Week 4 YTT, pt 1

The mood shifted after the barbecue on Saturday. All of a sudden, the immediacy of the end of the yoga training became obvious - we only had a week left of this magical experience. The class load decreased as more time became devoted to practice teaching and also to study for the written exam on Wednesday morning.

On Monday, we covered miscellaneous yoga poses we'd missed through the month in our posture lab, and we also learned the four main postures one can meditate in. The afternoon was devoted to learning the assists we can perform during savasana, the final resting period, for our students to help them relax, become grounded, and access their parasympathetic nervous system that reduces stress. This meant while the other students practiced, I received the different ways to assist, which are essentially massage techniques. It was wonderful, truly.

The following day we learned the common injuries yoga can cause (or maybe bring to the surface) and how to address them if it would occur to our class (basically, go to the doctor :). The day was topped off with learning about pre-natal yoga, aka yoga for pregnant women. Riveting stuff. We enjoyed the rest of the day studying for the big exam.

Yikes, exam day is finally here. Our Wednesday began with our normal yoga class at 7am followed by breakfast. At 10 am, Aurelie handed the exams to each of us and began the timer - we'd have four hours to complete it. I'd need a 70% to pass and I felt prepared due to all of the review time during the past month. Tests are exciting to me because they represent to test myself. I finished the test in a little over 2 hours which gave me the rest of the day to relax by the pool and get in the right mindset to teach in the morning.

After all, Thursday is the big day where we'd be teaching our first class. This deserves its own post. Stay tuned.