Your voice

[Kimberly]

Where are you coming from as a yogi: scientist, mystic or athlete? How does knowing this help you cultivate your authentic voice as a teacher? How does it help you play to your strengths and understand your opportunities as a teacher?

[LAD92761]

Where am I coming from? I agree this can change but at this point in time, I feel as though I am approaching as a mystic scientist. Joints intrigue me as does muscle and fascia. As our bodies grow, experience life, add on years these elements change and I’m always trying to understand why, what are we doing differently to cause this change and how do we either reverse the change or play into it to better our lives. I call this science, and will continue to focus and wonder how to address these areas in order to live our best life. But know that the mind is an integral part of this change. Our brains and hearts are the most interesting areas of bodily influence. It is up to each and every one of us to manage those two organs to live the fullest life we can. No one else can do it. Others can influence it, but one’s self is responsible solely for the direction. This is what I want to help others with. This is my calling and what I want to teach. I heard these words a couple of years ago in a class and love them: “There are three words that convey the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness: One With Life. Being one with life is being one with Now. You then realise that you don’t live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer, and you are the dance” my tags will be #embracethechange, #onewithlife, #enjoythejourney, #findingbestversionofyou

[regmarlew63]

When I read the hand-out descriptions of yogis, I have to admit I was shocked to see where I fell in this list. I thought I would fall into the “mystic” category. Knowing I am a very spiritual person, and on the creative side, it would make the most sense to me. Instead, I fall into the “scientist” category. And although I understand that could change frequently, as we are always evolving, it seems according to the definition, not only do I fit in this category now, it has fitted my approach to yoga from my very beginnings of a yogic lifestyle!
My journey with the practice of yoga began 19+ years ago. I was having medical issues, and lots of anxiety coping with them! I was fortunate, and blessed to have a primary care physician who said to me, after lots and lots of traditional western medicine testing, “why don’t we explore some holistic approaches before getting into any types of medicines?” Even though I had no exposure to holistic means before, something inside me leaped with great hope, faith, and joyfulness. I immediately felt “at ease”, because up to this point in my life, I was strong, no medical issues and never thought of what choices would I make if were ever faced with such issues, which would need to be addressed, one way or another! I was truly grateful for this doctor and her wisdom and insight to bring this alternative choice to my attention.
Looking back with 20/20 hindsight; maybe having this knowledge, even in healthier times of my life, I might not have gotten to the point of needing all the medical care necessary for me. With that said, I don’t want to sound like I regret any part of my journey. As I said in the beginning here, I am deeply spiritual. I trust God in all ways, most especially placing me wherever I am to be, according to His will.
Moving forward, I used the tools and approaches of yoga to grow stronger, healthier, grounded and present! As a teacher, I know this will be helpful to my authenticity as I share and teach others. We are all made in the same way, but are blessed with very unique qualities that make us appear different. I feel I can help students along their own exploration into self. By showing them how to pay attention to their bodies and what it needs. By practicing self care, so they can give back. By being and living in the present. Reminding , or maybe for some making them aware for the first time, of the Yamas and Niyamas, so they can be the best version of themselves.

Regina

[sally200]

This question of my yoga approach is genius, it opened my eyes and even more my heart. Where am I coming from, my first thought was a mystic, and I feel that is the best choice.

Body, mind and soul, I chose this practice because it covers all bases. But mostly I seek peace of mind, the practice of mindfulness, and bringing a calm to my life and inner voice. My practice will be enhance by deeply being open hearted and spirit seeking. The layering of oils, stones, chakras work,
Meditation are all ideas that I would offer in my classes. Try my best to have a dialogue with my class about Sutras and Yamas/Niyamas, I feel by approaching as a mystic will create a deeper experience for students, and as a teacher I feel more compassionate.

My sense is that I will not attract the athletic yoga students. My strength and opportunity will be to include ideas from my Reiki practice, connect more to chakras, blend my coaching practice which is based on Universal Laws, snd continued study of the yogi masters.

[KHuttsell]

I expected to be approaching yoga mostly as a scientist. But I found during my inventory exercise that I was almost as equally divided into the athlete category as well. I think that I had a pre-conceived notion of what each of these viewpoints was until I looked at the descriptions under each. And what discovered was that the typical elements of my personality that tend to be logical and scientific were not the total picture of me. In fact, if I reflect on my initial reasons that I found yoga – they were all athletic in nature. At the time I discovered yoga, I was into focusing on exercise and the benefits of the practice as a mechanism to stretch and provide a low impact workout. What I learned as I moved forward was how much I enjoyed the wellness lifestyle that surrounded yoga. And the calming and healing effects yoga has on the body.

