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The yoga sutra 2.39 one who is not greedy is secure. He has time to think deeply. His understanding of himself is complete.
When I read this sutra I took it to heart and first began my spring cleaning. It is so true that over the years we gather, want, desire, buy, take, so many things YET do we really need them? And the stress of having it all, time to deal with it, to store it, to worry about using it, etc is so ridiculous! I love the question what is the limit to what we should possess. I read once to live The Simple Life if there is something you want, you should write it down. After 30 days, if you remember why you want it, you still want it, etc you can then decide if to get it. Living a life of non-excess is so comforting. I have put this Sutra to work through the 30 day plan as well as Cleaning and ridding every inch of my home. One who is not greedy is secure.

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I read this book twice and feel very strongly about the Yama’s and niyamas. I decided to theme my 8 week Tartan Fields series on them and started with my favorite Being Fully Present. I find that we steal from others when we are not fully present, and therefore I have focused on being an active listener, really focused on who I am with and my relationships have grown.

Each class I chose a main theme from one of Yamas, spoke to the theme, then chose a question for the students to ponder. Or a challenge. My themes were: Finding Our Courage, The Power in Truthfulness, Live Light, Cleansing our Bodies, speech and thought, practicing gratitude, knowing our true self, and surrender. It was a beautiful way to introduce each.

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I have found my spirituality actually grow since being in YTT. Being focused on the mind/body and working toward inner health and peace has actually allowed me to turn over a number of things to a power greater than I. I believe in the energy and light source in our bodies and I feel you need to live light to be the light. I believe our purpose on this earth is to shine and be the light for others, introducing them to the power greater than ourselves. Kundalini is a very spiritual practice that helped me fine tune my thinking. I believe everyone has a power greater than themselves and that is what I hope to allow my students to breath into that power, surrender to it, and feel the inner peace.

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Lori Davis: Karma Classes

4/29/18 6pm-7pm: Tartan Fields Club, gentle yoga, 3 in attendance. Lessons learned take extra mats, be prepared for late arrivals, have extra speaker in case other does not work.
4/30/18 noon -1pm: Tartan Fields Club, Slow Flow, 3 in attendance. Lessons learned don’t be surprised if someone leaves their mat to check their phone or go get a cup of water, just keep teaching.
5/13/18 6pm -7pm: Tartan Fields Club, gentle yoga, 2 in attendance. Sunday evenings students may be winding down, don’t rush through any pose, savor the time on the mat.
5/14/18 noon -1pm, Tartan Fields Club, Slow Flow, 3 in attendance. With men in class, be aware of modifications and allow time for them to catch up. Great discussion on yoga to enhance golf game.
5/19/18 3pm-4pm: Balancing Owl Yoga, Slow Flow, 9 in attendance. Great to be in yoga studio, get there early to set up room, check HVAC and check in students. Students like to chat, learned importance of being in the moment with each one.
5/20/18 6pm -7pm: Tartan Fields Club, gentle yoga, 0 in attendance. Mother’s Day, be prepared for no-shows, can be time of day, holiday, weather, etc.
5/21/18 noon -1pm, Tartan Fields Club, Slow Flow, 4 in attendance. Great class, added new person, get to know her prior to class to discuss possible modifications. I had marketed on Facebook and that’s how she learned about class. Finding Golf Clubs do not have the best marketing communications.
5/17/18 6pm -8pm Downs Syndrome 5k Warm up sequencing. Great learnings outside, learn voice control, facial expressions, set up to be visible, ask students to join, be upbeat and fun!
5/27/18 6pm -7pm, Tartan Fields Club, gentle yoga, 1 in attendance. Bring mat next to student and teach private.
5/28/18 noon – 1:00, Tartan Fields Club, 0 in attendance. Memorial Day weekend, pool party at Club, Memorial Tournament time. Talked to Natalie, Fitness Director about marketing enhancements.
5/23/18 6:30pm -7:30pm, New Hope Church, gentle yoga, 15 in attendance. Lesson learned, don’t be afraid to change space set up, if students can hear and see better that is the key. Walk around to help cue modifications. Be myself, share during practice, let them really get to know me!
5/30/18 6:30pm – 7:30pm, gentle yoga New Hope Church, gentle yoga, 12 in attendance. Plan time after to spend with students if they are chatty. Compliments are huge, don’t over do but build students confidence.
6/17/18 6pm – 7pm, Tartan Fields Club, 0 in attendance. This timeframe is not great in summer.
6/18/18 noon-1:00pm, Tartan Fields Club, Slow Flow. 3 in attendance. It is important to get to class early. This day, the room was messy and super warm. I turned on industrial fans to start to cool. Unfortunately it wasn’t cooling, so students asked for fans to be on during class. They were really loud and I had to speak loud over them. I walked around to cue more so students could hear me. They appreciated fans and were not bothered by them.
7/14/18 9am – 9:40am Balancing Owl, Yoga Pilates, outside Free Yoga Day, 28 in attendance. Make sure music is upbeat, find best shade to set up, start standing for centering, the less time on mats being still the better due to bugs! Cue looking to the sky, smelling the fresh outdoors! Have fun!

