Reflections from Day 5, Cambodia 300 hour yoga teacher training

Sunrise Angkor Wat, watercolor by Paul Jackson

by Kay Alton, Cambodia 300 hour yoga teacher training scholarship winner

If you imagine it, it will be. That is the key. A good imagination. An ability to see what is possible. Different than wishing. Concretely imagining. Creating an image of where you want to be, where you want to go, what you want to do and with whom. If you are strong and powerful in your imagining, your sails will be full and your ship well-pointed. 

There are so many people floating through this world, through their lives. They are unanchored. Their imagination is weak. They have been swallowing the cookie cutter image they have been handed down. With each gulp becoming more complacent and further from self-realization. Compensating with worldly symbols of success, stuffing their pockets with paper castles, inflating their sense of self with car fumes and strong handshakes. Noise, color, rumbles and strong coffee becoming their savior, their morning practice.

Everyone has glimpses of stillness. In the flash of sunset, intertwined hands, a patter of water on the face...there is a potential for more...and then noise, color, rumbles and strong coffee.

What would it be like for you to let yourself paint your future in a way that allowed you to pick any color, no matter how bright? To explore the space beyond the canvas? Where would it take you? Where would you be and who would be by your side? What powerful and beautiful force would you be in the world?

Now imagine that we lived in a world filled with beings living in this way. Imagine. Imagination is the key, and it all starts with you. I imagine you closing your eyes, sitting comfortably, letting the outside noise float away as you go inward. I imagine you painting.

Returning home after Yoga Teacher Training

by Lauren Hurst, Cambodia 200 hour yoga teacher training scholarship winner

Returning home

It has been just under two weeks since I completed my yoga teacher training in Cambodia with Zuna Yoga. I have found it quite seamless to settle back into my life in Sydney surrounded by my friends, colleagues and my partner. Everyone was thrilled to hear about the teacher training and I was eager to tell them! It has been difficult to summarize my experience of yoga teacher training in just a few words, so mostly what I find my telling others is that "it was amazing, transformative and so much more."

Setting goals

Since arriving home I’ve been in full swing, taking a really deep look into my updated goals and plans for 2016. In having the opportunity with Zuna Yoga to become aware of our purpose in life, who we are and what we’re capable of, I’ve entered a new space of being and doing for all that I want to get up to this year. I’ve rewritten my vision and have updated my 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year personal, career and health goals. Year 2016, here I come!

Noticing changes

Notably, others around me have noticed a shift in my presence, stating it to be very calm, with a sense of freedom and a fresh attitude and perspective. I can’t help but think how amazing it feels when others also recognize and acknowledge the changes I also see in myself. 

Teaching classes 

In regards to teaching classes, the Universe has certainly set me up to put all this new learning and these new teaching tools to practice. I have picked up extra classes in addition to those I already teach, and so I will have the opportunity to share some new things with all my new and regular students.

In the classes I have taught so far, the biggest shift I have noticed is in my level of confidence. With what feels like more knowledge, more vocabulary, and just more insight to share, I have noticed a positive change in my presence and ability to guide students on (and hopefully off) their mats. I have incorporated so much of what I have learnt with Zuna Yoga into my teaching, and continue to include my own style and way of teaching too. I think it’s a good combination! 

Practicing

A lot has shifted here. What had been my favorite studio to take classes at somehow doesn’t quite fulfill all that I would like to incorporate in my practice. As someone who loves practicing at studios for the community vibe and to be amongst the presence of others, I have begun to incorporate many more home practices into my routine, including more pranayama and meditation than I have ever practice before. I am confident in putting together my own home class sequences and it has been a great way to really check in with what kind of practice I need from one day to another. 

Reflecting

I feel so grateful for being lucky enough to win the scholarship and for this incredible experience I will never forget. From now, I will continue to reflect and slowly take in all of what the yoga teacher training allowed me to learn, experience, and grow from. 

"I am not my body; I am not my mind. I am something much greater..."

A Year of Transformation

by Danielle Thornton, 300 hour Cambodia yoga teacher training student

As I sit in the Bangkok airport on a layover the day before meeting up with my fellow Zuna Yoga crew, I can't help but reflect on the past two weeks of solo travel, and much more on the past 15 months since completing my 200 hour Bali yoga teacher training with Zuna Yoga.

My travels throughout Thailand and Cambodia thus far have been quite the interesting ride! First, let me explain that as a very generous birthday gift, my aunt and uncle set me up in rather luxurious accommodations for a portion of this trip (for which I am very grateful). And I had booked myself in a few more modest Airbnb places in between, as I also wanted an authentic cultural experience. Little did I know the contrast of luxury and bare minimum would play such a huge part of this adventure, not only externally but also internally. I went from one night in a suite with marble floors, steam shower, silky sheets, and fancy meals to a hut in the middle of the jungle with a trough of collected rainwater, a scooping bowl for a shower, and a basic wooden bed with mosquito nets included.  

