i've once again updated my website - the first incarnation unfortunately didn't work out business/monetary-wise so... check it out again! www.kate-yoga.com (!!!)
that's it for now. until next time here's a picture that makes me smile.
xxx
4/26/2010
updates
that's it for now. until next time here's a picture that makes me smile.
xxx
4/21/2010
more questions than answers.
this week i have been pondering: how do yoga teachers keep themselves in balance? as someone who leads others through a journey of being true to themselves while releasing tensions both mental and physical, how do you cope when you are struggling in your own life either on or off the mat?
on my way to teach class this week i found myself presented with a particularly stressful and upsetting phone call. with only minutes before i needed to head into the studio and start class, i struggled to equalize myself so that i felt like i could be a helpful teacher. i sat quietly for as long as i could trying to free my mind and heart from the disruption and carried on, as best i could. i wish i could say that this class went just as well as any other and i was successful in my attempts to clear my mind. unfortunately, after class was over all i felt was failure. like i didn't bring my "a" game and i had failed my students because of that. i will never know if any of the students noticed but, what will continue to haunt me is that, i did.
ever since i have been wondering, how does a teacher balance being both human and being a guide? of course part of teaching yoga is showing that you are human. showing your students that yoga accepts you just the way that you are regardless of what day you were having or how tight your muscles feel. but, on the other hand, isn't it also partially presentational? not that you wouldn't be honest but you might also try to sugar coat it. i mean, i surely wouldn't feel too comfortable coming into a class with a teacher who seemed emotionally unstable. for example, when i used to wait tables, the customers don't care what kind of day you are having, they just want to have the best experience possible. don't my students deserve that much?
while i understand there is something to be gained from using your life experiences (good and bad) in your teaching and learning; some of my most dynamic scenes as an actor have been realized while i was drawing from my personal bank of life experiences. but, in the heat of the moment - i was neither poised nor wise enough to draw from this fresh altercation and turn it into something useful.
i honestly don't know what to make of it all, but i hope that with time, an answer will present itself. perhaps for now, it is good enough just to ask the questions.
xxx
on my way to teach class this week i found myself presented with a particularly stressful and upsetting phone call. with only minutes before i needed to head into the studio and start class, i struggled to equalize myself so that i felt like i could be a helpful teacher. i sat quietly for as long as i could trying to free my mind and heart from the disruption and carried on, as best i could. i wish i could say that this class went just as well as any other and i was successful in my attempts to clear my mind. unfortunately, after class was over all i felt was failure. like i didn't bring my "a" game and i had failed my students because of that. i will never know if any of the students noticed but, what will continue to haunt me is that, i did.
ever since i have been wondering, how does a teacher balance being both human and being a guide? of course part of teaching yoga is showing that you are human. showing your students that yoga accepts you just the way that you are regardless of what day you were having or how tight your muscles feel. but, on the other hand, isn't it also partially presentational? not that you wouldn't be honest but you might also try to sugar coat it. i mean, i surely wouldn't feel too comfortable coming into a class with a teacher who seemed emotionally unstable. for example, when i used to wait tables, the customers don't care what kind of day you are having, they just want to have the best experience possible. don't my students deserve that much?
while i understand there is something to be gained from using your life experiences (good and bad) in your teaching and learning; some of my most dynamic scenes as an actor have been realized while i was drawing from my personal bank of life experiences. but, in the heat of the moment - i was neither poised nor wise enough to draw from this fresh altercation and turn it into something useful.
i honestly don't know what to make of it all, but i hope that with time, an answer will present itself. perhaps for now, it is good enough just to ask the questions.
xxx
4/13/2010
yoga journal boston conference: part two
i'll admit it. i was more excited for day two than i was for day one. day two consisted of all teachers i had heard of and was pretty sure i would enjoy taking classes with.
i started the day out with seane corn - another yogaworks trained teacher. seane was leading a class on anahata flow: exploring the fourth chakra (the heart chakra). it was run pretty similarly to most other vinyasa style classes i have been to and she for the most part stuck with the yogaworks method of sequencing. she uses a lot more spirituality in her teaching - prayers, affirmations stuff like that. which usually makes me a little uncomfortable but this really wasn't that off putting to me. this was also the first class i was adjusted in. which i appreciate. it's nice to have the teacher physically touching you - helps you to feel like you were noticed.
next class was with physical therapist and yoga teacher julie gudmestad. natasha talked about her a lot during the training and we read tons of articles from the seven years she wrote a column for yoga journal. it was awesome to put a person to the name. her class was focusing on the core muscles. my core is definitely a weak spot of mine, so i was happy to have a physical therapist actually go through a regimen that she uses for her patients. i'll definitely need to stick with these exercises for a few weeks before i attempt to start teaching them in my own class but, it's nice to have something specific you are working actively working on.
