this time be a conversation. That means we listen, we share, we ask questions because everyone is here for a reason and everyone has something valuable to offer. And, it's a 7 month conversation we are having so there is time. 

There are going to be moments where it feels hard .. 

This is a transformational experience and inherent in that is change and challenge. At times you are going to feel vulnerable, way out of your comfort zone, irritated at yourself or me. One of you might end a relationship, or switch jobs, or make a dramatic change in some way. I know this because this is the 8th time I have taught YTT and it has happened in each class including my own, to me. 

We are all in this together. We will laugh, maybe cry and we’ll practice yoga.

Share: Your why.              

Q + A Questions? 

Tomorrow: We dive into the Chakras 

Next 2 weeks we go deeper into the Chakras via Angelus + Eastern Body Western Mind. Also, we have Erica Jago, the author of Angelus, which if you haven’t looked at it already, is gorgeous and creative, will be leading the last Friday call this month. That call is from 9-10:30am. 

CLOSING
I would like to end our call with a quote by Julia Cameron from the Artist’s Way 

"As we clarify our perceptions, we lose our misconceptions. As we eliminate ambiguity, we lose illusion as well. We arrive at clarity, and clarity creates change.  - Julia Cameron

Please find your seat, organize your shoulders over your hips, the crown of your heading lengthening away from the base of your spine. Close your eyes and please take 3 breaths with me. Inhale exhale. Inhale exhale. Inhale exhale. Thank you for your time and your practice. 

OM SHANTI