I was blessed with multiple Karma classes and learned so much! I will continue offering Karma classes to New Hope Church starting Fall 2018.

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I often find my shoulders up, tense when in a very non-tense setting and know this is an example of how I hold my stress. It can be stress from work, stress from multiple projects pulling for my attention or stress in not being well rested. Holding my shoulders In a stressed position only causes pain, more anxiety and trouble resting. My ah-ha moment is “I can control my reactions” and simply taking a few breaths, being aware of my body and allowing my shoulders to slide down and relax also allows my mind to relax and anxiety to ease. We can control how we react. As a teacher, helping students breath and release into their mat all through practice is important. Working to help students find the mind-body connection is key. I many times suggest to students to be aware of how they stand while in line at the grocery asking them to scan the body for where they may hold stress and then breath into those areas and allow the muscles to relax into place.

As far as illness, I have had ah-ha moments from sickness and finding that not having my mind-body relationship typically leads to being sick. Allowing body to get run down, not properly hydrating or fueling or simply stressing on something to the point of sickness. I think it is important to talk to your students about proper self care.

Lastly balancing our energies is key to healthy relationships with your self and others. Paying attention to your right brain/left brain male/female tendencies and working to keep those energy channels open. I have become a true believer in Reiki, opening blockages in order for energy to flow freely in the body and better yet, understanding what is behind those blockages such as finding your voice, facing things courageously, maybe even sleeping on one side consistently forcing blockages, whatever it is, I aim to continue getting Reiki in order to be as open and true to myself that I can be. I believe in Reiki and keeping your life energy flowing. This is the only way to really allow yourself to connect deeply with your students.

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Lori
I absolutely loved this topic and am fascinated by it. I had several realizations first and foremost, FOOD! My first focus is on schedule and when to eat, really sticking with this plan. Secondly, the mindful eating blew me away meaning I realized I have completely not been mindful, which is most likely why I continue eating after a meal. Just putting the breath, smell, chewing and focus behind dinner last night left me more than satisfied. I’m seriously considering Ahisma in my food choices, last night was completely vegetarian which we planned but after the class I had a whole new view. And I noticed a difference in the way my digestion worked this morning as well as my scales. Therefore I’m putting a plan in place based on clock, choices AND mindfulness.
SLEEP! So after my first Ayurveda workshop I was focused on my sleep pattern. Then I lost focus. The clock and my mind indicates my problems are not sticking with the plan. I’ve worked up until bedtime reading classwork and researching class designs, so my mind goes to be completely not ready to rest. So I’m sticking to my plan from the Ayurveda clock and will keep 6-10 pm sacred. I will use 2-4 for planning as well as early morning.
Practice: I’m heavy Vata right now, unbalanced, which I believe is why I don’t have a consistent practice plan. Lately every week is different, either type, time or place. I need to get a practice plan together which I believe will help with my balance. And I will work on making sure I have Kapha and Pita classes in my weekly plan.
I am considering taking Kathy’s program to help me on my balancing, food choices etc. I think that enhanced knowledge will help me more.
I am now working on how this will help me as a teacher. My thought is how to creatively bring bits of this knowledge into each class to use as weekly learning lessons for my students. Thinking ???? that through now. Thank you Kimberly for such an amazing day!

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Lori

1. Tri-doshic
2. I am definitely tri-doshic, but I’m not gonna to lie, it does get confusing. I want to be just one so I can focus on it, but instead I need to focus on keeping all three in balance. This does definitely explain how My mood or actions can change with the wind. I’m usually an upbeat person but as my mom used to tell me, it’s hard when you get down because you really get down. I can typically juggle multiple things and keep my cool but sometimes I lose it! I can be the slow moving, chill person until the fire in me says let’s go and I GO! I believe the Pita in me developed strongest in my teen years, always competing in some type of challenge but the Kapha causes me to procrastinate in preparation. I did a lot of public speaking and never was nervous during but my Vata side made me nervous after when I would get in my head about how I did. Tri-doshic!
3. I’m looking forward to learning more about Balancing all three, what causes me to go off balance and how to work through it.

