First Step: Touching Enlightenment

The first day as a group, the students of The ZenSpot Institute for Hot Yoga Teacher Training met last night and went over logistics, expectations, we introduced ourselves, and listened to an interview with Reginald Ray.
www.dharmaocean.org

I was my regular nervous self before heading down to orientation but that feeling drained away as I was filled with excitement and moved by the energy in the room. To be surrounded by glowing, healthy, vibrant people is still new to me. I want to associate myself with these kinds of people: people that recognize the goodness in life and who want to share wellness and joy.

The single word that came to mind after hearing the interview with Reginald Ray during our class this evening came from a deep, Universal voice and it asked, “Remember?”

Remember what it feels like to press the entire back of your body to the trunk of a tree and as the wind made music with the tree’s leaves, your breath and the breath of the tree became one? That sense of awareness and peace is spirituality.

Remember what it’s like to ride on the back of a motorcycle through the mountains while the rain blessed you, showing you that the destination and your destiny were the same?

Remember the monk that didn’t speak in your language but everything that was said was understood?

Moments of clarity.



The relevance of my journey/training and what I heard from Mr. Ray’s meet when I open my true heart and allow the Real world to be now, and to accept that the many forces opposing the Real world are distractions from love, from spirituality, from being “just human.”

While listening to the interview, I asked myself what I visualized while I meditated and wondered what others see or visualize. Almost exclusively, it is a replication of nature that I create: a specific beach, a color, an individual. In this way, I know that our deepest connections are to nature and it is in the natural world that I dwell when I am my true self.

Remember when the idea of yourself and your real self met, shook hands and promised to be one?

Latin, Sanskrit, English...brain, body, spirit.

Somehow I was limber and relaxed and capable enough in class yesterday to do Kurmasana with my upper arms slid back under my thighs and palm facing the sky. It was another great hot yoga class: feeling myself open a little more, getting deeper, focused and strong. And perfectly imperfect. Each day is different, is new, and what I could do yesterday only influences what I can do today, never dictates it.

I'm working on figuring out asanas to optimize the different systems of the body. It's easy to to say that a particular asana is good for this or that. Not as easy to state why. It's coming along, though.

One week left of work and then it's full-time training with my amazing instructors and the beautiful group of other students!

B Through

Transformation magnified by having spent the dawn hours reading Ray Long's book, The Key Muscles of Yoga, from my reading list for ZenSpot Institute for Hot Yoga Teacher Training Program. Trying to grasp new Latin vocabulary and remembering anatomy spun my head into a few knots, but connecting the book's words and pictures to my own body and experience while in a 75 minute class this afternoon was an amazing breakthrough.

And there's something happening in the Universe today...a lunar eclipse...eee clllipssss. Say it.

What I've read on another site by an anonymous writer is this, "...the South Node is in conjunction with the Sun, getting enlightened by it, and the Moon is in conjunction with the North Node, bringing to the surface our deepest aspirations and intuitions toward our spiritual meaning in this life...the North Node’s conjunction with the Moon makes us receptive to many aspects that are connected to our spiritual meaning and path in this life, awakening our spiritual “instincts” on the way." A lunar eclipse is the chance to suddenly become conscious of our nature and to understand and control it, to get control over the “beast” of our own limitations, becoming stronger and closer to our divine nature.

Awoke from a nightmare during the dark hours of morning. Terrible rejection, past fears, abandonment issues surfacing from a deep and neglected place. Is this connected to the eclipse, my excited fear about the training program, or something deeper?

Belly Full of Butterflies

I just jumped on the fast track to becoming a hot yoga instructor. First, I had to secure funds (not an easy task by any means), I applied, was accepted, I put a deposit down, and required books are on the way.

When I have the feeling that the yoga world is where I belong, I know I'm right. The many friends I've made in my classes have been so kind, supportive and positive, and these qualities are truly important to me on my journey.

Today I scheduled three weeks off from my job, I opened an account for my school funds, and I borrowed a laptop computer.

I am really going for it!

Not totally sure how our money situation will look in a month but I trust that everything will work out. It will be hard. It may be stressful. It is scary.

Taking healthy risks is part of growth.

With more than forty hours of asana practice since I last wrote, I am very hopeful to have the opportunity to join the teacher training program offered by ZenSpot Institute for Hot Yoga. I attended the open house/info meeting last night and genuinely felt an affinity for the people I knew there, the energy, and the goals of my instructors, Kelli and Michael. I have had this training on my mind since I heard about it in early December. I was very disappointed when I spoke about the cost and our financial ability with my husband since I would have to put my little dream on hold until we paid down some debt. I hate rational financing. I'm trying to get some support to pay for the program and if the universe wants me to be there, I will be there.

First Day Back

This was a rough one. Haven't been in a class since Tuesday, the 21st, Solstice. I was so sore on Wednesday that I skipped hot yoga and donated blood instead. I was very weak on Thursday and still sore so I didn't go to class. No classes scheduled at ZenSpot on Friday or the weekend. Finally I ventured to class today, still congested in the head.

Just my luck, it was a 75 minute class! Twenty-two people sweatin' it up. I can clearly see that some of my strength and balance have diminished during my time away. No worries. I will spend this week as a devoted yogini.

Got an email about satsang with Dave happening in January. I won't be in town so I have the excuse of not attending but in the future, I know I'm not that interested in learning the scriptures etc at this time.

So my advice to myself for the future is this: Do not overdo it! Do not spend 3 and 1/2 hours doing asanas, then 108 sun salutations, donate blood, continue working, and then expect yourself to celebrate the holidays without coming down with something like a cold!

108 Sun Salutations with XoXo

What possessed me to attempt one hundred and eight sun salutations? Simply the challenge of doing something I'd never done before and to honor the celestial change and celebration of Winter Solstice.

In a candlelit room, the participants faced one another in a circle and XoXo lead us through the movements and counted for us. Amazing focus could be felt in the room. It was only disrupted by the guy on my left who had decided to do his own yoga thing. Sometimes he was following the synchronization but mostly he was squirming and flailing, making jerky movements and "tripping out." It was challenging to have him there but also another lesson in acceptance. Similar to another very disruptive character in a different class the other day. He was a very tall and seemed to take up a lot of space. He didn't have enough money to pay for his class/es. He was a dollar short because he bought a bunch of groceries last night. In class he kept tugging at his shorts and moved in a lumbering manner. He shot into bow before anyone else but fell out of it with as much enthusiasm. Distractions abound.

Anyway, the Solstice was wonderful and I'm so happy I committed to participating in the event. Namaste, XoXo!