In August 2014, I was driving down the road in Edmonton leaving my Chiropractors office, I saw a sign. It read “Why Not Try Yoga Teacher Training?” The irony of the sign, was that it was the sign that I had been looking for. I had been seeking a life change and a new direction. I wanted to explore different parts of myself and see what that growth and development would lead to. I went home, went online and did a lot of research – I wanted to do my Yoga Teacher training through a school that was based in body mechanics, and Empowered Yoga was the perfect fit. The main facilitator of the program had been an athlete, a mixed martial artist and had a background in Science and Sports Medicine. I signed up online and took the last spot in the cohort for that September; it was the beginning of a physical and mindful journey that I am still on.
Along the way I have made some pretty amazing discoveries and have had the opportunity to take part in so much learning that I never imagined and so much growth. When the 200-HR training was nearly over I knew that I wanted to formally continue this yoga learning journey so I enrolled in the 500-HR training program to add to the skills that I had learned in the 200-HR. Naturally as more than a bit of a life long learner, when the required courses for the 500-HR program were over I began to work on the supplementary courses including: Trauma Sensitive Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Ayurveda. I also realized that having a basis in yoga for youth and children would be beneficial as at the time I was working with pre-school aged children and their families who had experienced domestic violence. I began to take the RCYA-95 teacher training through Yoga in my School which included: Teen Yoga, Pre-school and Special Need Yoga, and Children’s Yoga through a trauma informed lens.
While my official yoga teacher training did not begin until 2014, I had been a yoga practitioner since 2010 when I was working with the Boys and Girls Club Out of School Care Program. As a staff we were looking for activities that would support the young people in our program and help them to reset after a busy and stimulating day at school. The decision had been to try yoga, and since I was the only staff member who was practicing yoga in their personal life, I volunteered to try and lead it. It was amazing to see the transformation in the young people who decided to try the yoga classes. They were by no means formal classes; they were taught in the computer lab on hard blue gym mats with a bunch of lamps on low and waterfall music playing in the background, but that did not lessen the impact. The first few minutes were always a bit loud and wild as 20 young people who had been sitting all day settled into the space and the movement of their bodies and breath. You could feel the shift in the room when a sense of peace and calm could be felt and then when it came to the end in Shavasana or Corpse Pose, most of class would fall asleep! This is why I believe that this yoga training and experience is one part of the educational puzzle that I can bring into my classes to support my students and the other educators that I work with. I also believe that having trauma informed practice is vitally important as there are so many students within our schools and classrooms that have experienced trauma in some form. I know that I am not done growing my yoga practice and I hope that as I continue to grow and learn that I will also be able to pass on this growth to those around me.