I loved the opening discussion, I believe Jen said something along the lines of how we as humans are so overstimulated that we've forgotten that we are animals on this planet. Yes, the overstimulation is so real and can cause a lot of anxiety. We tend to be human doers vs. human beings. It can be really hard to just be. Simple movement and breath work can help us to calm down, indeed. However, I have struggled with breath work throughout my years. While I love some of it, some of it gives me more anxiety. For example, box breathing or four part breath was something that I really struggled with in the beginning. Now that I know I have agency in my practice I can do it on my own terms it feels better to me. I have been in classes where the teachers does the counting, and I as a total rule follower, would do my best to keep up. I really hated holding my breath for the same count as my inhale or exhale. I tend to like really long inhales and exhales but I do not like to hold my breath for a long time. I've also had anxiety around alternate nostril breathing because I would sometimes get confused around which nostril I should be holding. While this may sound like it's not a big it is important to state because it had caused me anxiety vs slowing my nervous system down. My favorite of all time has to be lions breath. While simple in nature, it releases so much pent up energy for me. I had a teacher who instructed us to point our faces up to the ceiling cross our eyes, stick out our tongue and exhale as loud and fiercely as possible. While i can see that some people may feel uncomfortable with this breath, I simple love it. It's all so very personal and what resonates for one person might not resonate for the rest. With that in mind, breathing normally during a breath work session is totally okay and 100 percent encouraged.
I had to step out for part of this training, so it was great to go back to it today. I appreciated where Jen shared that the beginning of the yoga classes we are facilitating are "information gathering." This is a good reminder to know that we don't have to know everything, all at once...but instead be curious gatherers of information to best build the practice for the specific group we are working with. I also did some nostril breathing after this session with my group yoga group and everyone enjoyed exploring it!
I really enjoyed learning about anatomy and breathwork in this class.
It’s interesting after 15 years of practicing yoga, I realized I never actually knew what fascia was. I’ve heard teachers refer to it countless times, but I never thought to ask or explore it more deeply until now.
I also really appreciated the breathwork teachings. When I first started practicing yoga, I remember being introduced to a wider variety of pranayama techniques. Lately, it feels like many classes default to four-part breath or ujjayi breath, and I had almost forgotten about some of the other pranayamas I had previously learned. Revisiting them felt both familiar and refreshing.
These reflections have me curious about both the broader shift in teaching styles and my own evolution as a student. Recently, I’ve noticed that my practice hasn’t been living up to its full potential, as I often find myself in classes that emphasize the physical aspects of yoga. My goal is to start practicing more regularily at home so I can focus more on the pieces where I feel I may be lacking. This leaves me wondering how I might approach my own teaching in the future, and where I want to place my focus when I begin facilitating.