As I lay one night in the hut, paralyzed with fear, listening to a loud "sniffing" of what my imagination construed to be a tiger, the luxury I was surrounded by just one day ago seemed like an alternate reality. Ask most of my childhood friends or family -  I assure you that a couple years ago I would have probably ran out of that hut crying, never wanting to return (if I had even made it past the initial shock of the shower situation). After my adrenaline calmed down, I realized the sound I heard was merely a baby chick. I couldn't help but laugh, realizing that my level of contentment internally was the same in the hut and the luxury hotels-- regardless of the drastic difference in external circumstances. I attribute a large part of this to my yoga practice, to learning that true peace, love, contentment, authenticity, and power can be found within, through connecting to Source.  I feel that life gives us these experiences as a gift - a "measuring tool" for personal growth. I'm reminded of a favorite quote I picked up this year: "Peace, it does not meant to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart." ~unknown

I'm so grateful that this teacher training has brought me to this side of the world where  I spent New Years Eve on a beach in Koh Samui, Thailand releasing a floating lantern and watching it dance over the half moon in the clear sky; to an excursion in Erawan National Park to an elephant sanctuary where I helped care for, wash, and love on elephants; that night watching the local boy scouts sing and dance to Thai songs around a large campfire; the following day a trip to marvel, play, and bathe with butterflies and fish in the majestic waterfalls, and hiking to the Phratat Caves in all their wonder and glory. There in Erawan, I created a bond and relationship with the wonderful host family, that made me feel at home in a far far away land, who cooked and taught me how to make some of the most flavorful and made-with-love Thai dishes. Ending the trip in Cambodia, where I watched in awe the sunrise over Angkor Wat, explored temples, learned about ancient wisdom, mythology, and history; explored the floating village of Chong Kneas, and had the best curry of my life, a local dish called Fish Amok. 

If I had to pick one word to describe the last year since completing my 200 hour teacher training, it would be transformation.  When arranging to go to Bali for my initial training, I didn't quite have a solid reason or clear intention other than that I really liked to travel, and I really liked yoga. A part of me was also wanting to run from the monotony of everyday life, a running theme I've found to be a pattern in the past. But this time, the nature of my travel and 300 hour yoga teacher training is much different: it's with purpose and clear intention.  I realized that I have created a life that I love, a job teaching that I find so fulfilling, enhanced deeper relationship with myself and therefore with loved ones new and old, and finding myself apart of a community that I find lovely and inspiring. Most days seeing life out of a clearer lens/perspective, making small and big decisions out of love rather than fear. Don't get me wrong, as I still have darker days and parts of myself, but take it differently than before. There is beauty in the darkness as well as the light. Finding it no longer scary to explore those darker parts, working to keep steady, yet moving with the tide of emotions that run through, knowing that nothing in this life is permanent. 

This brings me back to one of my favorite things about what can come of a personal yoga practice; it's always there, always available, on the light and not so light days. Practicing inner contentment, joy and authenticity, whether in the hut or luxury hotel.  It can be ever-changing, evolving, growing; never stagnant or constrained ... as is this life.

So this time, my clear intent is to use this training as another building block from my initial foundation. Implementing the tools for freedom and life mastery one moment at a time, one day at a time. First filling myself up, and then spreading it in my classes, daily interactions, relationships, even the world. Ambitious, I know, but I'll end with a quote that I'm sure most of you have heard and can always stand to hear again. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Taking the long road

by Erica Turck, Cambodia 300 hour yoga teacher training student

So here I am in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I made the 30 hour journey across land and ocean from New York to get here. With only three days left until the 300 hour teacher training journey begins, I am happy to relax here in the capital and finish up some pre-course reading until we head to the Vine Retreat in Kep. One of the first things people asked me when I told them that I am going to Cambodia for my yoga teacher training is “Do you have to go all the way to Cambodia to study?” Usually I smile and say “Why shouldn’t I go Cambodia!?” Then I tell them that I am going to reunite with my teachers from Zuna Yoga.

To be honest, I found Zuna Yoga completely by accident about a year and a half ago. I was originally signed up with another yoga teacher training course on the coast of Bali and I didn’t pay my deposit on time, so I was booted from the course. In a panic, I began to research more courses around Bali, and there popped up Zuna Yoga. It’s true what Steve Maraboli said, that sometimes when we think we are being rejected from something good, we are actually being re-directed to something better. I can say with 100% certainty, that I would not be evolving into the wonderful yoga student and teacher I am today without the guidance of Zuna Yoga. 

