the final weekend. day one.

the final weekend of teacher training was nothing if not exhausting, both physically and emotionally.  

on saturday we started the day off with a visit from jasmine, one of the assistant teachers, and her new baby (born just a few weeks ago!).  then we did a mala.  a "mala" is 108 sun salutes.  for those of you not familiar with what a sun salute is; it's a series of poses linked together by breath and movement.  you start in tadasana and then inhale to your first pose, exhale to the second and so on until the final pose then you exhale and return to tadasana. 

(yes i did that on paint, and no i am not proud but a visual was necessary).  

so we did that.  108 times.  in a row.  and holy hamstrings.  i've been gimping around the last four days.  

though the mala was exhausting, and i am still feeling it's effects, it was amazing to be in a room with 40 other people all of us breathing as one and going through the same set of poses at the same time with no one talking except for natasha's calling of "forty-two" or whatever number we happened to be starting.  the energy in that room as we completed the last ten salutes was incredible, and i will always remember it. 

after the mala we went on to the in class exam.  the in class exam was what was making me most nervous about this weekend.  and though i know i didn't get 100%, i am pretty confident it went well. but, me being me, i probably will be wondering about it until i get my letter of completion.  

i didn't sleep well that night.  all i could do was toss and turn and think about the test.  even as i did this i kept reminding myself "i took the action, now i need to let go of the result."   

easier said than done...  

xxx