Thursday, March 13, 2014

Graduation

Last weekend was it. My last weekend of yoga teacher training.

Graduation.

On Saturday, instead of taking the Community Yoga class, I taught it as my final teach. And who was in my group but an 8 year old girl who was there with her grandmother! My friend Margaret pointed out to me that the kids seem to be flocking to me in this yoga stuff... I take the appearance of this girl in my final teach as a good sign.

We had two more yoga classes to get through that afternoon, and I felt terrible, but I had to bag one of them and spend most of it in child's pose, cuddled over a bolster. I got through the first 30 minutes of the 75-minute practice, but since I had been awake with Colden most of the night prior, there was no way I could get through what was undoubtedly a yummy power yoga class.

Saturday night, Colden was awake most of the night. He was incredibly uncomfortable - SOMETHING was bothering him, but we had no idea what it was. (We finally figured it out yesterday, in the middle of a blizzard that dumped 2 feet of snow on us: he had ANOTHER double ear infection.)

Around 5 a.m. Sunday morning, I just dissolved into tears and decided to give up on trying to sleep. I texted Debbie to let her know that I wasn't going to make it in time for the 8:30 gentle yoga class, but that I would be there for the 10 a.m. Hatha class, where I was scheduled to assist one last time.

Before lunch, we circled up for one last time. On Sundays, after the two yoga classes, we would sit in a circle and just share what was going through our heads and going on in our lives. Margaret was first, but she asked if we could skip her initially, and come back to her last.

I shared that that day, March 9, would have been my mother's 70th birthday. With no sleep and all this going on, I felt like I was on a bit of a roller coaster.

Then we got back to Margaret. And we all started to cry as she so beautifully summed up what we were all feeling about the last six months we had spent together, practicing yoga and learning together.

She got up and came back with a small brown paper bag. Inside the bag, she had a little sack with gemstones wrapped up. She told us to each pick the one that we felt called to us, without seeing what they were.





It turns out that they were the same gemstones that we had used during her gemstone guided meditation back in January. 3 out of 5 of us chose the same gemstones at random that we had chosen for the meditation - with the exception of me and someone else. (I had chosen carnelian during the meditation, but this time around, I chose Azurite.)


Then she handed out little wrapped packages that contained gemstones that she had chosen specifically for us. My little gemstone was Merlinite - the little card that came with it told me that the metaphysical properties of Merlinite provided access to the Akashic records, to draw upon the powers of the elements, to enhance Shamanic practices, and to bring magic into one's life.

We went back to the little meditation room where we stashed our gear, and I thanked Margaret again for everything. I embraced her - really, really embraced her - and just couldn't help but start crying again. Of all the total randomness in the universe, I still can't get over what meeting Margaret and getting to know her and learn from her has brought into my life.

Very briefly, Margaret worked at the creamery where we got our raw milk and raw dairy products all summer long when we were picking up our veggies from the CSA. We enjoyed chatting with her, and meeting her dog, Arnold, who had 3 legs and was a little skitchy with us, and who Tom nicknamed "Tripod" because we could never remember his name. I mentioned to her that I was about to start a yoga teacher training one day in September, and gave her the information. Sure enough on that first day, there she was, ready to go through training with me!

Margaret stayed with us for a while when she was going through some transitions and needed a place to crash, and Colden instantly fell in love with her. We went to the Wild Center with her, and she and Colden acted like a couple of kids together. I loved talking with her, finding out that we are both on the same wavelength about so many things. We looked after Arnold when she went to Montreal, and Colden decided that he didn't want to give Arnold back.

Arnold the dog, AKA Tripod, assisting me with work


So, back to graduation...

After lunch, we settled in to watch the rest of a fascinating video about anatomy and yoga. Really, I loved this video, and I'll write more on it later, but Sunday afternoon, it gave me a chance to rest my head and close my eyes for a few minutes as I listened.

Then we had our two last yoga classes, led by two of the ladies in class. And that was it. We were done.



Debbie handed out our certificates, and we posed for pictures. She had planned on taking us all out for dinner afterwards, and I thought I was going to beg off because I was just so tired. Exhausted, I didn't think I could keep my head up!

But I walked up the road to the restaurant with everyone else, and found myself drawn into a conversation with a few of the past graduates of the teacher training. It was such a great time, I wound up staying for the entire evening.

Finally, when I was getting too tired and too dizzy to hold my head up, I called it a night, said goodbye to everyone, and went home.

I cried most of the way home. It was such an overwhelming, gratifying, beautiful experience.

All we had done for the last six months was practice yoga together. We read books together. We exchanged ideas with each other. And finally, at long last, I felt as if I had stumbled into my tribe. This was where I belonged - with these amazing, incredible, thoughtful, brilliant women.

What's next? I have absolutely no idea. I've started teaching a Tuesday evening De-stress Yoga class, and I love it. I want to add more classes, as soon as I can figure out what I'm going to do about my increasingly stressful day job. I'm teaching workshops about how to make your own Mala beads, and Yoga for Stress Reduction. I'm teaching yoga to the kids at Colden's old preschool every Monday morning. I want to take teacher trainings in Yoga For Round Bodies.

For now, though, it's 10:27 p.m., even though my body still thinks it's only 9:30 p.m., and that means I need to get to sleep early so I can get Colden to school on time tomorrow...

I leave you with one of my favorite contemporary songs for my yoga practice, Everyone I Know by singer/songwriter Mat Kearny. Namaste.


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