No mud. No lotus.
Welp. :: ahem:: I’M A CERTIFIED YOGA TEACHER!!! ::celebratory party dance:: As Dietitian Gone WILD, I am a huge advocate for adventure. Anything can be an adventure if you make it and life is a hell of a lot more interesting when you see it this way. I crave adventure. I chase adventure. And it ignites something in my soul that I believe plays a vital role in my holistic health equation.
This yoga teacher training journey was one of my most recent adventures. 2016 was… a year. For all of us. The highs and lows were extreme for me. The Cubs won the World Series, after all, so I guess karma needed to balance that out with some other things (cough, cough..like our current political situation.. cough, cough). 2016 was just a year of… uncertainty and unknown. Which, hey… isn’t that how all of the best adventures begin?
In the midst of all the chaos, I began seeking calm. I was in need of some serious inner peace and began finding it through meditation. It was amazing how a simple 10 minute meditation could improve my anxiety, mood and outlook for the day. At the same time, I was practicing yoga.
Now, I’ve practiced yoga for years. Occasionally I’d take class at a studio, but I mostly practiced at home as a means of exercise. I used to dance in high school and college and I'm a runner, so yoga was a nice way to balance running that felt natural to me. Finding meditation took my yoga practice to the next level.
I was discussing my love of yoga with someone last year and was asked if I would ever consider becoming a yoga instructor. It seemed so natural to say, “yes,” and yet, I’d never even considered it before…
Why hadn’t I considered it before? I've asked myself this a lot since then and I really don’t know why. I guess the picture of a yoga instructor in my mind had always been so goddess-like. So calm, wise, in perfect shape. Nothing that, in my mind, I even came close to (Yes, dietitians are human. We're all about that bod love and acceptance, but we aren’t resistant to insecurities. It’s a bummer.). So the thought of being a yoga teacher never even crossed my mind in all the years I’d practiced.
Now, however, I was in a new state of mind. A mind that understood yoga was not at all about being perfect or comparing. Yoga is about acceptance and practice and self-love and I was moving towards a realization that self-love is the door to love for all beings. In this new state of mind, I absolutely would consider becoming a yoga instructor, if only for my own personal growth. Maybe I won’t even teach, but I’ll grow (I told myself at the time).
I did some research through friends and the internet, went into the closest CorePower Yoga studio, took a Hot Power Fusion Class (HPF), and asked about the HPF Yoga Teacher Training program. I didn’t sign up that day, but I already had signed up in my mind.
I signed up a week or two later and began my journey.
And what a journey it has been!
Surprisingly, delving deeper into the mechanics of yoga actually back-tracked my spiritual journey a bit. Normally, in a yoga class, I would focus only on myself. However, now as a trainee I had to study other bodies and how the instructors handled them. This took me outside myself, but it was for a greater purpose. Being a yoga teacher is actually pretty tough work, y’all!! There’s a lot going on that instructors make look so smooth and effortless. I think this is another reason I had never considered being a yoga teacher… it means SO much to me. It’s such a beautiful gift and touches people so deeply. I don’t want to be the one to lead a crummy class and ruin this amazing thing! If I do it, I want to do it PERFECTLY. And there’s that word again… “perfect.” It’s yoga practice, not yoga perfect, though, as they say…
Life has been busier than ever during the 8 weeks I’ve been learning to be a yoga teacher. In typical life fashion.. everything happens all at once or not at all. I’ve been exhausted and anxious, excited and motivated. Mostly, I've been incredibly inspired by my teacher trainer instructors and fellow trainees. And it’s gone by SO STINKIN’ FAST.
But, here I am.
A certified yoga teacher.
Proving myself wrong, which is really the only person I should ever compete with for the sole purpose of self-improvement.
Since I had such an amazing experience and want to continue to grow, I signed up for Core Power’s Extensions program for another 5 weeks of yoga teacher training. Sending so much love and gratitude to all those who offered me support and encouragement along the way. <3
Chase your dreams. Chase adventures.
Stay Wild,
Danielle
MS, RD, LDN