Interested in becoming a yoga teacher? Where you study makes all the difference.
19 May 2011 1 Comment
in RYT, teaching, the process
I’m over at Teachasana today asking the question “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” (y’all know I went, but what are YOU going to do?)
Teachasana is a new website, a gathering place of sorts, for yoga teachers by yoga teachers. Serving as a reference and a resting place for all us folks who make the yoga every day, Teachasana is a YT’s best friend. Check it out!
#365yoga Day 90: The Wheel
31 Mar 2011 13 Comments
in 365, RYT, TCB, teaching, the process, until now, White Lotus, yoga in a gym, Yoga Sol Tags: Education, journey, Michael Franti, progress, shooter jennings, Teacher, Teachers and Centers, transformation, United States, Urdhva Dhanurasana, wheel, White Lotus Foundation, yoga, Yoga Sol
At 11:27 am CST, I locked the door to 300 Saint James Street for the last time. I had just finished teaching my last yoga class at our temporary studio and it was a lovely class filled with committed yoga students and beautiful energy. I got into my car and had to sit there for a little while and reflect. 
It was about 2 years ago that I decided to become a yoga teacher. 2 short years. It’s something I always thought about, of course. I wanted to do it for a long time, but certain things (read: feeling like I didn’t deserve to do it, wasn’t worth it, etc.) kept me from pushing through and doing it. I’ll never forget the moments that got me to the other side of that: several yoga teachers at the gym I attended kept asking me to “finally get” my “yoga training in so” I “could sub already, dammit!”
What can I say, they were persuasive.
20 months ago, I did what I could with what I had (very tiny budget and very little time,) and took a very little basic yoga teacher training. Within 3 days I was able to teach at my gym. And teach I did! It was only a few weeks later that I had my own regular class and was subbing frequently in multiple locations all over town. My goodness, when I think back on some of those classes, well, let’s just say that most yoga students are benevolent, patient, good humored folk! I kept teaching, though, and I kept learning and growing and asking questions. I kept searching and trying and trusting in the process. Yoga Sol was born and I moved my mat from the gym to a studio.
Yoga Sol lived at that studio for 14 months. My classes grew from one student (or, at times, none) to wall to wall mats. I met amazing people and felt amazing energy and got to witness the transformation that comes when you commit to a regular yoga practice both in my students and in myself. I met mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, artists and actors, poets and photographers, teachers and students, and Michael Franti and his gang.
The wheel keeps on rolling down the road, for sure!
Somewhere along that road, I realized that I DO deserve to follow my bliss, I DO deserve to have a bright future, I DO deserve a real and proper training, so in October I packed up my bags and headed out west to The White Lotus Foundation. For many of you, this might not seem like a big deal. For me and my family, however, it was revolutionary. I left my homeschooled children and husband (who works in an industry that is fueled by college sports,) alone for 16 days during the 3 busiest weekends of the year: homecoming and games against the 2 top rivals. Used to be that I wouldn’t even think about scheduling lunch during those weekends, much less a trip across the country! Yoga transforms, eh?
I sent in my final paperwork for my 200RYT last Saturday. I DID IT!
Today I locked the door at the temporary location of Yoga Sol. I taught the last class there and I will be teaching the first class at the new location, 210 Saint James Street, which just happens to fall on my 35th birthday. I think it’s highly significant. I feel it’s a rebirth, of sorts. I will be opening the studio not just as a teacher, but as the manager, working very closely with one of the greatest gifts I have ever received, my mentor, friend, and Yoga Sol owner, Polly. What started out as just the two of us in a dance studio has now grown into the first indoor / outdoor yoga studio in Mid-MO, if not the entire state of Missouri. We have a teaching staff of 8 other teachers on board now as well as our own classes filled with students who have followed us both through the trenches and into the light.
And the wheel is still rolling!