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I attended Colleen’s curvy gentle class this morning. Her opening pose included many props to get into Butterfly comfortably and her reading was beautifully focused on what our body parts do for us, a beautiful reminder of God’s work in our bodies. Teaching this class means you need to keep the class sequences challenging but not unreachable. I liked how she included advanced poses yet used props to get into them, all along building confidence in the room.

Her use of blocks for pyramid and great hip stretches I will use in my gentle classes moving forward. Colleen does a great job of pacing movement with breath and also with speed. Taking movement slower is key for this special population to get into poses successfully.

The key is not to use special language but special techniques. I’m very happy with the learnings today.

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I enjoyed this section. I do believe my focus will be women pms/menopause and also athletes. Here are my ah ha’s:
1. Athletes do not necessarily like the spiritual side of yoga, so Balance should be more of the focus. Balancing muscle groups, balancing work/life, balance in the body.
2. A great way to check in with students is to ask “is there anything going on in your body today that I need to know about?” This is non threading way to watch for anything specific with your students and then work through modifications if needed.
3. In working with Teens and curvy population, having them close their eyes during centering will help them relax, not compare, get into the moment. Also any seated poses like forward folds where they can close their eyes safely is another great idea. These groups can be insecure about their bodies and their abilities, so removing the obstacle of seeing what other students can do, will help them be more present in the moment.
4. For younger kids, turning the class into more of a game, like Simon Says or doing partner poses is the better approach to keep their attention. Class time should be no more than 30 minutes.
5. In teaching seniors, use of props is super important. Chairs, the wall, bolsters, etc. Seniors love and need the movement, and there does not seem to be enough classes available for them. This is a great market to tap into.

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I use the write it in my notebook idea but honestly I am not referring back to it like I thought I would yet. I find I use words from my teachers at The Owl that I have grown to love. Hearing something over and over gets into my soul and it just comes out naturally.

But now I feel like I can start picking those I want to “learn more from.” So I’m planning to go to several of Kara’s classes at Pai and Emily’s Kundalini classes at Y-Flow, Alex’s class at Yoga on High and Barre class at Powell over next 2 months. Plus my Piyo Training. These are the ones I found to have the style I wish to emulate. I’m not too happy Kimberly is leaving me, but I’m planning to soak every last piece out of her teaching as well!

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I am finding that I am still working on class plan process to really get it to work for me. I’m getting my yoga room reorganized as I want to build my classes in there instead of in my office. But in meantime, this is what I am using:
I built a matrix on an excel spreadsheet. It lists every asana down the side and then what the asana focuses on across the top. Then I checked each area so for example, at a glance I can scan the spreadsheet and see all the hip opener asanas. I find this is great to help me pick my poses.
Then I have a sheet focused on asana themes like hips, shoulders, core, heart opener, balance so I can think through my theme first.
As for now, I have themed all of my Karma classes in advance, this week is the last Karma class and the theme is surrender. So I will choose hip openers and heart openers with a little balance to build my sequence.
I have used Pinterest and found quotes based on my theme. I have pinned a lot and next step will begin to organize them.
My next step is to develop class type boards of some sort. I will be teaching gentle/slow flow and Pilates so I need to create a process to keep these asanas/poses separated.
Once I get my theme, asana plan, then I sit down and type out the sequence. I’m still using scripts some to help in practice. I write it out, next day pick it back up and do run through, make changes then turn into outline format. I’m working to memorize beginning, then standing, then seated so I only need to glance at sheet a couple of times.

My biggest issue is procrastination. I am working through that by starting to pre-plan classes so I can grab and Tweek.

As far as music, I now have a good feel for number of songs so I just put playlist together and tweek it while I’m driving, walking, etc.

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I have now taught in 4 locations: Balancing Owl studio, Tartan Fields Fitness Center, outside at 5K event, and Narthex of New Hope Church. My required Karma hours are complete. I have learned a lot from all experiences!

1. Room set up: every location is different and you really need to check it out before you teach. I also recommend arriving an hour in advance if first time teaching in space to really get comfortable and think it through. For example, at Tartan the studio has other equipment so I’ve had to move things around to have clear floor space. Also at Tartan I had a wall sequence planned but needed to revise it as the room is loft style so full walls were limited. At the church, I changed set up from long and skinny to wide so my voice would carry better andcstudents could see better. At the studio, the other teacher had used many of my props in another room, so I needed time to carry them back to my studio for the students. You just don’t know what you will find so having time to get room ready is critical.

