One Month At Home!

Wow! Today is one month home...it seems like an eon; like training was another lifetime!

So a month out, how am I feeling about the whole thing? Let me break it down into segments...

My Practice: Well, it's ok. I can't say I feel as mighty as I did doing it 2x/day, but I like not having to do it 2x/day, or even every day - though I go most days for certain. I still love the yoga, my body seems to be maintaining it's overall strength and stamina, and I'm still at it!

Teaching: I have to say, it's going as well as I could hope for it to! I am getting all the classes I want right now (5-8/week) and as of now, I have 3 permanent classes, and am adding 2 more in September - that, combined with various filling in, it getting me right where I want to be. I wish I had more teachers around me who were in my classes giving feedback, but it's just not happening that way. Still, any chance I get to obtain feedback from other teachers, serious students, or even just 'regulars' to my class, I do. I keep reviewing dialogue and still need to keep reviewing dialogue forever more, but I'm ok with that.

Teacher Training: Well, I finally miss it! Just this last week, I started feeling nostalgic and missing the whole experience. I apparently needed a little time at home and some separation from it to really miss it. It's funny how it is this microcosm of an experience - this sort of alternative reality that while real, it isn't daily life at home. I tried to be careful not to attach too much to the whole thing so I wouldn't be wrecked when I got home; in some way, I wondered for a while if I had attached enough, since for a bit, I wasn't missing it at all! In the end, or, well, at this point anyhow, I feel a healthy longing for what was, and also a general happiness that I was fortunate enough to have the experience, to be able to teach, meet cool people, and prove some things to myself about myself.

Life at Home: Just fine. Seems some of my friendships are shifting and that is something everyone warned me about "oh, you won't be the same to the people in your life" or "oh, people won't be the same for you" and while some of the changes aren't exactly what I want, I'm working to just let change happen without reacting to it, trusting things will work out the way they are meant to. Jill and I are doing well, readjusting to life with her has been one of the easier things - her coming down to Acapulco for the last week made for a smoother transition than I would've expected otherwise. She comes to my classes when she can, and we go to practice yoga together a lot too...oh, and we do other things than yoga, sometimes, believe it or not! I've slowly made dates and at this point seen all my sisters, mom, friends and colleagues whom I wanted to get together with - or at least most of them.

What's Next: Well, teaching is a priority at a ~1/2 time level - which means about 5-8 classes a week (~3 hour commitment/class, less if it's two in a row). I asked Mary Jarvis (a well-known Bikram teacher who read my blog and commented a good bit) if I could come down to San Francisco and study with her for a week or so, we're working out a date on that and I'm excited (and scared!) but it'll be good for me when the time comes...a nice whipping me back into shape while also giving me valuable teaching feedback and coaching.

Outside of yoga (gasp! is there such a thing?) my organizing business is flowing along nicely and I have steady work there for the next while doing projects I'm looking forward to; I have a contract job writing documentation for a corporation that is up to 20 hours/week, along with two (fun) writing side projects (one paid, one not paid...yet)! So, I'm busy, but it's such a good busy for me - I'm getting to do so much of what I enjoy, with a little bit of work to pay the bills.

Would I do it all over? HELL YES. I still have such a good memory of my experience, feel like it was money/time/effort well spent, and still am mulling over everything I got out of the experience. I'll keep writing about it, as I'm sure as time passes, more and more will unfold.