YTT Review Week One: One Yoga, Koh Phaghan

Sunday, October 17, 2021

End of Week One of YTT, One Yoga, Koh Phaghan Thailand

Like most reflections on the past, this one is about expectations. I expected yoga teacher training to be about preparing me to lead yoga classes. As such, I was concerned that maybe I was not physically ready or capable. After all, in many New York city studios I would see teachers at the front of the mat who were more flexible, stronger and more acrobatic than I was in my expression of the poses or the flow of postures.

But, yoga training did not end up being about what I saw at the front of the room on the instructor's mat in these classes. Yoga training instead ended up being about what had been happening for me on the mat for many years: a stillness of mind that came after the physical practice of yoga.

Each day we began with 30 minutes of meditation in the Ocean Shala with a view of the ocean and islands beyond. We practiced a buddhist process for meditating, led through a focus on breath, then physical sensations, then thoughts, emotions, with a focus on watching our interior with an aim to reach a stillness of all of the above. I found this to feel natural. Of course, I had wandering thoughts and physical pains from sitting on the floor in stillness. But, I was able to quiet them fairly easily each time they arose.

Then, we were led through a 90 minutes asana practice, followed by lectures on the art of teaching or buddhist philosophy. I took Eastern philosophy as an undergrad, but that was 25 years ago and most of it was just a sketchy outline.

There was a break for vegetarian breakfast which was delicious and had a lot of variety day to day--granola bowls, omelets, grain porridge, always fresh fruit. (No coffee!)

Then, more sessions on yoga anatomy, art of teaching, philosophy... A long break for lunch (also delicious) and a nap. Then, two more hours and another 30 minutes of meditation. Sometimes there was also a more gentle yoga practice after the lunch break.

I discovered I had a few resources built up to help me process all of this:

• My teachers and my yoga experiences: having spent time studying with Hatha yoga, Vinyasa yoga, and Ashtanga yoga teachers, many of the sequences and postural alignment were very familiar to me. I wouldn't say this was required to be successful as many people in the course were newer to yoga than me, but this familiarity kept me grounded.

• In general, I have a pretty low anxiety level and am not frequently plagued by self-criticism or doubt. I can't really contribute this to yoga (though maybe it is!? I've been practicing one and off again since I was just a kid at 19!), but I can say that it is possible to be your own worse enemy in an intense training like this--comparing yourself to others, worrying about whether you remember enough information or will be able to teacher. The team at One Yoga is SO kind and frequently checked in with everyone. They also have created a schedule that starts slowly and builds in intensity.

Up Next... Week Two...

They've said that we will be learning transcendental meditation and more yoga philosophy with less emphasis on buddhism. They've also said that week one is the "honeymoon week" and people start to feel more overwhelmed next week.