My first day of yoga teacher training

Walking though a dark hallway to the door.... it didn’t look like anyone was there. I knocked anyway and then peeked into the studio. Empty. Looked for signage or a note. I checked the time... maybe I was early?  Went to my phone to check the email... yup- this was the time and the place. Hmmmmm... I made some phone calls and couldn’t get a hold of anyone. Shot a couple texts out. 

Pressing my back against the wall, I slid my butt down to the floor. I had finally mustered up the courage to decide to take a yoga teacher training. I saved the money and set aside the time. I hussled all over town to make it on time.. I got my other responsibilities for the night covered.  And here I was, the first YTT class... and the lights are out. I was feeling emotional- jaw clenched, chest tight, brow furled. 

Is this my first test as a yoga instructor? 

Can I stay calm? .... I breathe. 

Can I stay positive and not chalk this up as a sign that this whole thing was a bad idea? 

Then my phone rang. It was my teacher. “i just got your voicemail. We are starting next week.”  She continued. “Oh my gosh. Sarah, I’m so sorry. I sent out an email about the change. Maybe you weren’t on the email.” 

Ok. No biggie. Next week. Ok. It’s ok. 

After I took a couple breaths, I started laughing. Well... that was a practice run. AND I showed up. I got out the first time jitters of the whole thing. Besides, it kind of makes me happy when other people screw up- when someone makes an honest mistake and they own it and apologize and plan to make up for it. I like that. I can feel the grace of the universe sweeping in as I shrug it off, quickly forgive. Decide how to make the most of it. Also, I think that I’ve got one in the hopper for when I make an honest mistake. Is that very yogi of me? - maybe, not sure. 

So the following week, yoga teacher training began. I felt equal parts confident and humbled. In some ways completely unprepared and also somehow completely ready for everything we would learn. It was a small, intimate and diverse class of YTT students.  Starting with the required reading, into all the discussions, all the way through anatomy and then eventually leading people through flows, the instruction and grace and push was always exactly what I came for. 

The studio’s vibe and culture was exactly what I wanted to be a part of.  I was first introduced to the studio a few years earlier when I was invited by a friend to do a “triathlon”. We ran a 5K, did yoga next store in a gigantic art studio and then drank beer from the microbrew on the other side of the studio. Run, yoga, drink triathlon... my kind of place. It was there that I first practiced under Laura’s instruction and felt the amazing community.  Like many firsts, I am forever in search of that same high that I got at that special event. 

Its ironic that we were weeks away from hosting a second triathlon -run, yoga, drink event -when the studio closed down temporarily and then for good. 

I can’t live without it. It’s exactly one year later since the shutdown and a&e yoga is being born.