Yoga is very much like a wheel. The more momentum it has, the further it goes, and will usually take you further than you could ever imagine if you just let it go. I cannot wait to see where this leads, but I’ll tell you this – I hope I never stop the wheel from turning. I will watch it with amazement and awe and joy because it is bound to be an awesome ride.
Deafening Silence (White Lotus part 6)
04 Nov 2010 2 Comments
in RYT, the process, White Lotus Tags: flow, intuitive flow, Marcel Marceau, Santa Barbara, silence, White Lotus, yoga, yoga teachers
First, let me say that the folks at White Lotus know what they are doing. They’ve trained somewhere between 1000 and 2000 yoga teachers (Ganga didn’t give us the exact number) and they know what folks tend to go through and when. Smart cookies, those folks. The first week had ups and downs like you wouldn’t believe. Some days seemed to go on forever and then there were days that vanished right after breakfast. I told someone that 16 days was a time warp – shorter than a second, longer than a lifetime. Ganga, Tracey, Sven, Beverly, and Beatrix managed to always give us exactly what we needed when we needed it. That place is magic, I’m telling you. I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised to see gnomes and wizards popping out from behind the white sage bushes along the trail ….
Moving on…
We got to White Lotus on Saturday the 16. By Friday of the next week, we were all in some sort of transformative gelatinous state. We were changing physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, dietarily … completely. Completely changing, and yet still not set yet. Like Jell-O that’s only been in the fridge for an hour, see? We had completely checked out of real life, were wildly looking forward to our free day in Santa Barbara coming Sunday, we were tired, sore, and eager and desperate for more. What we were not expecting Friday night was to hear that, from the moment we opened our eyes on Saturday morning until the end of lunch, we were to be silent. Not only silent, but also NOT miming to people and trying out for America’s Top Marcel Marceau! We were to be on an inward journey, avoiding phones and computers and communicating with anyone or anything other than nature, spirit, and ourselves.
Let me remind you, this applied to POLLY AND ME!
(I’ll wait for you to stop choking and wiping hysterical tears from your eyes.)
WE DID IT!
While everyone had their own experience, as was the point, we ALL went through something and realized a few things. For the most part, we’ve kept our realizations to ourselves as they did seem to be profound. Well, at least mine were profound to me. By the time we were able to start talking again, however, we had all changed a wee bit. The change in me is still apparent. It’s likely you’ll hear me start a conversation or even a reply and then stop midway and say, “Never mind, I think I’ll let that thought develop a bit more.”
Again, stop choking.
You have probably heard me say in class something along the lines of, “We spend all our lives talking to others and listening to others, use your practice as a time to dive deep and listen to yourself!” It’s so true! It’s amazing what you can hear yourself saying when you slow down and listen. To that end, our practice Saturday morning WAS in silence. How do 30 people do a 2.5 hour yoga practice together in silence, you ask? We experienced Intuitive Flow Yoga and it was INCREDIBLE! You know when you feel a little stiffness in your shoulder and somehow know that if you move just right something will pop and the stiffness will leave? And then you do it and it does, in fact, get better? That is intuitive flow. Without knowing how, you know what your body needs and you obey. Alignment and balance play no part in intuitive flow. You may do 15 things on the left side and only 2 on the right. You may never get off the floor. You may spend the entire time in Balasana or doing Chaturanga pushups. You listen, you honor, you move, you heal, you grow, you learn. You change. You love. You believe.
The lessons are all there inside of you. You just have to hush up so you can hear yourself.
Om Shanti
Small world!! (White Lotus part 3)
01 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in RYT, White Lotus
I think I said that there were 30 students in this 200RYT session at White Lotus. We came from all over the world. It was incredible to study and live with people we’d never otherwise meet and see how truly connected we all are.
I have to say, however, one connection blew my freaking mind.
Within minutes of arriving at White Lotus, this chick walks like she owns the joint. There was this energy about her that made you stop what you were doing and say, “Now, wait just a damn minute, what exactly is going on here?” Powerful, beautiful, commanding, I’m saying. Of course, this instantly drew Polly and me to her.
