The Yoga Teacher Voice

A few months before I retired and moved here to Idaho, I completed a 200-hour Beginning Yoga Teacher training course through the Northern California Yoga Institute. I met some amazing, loving, wise, and compassionate women in that training course. I also made a few lifelong friends. 

I had been informally teaching several co-workers at lunchtime once a week and absolutely loved it. Sharing my love of yoga with others was always a joy (no matter what was happening in my real job). I decided I needed to formalize my teaching and actually get trained and certified. 

When I started the training in January 2012, I had no idea I would be retired and in another state by November, so I fully intended to continue my classes at work, and perhaps go on to be trained in senior yoga and teach at assisted living facilities in the area. But here I am, in a teeny town in the Idaho Panhandle, with the closest yoga studio being about...oh...30 miles away. And, really, I'm not looking for a job. Being retired is keeping me really busy. And, as I stated in a previous post, I like being the boss of me.

I have had a few neighbors and acquaintances in town say they would be interested in yoga lessons, but nothing has come of it so far. I only have room for, maybe, two students in my yoga loft anyway. Yes, I have a yoga loft. OK, it's just a loft, but I use it for my yoga practice. I had to put a claim on it before we even bought the house, because my husband was eyeing it for himself. 

This is where the magic happens:

 I try to practice every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes. I try for a full (45-90 minutes) practice every other day. These old bones and joints can really tell if I don't spend time on my mat. Why, just a few days ago, I hurt my back blow drying my hair. How pitiful is that?

This is the view I have as I practice
my standing  poses. Sometimes 
I have the
pleasure of watching a deer 
walk across the
yard as I hold Dancer.


And when I'm really gettin' down and going through all of the Warriors and ending with, perhaps, Reverse Balancing Half Moon, and starting to feel some sweat trickle down my temple, a nice breeze kicks in and blows the curtains up and over the table. Ahhh, Northern Idaho air conditioning. 

I have noticed, since I completed my yoga teacher training, that I hear my own teacher voice in my head as I practice. "Let's meet in Child's Pose" I hear myself say, or "Remember to lift that back arch, knee over ankle, rotate that left thigh!" I try to turn the voice off, to just practice in peace. Don't I know to lift my arch and rotate my thigh? Why do I have to instruct myself? I asked my teacher if the yoga teacher voice ever shuts up, and she said "no, you will not be able to turn off your yoga teacher voice ever again...SORRY...once you open the door to awareness, you can never go back!" 

So I've learned to accept my yoga teacher voice guiding me through my home practice. I certainly don't want to lose it, and I'm sure it will come in handy when/if I actually teach again. I have been trying to teach yoga to my husband, but that usually involves heavy sighs, reaching for his neck, and saying "No, actually, we weren't done holding that pose."

Namaste