On Sunday 3rd February 2019 I delivered my first ever workshop as a qualified yoga teacher, an idea that had been brewing in my mind for quite some time. Through completing the health coaching course and just finishing off the life coaching part I had realised how much yoga and coaching overlapped. Not only in terms of theoretical perspective but also practically too. Through the 12 week coaching programme we use relaxation, visualisation and breath work and I wanted to devise a workshop that used the coaching and yoga together.
My vision for the workshop was to create a safe space where people could come along and have some time for themselves and allow themselves the opportunity to explore possibilities for the future. The relaxation was a mix of yoga practice, meditation, breath work, discussion, sharing with others and at the very end a deep yoga nidra to empower movement towards those goals and hearts desires. The very things we have always wanted to achieve but keep putting off, making excuses or just denying ourselves the opportunity to just go for it.
In the workshop we explored our three brains, the brain stem (critter brain), the cortex and the limbic system and the part they play in helping us to move forwards with a goal or to slam on the breaks. For the brain to give us the go ahead, love, safety and belonging need to remain intact. If anyone of these are missing the brain, the brain stem particularly will stop us moving forward. We will then provide ourselves with all sorts of reasons why we cannot go ahead and we leave our goals unrealised. Sometimes those reasons may seem quite logical, money, time but ultimately they prevent us from reaching our goal.
In the workshop I shared my own goal and how the brain stem has played out for me. I have had to work some hurdles but this time I’ve been determined and I have recognised where my brain stem (critter brain) has been getting in the way and I’ve had to be creative. A method to by pass the brain stem is just to move forwards with small but consistent steps towards your goal. The brain stem becomes less frightened and less likely to slam on the breaks. We don’t want to be in a position where we are telling ourselves we are unable to do something for so long that we begin to believe that this is the case, this is know as Samskara in yoga.
At the end of the workshop we finished with a beautiful poem by @Poetess (Rachelle Lamb)
May you fall madly in love this year .. in love with someone who unhinges your tired trajectory, in love with a spouse of several years who might be aching for lightning, in love with demanding children and crazy relatives .. in love with the particular pedigree of genius insanity that has perhaps claimed you in spite of your reluctance .. and certainly in love with an animal, a cloud, a redwood, the wild .. these at least once a day. May you fall in love with this fragile jewel of a world, with hard work, real learning, just causes, petitioning and prayers. May you fall in love with wonder itself, with the grand mystery, with all that feeds you in order that you may live .. and with the responsibility that that confers. May you fall in love with heartbreak and seeing how it’s stitched into everything. May you fall in love with the natural order of things and with tears, tenderness and humility. May this be a magnificent year for you. May you fall deeply, madly, hopelessly, inextinguishably in love.
I truly and utterly loved delivering the workshop. It was an absolute pleasure and I thank all who attended for their time, attention for taking part, getting involved and supporting everyone else in the room. Including me. I am hoping to deliver another workshop in the future focusing on overcoming obstacles although I am not sure when that will be but for the time being I will be focusing on teaching yoga classes again
Love
Andrea
andrealouiseyoga 