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Yoga Book Club is one of my favorite things. Last year, in both the fall and the spring, both books just flew at me as if on a mission; it took no effort to select the title we would read and explore together. This fall, perhaps because my attention was broadened by the studio, I didn’t hear a specific book call out to me. I had to return to favorite titles and explore other recommendations. I’m happy with Parker Palmer’s work, but here’s what I loved yet didn’t make the cut:

Fed Up by Gemma Hartely. Emotional labor in the lives of women. I’m not going to promise that this one won’t return to us in a different format, because she has a lot to say about the imbalances in many households, not just with literal chore-charts, but with the invisible work of managing it all.

Lost Connections by Johann Hari. He explores the social, vocational, spiritual and value-driven sources of anxiety and depression. He presents so much research on this book, valuable to those with and without diagnosable conditions.

Sabbath as Resistance by Walter Brueggeman. This was was a tad to deep in the theological work for our book club format, but a worthy read nonetheless. Dare I say that Walt B. might be reinforcing our yoga practice when he says that we need to return to the being and not just the doing?

Shameless by Nadia Bolz-Weber. Again, I’m not promising that this one won’t come back around. There’s so much work being presented right now about our cultural views of the body and how we might begin to make space for it’s goodness, especially in regards to human sexuality.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Dr. Gabor Mate. Honestly, it was just too much. Too much reading, too much hurt, too much to fathom – even though it’s much too real for people everywhere. This work on addiction (and trauma and disconnection as likely root causes) had me shaking my head and texting my friends. (I know, I have nerdy friends. Or, just friends that accept my nerdiness.)

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. I read anything this woman writes and this work of fiction was light and effervescent. I really just wanted a group of you to join me in reading our favorite lines, but imagined it wasn’t quite enough for a 5 week series of discussions. Go enjoy it at your leisure.

These are the titles that come readily to mind, there are several circulating that I read in the past 6 months that might pop up in conversation (or return to the Potential Pile for spring!)

You may have heard that we had a little “run in” at the studio this week. First, and most importantly, no one was injured. No one was in the studio and the driver is okay.

Second: Gratitude. Not just for the “could have’s” but also because the people around me are so freaking amazing. So many calls, messages, notes of concern. The building owners are getting things shored up as quickly as they can. Within 24 hours I had 3 local businesses offer me space to set up shop while things get repaired. This is what I love about small towns: we know how to take care of one another.

And now, on to what is next. We’ll still have yoga and we’ll just take it week by week. This week we’ll set up shop at Shotzy’s Viceroy Hall. They’re located one block north at 130 North Sandusky Avenue in Upper Sandusky.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has shown support.

You can still register online for these classes online and keep tabs on the upcoming schedule via the Vagaro app.

The past several weeks have been filled with calls and emails to/from my teacher (Mary Borton, E-RYT 500) as we go about preparing for the upcoming Yoga Teacher Training. Since this is Mary’s umpteenth time leading a TT, this is not as much for her as it is my own sense of what are we doing? We went through the required reading lists and the workshop outlines, content areas, and made reference to my own experience being trained as a yoga teacher.

It’s fascinating to look back at that time period of my training. As is anything good, it was hard. Arranging my life, which included a two-year-old, a four-year-old (in a not-everyday preschool), and two school-aged kids made the travel element challenging (thanks, mom, for making it possible!). It was worth it, because I never dreamed that teaching yoga would lead to the things I do now.

For many, yoga equates to asana (poses), because that’s so much of the doing we experience in a yoga class. We learn where to put our foot in Triangle or how to move a leg forward in a sun salutation. Of course, there’s also the breathing that’s emphasized as we move, so our pranayama (breathing) is practiced.

What it takes to create a yoga class, however, is more than memorizing a list of poses and then reminding people to breathe. Like so much of being human, most of it happens under the surface.

Last summer, we remodeled our home and opted for an IKEA kitchen. We were able to pick and choose our components, they came in lovely labeled boxes with instructions on assembly based on preference. You had to pay attention to which hole to screw into and which hinge matched the door. Our barn was FILLED with brown boxes of these elements. We had to stack and re-stack based on which cabinet we were wanting to build.

While it’s tempting to believe that a YTT is the hours you spend on the IKEA Kitchen Planner (an online tool where you get to drag and drop your cabinets into your Dream Kitchen arrangement), in actuality it’s like those moments in the barn where you get everything unloaded and you spend hours figuring out what goes where. Or the unwrapping of the boxes and attaching the sides of the drawer to the base of the drawer and figuring out how the hinge-roller thing gets installed based on how tall the drawer is and how many you have in this cabinet.

