The Yoga Teacher Training Diaries: Recent Episodes
Rachel Lai
A marketer and business owner real life story on how she decided to take a sabbatical from agency life to disconnect and create space for her spiritual path. This is not about escaping reality, it’s simply about prioritizing self realization.
My YTT journey is at its final leg, the foundation has now been set and it’s time to take a step back, reflect and figure out how and what I’m going to build from here on. A fresh vision is in order. The way forward is to maintain discipline, expand time and create space.
People are too busy being righteous about what they know. Wisdom is when you are able to stand for your beliefs while being open to discrimination. It is the responsibility of the awaken to make sense of the self in relation to both internal and external world.
..the answer is No. The ego is perceived as the core of consciousness and we use it to give meaning to human personality. There’s nothing wrong with Ego other than our over-attachment and especially when it dominates our reactions.
Conquered my first test and naturally, there are tons of improvements in order. So grateful to have the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them.
The power of positive thinking transcends the physical body. We set ourselves up with a conditioned belief system, it plays an essential role in shaping our perception and reaction.
No more assumptions, it’s time to clarify. What we think we know as facts are seen as Maya, the illusion that blurs our sense of awareness. These impurities of the mind feeds into our ways of identification.
What does Yoga even mean in the first place? Not many of us have the courage to inquire with both intuition and intelligence. We are overly driven by our intellect minds that we lose sight on the power of instincts.
Karma Yoga is the path of selflessness where one does acts of service out of kindness without expecting anything in return. It teaches you humility, patience and unconditionality.
People are immersed in worldliness. We chase after surface level matters and set them as goals without understanding why. Our greatest excuse is that we have no time or discipline for self inquiry.
The topic of God/infinite/eternal arises and it gets philosophical. Isn’t it funny to think that the most complicated relationship we have in our life is with the Self?
Come day 3, I discover a term that prescribes a spiritual path and it is called Sadhana. With constant rising thoughts, the struggle of preconceptions and how the ego clings on to what we choose to belief is inevitable.
Easing into first day of training and I now understand the meaning and greater purpose of asanas. My entire being is adjusting to this sudden change of routine and it is uncomfortable as ever.
Day 1 kicks off with uncertainties of the unknown and a ceremonial briefing of what to expect for the next 27 days of the yoga teacher training course at Nataraja Bali, led by Nilesh.