Zuna is a Sanskrit word meaning “to thrive” and as students of Zuna Yoga that is exactly what we are taught to do. In my opinion, during a Zuna Yoga teacher training course we are given all the tools we need to thrive, not only in the practice of yoga, but in everyday life as well. The intense focus on the breath and bandhas during asana training completely transformed my yoga practice. During training we are taught how to artfully and systematically create yoga sequences to benefit those we teach after our training. When I became a 200 hour yoga teacher training grad last year in Bali, I felt as though I was let in on one of yoga training's best kept secrets. As a Zuna Yoga grad you become part of an elite group that can go out into the world as teachers who know how to mindfully, safely, and passionately lead others during the practice of Yoga. And that’s exactly what I did this past year.

When I first returned back to New York from Bali last October, I began teaching on our local military base Fort Drum. Teaching in a huge and noisy gym on an Army base definitely presented its challenges, but the students were always present and thankful to practice. I was so nervous my first class. All these thoughts kept going through my head, “Am I going to forget what leg they should be lifting during Adho Mukha Svanasana?” “Are they going to like me?” “ I hope they can’t see how nervous I am!” About halfway through, my mind chatter began to slow down as I realized: there I was, leading my first class. I assured myself that things don’t have to be perfect; I am here to grow with the students. My favorite part of teaching is the bond you create with those who are learning from you and with you. I find that teaching brings me great calmness. I can forget about anything that’s going on outside of class and focus solely on leading people through a wonderful yogic experience. Having a fear of public speaking, yes I still get nervous when I step in front of a new class, but that’s ok. Yoga teaches us not cling to our thoughts and emotions, just let them come and go freely. So that is what I do with my fear when I begin teaching a new class. I honor the feeling and then after a few sun salutations, I find that the fear has dissipated and I’m caught up in the joyous experience of teaching. 

So to answer the question “Do you have to go to Cambodia to study?” Yes, I do have to go to Cambodia. I have to travel all the way across the world and leave behind everything I know. By entering into this vulnerable state, I’m more open and receptive to the change that must take place within you during training. An excerpt from “Kundalini Tantra” by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, one of the required readings for the Zuna Yoga 300 hour course, resonated with me and proves this point on why we have to travel and explore during our yoga training. “Today we are living in a world where everyone is more or less satisfied. We have all the comforts and everything we need and do not need. There will come a time, however, when man will be prepared to throw off these comforts. Luxury and comfort weaken the will and keep one under constant hypnosis.” By studying in the unique settings which Zuna Yoga offer, you are given the opportunity to release the comforts of home and fully immerse yourself into a magical intensive yoga program. 

I am eternally grateful to my teachers and to the peaceful warriors who study beside me. I can’t wait to board that bus and head down to Kep tomorrow to begin this next journey.

Setting New Year's intentions at Zuna Yoga Teacher Training

by Lauren Hurst, Cambodia 200 hour yoga teacher training scholarship winner

Lauren with her fellow Zuna Yoga teacher trainees

Ringing in the final week of the Cambodia 200 hour Zuna Yoga teacher training, our group of 18 women celebrated and welcomed the New Year together.

We have really been given a perfect opportunity to connect deeply with ourselves over the past three weeks. We are learning that we have the responsibility to be conscious creators of our lives.

Your intention frames your creation.

Everett, our lead Zuna Yoga facilitator, asked us to consider what in our lives were no longer serving us and what we were ready to let go of as we move into the New Year. He then asked us to consider what we wanted to manifest more of, not in terms of material things, but rather how we want to show up for ourselves and for others.

Like emptying a trash can, we have the ability to take out the rubbish, the junk that clutters our minds, bodies and souls. That trash can needs to be filled, so we can have the opportunity to fill the space we create with something better. We must empower what is beautiful and cleanse what is burdensome.

It’s been said that what you do on New Year’s Eve gives insight into what your year ahead will look like. Well, I think it’s safe to say that yoga - both practicing and teaching - will certainly be a big part of my life over the next year, and beyond.

One more day of yoga teacher training and I am realizing how quickly the time has flown. Three weeks have gone by in an instant; but in reflecting on this time, I know I have experienced, learnt and grown so much. I am unbelievably grateful for having had the opportunity to dive deeper into the practice of yoga and all that yoga is.

I can’t wait to continue to share the gift of yoga when I return to Sydney, and now with an amazing amount of tools to bring back with me.

So thank you Zuna Yoga, here’s to 2016 and all that is to come!