Level 2-Oceanside

My level 2 training was in April about a month after I had taken level 1.   My plan was to take a weekend training once a month and be finished around October.  I originally thought this was taking "the slow path" but soon found out that it was more like the "fast track".   There's a lot of required reading for each level and I am finding it somewhat challenging to fit it in with my life of figuring out what I'm teaching my 4th graders tomorrow and posting grades online for eager parents.

Level 2 was at a 24-Hour Fitness in Oceanside which is down in San Diego County.  Like I have said before, I am not a "gym girl".   In fact this was the first time I had ever even been inside of a 24-Hour.  It was much larger than the exclusive gym in Newport Beach, but it had a much more "normal people" feel to it.   By that I mean, the people working out on the numerous machines looked like people you might meet in your everyday life.  

 Our yoga training was in an aerobics room upstairs that had the loudest air conditioning unit that I had ever heard.  In fact, I suspect that the air conditioner may have been installed by the maintenance crew from my district because it seemed to be on some kind of an odd timer.   It would blast freezing cold air when we were sitting on our mats trying to listen to our trainer, and then suddenly stop for the entire 2 hour yoga class that was challenging every major muscle group in my body.

Most of the participants in this training were already yoga instructors, mainly at a 24-Hour Fitness facility.  And here I thought you had to be certified to teach other people how to contort their bodies into potentially injury-inducing poses.  But apparently I was wrong.   I felt very inferior to them, especially when we had to break into our team-teaching groups and teach each other.   I was still at the phase where you say things like:  step back with your right foot.....and most of them were using words like: elongate your spine while breathing new energy into your.....even now I can't even come up with a word to complete that cue.   I finally verbalized my fears and frustrations to some of the yogis in my group and was amazed at their incredible support.   It turns out most of them have been teaching yoga for years and were doing the training to gain skills on how to do it the "right way".

By the end of the 2 day training I had gotten over my competitive need to keep up with my more experienced collegues and had come to realize that this like everything else in my life was a work in progress.   And that becoming a yoga instructor was not a destination, but rather a journey.  So sit back, take a deep breath, and enjoy the ride......