With a lingering jet lag, I'm still in bit of daze - Goa is really gorgeous and resembles nothing like the India I know so far. The whole trip feels surreal, and there's a dream like sensation floating in the air. The reality hasn't quite sunk in yet and I doubt it will for another few days at least. The location is amazing – fresh, luscious, tropical, welcoming and very unlike the India I've seen before. I am watching with amazement the world go by, hoards of foreigners -tourists and locals- on mopeds, clogging up the roads and making themselves seen and heard. The population here seems to consist mainly of sun burnt topless men with overgrown hair and beards, scantily clad beach babes and seasonal 'yoga-goans'....
But I'm not exactly here on on exotic holiday. I've flown all the way to Goa, India, to embark on an intensive 2 months, 300 hr, 6 days a week yoga teacher training course.
Whether I'll emerge a more committed practitioner, wanting to take things one step further is something I'll soon find out. The teacher is Rachel Hull, an Australian woman living in Bali and with a background of Asthanga, Hatha and Vinyasa yoga, she began to create her own Vinyasa flow style, which essentially consists of a flowing, creative practice – both dynamic and adapted to each person's level and experience. Many postures and sequences derive from Asthanga yoga, which I thoroughly enjoy and currently practice. Rachel, however, broke out of the Asthanga 'mould' and came up with a more freestyle, creative approach to the whole yogic practice, whilst also deriving much of her knowledge from Ayurveda, something which I'll also learn about in greater depth.
As a matter of fact, 'freestyle' was very much something I experienced for the first time this morning in our 'open self practice' class – a mixture of students, teachers and trainees, doing their own moves , their own yogic practice. Being used the the strict Asthanga sequence, this definitely brought an an interesting perspective to things. The feeling was definitely different.
Still very much tired from the traveling, long haul flight and finding my feet, I've been thrown into this course at the deep end. Luckily the first day consisted of a chilled out tea with yummy cakes, healthy snacks (and not so healthy ones too) as well as seriously spicy chai. However the timetable isn't quite as laid back as I had hoped. The first week starts at an 'easy' 7.30 am, with self practice classes; from week 2, 6 am will be the usual routine... Sunday is the only day off and we'll still be expected to study – simply reading and absorbing everything. It's the kind of mental and physical discipline one does need to become dedicated yoga practitioner and definitely one of the first steps to being able to teach is a structured, serious practice.
More yoga stuff to follow.... With the course being so intense, the few moments of freedom and quietness have so far been saved for resting and reading....
http://www.shaktispirit.com/
