Thursday, September 18, 2014

Thoughts on yoga and what to write...what to write...

My yoga teacher training course has me feeling very introspective. It’s a little odd for me to feel this way and I’m sorting that out. The Me before yoga teacher training would have been banging out blog post after blog post, writing about it and sharing every little bit of it. But, in true introspective form, this feels like something I want to mull over, to think about, and not try to articulate or explain.
 
I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to respond to the yoga survey I posted a few weeks ago. I have to say that your comments and questions were very humbling for me. I think I take for granted that I have such readily available yoga resources close by. I sometimes take for granted that my body is healthy and can move freely. In a perfect world, every one of you would have access to a variety of yoga studios and great teachers. Knowing that’s not the case for everyone humbles me and has me counting my blessings. My yoga practice is yet another perk of being me.

My readers gave me a total of 19 questions on my yoga survey, and in typical me-fashion, I sat right down and typed up my answers in a lengthy Word document. Then I created a blog post and saved it to my draft posts. A few days later I went back and cut it in half because it was a super long post. Then I went back and cut it down some more.
Then I went back and cut it all out, left the photo, and added these words.


I’m still trying to find my footing between yoga teacher (-to-be) and blogger. I fully embrace the fact that this is my blog and I am free to share whatever I want here, but this blog space was never intended to be all about yoga. Not to mention, I am not a certified yoga teacher (yet!) and I’m not so sure I feel qualified/comfortable answering all 19 of the questions that you so sweetly asked of me.
In the beginning at our yoga teacher training orientation, one of the master teachers told us that as soon as people found out we were studying to be yoga teachers we would be called upon to share our knowledge of the practice. At first I thought she was going to caution us to not get ahead of ourselves and start acting like teachers, but the opposite was true. She told us to start sharing our love and knowledge about yoga. She told us that we were already teachers and that we should start embracing that and feel free to share our knowledge. She told us to start acting like teachers!
In that moment I felt excited and, quite frankly, just a little freaked out. It’s a huge responsibility, this yoga teacher gig, and something I do not take lightly. Yoga is something that I feel very passionate about, and I consider it an honor to share that with others. I want to share it on my blog too, but I’m still trying to figure out the best way to do that. I have a few yoga posts written and saved as drafts, but whenever I read them I think they sound too preachy – too much like a lecture – and maybe a little too trippy for PaperTurtle.

Ultimately, I want to give you little bits of information that will create a curiosity about yoga. If you don’t practice yoga, I would love to influence you to want to practice! And the very last thing I would want to do is to come across as preachy or know-it-all. Perhaps the best way to approach it is to continue to share my own personal stories – to tell you how yoga has influenced me and made such a difference in my life.
Ah – there are so many levels of yoga. The philosophy and ideals are such pure and basic and beautiful theories to embrace. I want to give that to each and every one of you. I want to teach you like you were standing barefoot on a sticky mat right in front of me, and to help you understand that yoga has something for every body. And soul. I want to write yoga blog posts in a way that conveys my love of yoga, and my hopes that everyone could experience it on some level.
The trick is figuring out the best way to do that on my blog.
Time for more introspection…
PS: I am committed to answering each and every one of those 19 questions about yoga here on my blog. I love this amazing journey and I’m excited to share some of it here on PaperTurtle.

3 comments:

helena said...

your words are so you I was reading them with your voice in my head - so you to care so much about the impact of what you say on your blog and your desire to share the pleasure you gain from yoga

Susi said...

Take your time, you'll get it just right and your readers will be waiting. : )

Sian said...

I can only echo what the others have said. I love that you are documenting your journey here, with your usual much loved by all of us honesty and charm

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