Unfortunately, I was unable to write this during my training. However, with hindsight, I feel like I am more capable of summarizing my entire experience these last four weeks. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to commit to this adventure seven months prior to the start of training. This gave me the chance to get ahead of the reading and familiarize myself with the dialog.

Originally, I tried to memorize the dialog verbatim. I really gave it my all, but after two months I had barely locked in the first two postures. I had a rigorous process for memorization. I would read a posture’s dialog three times, write it down, write out the first letter of each word(a popular method used by actors to memorize scripts), type it out, type out the first letter of each word, and then record myself saying the posture’s dialog. I would drive around listening to the dialog I had recorded.

Nothing was working for me. I knew at that point that it would serve me best to become as familiar as possible with the whole dialog and really absorb the concepts before I could memorize the dialog word for word. I still worked my memorization process, and that helped me tremendously, but I didn’t beat myself up about it. Several of my classmates had signed up only weeks before the training, and others hadn’t looked at the dialog until the first day.

At the time, I thought this was going to give me an edge, but I realized quickly that it meant nothing. I was so impressed with my peers and their ability to absorb the information. I did not have that same ability, so I was glad I put in the work early on. After the first week, it was clear that they had all caught up to me and that we were all on an even field. It wasn’t that it was competitive, but rather that we inspired each other to do better. We lifted each other up, and rooted for one another. From day one, I was challenged by the process. I was definitely thrown off by the expectation to teach that first day. But now that I look back, I realize that it was by design.

Not only did it normalize the feeling of standing in front of a group of people and delivering instructions, but it gave me a reference of progress. I remember right before we had to teach the standing series half way through training, we were all extremely nervous. But having that day one teaching clinic fresh in my memory, I was able to see just how much progress we had all made in two short weeks, and it gave me the confidence to conduct a successful class.

The process taught me so much more than just how to teach. Some of my favorite moments were the incredible conversations that were inspired by the lectures. One topic would lead to another, and before we knew it we were getting deep into thought provoking discussions. It’s so rare that I find the opportunity to openly share with people and learn from their individual perspectives. As a group, we all got to know each other very well. In any situation where you have individuals with quirks, tendencies, and specific expectations for others, the potential is there for tension.

Maybe it was because we all got a break from each other at the end of the day and we all got to go to our homes, but everyone seemed to respect and accept each other’s way of being. It was really quite amazing, and I look forward to growing the friendships we all forged these last four weeks. I am excited to see what the next steps look like for my yoga journey. My respect for this sequence and the people that teach it has never been higher. I am forever grateful for this training, not only for what it did for my practice, but for the doors it will open. I can’t wait to share this wonderful gift with others the way it was graciously given to me.