My Yoga Journey Part 3

What led me to yoga teacher training and some of the best weekends of my life was a journey that I never dreamed my life would take. Due to a series of events I ended up in YTT, as we yogis like to call it in January of 2017. I had made a move from my home in Florida to a friend’s house in Ohio. I quickly began a job at a day care as a preschool assistant. Later on I was promoted to lead teacher. Then another year down the road I was in yoga teacher training with Carrie Treister and a wonderful group of other trainees. The weekends were long, I learned a lot about myself, and there was so much yoga. I was in yoga nirvana.

When I began teaching preschool as a lead teacher I fell in love with teaching. I had people asking me why I didn’t go get my teaching certificate. At the point yoga had become increasingly more active in my life, a more important part of my life. Shortly after I took over lead teaching I was asked to teach the children a yoga class once a week, that was 4 half hour classes once a week. It was great. I was happy. I enjoyed putting lessons together, games and watching the kids have fun. Yoga and teaching had become bigger parts of my life. More people were telling me that I was a natural at teaching yoga and something that I should do. And I knew the children were enjoying it, I could tell, I could see it.

After thinking it over, looking into different schools, getting advice from different fitness professional friends I decided to enroll in the Omnipresent Yoga School, which is taught and led by Carrie Treister. The weeks and then the days leading up to our first weekend I was nervous and excited and my stomach was full of butterflies. I bought all my books, some of them I already owned and got everything I’d need for the weekend ready.

YTT was out of town for me. I’d pack up a bag, lunches for the weekends and my yoga bag which included my purple, pink and black Calvin Klein bag ready with highlighters, pens, Franklin Method balls, yoga mat cleaner, a towel, yoga mat and water bottle. Friday evenings I’d leave straight from work to head to the outer banks of Cleveland to a city called Avon. It is a place that I hadn’t been to before. My first time there I had to go straight to the studio; later on in my training in the weeks that would follow I’d have the chance to sight see a little more. My trainings were one weekend a month and a lot of self study. I took 4-5 classes a week at various studios outside of our weekends. I wanted to get a range of training from different studios and different instructors with a variety of classes. We had access to 3Sisters Studio but as I lived out of town I didn’t make it there often. This YTT fit with my schedule perfectly since I was working a full time job Monday-Friday.

Friday evening our training would take place at 3Sisters Studio. Our night would begin with a practice led by Carrie or another teacher from 3Sisters. After practice we would take a short break for food. Then we would jump in on our lessons. We would all, 21 of us, pull our mats to the walls forming one big misshapen circle. Saturday and Sunday were similar in day. Our days would begin with a practice led by Carrie at the Avon Community Center, a nice space perfect for yoga. Then we would jump into lessons ranging from breathing, philosophy, business, and anatomy. Then we would take a break for lunch. This is when I would take time drive around the city of Avon with its cute store fronts and old town feeling enjoying lunch in the car. After lunch we would meet back at 3Sisters Studio for more lessons, lectures or hands on; whatever we were working on that weekend. Usually this time back at the studio was when we had guest speakers come in and further our lessons.

On our first Friday together we introduces ourselves and our yoga, we received our binders full of yoga information and a page to log our yoga hours. It was the best binder full of information that I ever received. For once in my life I was excited to be learning. This is something that I was very interested to learn more about and deepen my yoga knowledge.  Throughout our time together we worked on writing prompts, hands on practice, breathing exercises and a constant practice of yoga in general with our guest speakers and Carrie. Every one of these people came in with an open, like mindedness. They were all very knowledgeable in their field. The atmosphere they created, that Carrie created and the 3Sisters Studio created was always very inviting, welcoming, accepting, and calming. I didn’t care that I had to sit through 21 hours of yoga the work, the atmosphere, the sweat was all worth it. I came out of YTT with a collection of life changing experiences and a group of wonderful friends.

I loved these weekends, getting packed up and heading to the 3Sisters studio to practice yoga and then dive into the weekends lesson. What originally landed me on the Omnipresent Yoga School and 3Sisters studio was Carrie. We have a mutual friend and she talked nothing but good things of Carrie. When Carrie and I corresponded she was nothing but sweet and helpful, answering all of my questions sometimes ridiculous at times. When I first entered the studio I loved the vibe. The atmosphere was very welcoming and calming. I instantly felt at ease because to be honest I was freaking out ahead of time. I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t even know Carrie. But as soon as I met her all of that went away. All of our chatting beforehand made meeting her much easier. To me it seem like I already knew her and in a way I already did. She was honest and open. Her extensive knowledge of yoga was intoxicating. Her ques were easy to follow yet so full of information. She knew how to lead a yoga class and lead it well. She was always a ray of sunshine. From day one she encouraged her students to be their 100% authentic selves.

This was something that was very important to me. I went into yoga teacher training to find out more about myself, to extend my knowledge of yoga and learn how to lead a class. I didn’t go into it thinking that I would come out teaching right away. And that held true. Over the past year I have continued to learn more about myself and my yoga practice and my knowledge of yoga. I took some time to myself over the winter, practicing yoga mainly at home, reading and studying. I only recently got back into studio practices. And come the end of May I will be teaching part time at a wonderful gymnastics gym in Medina, more to come on this later.

Xo

Namaste

Kelly

P.s. Read about my yoga teacher training experience at the 3Sisters Blog