Pre-TT Meet & Greet

I had an awesome day today! Thanks to Marty (Trainee from Langley Studio) setup a Pre-TT  Meet & Greet for as many Vancouverite trainees as possible (5 of us showed up) to gather at the Burnaby Studio (Thanks to Esther, the owner for letting us meet-up and taking her class). It was nice to finally meet someone whom you started just chatting and exchange ideas over fb. We received much advices and support from Esther. She told us about the "Operational Command" method for helping us on nailing the dialogue. This method is to pick out key points in each posture and many corrections we do are based on repetition of the key points. Learned something new and useful today! As for us the trainees, we chatted before and after class about thinking what its gonna be like in TT. What didn't know what questions to ask Esther because we didn't know what is there to expect. Well we'll know in a month!

Sponsorship

I am super happy today! I took a 6:15pm class after work and after class, I received a present for TT. 2 Grey Alpha shorts! Light Active Wear is a yoga wear brand based in Vancouver created by the Lei sisters! The Lei sisters are so generous that they sponsor teachers who are heading down to TT a pair of free yoga clothes. I would have to say that their product is amazing, its the most comfortable and stretching clothes I've worn so far! I love the fabric texture, but would like to see more designs on guy shorts~ LOL. Spice it up!

Once again thank you Light Active Wear! If you want, please do check out their website.
http://www.lightactivewear.com/

Posture Clinic with an instructor

Yesterday I had another hot hot class. Had to sit out in a few of the postures, BUT once I got the energy again, I didn't give up for the rest of the class. After class, I delivered 3 postures to an instructor from Standing head to knee to balancing stick. I was not as nervous as before and this time, the instructor taught me how I should stand and where my arms/hands should go when I am actually teaching. I tend to stand with my feet together and arms on the back. She suggested to stand hip width apart and arms down side. This way it shows more confident in myself also a good posture for sending out the energy. Thanks for the tips!

I read on the FB group that a lot of people are not bother with the dialogue until LA. From my instructors experiences and my own theory, I think to learn the dialogue as much as possible before heading down to TT is the better option. Yes, some people are busy but I think everyone could squeeze in 30 min sometime during their day to read the dialogue. Even the head quarter suggests we learn the dialogue BEFORE we head down is better so we get more time to rest and not stress out at TT

Hot Class

Tonight's Yoga class was very hot, once I hit the floor, the floor seems to be burning! Does TT feels like this 24/7?

I've been browsing at our Spring TT FB group. Lots of comments and suggestions on how to maintain a balanced diet during TT. The information were very helpful, but I would have to be honest that I would take those as recommendation but not follow thru with it 100%. Each person is different and their diet and appetite is different. Some people say eat lots of nuts and yogurts. I would eat those as treats. Bananas are good and I would eat those lots as I do like bananas. My friend told me Miso soup is great during TT. I would follow with that as I like Miso too. Therefore, my conclusion is take bits and pieces from different suggestions and just combine and alter them that fits my own taste.

2nd Time

Tonight was my 2nd time my instructor asked me to deliver a set of dialogue in front of a big class (was it about 40-50 students?). Standing Head to Knee 1st set this time. Although I had the dialogue memorized when practicing alone, once I stepped up the podium, everything changed.

I started Okay then kinda lost what I had to say during the kicking out part. Kept telling the students to have their standing knee solid concrete lamp post no Knee, which is a key factor in the posture but I don't remember what else I said. LOL That means I gotta drill hard on my dialogue even more and more and more! I delivered the left side, but she told me after class that new teachers should just stick to what to say similar from the right side instead until I can nail it before changing up my dialogue. It was an overwhelming experience and I sweat so much even just standing up there and teaching. I dunno is it just me, I feel I kinda go short of breath when I am on there, probably just me too nervous. Even I had delivered a set of Awkward before, I still feel nervous, I think it's because I am still lacking practice in front of a big crowd. Hopefully, I will be much much better after TT.

This & That

I have resumed my 4x practices and each time until the middle of the class, I think to myself I HATE THIS YOGA, when is the class gonna end.

But each time as I reach to Half Tortoise I felt AWESOME and had the real strength to finish my class. Yes that's right, Half Tortoise is better than 8 hours of sleep!

Coming back to prep for TT, there were many things the Spring TT group had talked about and everyone was so helpful to each other.

One of the things I worry about is the drink water situation. My ex-manager + instructor told me that he got cramps after drinking a week straight of LA tap water. Then he decided to buy water from Costco. I thought about that too, but without a car, sometimes its hard to carry so much with you back to the hotel. Yes there is shuttle, but with 400 of us there, chances are have to wait long? One of the fb (facebook) group member had a really good point, if we use the ice machine there, mind as well drink tap water!? SO true LOL. Well I got a 10 cup Brita filter pitcher on sale already, mind as well bring it down and use it in my room.

One thing I borrowed from a friend who went to TT last fall was an adjustable camping floor chair. I heard that during TT posture clinics, everyone would be sitting on the floor. As for someone who gets sore back easily by sitting on floor, I think this gadget would help me a great deal! It's design is just like a L shape cardboard with adjustable straps on the side and you can fold up and carry it around. It also fits into my luggage! LOL

March 1st - 1 & 0.5 months Away

Today is March 1st 2012! Start the count down to my BY TT Spring 2012 begins on April 15, 2012.
For those who are not too familiar with abbreviations I use BY = Bikram Yoga, TT = Teacher Training.
Actually to be honest, I have been preping for TT a while ago, well mostly preparing myself mentally. I've been asking instructors and friends who went to the last TT of how to prep myself and what to expect there. Everyone was so helpful and received lots of suggestions and advices.  ^_^

Recently already gathering actual stuff for the training and believe me or not packing my luggage. I know its a bit early but that's me slowly taking my time to fill up my luggage. A lot of people told me to not bring that much down to LA as I can buy most stuff there, but when I see things are on sale, I just cannot stop myself.

I bought mostly vitamin & supplements, energy mixes, water filter jug, thermos, and insulated water bottles. I will make a more thorough checklist before I depart.