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| Africa Yoga Teacher Training 2014 |
As I lay in savasana the posture of pure surrender, the few days
leading up to this moment finally caught up with me. Lying on my mat I was overcome with emotion,
here I was on the floor with nowhere to go or hide. The past few days I had
been submerged in an environment of open vulnerability, I was living with over
80 people from various parts of the world.
My ideas of what was and how it was were being challenged from every
angle. As the words of Jeff Buckley’s
song Hallelujah filled the room…I cracked.
Around me 300 people, a packed community yoga class at the Africa YogaProject’s Shine Centre all of them yielding to their existence. In the middle
of this moment, was me silently trying to control the feelings that were
tearing through me. Can I just mention
that I simply hate crying in public, I hate it so much that when I was in my
teens I took a vow that crying would always be a private affair (Funerals don’t
count as public, considering its communal mourning)
It was a series of events that came together to allow me to attend
the first Kenyan led Africa Yoga Project Teacher training. I had heard about Africa Yoga Project before and
would often visit their website for inspiration for my Ekasi Yoga Classes. I was totally balled over when they told me I
had made it through the application process.
Yoga training in Kenya the land of tea and the Masai Mara, I could not think
of a better setting. I like being part
of firsts, there is energy around such historical moments; the sense that
something is new and will never be new again.
As I lay on my mat, it was the cool, comforting smell of the lemongrass
soaked cloth that was placed on my burning eyes that offered me relief from the
tears that were flowing down my face.
Warrior of light
Growing up my grandmother always used to say “ it matters not what
you look like because your beauty does not come from there, it comes from your
heart.” It hit me that what she meant was that our beauty comes from the manner
in which we deal with ourselves, our environment and with each other as beings
sharing the same world.
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| Billy leading a session |
At this point it dawned on me that this was not just yoga training,
it was a community effort to create a wholesome existence for ourselves and
others from all the different communities we stem from. That through seeing the
importance of our existence, actions and the light that is inherent in each and
everyone of us, we could choose a path of loving kindness in our interactions.
The first place I had the chance to put this way of living into
practice was at the training. I didn’t
get it right all the time, there were times when I was in my umpteenth back
bend and ready to throw in the towel, I would look to my side and see Rachel
still holding on and I would think “dammit! Why is there no one in child’s pose
already!?! In that moment I would take
strength from my community in Rachel’s persistence I would be inspired to
continue.
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| Rachel Rae Shining Away |
It’s harder to give up when everyone is shining their light because
it takes you back home to the question, “Why am I here, right now, in this
position?”
This little light of mine…
Here I was 5000km away from home and I was relearning the value of
being accountable for my actions, of seeing the person and sharing. I fell in
love with the people I met they were lifing (living, doing their best). Some of
the highlights for me were watching the sign interpreters do their thing,
meeting Kiragu, the guy who believed in me before he met me.
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| learning to jump is a workout & a half |
Learning to jump
like a Masai warrior from Joseph a Masai Yogi, they have the strongest legs
the secret is in the locks they use when jumping.
I met the “first” sign language mother tongue
speaker, a young man with sparkling eyes and a smile that can lift the
roof.
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When I asked him what it felt like
being a hearing child with deaf parents, he candidly shared how there was no
one to complain about his loud music nor did he have to worry about leaving the
room when receiving calls. As with every
thing in life there are pro’s and cons.
I found people to share my love for tea
with, every night we would gather around sharing tea, ideas and thoughts. There
was the talented Jamo dropping profound, life altering one-liners that would
have me thinking for hours. It was also through these tea discussions that I
stumbled upon a brilliant massage therapist who solved a problem my physio had
been struggling to fix for over a year.
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| Finding your direction, opening up to the world - Beautatious |
When I signed up for this training, I was looking forward to back
breaking, barrier crashing yoga. I got that and the murky work of making sense
of my emotions and the daily decisions I take in my life. Nothing prepares you for wading through your
own physical and emotional barriers, when you get to face your nakedness, your
truth and your light. When you get to
ask yourself right now and this very moment “who am I being?” This simple question had a huge impact on me,
who am I being right now for myself, my community, for my country? When I ask
myself that question before I make my decision it goes from being what does
Michelle want? To how will Michelle’s want impact her immediate environment and
community? It’s a whole different ball game when you stop thinking about
yourself as an insular being you start living.
Experiences like this remind me to always strive be the YES in my life.
Thank you Jamo Mweu for the Photography
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