The two best things I learned in June
Skills training to improve your yoga practice.
One of the best things I learned in June was what makes a retreat really successful. Just back from Ithaca, leading my 6th retreat, I've been reflecting on what made it the best yet:
- The relaxed pace — having time and emotional space to dedicate to yoga without the pressures of work
- Breadth and depth of content — movement, breath work, meditation, gratitude journalling and philosophy
- Location, location, location — the place matters
- Great people — uniting like-minded people creates community and lasting friendships
- Being in nature — waking up to sunlight glinting off water, birds singing, no noise pollution
- The teaching — I pushed my boundaries and from the improvements I saw, it 100% paid off
Why is yoga so hard?
When people start yoga, they think it will be touching their toes that's tricky, but this is just the start. Yoga is hard because it requires you to coordinate slow, controlled physical movements in time with a much deeper breath than normal, whilst listening to instructions and converting audible cues into kinaesthetic actions. That's a lot!
The fact that you do any yoga at all, is a real achievement. Well done. Give yourself some well deserved praise.
What is skills drilling?
In any other physical activity or sport, the instructor gives you skills to practice repeatedly. A similar approach can be taken to learning yoga. As a teacher, I don't just want you to enjoy your practice and feel better — I want you to know you are learning and improving.
I've begun to analyse the practice into physical techniques, or skills, which we can drill. As we learn how to do these skills, we begin to feel an ease with yoga — no longer forcing ourselves into a pose, creating muscular resistance and mental tension, but rather flowing with more ease.
From September onwards I will be rolling out skill training in my classes. If you can't wait for that, you could grab yourself one of the places on the Puglia retreat.