It's going to be great...and it was

This past 6 days I have been fully immersed in a teacher training. I originally completed my teacher training 2 years ago but one of the studios where I teach, Preshana Yoga, is awesome at bringing wonderful teachers over from the US. This teacher training lead by Christina Sell, although intended for people wanting to become teachers, was amazing.
We spent the first 3 days just doing intensive asana. Every day started with 3.5 hours of strong asana before lunch and ended with 2.5 hours of more mellow restorative and deeper stretches after lunch. The last 3 days was actual intensive teacher training and although we only had 3 days to pack in a lot of information Christina was so amazingly clear that we managed to learn more than I originally learned in several months of teacher training.
Her gift for clarity of teaching while still being able to deliver powerful lessons with deep insightfulness and detail lead me to learn more deeply about what it means to be a teacher, how to guide my students and how to impart the philosophy and meaning behind the asana without sounding, in her words, weird. The more I learn the more I come to see that teaching yoga can be so much more than asana while still being a physical asana practice.

The things that stuck out in my mind as truly valuable were

verb + body part + direction (+ a heart quality)
ie. Step your right foot back (with intention)
bow your head to your heart (with humility)

I know it sounds like common sense but I have a way of trying to reinvent the wheel when I'm teaching and I now have an appreciation for just clearly saying what I mean so that my students can feel their body in as clear a way as possible.

I also learned more about how some of the poses came to be and what hindu stories they arose from.

And a different way to sequence my poses that opens the body up but is a little different than how I usually teach. Light on Yoga is a brilliant book and I can't believe I didn't use it more in the past. Like Christina, BKS Iyengar has a way of just saying simply how to get your body into an asana. It's not necessary to be all fluffy and flowery about moving the body, drop that stuff in when the student is already in the pose or in the introduction or closing of the class. Be clear so that your students can find their own clarity.

I am so appreciative for the time I had for this training and to have been able to teach while I was taking it to try out my new skills. I highly recommend any trainings with Christina Sell, It's going to be great.

("It's going to be great" is her favorite quote and although it usually precedes a challenging pose she is almost always right. When you make a shape with your body, especially a challenging one, and you really feel the alignment and power then is it great, it's f-ing fantastic!)