Advice to new students

The February Teacher Training students arrived yesterday, they have their orientation and initiation today. I have been remembering what it was like when I arrived and thinking of the advice that I wish someone had shared with me before my TTC. Not wanting to scare them, but trying to help them prepare themselves, I have been offering the following tips:

1. Surrender

This was key advice that someone told me when I arrived, and I would pass it on to anyone beginning the training. Even though it sounds intimidating and foreboding. Surrender to what? But it really is a good word. You have to submit to the process and the teachings. The more you resist, the more difficult it is. 'Surrender' also applies to the asanas. Paschimothanasa is the pose of ultimate surrender, the seated forward fold. But Surrender does not mean to give up. Surrendering to the process or to the asana means to relax into it, to go with the flow. It was most challenging to relax into the structure and discipline of the course. To having no control over my day. In a way we also had to surrender to the teachings, and just absorb them rather than analyzing them and critiquing them right away. Sit and relax with them, and they will start to make sense.

2. Prepare to sit a lot, and take steps to make it easier on yourself

If you have read the earliest posts from my time here, you will know that this was the hardest thing for me. Discipline was hard, but it was familiar to me from my time as a competitive figure skater. Sitting 8 hours a day was new. We probably sat on the floor more in this month than we did in all of kindergarten, or ever since. Some things that made it better:

- going early to satsang to make sure I got supportive cushion to sit on

- doing my own hip opening stretches in my "free time"

- getting a massage on my day off
- running to lubricate the joints

And when I was sitting, the key was to move as little as possible. To a certain extent, physical discomfort is in the mind. Your mind is bored of sitting and trying to concentrate, so it looks for easy distractions. The more you give in to your mind and give it attention, the more you move. The more you move, the less focused you are, and you want to move more. Eventually you just want to move the whole time and you get completely focused on the discomfort and you have failed at calming the mind. Agitation begets more agitation.

3. Don't expect to become a wicked strong and flexible yogi

Actually for that matter, don't expect anything. Of course, everyone comes with expectations. For many of us it was "Yay! A month of relaxing on the beach and stretching to become super fit, strong, and tan". One of the first philosophy lectures was on the topic of the barriers a spiritual aspirant must face, and one of them was the barrier of preconceived notions. But about the physical practice. This was a very small part of the course. Because, as we learned, asana is a very small part of yoga. It is just one step in the 8 limbs of Raja yoga. I was pretty disappointed with this lack of exercise, in fact it is likely that I have gotten physically weaker being here rather than stronger. But stronger in the mind I'm sure.

4. Take time for yourself

This was key for me, but maybe not for everyone. I found it challenging to be constantly surrounded by people so I tried to go do my own thing at least once a day. I was lucky, because of my karma yoga I had all 3 breaks in the day. So I would go running, take a nap, sit in my tent and eat chocolate...whatever I really felt that I needed on that day. The course is really challenging, and I needed to get a real break. Sometimes after dinner I would go to the beach in the dark and, with my ipod blasting a dance music playlist from summer 2011, I would run and dance and jump around with complete abandon. I felt very joyful and free and alone. But don't tell anyone ok?

5. Logistical advice

There are a few little things that make ashram life and the TTC easier.

 - Don't go to Starbucks, at least until the end of the course. Even if you are not having caffeine you will become obsessed with going there, and its even more expensive in the Bahamas than in Canada. Some people were going every day by the end of the course. I didn't go until the study day before the exam, but since then I have had to resist the urge to go back.

- Don't wait for the day off to do laundry, and don't bother with the dryer. The laundry room was packed on the day off, and some people spent their whole day there. Better to find time another day, even though you can't wash both uniforms because you will need one to wear that day. Also the dryers don't work very well so its better to just hang your clothes. I used the dryer once when it was raining a lot.

- If you are late to breakfast and there is a huge line, just try to politely grab a bowl and spoon and go to the other part of the buffet where the bread, oatmeal, cereal, and YOGURT is. Eat the yogurt and granola, its delicious. 

- If you plan on keeping a journal, you might have difficulty finding time for it. Bring your notebook to satsang, then if the speaker does not interest you, you can just pretend to be madly writing notes but actually writing your journal instead.

- Don't waste time trying to use the internet after meals. Everyone tries to get on at this time, and the connection is either deteriorated or completely out. You don't have time for this.

So there you have it! My advice for incoming or prospective Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training students.