The pieces do fit. In fact, there’s an innumerable variety of ways to assemble the elements of an IKEA kitchen. But the process of a YTT is asking how does this and that fit together in my kitchen – or my belief system, my body, my personal ethic, and my community of people – at this moment? The teachers of your life (and this program) will give everyone the SEKTION bases, allow you to choose between BODBYN and GRIMSLOV doors, and then hand you an allen wrench.

True story: once we installed our kitchen, we had a wall full of (HEAVY) pantry cabinets and cupboards. As we finished up our remodel, our contractor added the trim around our back door. Due to poor planning on our part, once the trim was on the door, our drawers couldn’t open. Now, IKEA kitchens are a bit unique in that they are hung on your wall with a rail, not screwed individually into your wall. So, we emptied the cabinets and our contractors jacked up the entire wall of cabinetry, and SLID IT a few inches to the left. Voila, it fit.

This, my friends, is a beautiful example of the ongoing practice of yoga, especially as a teacher of yoga.

Sometimes things need to shift and move, even after you think you’re done.

You see, yoga isn’t just the poses. Yoga means to join, connect, unite, or yoke. The poses are a beautiful way of putting it into the physical realm, because we can see and feel how our body is connected when in a variety of different situations. But the true yoga is connecting all the elements of your life. How you think, feel, believe, practice, speak, eat, sleep, move, love, create, pray, watch, learn, encourage, collaborate, spend, consume, and lead.

And a YTT doesn’t teach you HOW to do that “the right way.” A YTT (a good one, at least) will point you to the ways this and that have a relationship with one another. It asks you to listen and learn from to the wisdom of history, along with the wisdom of the present (including science), the wisdom of the Divine (from whatever stream you recognize it), and the wisdom of your personal experience*.

So, if you’re interested in unpacking the stuff of life, doing a bit of heavy lifting in terms of arrangement, and love the creative process that’s involved with learning, then a YTT is perfect for you.

Just don’t do it because you love a finished product. I still need trim in my kitchen.

So, what if this sounds really, really awesome to you?

The Yoga Teacher Training at Woven Yoga will commence October 3, 2019. It’s a 9-month (11-weekend + several evenings) immersion program. If you’d like to know more or are ready to enroll:

1. Come meet Mary and practice with her on September 8 at 3:30. We’ll have a meet & greet with questions about the program to follow.
2. Read through some of the requirements and investments necessary to complete the program.
3. Apply online and drop your deposit at the studio ($200, check or cash only).
4. Clear your weekends for the immersions as complete attendance is necessary and required.

*Yes, for you hard-core Methodists out there, that’s my Yoga version of the Wesleyn Quadrilateral.

People take on a Yoga Teacher Training for a multitude of reasons. Many want to deepen their own understanding of the roots of their practice, diving into the history, philosophy, and even anatomy that the practice of yoga integrates. Some have a deep appreciation for the practice and find themselves regularly sharing wisdom that yoga has imparted, and now they want structure and confidence to share what they know, perhaps even in a more formal setting. Finally, more and more professionals are finding the benefits of yoga in their workplaces: mental health professionals, educators, those in the medical field, and even corporate executives want to know more about yoga concepts.

A 200-hour YTT requires time, attention, and dedication to a personal practice and a shared learning environment. In northwest Ohio, it often involves a level of travel. However, Woven Yoga has partnered with Mary Borton, E-RYT 500, from Troy, Ohio to bring The Heart of Teaching program to Upper Sandusky. Mary has 10+ years of teaching yoga along with 8+ years of teaching teachers of yoga.

She shares yoga and mindfulness programs in her community through public speaking, workplace, and educational settings. Mary is Program Director of the EmbodiYoga® 200 Hour Teacher Training at Yellow Tree Yoga and Mary has completed advanced and continuing education courses for working with youth through Radiant Child Yoga, and Zensational Kids. She has extensive training in trauma therapy, prenatal specialization, and somatic education. She is a regional trainer for Zensational Kids, bringing yoga and mindfulness to schools in Ohio.

Mary Borton Yoga is a Registered Yoga School 200-hour program through Yoga Alliance which exceeds the requirements listed to be eligible for this status. More about these requirements are available online.

If you’re interested in joining the Woven YTT, here’s the process:

1. Email Michele

2. Join us September 8 from 3:30-5:30 PM when Mary will join us for a special guest class and stay for a meet-and-greet to learn more about the program and its requirements.

3. Complete the online application and pay the $200 application deposit (checks payable to Mary Borton Yoga).

4. Pay the remaining balance by the first training weekend, October 5, 2019

5. Attend all sessions and participate to your fullest abilities.