Turns out, she currently lives in Los Angeles, but grew up in St. Louis and went to MU AND spent nearly every weekend at the establishment my husband has managed for years. He was managing it, in fact, during the time she was in school and hanging out there.
WHAT?!?!?!
The three of us became very close. And it broke our hearts to leave each other.
I love you, Kristen. You’re my favorite tv star. 
We are Stardust (White Lotus part 2)
01 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in RYT, teaching, the process, White Lotus Tags: pictures, Santa Barbara, White Lotus Foundation, yoga, yoga teacher training, YTT
I don’t even know how to start. I’ve been thinking about it and have realized that trying to explain and express my time at White Lotus Foundation is sort of like trying to describe the color blue to someone who has been blind from birth: You might get close, but nothing seems to do it justice. You cannot describe it completely to someone unless they have experienced it themselves and, even then, there aren’t words, just energy.
OH MY MAUDE, THE ENERGY!
First things first: We DID grow to love the walk. Ganga and Sven were right – I even miss it. Just a few of the things we saw every day on our journey up and down the mountain…
There were other incredible things to see while at The Lotus, too…
I have over 400 pictures. They still aren’t enough. I’ll be posting a few here and there in the following days as I continue to write about this amazing, life changing, inspiring experience.
I love The Lotus. I love you all.
Namaste
Om Shanti
Food, rain, yoga, friends, cabins, and life at The Lotus (day 2)
17 Oct 2010 2 Comments
in RYT, teaching, White Lotus
It’s 1:33 in the afternoon CA time and I’m sitting in the big room of the main building by a lovely fire burning in a massive fireplace. We just finished our 3rd meal after a morning full of dialogue, note taking, and a crazy intense wonderful 2 hour music-less practice. Okay, that’s not exactly right – there was music for our 10 minute Savasana. We sweat and stretched and chanted and learned and loved and the sound of Ujjayi breath filled every square inch of the mirrorless practice room. BLISS.
Polly and I are not staying in a yurt as we previously thought we would. We are instead staying in a private 2 person cabin on the edge of the canyon. It is a CRAZY long walk up a CRAZY steep hill and, admittedly, we’ve been complaining about it. It’s cold and it’s raining here and it makes for a really long hike. Ganga, however, changed our minds with a few words this morning about how walking is our yoga. The hike is part of it. Kind of feels like a blessing now. Okay, not really, but I assume it will soon.
The people here are amazing. There are 30 of us students from all over the world. We have new friends from Sweden, Switzerland, China, Holland, Canada, and all over the US. Everyone is lovely… and loved.
14 more days to go.
And we’re (almost) off!!
15 Oct 2010 1 Comment
Polly and I will climb aboard a big silver bird tomorrow that will take us to California.
WHITE LOTUS OR BUST!
After much thought and inner debate, I decided that I will be taking my laptop. My time on it will be limited, but I will try to update a little it on this blog here and there to let you know what we’re doing, what we’re bringing back, and the whatnot.
Live Well. Live Loud. Live Love.
xo
Sarah
T-6 days and counting – White Lotus, here I come!
10 Oct 2010 2 Comments
in RYT, TCB, teaching, the process, Yoga Sol Tags: Pranayama, Santa Barbara, Travel and Tourism, White Lotus Foundation
One week from today, I will wake up in Santa Barbara at The White Lotus Foundation. Unbelievable. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting on my deck with Polly talking about possibly taking a trip. In reality, it’s been more than 6 months since that happened. Where did the time go? Is it really almost here?
It is.
We leave Columbia early in the morning next Saturday. It will be a long day for us: driving 2 hours, flying 4, time change, bus ride, taxi ride, check in, practice, dinner, study. I’m intimidated by that day alone. The next 15 days will be filled with Pranayama, meditation, anatomy, philosophy, history, asana, education, lectures and workshops, fires, swimming, hiking, eating, dreaming, loving, learning, growing, breaking down, building up, and transforming. This is BIG, folks.
