Practice is the Best Training
Yoga teachers are constantly bombarded with continuing education courses, weekend certifications, long-format immersions. I'll never dissuade another professional from learning and soaking up more yoga ed, but I urge teachers to discern the noise from the knowledge. The trends from the practice. The marketing from the information. The manufactured controversy from what it actually takes to teach an asana class.
In our commercialized era of yoga (and hey, I'm in it deeply, this is my job), the idea of practice looks so plain. Get on your mat at home? Go to a weekly class with a knowledgeable teacher? Unroll your mat with a friend? So simple, how could this possibly unravel the mysteries of the polyvagal system, or the furor around hands-on assists, or injury prevention?
I'm leading a weekend of practice with my friend Witold this July, and figuring out my marketing angle. I mentioned the weekend to a student of mine and their first question was "What is the weekend about?". I didn't quite know what they were asking, so they clarified that they wanted to know what the topic would be. They were so unused to the idea of just practicing, and were waiting for the hook.
The hook is: the best training is being on your mat, with presence, attention and curiosity.
If it's been a while since you were on your mat for a weekend, please join us. We take deep delight in preparing these long classes, and are excited to teach with our usual tricks: depth and detail, lots of props, creative variations on familiar poses, hands-on assists for personal attention.
All of this leads us within, where our practice actually happens. The learning, the a-ha moments, the noticeable clarity...to get there, we have to spend time with focus and care. We look forward to being there with you.