during my three hour break i grabbed a few small things and went outside to one of the numerous roof gardens in the prudential. though it was a might bit windy for my taste, it was nice to get outside and sit in the sun even for a few minutes. i circled through the marketplace one last time, and indulged myself in a new mat bag from manduka (the same company that made my mat - which i love).
for the final class of the conference i went back for some more natasha. she was leading a twisting class and so help me, i love to twist. as expected this class was the perfect way to end a yoga-filled weekend. there were a bunch of familiar faces and i learned so much from watching natasha do her "looking at bodies" thing she does so well. it really is invaluable to watch someone so gifted helping a student with alignment so specifically as a teacher myself. i can only hope that one day i will be able to be as helpful to my students.
now i realize i failed to take any pictures on the second day, but here's my reasoning: i was so engrossed in the classes, i didn't even have the thought to whip out the iphone. i know, i know - bad blogger.
xxx
i started the day out with seane corn - another yogaworks trained teacher. seane was leading a class on anahata flow: exploring the fourth chakra (the heart chakra). it was run pretty similarly to most other vinyasa style classes i have been to and she for the most part stuck with the yogaworks method of sequencing. she uses a lot more spirituality in her teaching - prayers, affirmations stuff like that. which usually makes me a little uncomfortable but this really wasn't that off putting to me. this was also the first class i was adjusted in. which i appreciate. it's nice to have the teacher physically touching you - helps you to feel like you were noticed.
next class was with physical therapist and yoga teacher julie gudmestad. natasha talked about her a lot during the training and we read tons of articles from the seven years she wrote a column for yoga journal. it was awesome to put a person to the name. her class was focusing on the core muscles. my core is definitely a weak spot of mine, so i was happy to have a physical therapist actually go through a regimen that she uses for her patients. i'll definitely need to stick with these exercises for a few weeks before i attempt to start teaching them in my own class but, it's nice to have something specific you are working actively working on.
during my three hour break i grabbed a few small things and went outside to one of the numerous roof gardens in the prudential. though it was a might bit windy for my taste, it was nice to get outside and sit in the sun even for a few minutes. i circled through the marketplace one last time, and indulged myself in a new mat bag from manduka (the same company that made my mat - which i love).
for the final class of the conference i went back for some more natasha. she was leading a twisting class and so help me, i love to twist. as expected this class was the perfect way to end a yoga-filled weekend. there were a bunch of familiar faces and i learned so much from watching natasha do her "looking at bodies" thing she does so well. it really is invaluable to watch someone so gifted helping a student with alignment so specifically as a teacher myself. i can only hope that one day i will be able to be as helpful to my students.
now i realize i failed to take any pictures on the second day, but here's my reasoning: i was so engrossed in the classes, i didn't even have the thought to whip out the iphone. i know, i know - bad blogger.
xxx
4/12/2010
yoga journal boston conference: part one
despite every good intention of coming straight home after each conference day this weekend to chronicle my experience, i was just too darn tired and hungry to do anything but eat and go to bed when i got home this weekend.
all that being said - the conference was a blast. friday night i sat at the yogaworks booth and chatted with interested parties about teacher training and why yogaworks is so great. i also got this great shirt for my time it simply said "yogaworks it's that simple." here's a picture of the booth.
all throughout the weekend i kept running into yoga friends, which was so awesome. it was great to see people and know that i had a place in this community even if i still feel pretty new to the yoga world.
saturday i got up stupid early for the weekend (6:30) and made my way to the conference. i was lucky enough to catch the elusive 1 bus that runs from cambridge down massachusetts avenue right downtown to hynes convention center which is a mere block away from the conference. i grabbed a breakfast sandwich and made my way to my first class.
i followed my little map they gave to us in our programs for the weekend and found myself in on of the sheraton's many ballrooms. a small elevated stage was set up in the front of the room and blue painters tape had been laid down forming rectangles on the carpet just large enough to fit a mat and a few props.
here's a (blurry... sorry) picture of my first class was with leslie kaminoff author of yoga anatomy. his class was mainly on the individualizing a yoga practice by focusing on each individual student's breath. another thing he really wanted more teachers to do is to allow students to make decisions throughout the class to start on whatever side they want to. so for example, you say come up into warrior I and each student should decide which foot they want to be their front foot. this means that the entire class would be on one foot or another and then all of the teacher's instructions would have to be adjusted so that it would work if you were practicing with either your right foot or left foot forward. while i agree that it would be freeing to a class to let them have free reign in their practice like that - there is a reason people come to a yoga class. for instruction. i don't mind if people adjust or modify to their own liking but i feel like in my classes, students look to other students for guidance if they don't quite understand what they are supposed to be doing... and that's a lot easier if everyone is practicing on the same side. he did bring up something that i will be carrying along with me as a teacher - to ask more questions during the class. rather than saying something like - "you should feel a stretch in your hip-flexor" simply ask or guide student's by saying something like "notice where you are feeling the sensation in this pose."