I know that the idea of making people feel better both mentally and physically is actually my true driver for wanting to teach. I have personally seen the effects of how yoga practice, meditation and centering can decrease my reaction to stress and allow me to be a better me. I have found myself discussing the yoga training journey more from the improves in my mental and physical well being than discussing the “mechanics” of why we practice yoga.

So, I believe that I am beginning to see more of a balance in how I would like to teach. I like the idea of sequencing and cuing because it is very tangible and process oriented to me. However, I am more excited to see how students grow in their practice and how it may change over time. I look forward to helping customize classes to the needs of the students present in class. And I would like to become a “life long learner” as it relates to yoga. I believe a good teacher never stops learning, and holds the responsibility of bringing new ideas to her students.

-Karen

[melross1]

Where are you coming from as a yogi: scientist, mystic or athlete? I’m coming from an athlete. I love to run, and I believe I have a type A personality. I tend to be competitive. Through Yoga I’m learning to not always need to have the perfect pose or the “ta da”. Yoda is helping me be me and I am enough and I love me and I love being enough everyday. Some days I have to be reminded. How does knowing this help you cultivate your authentic voice as a teacher? This helps me see others who push themselves past their natural limits, I think this will help me remind people that our bodies are only made to do so much. And it’s ok even perfect being enough. How does it help you play to your strengths and understand your opportunities as a teacher? As a person who always pushes myself too far even to the point of injury, I can watch for others like myself who might push beyond their limits and help them learn what is too much and avoid injuries. As a type A person I hate it when I get injured and have to stop working out then I feel like I’ve had a huge set back. Even with injury I find a way to keep working out. I want to help others not be me.

[msinghal]

What am I? A scientist, a mystic, an athlete? If I just contemplate at these terms without knowing what each term means with respect to yoga, I would pick myself to be a scientist because I am logical and process driven. When I review these terms more at length though with respect to yoga, I find that I have actually evolved from being an athlete to a scientist. Growing up in India, I was very academic, always immersed in studying. However, my parents always valued the need to be active. Yoga was in the air around me as my parents practiced daily and even taught. Naturally, I resorted to yoga (and walking) as a means of low impact physical outlet.

I continued practicing yoga sporadically throughout my adulthood during, then becoming more consistent in my 40s. I feel that is when I evolved toward a scientist. Looking back, I realize that that time coincides with when the stresses of settling into a new country, raising kids, building a business, etc. eventually crept up on me, and I felt the need to become a regular practitioner of yoga in order to provide a holistic approach to health. This brought me to the YTT program with a desire to deepen my own practice.

Knowing that there are 3 types of yogis and students, does put me at ease. Knowing that whatever my style, be it methodical, spiritual, or physical, I will find an audience whose style will resonate with mine. Since I gravitate toward the science behind yoga, I will be incorporating more breath work (pranayama), the chakras, the bandhas, and basic to intermediate postures and their benefits. I think my teaching style will have a dose of spirituality, even lower elements of athletically advanced poses, but more of the hows and whys. My father, who is my original teacher, believes in imparting the science behind pranayama and asanas, so that the one can logically understand their benefits. He believes in keeping the practice simple, but consistent. I have come to realize that I believe the same.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by msinghal.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by msinghal.

[betshellhaas]

I think my standpoint has changed over time. I originally started yoga as an athelete and came to yoga for the workout not understanding its many layers. As I have grown into yoga and started the Yoga Teacher Training process I believe I have become a mystic. I love the spirituality brought into yoga and as a mystic I look for those things going to a class. Realizing I am a mystic allows me to cultivate my authentic voice by expressing what is interesting to me. Bringing in pranayama, mudras, singing bowls, chakras, essential oils (the list could go on) is something that is important to me in my practice and my teachings. I believe students are drawn toward different teachers for different reasons. When someone is searching for what you offer it’s like a great happening and it resonates so deeply, that is what brings them back again. I believe it helps me play my strengths because I am also a massage therapist and Reiki Master. I bring spirituality into those roles as well and have become so comfortable with them that it will bring a sense of comfort to my yoga classes. I use these ‘tools’ already and understand them well that it would be easy for me to incorporate them into my yoga classes. I have thought about the fact that this may limit my opportunities as a teacher. Not at the studio but more of away from the studio. I have an opportunity to do a Karma class at the local library in June and I wonder if they would not appreciate the spirituality brought into the class but are looking for more of a workout. However, I believe finding the middle ground is a great place to stay when working in different locations. I do not look at being a mystic as if it would limit my possibilities. Luckily, at our studio in Troy we are all about the mystics. I have the opportunity to go whichever way I want when it comes to classes at the studio. This excites me because mystics are a very broad term and encompasses many ideas/tools/techniques and I cannot wait to explore the possibilities.