Room temperature is also key. Some you can change and others you can’t. I’ve been able to use fans at Tartan to cool space down before students arrived. Closing blinds can also help. Again you need to be there early enough to assure right temperature.

I’ve learned to only trust my sound system. I just bring my own.

As far as music, you need to watch volume. One student actually told me he has partial hearing loss so when he is in class I watch music volume as well as my voice volume.

Clocks…the one at Balancing Owl is hard to see if sun hits it, so have a back up plan. Also church does not have clock visible so I needed to bring. Not bad idea to have a clock you can have when needed.

Put phone on Do Not Disturb when you arrive at studio so you don’t forget! Also put on silence.

I always take 2 extra mats with me into teaching location. I bought my own straps for those off site classes.

Lastly when outside, being able to hear and see is critical. I’m actually working on that solution for free Yoga day class!

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Meditation in what I believe is it’s full form is still a bit of a mystery to me. I learned some things yesterday in Laurie’s class that is helping me connect the dots as well as through our readings. Unfortunately I had to leave during the meditation she conducted with the class to teach a Karma class and I was not able to attend her workshop that she referenced since I was teaching my Karma class then too. BUT I am attending a meditation class in Indianspolis in mid June so look forward to putting remaining pieces together then.

I have also tried the Insight app to meditate at home but to be honest, I haven’t found a voice on the app that soothes me, most bother me and I can’t focus.

BUT I have experienced Petta (sp?) and Emily using meditation in Savasana as well as Emily using Nada breath and mudras and have found myself in a state of bliss, what I call mindful bliss and have a feeling of lightness that is unexplainable. So that state is what I feel is meditation.

I have used words to plant thoughts with my students during centering and at beginning of savasana, tied to class themes and intentions. (I learned this from Kimberly as I have loved how she does this.). After class, I have had a couple of students tell me those words really resonated with them and appreciated my sharing as they were getting focused. Is that meditation?

I’m still quite intrigued and so happy that the teachings of yesterday have sparked my interest to learn and experience more. And I will.

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So far my Karma teaching has been outside the studio and I do believe if you can get your students centered outside of a studio, you are a step ahead! I’m teaching in a gym like location, exercise equipment surrounds the room, the ceiling is angled quite a bit (like a loft) so wall space is at a premium, not easy if you need several to get to the wall and you need to be careful not to hit ceiling or grab TRX strap hanging from the ceiling! So set up and pre-planning is important. Also there is a class right before so there is only 10 minutes to get in the room, set up, greet students and begin! But the students do not realize these worries or things that I see. And that is what I must remember. By teaching them breathwork at the beginning, using eyes closed during long pauses, I believe they are staying centered. Tonight in the Narthex, with a bigger space, I have decided to take my larger speaker and will work to position it so it works. I find the music helps me stay focused and so I will get there earlier to figure that out. I have invested in straps for my outside the studio classes. Now I feel I need to invest next in blocks, but will wait a bit on that purchase. We will use what we can find in the meantime if we need it at the church. My next challenge will be Free Yoga day, teaching Pilates outside with no props. I’m super excited about it and even had a student last night tell me at the studio how excited she was to practice outside. So, planning begins! I really want to use nature in my teachings, I have a couple ideas/workshops for future, so I’m happy to say that learning first to teach outside of a studio is serving my journey. It makes you really think more!

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They said “Even if you don’t want to teach, Yoga Teacher Training will help you deepen your practice, it will change you.” And they were right.

Well I have decided I do want to teach, but that’s because I have become such a believer in the mind/body connection of yoga that I want everyone to experience it. I thought it was interesting to learn the asanas were developed so the yogis could sit in meditation for hours. As I have developed a stronger understanding and practice, I’m finding the asanas help me live my life…for hours each day. What I mean is I feel much more focused, mindful, present in the moment. I’ve become a better listener, thinker, and my confidence has risen. Because of this I believe I’ve become less of a procrastinator and more of a planner.

I have reconnected with my love for music. I have learned to relax more. I have learned to take time, precious time for myself. I have focused more on my eating, healthy choices, and water consumption. I’ve realized it’s ok to head to bed at 9pm. And it’s wonderful to rise early.

And I’ve learned if I miss a day or two on the Mat, I don’t feel as strong, mentally and physically.

And I’m truly happy, love my new Yoga friends and grateful.

I’ve only taught a couple of classes so far but I will tell you, I’m seeing how different we all are and how we all have things we deal with that could be roadblocks to life, whether it’s arthritis, stress, anxiety, weight, etc. My goal is to help others feel the joy as much as I do each and everyday.

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