Archive for the ‘The Forrest Yoga Project’ Category
Not Dungeons & Dragons, though there’s nuthin wrong with that.
Dizziness & Downloads.
Very separate topics, but two short bits I wanted to share before getting on the road again (this weekend, Burlington, VT!).
Dizziness is one side effect I have from the medications I’m on.
(See
http://autumnlotusyoga.omblogger.com/2010/02/07/medication-update/
and http://autumnlotusyoga.omblogger.com/2010/01/14/outing-myself/)
The meds are amazing in many many ways. Predominantly, they quiet [...]
I’ve spent much of today compiling my final package to send in for full Forrest certification
It’s a complicated thing. Completing the Forrest Yoga Foundation Teacher Training means you get to be a 200 hr Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance.
But you’re not a fully certified Forrest teacher yet. You’re an associate. Nothing wrong with that, [...]
A large part of this past weekend’s Forrest Yoga Mentorship program workshop was doing “seeing circles.”
A seeing circle is an element of the Forrest Yoga teacher training & a very interesting tool. Here’s how it goes.
- Take your group/class/trainees and warm up their eyes by putting them into a yoga pose (horse stance is popular cuz it [...]
This weekend’s Forrest Yoga Mentorship workshop with Heidi will focus on “seeing” or intuition.
When I went down to see her two weekends ago, I asked about how to practice my intuition… it’s something I’m quite interested in getting in touch with. Mostly because I seem to know fewer & fewer facts each day so I [...]
This was part of a writing exercise from the last in-person Forrest Yoga Mentoring Program workshop, & also on the most recent teleconference for the Program that we did with Heidi.
Went like this. For two minutes, without self-editing or holding back, be really honest, write on the following: What expectations do you have for yourself as [...]
So I gave my first round of thoughts on Forrestizing a non-Forrest class (especially vinyasa or power styles) here:
http://autumnlotusyoga.omblogger.com/2010/02/15/forrestizing-a-class/
But have a few more points to offer today after observing more carefully what I do since writing that.
1) For twists where the hands are in prayer position, Forrest yoga substitutes a stronger hand set-up. Make the bottom hand into [...]
Well, nursing computer along as best as possible. Likely to be replaced soon but gotta get finances in order!
Still have a little more to share about thi s past Forrest weekend.
Confession: I didn’t make Friday night. Couldn’t resist the chance to dress up & have a date night with Beloved Husband at the Temple restaurant in [...]
My computer is dying, quite likely right as I type this. It won’t take any power & is starving itself!
Short news is that this past weekend went great. Theme was tracking sensation through a particular spot — by getting more skillful at tracking feeling, we can track our transformation. And by being committed [...]
Morning of Day Two kicked off with an assisting workshop. This means we did a pose or two, Heidi paused & showed assists on one of us, then we went & practiced on each other.
For three hours we alternated, reviewing assists in Abs with Mat, Down Dog on the Wall, Handstands etc. As we progress in training, Heidi keeps encouraging us to feel more what is going on with someone as we lay hands on them, & to see more clearly as well. It’s quite fascinating to slow down enough to truly look at someone in a pose, see or feel what is clogged or bunched up or tweaked out, then feel for helping it release.
The afternoon was a mentee-led free Community Class at Fresh on inversions. The room was PACKED! Wow!! Mat to mat in a huge space, a veritiable sea of yogis! (I keep trying to come up with a cute collective noun for yogis, like a namaste or yogis, or a bind of yogis or whatever. When I get it, I’ll let ya know, or if you have one, send it on over!)
I was part of the mentee team teaching the class. There were 6 of us, each given 15 minutes. We used the 90 minute sequence we designed the previous day… well… we started out using it & like all good plans, it quickly flew out the window. Heidi later described the inversion community class situation given to mentees as essentially a Kobayashi Maru. For non-geeks, that is a Star Trek reference to a no-win situation. Which the mentees are tasked to make into a win, usually by subverting convention. In this case, the teachers “on” at the time of the wall work split the class in two with one group at the wall & the other in the center. This is common Ana choreography that we’ve all seen done, but usually not actually done ourselves. Woah, nelly! Complications & chaos & contortions, oh my! The entire mentee group (not just the teaching team) got called in to help during that part, & the center teacher just made sh*t up freakin’ brilliantly. Everyone got through it, with a fair amount of grace under pressure too.
