am a member of Yoga Teacher Training class #25, affectionately called YTT 25, with Warrior One Studio. I reside in Orlando, but the studio is not limited. Check out the link above to see a glimpse of its magnitude. Since I began taking Yoga as a student, my eyes have been open to the multiple ways Yoga is powerful. The first thing that struck me as a student is how yoga achieves a challenging cardiovascular workout when in my previous ignorant state, I thought yogis just stood around a lot. They up and down dog you to death, as I like to joke, since I discovered what causes the tapas, the fires, to begin heating up in your body! The thing that rocked my world in ways that are still unfolding is the way yoga is an analogy for how to approach life in the most impactful, empowering ways. Until my first teacher, Melissa, began teaching, I had no idea that I would learn some valuable truths about life that would change my entire relationship with it.
The only reason I discovered yoga was an ACL rupture in my right knee in 2019. I stopped jogging for exercise. I would undergo surgery, but I would practice yoga while I waited for a time that the surgery was more convenient for me and my work schedule. So I had just enough time to fall in love with yoga before my surgery. Some major unexpected delays and life altering surgical challenges left me anxious to get back to a full practice months later. My teacher encouraged me to take Yoga Teacher Training. After listing my excuses that Melissa blew off with ease, I decided to say, “Yes” to the Universe in spite of my fears, taking my first step into the fires of transformation.
The physical poses are called the Asanas. Normally that would be my strong suit, my comfort zone because I started dancing at age 6, and the asanas feel like home to me. This is all I vaguely knew of yoga before I tried it. However this is only 1 tiny part, 1 limb as they call it, of the 8 limbs of yoga overall. What would normally be a strength for me has become my challenge in YTT, which ultimately has the power to yield more growth. My knee has experienced too many surgeries to put pressure on it, to bend it fully, or to lunge on it from challenging angles, which limits me in numerous poses. The challenge has forced me to think and adapt, a skill every good yoga teacher will need. I have to see what is being stretched by the pose in the class, and figure out a way to stretch it without putting too much pressure on my knee. Sometimes it feels like a tight rope trying to protect my knee yet striving to push myself to the edge at the same time.
Without a doubt, the most transformational part of the physical experience, however, is handling the feelings of exposure and vulnerability I experience when I am doing the pose wrong, and all the other yogis can see me on camera. I must overcome the worry about the judgments of others who may not understand my circumstances. I have been worrying about what people think my whole life, so sitting in the fires of the pose, knowing that I am exposed in my imperfect state allows those old worries to dissolve and teaches me that I possess the internal strength to endure the unknown judgements of others without dissolving like the wicked witch of the West. Having other people understand you is not what matters most; sometimes people will misunderstand you, and that is perfectly okay. You must act now despite what anyone else may think; don’t waste time preparing for perfection. Warrior One Studio encourages humans to do what matters most: show up in your vulnerable, imperfect state and shine out your unique gifts to the world. Show up. Shine out!
It is the mind blowing ideas about life that come through the yoga teacher that create transformation for me, inspire this website, offer hope for contentment, and guide my future. Even in my early yoga classes, I could feel it align with my heart in ways that felt like forever, that felt just right. You know, like the satisfaction Goldie-Locks must have had in drifting off to sleep in the most comfortable bed of all! It only makes sense that I begin my journey to become a yoga teacher now. Now is when everything happens! I’m going to be one of those teachers who get to pick out just the right words to inspire awakening and transformation in my own students. Before YTT, I basically only knew one teacher. At Warrior One, all of the teachers are inspirational and impactful in their own unique ways, just like Melissa, my first teacher. I am amazed and grateful that I will be among them. Yet they all unite and use their voices to address an urgent problem in the world by piercing the numbness that is common in society and waking humans up to the aliveness and power within themselves and the present moment.