I have never left my family for this long before. It’s going to change us all in miraculous ways. I wonder, will it be a joy or a shock to rediscover each other after we have all been changed by this experience? Will I want my family to become vegan? Will I get arrested for biting a random cow or pig I might see on the way to the airport? Will my kids be grateful to see me again or will they ignore me with the spite of, well, of attitude riddled children who have been shuffled around for 2 weeks? My husband – eh, that’ll be fine.
If you haven’t had the time to visit White Lotus’s website, please do so. See how beautiful unadulterated land is. See where Polly and I are going. See what we’re going to be soaking up and what we’ll be raining down on you.
Why X + Y ≠ Yoga Teacher
23 Sep 2010 5 Comments
in RYT, Students, teaching, the process, until now, yoga in a gym Tags: Religion and Spirituality, Teacher, Teachers and Centers, Twitter, White Lotus Foundation, yoga, Yoga Journal
I used to have a friend who had a masters degree in early education. She had spent years in school, thousands of dollars on education and testing and certification. She taught 5th grade, 4th grade, Kindergarten, and, at the time, was running the preschool for her city’s public school system. Her biggest pet peeve? Folks who ran daycare centers saying that they had the same job as she did, that they were professional peers.
I used to be a doula. I helped many, many babies come into the world. I spent the money and took a long training, spent a year reading a huge required reading list, did loads of practice births for free, wrote essays and took exams, and eventually became certified through the most intensive (albeit now different) organization. My biggest teacher? A woman who had never had any formal training at all, but had been attending births her whole life because it was the natural thing to do.
I have been teaching yoga for a little over a year. I have taught in gyms, in birth centers, in backyards, in parks, in yoga studios, in forests, in my pajamas, in campgrounds, and in homeschooling groups. I’ve taught classes with 1 student and classes with 51 students. If I took the time, I could probably count the hours I have spent teaching. Heck, since I have the time, I’ll do an educated guess: I would say that in a little over a year, I have taught 285 hours of yoga that I have been paid for (upon 2nd thought, I bet that’s a conservative number.) I have taught for cash, for credit, for food, for photography, for haircuts, for childcare, for charity, for the love of it, for the love of others, etc. I have been quoted on the Yoga Journal website (thanks, @Jodim, for that,) in magazines, on websites, in newspapers. My name is starting to be known in my town and in cyperspace (not that was ever my goal.) My “official formal” training? An 18 hour weekend course.
< pauses while the whole world gasps and freaks out.>
No worries, it makes my skin crawl, too.
My “unofficial informal” training? 17 years of personal home practice and group yoga classes, 2 years apprenticeship (shout, Polita!, ) closing in on 17 years of spiritual study, workshops, one on one dialogue with master yogis (thank you, Twitter,) 10 years of meditation practice, and a life-long desire to go deeper and further into the dark so that I can stand more strongly, fully into the light. I have read more yoga / anatomy / theory / Buddhist / Hindu / spiritual / meditation / personal growth books than most libraries have. I have listened and learned from each of my students. I have been present.
Does that make me better? Nope. Does that make me different? My students say it does.
There is no formula for a great teacher. I have all this under my belt and it still is not enough. It NEVER will be enough. I am leaving in a few weeks for The White Lotus Foundation to get my 200hrRYT status with Yoga Alliance. Will that be the end of my yoga education equation? NOT. A. CHANCE. I will FOREVER be learning, forever be growing, forever be expanding. If I am breathing, I will be learning. If I am learning, I will be sharing. Some folks call that sharing “teaching.”
Fair enough.
I do not believe that there is an equation that one person can follow that will make them a Yoga Teacher. I haven’t found it yet. Am I a yogini? Yep. Do I share it? Yep.
Am I still a student? OH, yes, yes yes yes yes. Yes. Forever yes.
An equation seems finite. There is no “finite” in yoga.
I am a yoga teacher. I am more than the sum of my parts.
So are you.
Namaste
