Brooke and Maggie in Maya Tulum

I’d like to reintroduce myself.  When I started Black Dog Asana I was a yoga enthusiast.  Now I can say that I am also a yoga teacher.  The dream to be able to share my passion for yoga with others on a personal level has been realized.  Before I start, I need to thank Amazing Yoga for creating this Amazing (for lack of a more awesome word) teacher training and to Sean and Erin from Amazing Yoga for being so passionate and full of enthusiasm while they expertly guided us through the training and self transformation.  It is truly because of them that this group of wide eyed nervous enthusiasts blossomed into confident and empowered yogis and teachers.

The group: we arrived as 19 unique individuals and in the course of one week parted ways as a family.  We hailed from Pittsburgh (the location of the Amazing Yoga Studios), California, Colorado, Utah, New Jersey, Alabama, Michigan.  We came from different jobs, beliefs and walks of life.  We are all different ages and came to yoga for different reasons.  But as we om-ed our voices, became one.  With 100% honesty, I can say that this week has been the best experience of my life.  Not only can I now hold down dog, utkatasana and many more poses with correct form, but I can teach others.  I learned the power of touch of connecting with another person and how to assist them deeper into their practice.  I can help to awaken the power from within my students to let go of stress, to find self love and peace.  The beauty of this experience rivaled that of the breath taking Maya Tulum.

The group before the walk

We worked hard this week and pushed our bodies beyond what we had perceived our limits to be.  We were taken down to an emotional and physical raw state, so that true healing could happen from the inside out.  We shared our experiences, our emotions, and our souls with each other after meditation, after practicing yoga – we were basically strangers and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable.  It was difficult, but somehow I think that nothing worth doing is really ever easy.  Through all of this we changed ourselves.  We let our walls come down and the people that we really are have the freedom to be.  By the end of the week after many laughs and tears I found myself singing and dancing in front of the group – something that I would never have done before the training.  I’m not a new person, I’m just truly me.

This week was packed with things to do.  We practiced yoga a lot.  I was more tired and sore than I have been since pre season of field hockey season freshman year of college.  I would find myself wishing – “I wish maybe they’d cancel this practice” or “Man I’m so tired can I really drag myself back to my mat?” And though everyday the practices got either a little bit more challenging or longer, they started to go by smoother and faster.  I learned so much this week, about myself, about yoga, about connecting with others and teaching.  I’m really glad that we did a destination teacher training because I think we got a lot more out of it than we would have had we stayed home and done a different training.  Everything that we did added to the experience and taught us something.  I’ve seen a new place, a part of myself I haven’t discovered, and everyone around me blossoming.  It was an amazing experience.

The whole group after we taught our class