om yoga teacher training guide
Dealing with your own mental and emotional issues on a teacher training
immersion. By Jayaprada Radhika
deeper level
The
W
hen attending a yoga
teacher training (YTT)
immersion it is important
to understand this is not
a holiday or a retreat.
Expect long days and to be challenged and
also uplifted potentially like never before.
The whole universe is made up of energy,
including our physical bodies and also
energetic bodies. Yogic practices move and
transform our being on a profound energetic
level and in the process many things within
us may surface and ‘come to light’ so as we
can view and ultimately release them leaving
us lighter, happier and more self aware. If
we can gain some clarity around potential
feelings that may arise during an intensive
YTT immersion it may help to detach from
the emotions, so there is less power given
to potential negativity that may arise from
buried past emotional issues.
Firstly understanding who we are and who
we are not is useful. Yogic science explains
that beyond this temporary body and the
coverings of the mind that give us illusory
perceptions of reality, we are ‘Saccidananda’
‘eternal, all knowing, and full of bliss’. Our
true nature does not doubt, worry, fear,
nor analyse for it is already complete. It is
the mind with all of its storehouse of past
imprints, ‘Vrittis’ in Sanskrit, that clouds
perception to make us think otherwise.
During a YTT these Vrittis or misconceptions
can surface as we are stirring the pot so to
speak of our past baggage.
Yogic science explains that these past
experiences collect like dust on the screen
of our consciousness (Citta in Sanskrit). Ourphysical body can be likened to a car and the
windscreen of the car ‘our consciousness or
vision’ and to accurately see and navigate
optimumly moment to moment down the
road of life, we need to wipe the dust and
experiences collected from the past. So
you can be more patient with yourself when
entering an intensive Immersion like a YTT
by knowing you are in a process of cleansing
the lense of your vision and to not identify
too much with what arises. See the emotions
come like clouds in the sky and watch them
pass by. To be a good teacher we need to
go through the process of becoming witness
to the mind/emotions, having consistently
nurtured the ability to choose whether to
enter the thoughts or not, rather than having
the thoughts override and undermine us. You
can essentially look at a YTT as a practice
ground for becoming the detached observer
of your emotional baggage as opposed
to projecting this baggage onto others or
dwelling on it yourself. The mind has been
likened to its own entity leading us (the soul)
on a chain like a dog.
Until we can see through the eyes of
equanimity without putting ourselves or
others through our lens of judgements, we
are likely to draw to ourselves experiences
to teach us ultimate compassion, upgrading
us from seeing through the eyes of
ignorance and into understanding. Eckhart
Tolle calls what yoga science terms the
‘subtle body’ (storehouse for past karmic
imprints), the ‘pain body’, and that we
create experiences or dramas in our mind
to create external experience/dramas to
feed this pain body. Quantum physics isuncovering findings which support these
ancient teachings. How profound to think
that everything that arises within us or
happens to us is our own doing. So how can
this awareness help whilst partaking on a
YTT immersion?
Everything that surfaces in the mind and
emotion is for you to observe, feel and know
that these feelings are for you, from you,
being illuminated to you, from within you
so that you can see them, transcend them,
grow from them and move on.
Another thing you can do to assist your
journey is to be kind to yourself.
Surrender to the process and watch the
magic unfold. In doing so, a renewed sense of
clarity, new opportunities and a higher vision
which embraces heightened compassion and
understanding for oneself and others will
draw to you immeasurable blessings.
We are each gifted with higher intelligence
beyond the oscillating foundation level of
the mind, and we each have the opportunity
in every moment to buy into the thoughts
letting them take our energy or watch them
pass by like clouds in the sky. Ultimate
vibrancy in life will come from connection to
who we are beyond the mind.
Be courageous, remember the feelings
are better out than in, and that anything
surfacing is making way for a clearer
and more uplifted vision. Adopt self
responsibility, avoid projecting onto others
and you will have optimum energy for
abundant positive manifestions.Jayaprada Radhika
(www.jayapradaradhika.com)