[lisaclick48]

LISA CLICK –

I loved doing the exercise in class and it was clear that I was more scientist and a bit athletic. Most circles were under the scientist column which doesn’t surprise me as I’m very process oriented. A bit of athletic side makes sense as being stronger and fit is important to me.
The exercise really made me focus on my values and why I want to become a teacher. I want to help people be healthier with focus on self-care and self-acceptance. My interests have always been in the preventive medicine, nutrition, mental health arena. I had no idea how I would find my purpose to feel the sense of reward in helping others. My volunteer work has been very important to me, but it hasn’t been enough. Now, I know I’m on the right path where I can impact peoples’ lives and continue to enhance my life with doing good with focus of self growth. I have ambitions to travel the world and share my yoga style with others.
The interesting realization – the mystic side of me is screaming to get out and I believe I will become more a mystic teacher as I grow and develop in my teaching practice. Connection to the moon, earth, ocean, stars and life on this planet and how energy moves the soul to build awareness of self and others. I truly believe I will come full circle as I develop myself on my yoga journey. I know I will be a very different person in years to come from my personal practice on the mat and from learning what works for my students. I’m very passionate about life and about helping others so I’m very excited to see what I’m capable of doing and where I will end up enjoying my later years…

[CindyHurst]

Mystic – I was drawn to yoga by a desire to understand my spirituality.

As our training progresses, I’ve continued to wonder what kind of teacher I will be. I have a totally goofy side (I have the mentality of a 12 year old). I am also a very spiritual person. I love being with people. I love helping people. I love sharing the wisdom that I have gained over the years. I ask myself – Do I go one extreme or the other? Do I try to find somewhere in the middle? I don’t know the answer to these questions at this time. I’m still formulating the vision of myself as a teacher.

What I do know – in order to find my authentic voice as a teacher, I just have to be me.

[heatherfly]

When i did that exercise my answers were distributed well between the 3, scientist, mystic, athlete. I came to yoga as an athlete, looking for a workout that I could mix in wth running. I didn’t immediately value the effect it had on my mind/spirit. And something I still have to be aware of is the energy of athletic striving in my yoga practice. It is embarrassingly recent that I’ve started giving myself permission to find ease, not push for perfection or the hardest version, not take all opportunities to flow through a vinyasa but be aware of moments when I’d naturally want to take a child’s pose. I think some challenge is important. And will be aware of people who want the class to be hard for the reasons of athleticism.

But I’m also someone who values knowing why and being able to explain how things work and why they work. I’m always asking questions and will want to stay open to and aware of curiosity in a class or with a client. Being able to provide a why in something like yoga de-mystifies it which for some makes it more real and allows them to open to it more. So I’ll want to provide enough information so that the people who need to know why/how in order to get the best out of a practice will get their best experience.

But naturally and in my heart I’m a mystic. A somewhat scientific one but a faithful, devoted one nonetheless. And I believe a sense of quiet and connection are not only what we all deeply need and desire but that any effort we make to move toward that is a balm for this entire anxious, angry world. So from the mystic’s perspective this work is essential for the individual and for the whole world. And I’d like to gently remind people of that.

[Beth]

I really enjoyed the handouts Laurie gave us that related to finding our voices as yoga instructors. I felt I already had a pretty good idea of what brought me into yoga, which is the mystic side of my personality. I was drawn to instructors who brought a sense of passion for the spiritual side of yoga and I was seeking a sort of replacement for my Christianity. I know that I’m also very interested in anatomy and in the physical workings of yoga because of my scoliosis pain and alignment issues that surround my migraines. In this sense, yoga is deeply personal to me in both physical and spiritual ways. I was an athlete in high school and somewhat in college, but the work-out or flexibility issues were never what brought me to yoga or really what I enjoy about it.