After the feedback I’d gotten during the FYCET, I’d asked to do savasana to work on softening my teaching. Heidi did a lovely thing at the end to help me breath & speak from my heart/experience. During closing, she sat behind me with her back pressed up against my back & she breathed with me. First my back tingled, then my entire being. Amazing.
Following the class, we got feedback from Heidi. It was a longer process than during FYCET or Foundation, as she gave each of us a teaching exercise to do right then. Frequently, in accordance with the weekend’s theme, it was something related to speaking authentically.
I found my feedback quite useful. See, used to be that I didn’t breathe at all before I spoke, disassociated entirely & rushed through it all at warpspeed. After much work, it turns out that now I only don’t breathe before I say something personal or related to my feelings or experience. Selective-not-breathing! Progress! This I can work on now as well. Breathe. Feel. Speak. Breathe again.
The final exercise of the weekend really targeted specifically my issue. We had to write up a personal teaching story & share it with another mentee. Well, practice it on them, really, since it is intended to be used during a class.
I am right now quite TERRIBLE at these!! I am having horrible problems even coming up with a fake example of one, much less one of my own to share!!
Which is ironic, considering that this entire blog is one. 
Will keep working on it. Breathe. Feel. Come up with teaching story. Breathe again…
Heidi, to reiterate, is a goddess. One of the reasons she is a goddess is that she starts her intensives at 9 am rather than 6 am! That alone has earned her a place in the pantheon.
Day One began with a call to have the balls to change. Yes, it was pretty much stated that way. Direct language & cussing always amuses & delights me, so that worked well. Heidi did the calling in of the directions ceremony, we chanted & did a guided meditation. The meditation focused on saying “yes” to whatever was going on within us. Not in an “I accept & love everything” kinda stupid way (there are things one should NOT accept, such as abuse) but in a “this is what I’m feeling & I can feel that & be ok” sense. Which is very useful to help with tendencies to disassociate or yell at oneself for having particular feelings. Such as running out of one’s skin everytime one is angry or bored or happy even.
The class that followed was a two hour, open-to-all public inversions class. Heidi focused on external rotation in the shoulders alot anatomically, and in the standing poses, on top of the thighbone/heel alignment. Nice addition was having the mentees help/spot newer students during some of the wall work, especially learning to get up into handstand.
After lunch, the afternoon started with Heidi setting the focus of the weekend: Finding our authentic voice. That means teaching honestly, first off, examining the truth of what you say & making sure you say what you mean. Heidi emphasized that it’s “Getting clear on why you teach what you do — is it because it resonates with you or it’s easier? Is is something you’re passionate about, or is it a job?” An authentic voice is not monotone, or riddled with repeat words, “teacher voice” or boring. It also means being clear & direct — speaking, touching, & demoing with a purpose. In short: teaching with passion from your experience.
We then reviewed smudging & did a short smudging ceremony. After that, talking circle. To prep for the circle, Heidi had us do some guided process writing on a series of questions about expectations for ourselves, our students & our teachers. In talking circle, each person had 3 minutes with the talking stick to say something from those questions or whatever else was most pressing to say. Oh, and you have to talk the Whole Three Minutes. It’s funny — bunch of teachers who can talk for 90 minutes at a stretch all get wound up about talking 3 minutes with the stick.
Then the group split into two & each group sequenced an inversion class, one 75 minutes & one 90 minutes. Heidi reviewed the classes with each group to help finesse the sequencing.
After the group reconvened as a whole, we finished the day with a teaching circle. This was neat — each person taught three breath cues for a pose (which we made up as we went around) in a different way each time. For example, on the first turn around the circle, each person just had to teach using the Breath Formula. Inhale, speak on exhale. Second turn around the circle, you had to inhale into pelvis, then speak. Third turn, inhale into heart, then speak. Fourth turn, inhale, feel whatever you’re feeling, then speak.
I HIGHLY recommend that last for a daily practice. Inhale. Feel whatever you’re feeling. Then speak.
That’s actually kind of my homework from the weekend, but I’ll get to that tomorrow when I recap Day Two!