Some of you may not believe this but yes, yoga teachers do get a vacation. Because of the “I schedule myself” nature of our industry, many times, we get a summer, autumn, winter, and spring vacation. Pretty cool, huh? Bet you immediately thought – career change time. While often we do take the more standard vacation to see family, travel, etc, we also take many breaks to continue our yoga knowledge and/or interact with other yogis.
I’m doing the combination. When I started my first teacher training, I knew at some point I would do another training for a specific style – Forrest Yoga. Note the two R’s. Named for Ana Forrest and not for a collection of trees. In just over a week, I’ll be jumping into a near month long intensive training – daily meditation, daily practice, daily sessions learning more about this style.
I am beyond excited for it. Forrest principles, at their most simplistic because it’s me describing them, are that we find what is holding us back, figure it out, stalk it, and then use it to leapfrog ahead. We can apply that to our yoga practice or to our life. I currently don’t have headstand in my regular practice – some days I feel light, others I do not – but Forrest teaches to breathe into the moment I get into my own head. And continue to breathe as my nervous system gets flipped upside down. In life, we all have a history of good events, bad events, maybe even horrific events and we hold the emotions that are attached to those events closely. As in so close, it prevents us from moving forward.
I can say without hesitation that I’ve taken strides forward. But there is potential to step even more. Forrest teaches in life, when we start to feel the negative emotion – fear, anger, jealousy – to stop and to breathe. Yep, there’s that word again. It’s through our breath that we can identify the cause, snuggle in closely, and use that power to move forward. I can’t wait to see how my life and my practice are changed. And then to share that with family, friends, other teachers, and students.