I knew as a yoga teacher, I would be drawn to the meditative, restorative and gentle flow classes, because these speak to me the strongest. I knew that leading these classes would bring out my strength and empower me to overcome one of my weaknesses. I struggle to manage stress and tend to carry it in my muscles, but going to a yoga class which slows me down and allows me to focus on my breathing, drastically reduces my stress. In this sense, I will be a stronger instructor because I’m bringing what I consider to be a great gift to others and to myself at the same time. I enjoy speaking in front of others and even if I don’t do everything the way I planned, I’m used to changing things last minute working with youth. I know it doesn’t have to be perfect to make an impact. I also believe that when things seem to be going wrong, or not according to plan, can sometimes be the most meaningful. I know that I will not always know what sort of an impact I’m having on others and I’ve made peace with this teaching and leading programming.

I also recognize that while I have teaching and program experience, teaching yoga is very different. I almost feel like I bear more responsibility teaching yoga than any other task I’ve taken on. I am not afraid but I am humbled to the fact that I represent something far greater than myself, while still being myself. I enjoy talking to others and getting to know them, so I feel that making people comfortable is a gift I have already. I know not everyone will like my class and I can handle the rejection or criticism. I believe my pain from migraines and scoliosis will be strengths in my classes because I can empathize with others and inspire them to be free of their pain as much as possible.

Ultimately, I know that my strengths will make me a fun, knowledgeable, humorous, and caring instructor. I know I will pay close attention to my weaknesses, which are organization, my bleeding heart and desire for recognition. I am excited to see where teaching yoga takes me and open to trying new forms, challenging myself and learning from my students. I hope to be a mystic first, a scientist second and throw in a little athleticism last!

[EmilyD]

Emily

When I started coming to yoga on a regular basis, I came as an athlete. I had started running, and I knew that yoga would help me stretch my muscles and balance the stress I was placing on my body. However, the more classes I attended, the more I realized I was getting other benefits from my practice. There was a shift to more of a scientific approach with a little mystic mixed in.

Recognizing this change, as well as how this shift occured, will help me as I begin teaching. I will be able to use each of the perspectives as I draft class plans, and maybe be able to shed light on the ways that yoga practice can change as we continue with our journey. I find that when teachers share their life experiences, it really resonates with me. I want to try to do this as I begin teaching. Knowing this about myself will also help me narrow down the kinds of classes I want to teach. I know it won’t be fully focused on scientist, mystic or athlete, rather instead a mix of all. A good example of this kind of class is Laruie’s Yin/Yang class on Wednesday mornings. There is a good balance of centering/meditation, stretch (for the athlete in me), and scientist as she explains the benefits of poses for our bodies.

[Abby Rogowski]

Q-Where are you coming from as a yogi: scientist, mystic or athlete? How does knowing this help you cultivate your authentic voice as a teacher? How does it help you play to your strengths and understand your opportunities as a teacher?

A-Initially I began yoga to get into shape – my goal was to feel happy and strong from the inside out.
It took about a month to fully grasp the breathing and understand the value it brings to your practice.
My next phase was the spiritual connection and taking my practice off the mat, slowly integrating my practice into my daily life. As I became stronger mentally, physically and spiritually- life all seemed to simply fall into place and my hunger to learn more about yoga grew. Today I would say my apporach is scientist, mystic, homiopathic and althete.

As we get into out karma yoga classes and get more aclimated with sequencing & cuing, I suspect we will gain the experience to understand all the health benefits of specific sequencing and poses, which all come simply by practice and repetition. We are indeed in grasshopper mode, soaking up every bit of of our training and mentally preparing our teacher queuing and classes.

My strength is asking for specific opportunities and motivating/empowering others, so it will be fun to see how our class grows even more once we all complete out karma classes.

[dooley]

When I began my practice, I started out on the mystic side. I needed to find calmness in my mind and crate inner peace. On the other hand, I was being told by doctors to build strength in my legs so I feel I was a little on the athletic side. I have come to realize that I still need to build strength in my body but need that balance of creating my spiritual side. The meditations have helped me do that and the pranyama has also helped me to bring the balance between the mystic side and athletic side. I have been drawn to the scientific side since teacher training. I want to learn more about how the body works so I can bring this knowledge into my class to help all the level of students. Finding the balance between the three will help me build on the strength I do have, so I can recognize the different style of students who come to my class and help them find the balance they need in their mind/body/spirit.

[Author]

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