This morning started much like the last in that it is official that I can not seem to get out of bed at 5:30am. Thus, at 6am, I hit the floor running to catch my dogs who are still sleeping and wondering why I am so excited. I tie them up, feed them, say thanks to the sky for being dry all night then hop on my motorcycle to drive to Anamaya Resort.

At 7am once again, we start our practice. This morning is more intense than before from the start because the sun is out, and it is hot! It feels so cleansing to sweat. Since we worked the previous day on arms and shoulders, today we are devoting our practice to the legs. It was a very interesting practice. We did many lunges and many twists. I love the way Jackie emphasizes certain movements such as putting pressure on the front leg’s heel, bring the other hip forward, bringing the stomach in then tucking the tailbone to FREE THAT LOWER BACK! The concern for the body during intense physical exercise is key for me, as well as balancing rest with movement. Jackie calls rest “a chance to allow the body to integrate”. After the practice, we had another silent breakfast (practicing our second Yama, which is “Satya or Truthfulness”). I am totally using this journal as a practice tool 😉 I believe the idea is that silence can create an environment conducive to truthfulness by taking away the chance to lie/deceive others or ourselves.

For our mid morning session, we each took a turn teaching the group sun salutations. Yay 24 plus sun salutations! We put what we learned about proper alignment the day before to work! It was humbling and encouraging to watch other students stumble, correct themselves, and finally learn. We are going to bust out some great teacher from this group 🙂

When we sat down to eat lunch, I was very excited because the sun was still out, which meant the roads were not too muddy for me to drive to the next town on my motorcycle. I have been able to acquire a ride in someone’s car up to this point to go buy my dogs’ food, but this time it was the last day before I ran out so I decided that I was going to be independent and try to balance it on my motorcyle – oh ya, that was my plan. Again, my two dogs are more like mini horses, and I buy them a bag of dog food that lasts us a month so it is about the height of me or 5 feet.

Thus, after I eat quickly, I do not go straight to Cobano to start my adventure, but stopped in town for an amazing little “bola” of vegan, sugar free chocolate chip mint ice cream made by the local bakery/cafe called Organico; I felt that if I am about to put myself to work, I am going to add in a little reward before the action.

Driving to Cobano, I noticed that my accelerator is acting funny, kind of sticking. Given that my knowledge of motorcycles is somewhat limited, I did not worry too much. I arrive at the Cooperativa to buy dog food remembering that they do not have a credit card machine, and I have no cash so off to the bank I went. I pull money out then go to start up my motorcycle, and it makes the sound that young teens make when their parents by them a hot car – it really revved up without me touching the accelerator…ugh…

My next stop is then the mechanic. His shop is closed. My next stop is to drive out to the gas station. The mechanic kindly tells me the gas cable is bad, but that he can not fix it. He sends me to the Honda dealer. I go to the dealer and sit while he ruffles through his computer to tell me they do not have the right cable. He sends me to the parts store. I go to the parts store and park in back because I had heard that a young guy behind it fixes motorcycles.

I ask the 18-year-old looking mechanic if he can fix mine, which he affirms, but says there is someone ahead of me. It is not 1:45pm, and I am supposed to be back to Anamaya at 2:30pm. I bat my eyes and beg a bit then go into the parts store hoping for a cable. The old shop keeper goes in the back, and I can see him pull down a bunch of cables and start picking through them. After 10 minutes, he comes back to sell me the last cable of they type I need that he has. Yes! I go back to the mechanic who is ready for me. Yes! He fixes the cable  and charges me $4 for the work – not bad 🙂

With my moto fixed, I finally go back to the Cooperativa to buy dog food. I also need a rain suit. I buy a rain suit, and the dog food and nice worker helps carry out my dog food. I tell him to lay it across the front because my plan was to balance it between my legs. Thankfully, he tells me he will lend me some rope and ties the dog food on the back of my motorcycle for me. Yes! I try to half sit on the rain suit package.

Half way home it starts to jungle rain pour. I stop in the middle of the road to put on my new rain coat :), and wibble wobble the rest of the way home. In the pouring rain (I’m soaked), I go in the house, grab a knife, run back out, cut the dog food off my moto, throw it over my shoulder and run back in. The time is ticking for class to start. I grab a dry pair of yoga pants and put them under my rain coat; no reason to put them on at this point and run back out the door.

The road is no longer ridiculously muddy between my house and Anamaya so I can actually drive on it as the rain has let up – a bit. I make it to Anamaya and miraculously, it is 2:30pm. Yes!

And you thought this journal was about the Yoga Teacher Training…

It is! In the afternoon session, we broke down the sun salutation postures and really dove into the alignment, misalignments, corrections of  “Adho Mukha Svanasana” or “downward dog”. We learned that this pose can be “a whole practice in one pose” as it is a back bend, forward bend, and  inversion that strengthens the upper and lower body all simultaneously!

After dinner, we have a lovely Satsung, and I go home more than ready to balance my day with some much needed rest…