Living my Yoga - Day 2 of Training

Day 2 of Teacher Training we started to get into the substance of the asanas (poses). We learned about how the pose should look 'on the outside', as well as how every body type is different, so each pose will be slightly different for each of us.

'Side Tangent' - Truly a reminder to keep one's eyes on one one's own mat, as our downward facing dog will likely look completely different that our mat-neighbor. Remember, we don't know the background and experiences of our mat-neighbor, he/she may have been a dancer or gymnast in a previous life, or maybe they are lucky enough to not have a job where they sit in a chair 8 hours a day, or maybe they are a marathon runner so their hips and hamstrings are much tighter than ours

I am grateful .....

• It was great to have 3 teachers guiding us during the poses, adjustments and assists. Each teacher has a unique method and idea which allows us as students to gain a broader knowledge. It was also interesting how much the teachers were even learning from the students and each other. Really points to the fact that we are all students and should embrace the 'beginner mindset'.

• For learning so many different ways to assist someone in Downward Facing Dog. We practiced at least 5 different methods of assisting on each other...WOW, my hamstrings felt it the next morning! Remember, even though this pose is a lot of work, in the long run many yogi's find this pose as a 'break' or relaxing pose during a strenuous practice. I found this picture online which is a great visual of the pose and what one should be doing with their body parts and muscles: 

  

  Source: Wisdomquarterly.blogspot

   I found this picture as well....which I thought was a great picture giving insight into the name of the pose (Really I just thought it was super cute) 

Source: Johnsmithtraner.com

• Chaturanga Dandasana - I think this is my least favorite pose, it's similar to an American push-up...but at the same time completely different (elbows are tightly in line to body, and you stay in a parallel line - the goal is not to go all the way to the floor). I learned that I had been practicing my chaturanga's in way that would likely injure me over time - Lesson #1 - Practice in a healthy way!

Source: boundless yoga

• Anatomy - This is the part that I am interested in learning...but I also want to RUN away from it. I fear that the more I learn about the anatomy and how we can hurt ourselves, the more I will not want to risk it! I am completely risk averse (sometimes ignorance is bliss) ...BUT I will not run, learning at least some simple anatomy is essential to being a 'good' and 'healthy' yoga practitioner and instructor. I was so grateful for the skeleton structure we had in class....seeing the bones and how they move was extremely helpful.  
• Did you know:
• We have 26 bones PER foot!!! And we cram them into shoes every day...no wonder we long for foot massages
• When we are born we do not have a patella (front of the knee cap) this 'grows' when we are about 2 years old assists in our walking
• There is a tendency for women to have more knee problems because of the width of our hips..and the alignment of the femur into the knee joint.

Well...that's not ALL we learned on Day 2....but before this post becomes enormous..and I am really late for work...I must be off!