next class was backbending with natasha rizopoulos. it was so wonderful to practice with her again. while everything she said was what i remembered from the training it was so wonderful/interesting watching other people take in these thoughts for the first time. minds being blown all over the place. she worked the room much like she did during the training, holding one student in a pose and helping them with alignment while others watch. got to do one of my favorite poses urdvha danurasana (that really intense backbend in my pictures i had posted before).
then we had a nice three hour break. i ran into a few friends from the training and had lunch with them. we sat outside, ate and caught up. then off i went to lululemon to browse. ended up getting a new pair of leggings and a lightweight jacket. it was a glorious break.
my final class of the day was on chakras for emotional health with gary krafstow. and that was... interesting. i guess i was hoping for it to be a bit more linear and to come out with a better understanding of the chakras and how they can be made more balanced. rather, we talked a lot about the history and everything got a bit convoluted. then after a long discussion we did a bit of viniyoga practice... i wasn't sure what to expect going in and coming out... from that practice i am not really enticed to explore it further. granted i only got a 45 minute tasting of it but at least from that i have an idea of what it is and know that it's not something i need to be doing right now. which is useful in the grand scheme of things.
xxx
all that being said - the conference was a blast. friday night i sat at the yogaworks booth and chatted with interested parties about teacher training and why yogaworks is so great. i also got this great shirt for my time it simply said "yogaworks it's that simple." here's a picture of the booth.
all throughout the weekend i kept running into yoga friends, which was so awesome. it was great to see people and know that i had a place in this community even if i still feel pretty new to the yoga world.
saturday i got up stupid early for the weekend (6:30) and made my way to the conference. i was lucky enough to catch the elusive 1 bus that runs from cambridge down massachusetts avenue right downtown to hynes convention center which is a mere block away from the conference. i grabbed a breakfast sandwich and made my way to my first class.
i followed my little map they gave to us in our programs for the weekend and found myself in on of the sheraton's many ballrooms. a small elevated stage was set up in the front of the room and blue painters tape had been laid down forming rectangles on the carpet just large enough to fit a mat and a few props.
here's a (blurry... sorry) picture of my first class was with leslie kaminoff author of yoga anatomy. his class was mainly on the individualizing a yoga practice by focusing on each individual student's breath. another thing he really wanted more teachers to do is to allow students to make decisions throughout the class to start on whatever side they want to. so for example, you say come up into warrior I and each student should decide which foot they want to be their front foot. this means that the entire class would be on one foot or another and then all of the teacher's instructions would have to be adjusted so that it would work if you were practicing with either your right foot or left foot forward. while i agree that it would be freeing to a class to let them have free reign in their practice like that - there is a reason people come to a yoga class. for instruction. i don't mind if people adjust or modify to their own liking but i feel like in my classes, students look to other students for guidance if they don't quite understand what they are supposed to be doing... and that's a lot easier if everyone is practicing on the same side. he did bring up something that i will be carrying along with me as a teacher - to ask more questions during the class. rather than saying something like - "you should feel a stretch in your hip-flexor" simply ask or guide student's by saying something like "notice where you are feeling the sensation in this pose."
next class was backbending with natasha rizopoulos. it was so wonderful to practice with her again. while everything she said was what i remembered from the training it was so wonderful/interesting watching other people take in these thoughts for the first time. minds being blown all over the place. she worked the room much like she did during the training, holding one student in a pose and helping them with alignment while others watch. got to do one of my favorite poses urdvha danurasana (that really intense backbend in my pictures i had posted before).
then we had a nice three hour break. i ran into a few friends from the training and had lunch with them. we sat outside, ate and caught up. then off i went to lululemon to browse. ended up getting a new pair of leggings and a lightweight jacket. it was a glorious break.
my final class of the day was on chakras for emotional health with gary krafstow. and that was... interesting. i guess i was hoping for it to be a bit more linear and to come out with a better understanding of the chakras and how they can be made more balanced. rather, we talked a lot about the history and everything got a bit convoluted. then after a long discussion we did a bit of viniyoga practice... i wasn't sure what to expect going in and coming out... from that practice i am not really enticed to explore it further. granted i only got a 45 minute tasting of it but at least from that i have an idea of what it is and know that it's not something i need to be doing right now. which is useful in the grand scheme of things. xxx
4/09/2010
yoga journal conference: boston
yoga journal conference is this weekend! 6 hours of yoga a day for two days? yes please!
i will be taking notes, hopefully snapping a few pictures to share and learning my butt off so i will have some cool new things to incorporate to my classes.
so stay tuned: i'm planning on posting a retrospective for each day (that is if i am not too exhausted from all the yoga!)
xxx
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