13 September, 2015

This morning was all about inversions. It’s amazing what a little change in perspective can do for the body. I woke up groggy, but the second I flipped upside down and let the blood rush to the opposite sides of my body, my day literally started over again.

During the session, we learned the safest ways to assist students into headstands, handstands, and shoulder stands. Learning the assists and cues were cool, but it was infinitely cooler to see the smiles on the faces of the girls who had never been able to get upside down before after they released from their first ever inversions.

Before arriving at Yandara, I thought it was a requirement that any yoga teacher had to be able to lift into a full headstand or bend gracefully into a scorpion pose before even signing up for the training program. So needless to say that I was relieved when I found out I wasn’t the only one who needed a bit of assistance (and encouragement) to invert.

I’ve learned more than ever that yoga is not a competition. Everyone’s bodies are made completely different, and, where one person may be able to stretch wide with little effort and yet struggle in balance poses, others may not have the bone structure to extend into obscure angles but can hold a 15 minute headstand with ease.

There’s no judgment here at Yandara if there’s a pose you can or can’t do, and it’s been fun to celebrate new yoga victories with my new friends.

Packing tip of the day: Bring double the yoga tops and pants. Doing yoga almost all day for 16 days in the warm Balinese breeze makes for some amazing memories … but it also makes for some sweaty and stinky clothes. I probably over packed by bringing six pairs of yoga pants and 12 yoga tops (although I’m not hating having clean clothes most days!), but I’d at least recommend bringing enough options so you’re only wearing your tops two times each (so maybe six tops), and enough pants where you can rotate and air out your options (maybe three-four pairs).