Before graduated from this yoga teacher training, I need to pass 5 different test of leading a simulation class which requires mirror teaching and Asana alignment and today is the third test of it. The test comes in five phases which I already finish two of five, starting from the presentation of Sun Salutation Classic with two types of instruction, by breathing execution and the name of the pose in English or preferably in Sanskrit. On the last week, I need to perform 15 minutes class of the sequence from the opening to the Sun Salutation B. For today, I need to do all those 15 minutes with 3 different types of poses; 5 from standing pose, 3 from standing balance pose, and 1 from arm balance pose.
I have no preparation on this week, and I only had one time to perform Sun Salutation with my friend, even that is not really fluent at all. In the last night, I really want to study but my procrastination power win above my necessity and I did not touch the book, which I supposed to study for the test today. What more, I could not sleep yesterday and I only get 4 hours sleep which is inadequate to study in an intense training program which last for 10 hours consecutively.
I feel less energy today as I wake up, but I made a promise with my gym mate to go to the place with her so I need to stay in the decided place to wait her pick me up. Later we arrived on 7:20 and the class are not really crowded, there was around 5 to 6 persons in it. Because my body is too tired as yesterday I went to a yoga festival and take one class with some challenging poses afterward, I take a short nap. It was a nice sleep as I can feel the energy level a bit rising and I realized that I had not taken much breakfast but I don't want to eat it because we are going to warming up at 8 am.
The owner of this yoga teacher training is not coming in the morning because he has to attend the yoga festival conference which I went there yesterday so the lesson will be lead by his alumni. The class started on 8:05 and there was 2 persons which are not showed up in the morning, one were one hour late and he got punished for performing Sun Salutation series in front of all student in our batch. It was a good lesson for him though to memorize the sequence before we going through the test which begins after the lunch break. Later, our instructor said that this type of punishment is just to make us keep it professional after we graduated, that the member and the studio owner has put their time and money on it.
Later the instructor picked randomly three persons to try their skill and readiness to perform Sun Salutation. After it, there were 5 persons who have not finished with their 15 minutes test last week in standing poses, so they need to perform it to the class. There is a good feedback from the instructor, said that we had a quick improvement to speak up clearly and lead the class. He said that the most important thing to start your teaching is to move your heart, which is still filled with some nervousness and anxiety that you can lead the class confidently. Some of us show great improvement, and one of the students perform a Sun Salutation with full English instruction.
After all the warming up which takes 2 hours more, we are introduced with balance pose, separated by standing and arm type. These two will be used in our next 30 minutes presentation so everyone need to learn fast and implement it to their sequencing. Some pose which is considered harder for us were just eliminated from the book. My head got dizzy since I did not take much food and I went to the bathroom three times, I know I am not ready to present the 30 minutes but I need to do it in the next 2 hours.
Done with the sequencing in standing and arm balance pose, we are allowed to take a lunch break for one hour and a half. I ate my lunch box which is full of bread (my mom made 6 sandwiches can you imagine) and left two pieces then I went back to the class. I am not in the mood of study, my body need to take a rest so all the remaining time, which most of the student spent for preparing their exam, I spent it on my nap.
It was a beautiful sleep I ever take as my body are fully recharged now. I looked out to the material which we just studied and absorb it all, with my imagination of how I will perform it on the test and then while I was studying, the teacher comes up and divide us into five groups. Three group will be on the different room and the remaining two group with the founder. Well, at this time my luck shines because the person who will examine my test is my instructor in my local gym and all the member of the group is from my local gym, could you believe that.
The first class was lead by my friend, and from what I saw in last week, she shows significant improvement from the last test, as her voice goes stronger and she is more confident. Her performance was great and it makes me more nervous because I had not prepared anything. The second time lead by another class friend whose her husband is my friend brother. She owns her gym and she is certified with Les Mills program, she even had a several year of experience in teaching in the studio so her performance was magnificent.
Then comes to my turn, I open the class with a broken joke and all of them just smiling, turn me more nervous. However, after my test the teacher said that only in my performance, there was an option for the first timer in yoga class. My Sun Salutation went well as far, and I only made two mistakes; In the transition of Sun Salutation B, which I don't need to go to Urdva Hastasana then Uttkatasana but I could go from Utthanasana to Uttkatasana. Another mistake is I did not use the Hatha yoga method of Sun Salutation transition, which I eliminate the part of Tadasana and Samashiti. The teacher told me to reduce the confusion and to prepare my mind with the upcoming sequences.
For the standing pose, I carefully execute what I remembered and it went smooth, yet the problem comes from the standing balance, it was a short break of me getting confused on which feet I need to be grounded while other need to be in the position. My standing balance pose was Warrior 3, Half moon, and finish it with Dancer pose. The teacher told me to smoothen the transition from Half moon by bent my knee from the leg in the air, and slowly give an instruction to shift the hand from my hip to the toe. For my arm balance, the suggestion is just for the real pose, by stacking the feet, not crossed it altogether.
My execution was overtime. The expected time to finish the test was 30 minutes but what I spent it already 36 minutes. Later the teacher gave us the scorecard and the comment, so I compare the time that I took from the class opening to sun breathing took too long, which takes 14 minutes while some just need 8-10 minutes to do it. I went it overly detail so I sacrificed 4 minutes that is useful to be more on time. It was a lesson for me to begin the class and give a brief instruction.
It was raining heavily outside just after we done with the test, so some of the students prefer to stay inside. Well, my body was tired and I am pretty sure that I will get another muscle sore tomorrow so I am not spending more time there, I could spend it next week then I headed home. By the time of walking to my house, I saw my parents car coming up and they noticed me, then they asked if I want to have a dinner with them and I went up with them. Today my experience was good, as I could perform good, just for the lesson on the next week that I need to motivate myself to work on my 45 minutes test which is going on the next week. So, have a nice Sunday guys.
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