Wow I wrote this post 2 months ago but it got lost while I was looking for a suitable photo…and I’ve found one! The header photo is one of Meghan Currie’s classes as found on True Yoga Connects blog
http://www.trueyogacollective.com/review-yoga-connects-festival/
Three days, 13+ hours of yoga, awesome teachers, dancing and peaceful area. I was so totally buggered afterwards but thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here is what I learnt.
- I am much stronger than I realise. On Saturday, I did 7 hours of yoga as well as an hour of dancing. 13 hours+ across the 3 days. For those who have not done yoga before, it is a bodyweight exercise. Lifting, supporting, balancing, stretching, compressing your own bodyweight. It’s tough! But oh so wonderful (especially when you’re in the flow and so is everyone else – the energy in the room is amazing!). Myself and many others at the festival did this on only a few hours of sleep through cold nights, and not much food (don’t want to eat too much if we keep having yoga classes). I was invigorated by the yoga. Makes it even more amazing 🙂 my practice has definitely improved.
- Even though through my regular practice, I didn’t feel like I was improving, I definitely was. I was able to do some poses during the festival that I hadn’t been able to do during my regular practice! 😀
- Meghan Currie introduced us to a great concept. In savasana, take a cleansing breath in and on breathing out, return everything inside you to the ground. Let go of everything. All of your worries, fears, triumphs etc. I found this so calming and such a relief. As if mother earth would accept me as I was. All of me, no judgement. We all have insecurities. She taught us to look at them without judgement and allow them to be. Only then would we be able to coexist peacefully with them and not have the negative self talk and the resulting self sabotage. This was quite profound for me, someone who lets self doubt get in the way. Christians would submit themselves to Jesus. As I am not religious, I prefer to let my energy return to the ground. Just as lightening does 😉
- Yoga is a practice, a journey. It never really stops. Everyone is on their own journey and you can’t really compare from one to the other. It would be like comparing and apple to an orange. Hence there are all sorts of abilities and body shapes. Everybody was concentrating on their own practice rather than looking at other people. It was the one time that I was able to let go of my own body issues and be comfortable in my skin. Unfortunately I have lost that now. Stress eating plays a big role, but I am trying to stop that and learn to be more mindful and use other methods to deal with stress and anxiety.
- Celeste Pereira, an awesome bubbly yoga teacher, shared this: Instead of comparing yourself to other people, just try to be better than you were yesterday — Rick Rubin (Record Producer)
- If I am not getting to my goals ie. self sabotaging, the reason for the goal is not big enough, not important enough.
- When organising something for others, try to keep things consistent. Don’t go changing the timetable and names of rooms without a good way to tell everyone.
- When camping, bring an inflatable air mattress. Keeping your back off the ground is paramount if you don’t want to freeze!
- Instead of taking people through a class, it is much better to demonstrate and teach them how to get into a pose. And also, how not to get into a pose. Applies to every day life too. Teach skills rather than just telling them the answer.
This yoga festival occured at the end of July and after a week I still carried with me the relaxed attitude ie. not rushing. Still working on the self esteem, but I suspect that will take a lot lot longer…Travelling helps because I am in new situations all the time. Navigating through them is a little win each time 🙂
feetandmind 