On the first of December, my favorite studio in Pittsburgh offered an informational open house for interested yogis for their 2014 teacher training. I had sort of been waiting to feel ambitious since the summer, avidly searching for the most fitting vinyasa power RYS (registered yoga school) to apply and hopefully attend to get my yoga certification. South Hills Power Yoga studio's open house was a short introduction into the six-intensive weekends resulting in 200-hours of practice and yoga study. First-hand testimonials from past attendees, explanation of the material and curricula involved, and scholarship opportunity offered to a limited number of applicants. I felt so positive and inspired about the application process and anxiously submitted my yoga school application.
Since my application submission, I have been contacted and accepted into the program under a full-tuition scholarship in SHPY's Teacher Training Program. I am grateful that such a path has aligned itself so gracefully with my current practice and as a yogi. Looking forward to this transformation and new life adventure, I wanted to share my accepting yoga school application and my new found work as a life-long student of yoga and future teacher of such a beautiful ancient movement and healing art.
-Namaste
1. Give a brief history of your yoga practice. Include the styles practiced, how often and for how long, favorite teachers/styles/approaches.
When I was about eight years old, I distinctly remember my eldest sister Katherine waltz into our living room, place the crown of her head to the tough forest green carpet and raise her legs straight into the air in between the piano and floral printed couch. She had done so with such grace and ease, I was instantly awed and desperate to learn. It was not until a decade later that I revisited my fearless ambitions to yet again move into headstand. Since then, I have practiced a few different styles of yoga in attempts to discover my response to each style. On my mat, I have tried asana, yin-yang, hatha, restorative and vinyasa power yoga. Each form of yoga has aided in a new exploration of how my body moves and I have come to appreciate various styles. I have been most consistent with vinyasa power yoga because of the way it challenges my physical and mental state. Whether I am excited about my yoga practice for the day or heavily avoiding it, by the end, it is guaranteed to leave me feeling cleansed and positive. I have also come across such dedicated and relatable teachers through the practice of vinyasa. Jen Lee, Stacy, Candace, LA, Sean and Lisa, each have a unique flow and relationship with yoga as teachers and fellow yogis.
Over the past two years, I started to develop a personal practice. It was not exactly planned, but it sort of just happened. I had moved to Indonesia as an English teacher in a rural farming village. I searched throughout all the rice paddies and never came across any local yoga studios. I did however live next to a small mosque (or mushella) and was awoken each morning to the Islamic Adhan, “call to prayer.” As my fellow community members and neighbors gathered at the mosque with their prayer mats and practiced their spiritual ritual of the morning, I rose to roll out my yoga mat and practiced my yoga ritual of the morning. The heat was free and never not available. After nine months of living and teaching there, I had grown the courage to share my interpretation and practice with community members and students. I held informal classes at my house and sometimes at school. It increased my motivation and kept me honest to my personal practice. Students had questions therefore I had to be prepared with answers, which lead to studying yoga off my mat. With the growth of learned knowledge and the interest shown from students and neighbors, I gained the eagerness and confidence to teach yoga.
When I returned to the States this past summer, I was lucky enough to have a new group of willing students—my nieces and nephews. They have incredible character and are the most inspiring yogis to practice alongside. From this teacher training I hope to gain a renewed knowledge of how I am connected to yoga and how I can continue to share this gift with others.
2. How did you find yoga? What inspires you to continue practicing? What do you love about it?
I had received a scholarship to play field hockey in college and was by far the least experienced player when I arrived the first day of intense athletic preseason training. It was just a matter of time before I got injured. I look back at my past experiences with injuries and reference them as the very opportunities to become educated on the “how to” best care for my one body. I learned how to transform my physique, increase my endurance, and most importantly respect my limits.
In my dorm room, I began a practice of yoga guided by a deck of cards and a book given to me by my coach. The first break home from college I took my first yoga class at Breathe studio in the Southside. I started to respect yoga as a practice and new form of training beyond a gentle stretch. I learned how to ignite this power that yoga presented in my body with each cycle of ujjayi breathing.
I continued attendance at Breathe studio (BYS) every break home from school until I spotted an Amazing Yoga “heated Vinyasa class” pop up two blocks away. My first heated yoga class overlooked East Carson Street in a sweaty, crowded room that was suffocated with a visible fog that reached to the very top of the tall window seals. The class was taught by L.A Finfinger, alongside 40 plus yogis, packed inside the narrow studio like sardines. I felt sweat, thirst, but the most memorable was the feeling of energy as I left the class. Just from 90 minutes, my yoga practice was taken to a completely different page and level of yoga. It was then that I realized I was hooked to this feeling generated from the practice.
I continued to practice at both studios during school breaks and rigorously in the summer as I prepared for the new field hockey season. From all the running and stress that came along with school, sports, and work, I appreciated the “hurt so good” feeling I experienced when rinsing my spine and oblique muscles in twisting triangle and when releasing all the weighed emotions hidden in my hips through pigeon pose.
Yoga has helped my body stay resilient and strong. It has been the best recovery and prevention medicine to aid in injury and stress. When I crossed the finish line at mile 26.2 in my first marathon, I knew I would not have recovered so quickly without my dedication to yoga.
