WHABAM.

This is sort of sound I would equate the first week of yoga training to be like. There is so much information to absorb in the first week, like anatomy terms I haven't heard maybe ever but certainly not since high school anatomy class. To start off the week (and like we've done every day except Sunday since), yoga class begins before the sun is risen at 7am. The next two hours consists of breathing exercises and a pretty intense yoga session that sometimes includes a peak pose that contorts my body into a position I've never done before. The challenge is invigorating.

I was so tired the first two days that I literally fell asleep upright reading my homework assignment before 9 pm. My nodding head jolting me awake, I'd crawl over to my bed and pass out until my alarm sounded at 6:40 am where it'd begin all again.

This is sort of sound I would equate the first week of yoga training to be like. There is so much information to absorb in the first week, like anatomy terms I haven't heard maybe ever but certainly not since high school anatomy class. To start off the week (and like we've done every day except Sunday since), yoga class begins before the sun is risen at 7am. The next two hours consists of breathing exercises and a pretty intense yoga session that sometimes includes a peak pose that contorts my body into a position I've never done before. The challenge is invigorating.

I was so tired the first two days that I literally fell asleep upright reading my homework assignment before 9 pm. My nodding head jolting me awake, I'd crawl over to my bed and pass out until my alarm sounded at 6:40 am where it'd begin all again.

The focus for the first week of classes included learning about the history of yoga, how modern yoga has evolved, learning the anatomy of the body, and also the basics of teaching. Coupled with these topics is the introduction of learning a new language, Sanskrit, which is used in yoga to describe the different positions. On top of this, we also began learning how to get a student correctly into a pose and then learning the common misalignments to fix.

I also learned I'd been doing quite a few poses the more efficient (or lazy) way, which meant I was compensating using other muscles and potentially putting myself at risk of injury in the long term. Absolutely fascinating to break down the poses to not just teach, but also improve my own practice.

By the end of the first week, the awkwardness of putting 6 strangers in a group dissipated, and we topped off the week with a barbecue (the British way to say grilling out) and a few glasses of wine.

It is amazing how quickly we can adapt to new situations and by the end of week, I fell back in love with being a full time student.