To my surprise, yoga was the last physical art that I discovered, but so far it has proven to be the most healing, the easiest to pack for my travels, and beyond meaningful to my life.
3. What is motivating you to take this training? What are your personal goals for this teacher training?
In spring 2010, I had just started my first job out of college, moved back home with my parents and was trying to figure out why I was still living in Pittsburgh. During that summer I had gained lots of perspective. I continued my yoga practice and got more involved with the Amazing Yoga studio’s community through the work exchange program, which helped me meet new people and start new relationships. I could look in the mirror and tell my reflection that I was satisfied. I got to do yoga for free so I even felt lucky. Although I had not realized it yet, something from my life was about to alert my uncertainties and spotlight the insecurities that challenged my happiness.
When instructors from Amazing Yoga Stacy Vespaziani and Sally offered a guided 40 Days to a Personal Revolution (inspired by Baron Baptiste’s book), the flood gates opened and I was finally capable of being honest with myself. During the program I had developed a stronger sense of confidence and trust for my personal ambitions. I had felt resistance during some of the weeks and concerned myself with a predicted outcome. Week after week, thanks to the guidance and support from the group, I became capable of letting go and following the guided program. The more I released from the mental and emotional strain I placed on my “resolves” the more I allowed myself to flow; strengthening my practice, enhancing my intuition and listening to my environment. Through that program, it was the first time I could appreciate the patience and positivity I express towards others. I worship my projection of positive energy and am absolutely grateful for its natural rhythm. I had begun to recognize that I needed to focus and allow those happy words to also be present around my family and expressed to me in my own life.
In the spring of 2011, I flew off to the complete opposite side of the Earth with feelings of utter confusion but with the confidence of capability. In the last two years, time has moved like a strong current with strange and unexpected direction. Six months into 2013, I approached yet another off balanced world of transitions, but with awareness and renewed form of grace. I know how to engage my uddiyana bandha with deep breath, while focusing my energies on goals for my future.
Initially when I consider the idea of teaching yoga, it seemed like a skill a bit beyond me. However, after considering the opportunity to participate in a teacher training, I now think of it as a learning experience I cannot life without. I plan to take this experience to open up my practice, strengthen my knowledge, and continue to challenge my own abilities. I do feel intrigued to learn and empowered to work towards such an incredible goal. I have been waiting for the most fitting “next step” to call out to me, and I do believe that making a commitment to something I love to do, will inevitable make me a better person.
4. Do you have a meditation practice?
My most recent day to day routine does not include a meditation practice. I believe that I have been a successful mediator in the past, but have not worked hard enough on keeping it consistent. I tend to allow excuses to fly through this area and place too much pressure on the actual practice of meditation before I become able to relax and settle into it. In past experiences, I have worked well in a guided meditation practice, but when I try it by myself I get carried away when I feel I have not successfully meditated. Meditation is a challenge that I knowingly want to improve but have yet to take the initial steps to start.
5. Other than yoga, where does your energy go? (hobbies, family/friends, work)
I am very passionate about volunteer work. I take away an extreme sense of happiness to invest my time in a way that is positively affecting individuals, environments, or programs/events.
I like new discoveries and adventures and from those discoveries I most love learning about people, cultures, and the stories that come from places different from what I know. I enjoy writing more than reading, but always find myself completing books faster than creating blog entries. Music does give reason for my spontaneous dance breaks, however it is not always necessary in order to get me moving.
I like learning about the city of Pittsburgh and I hope to continue to take adventures to other cities (perhaps live in them) and then return to Pittsburgh to come to the ultimate realization that this is my chosen playground, where my yoga mat feels most grounded.
Personal Statement: Why should I be a scholarship candidate?
As a member of the SHPY studio and yoga community in general, I feel a sense of gratitude for the years of support and guidance I have gained from the series of yoga poses, styles, and literature that have deepened my understanding of the practice. I would be honored to give back to the yoga community and be involved in the yoga teacher training and scholarship program. I offer my complete commitment to this program, and would without a doubt have the best intentions and attitudes toward every practice, project, and event. If given the consideration to carry the role of a scholarship candidacy for teacher training, I would represent the opportunity with leadership as a student/trainee in the program and take the role of additional responsibilities with serious motivation and a positive attitude.
A yoga teacher’s initial request for his or her students is to simply “show up” and arrive at their mats. As a student in the teacher training program, this same request may be asked but an explanation as to why this initial step is important will be unique to each individual. Personally, I plan to arrive at my mat as a vinyasa yoga teacher trainee with the ability to be well-versed as a student of the practice. I am dedicated to study the practice beyond the experiences I have had on my mat, and be challenged with unfamiliar questions of anatomical connections and the Sanskrit names and explanations of postures. I will continue to learn and never stop educating myself on yoga. I will be capable of inviting music into the practice and help inspire and encourage fellow yogis to understand their physical, mental, and emotional reactions and responses to postures. I will reach new perspectives about my personal practice and how my own life affects my practice and how my practice affects my life, other people, and the environment.
I do believe in the dedication to training as a vinyasa yoga teacher because it will take experience and practice before acquiring a natural flow to explain the movement from one posture to the next. I hope to gain a strong role as a teacher that stands immensely outside of speaking out the steps. I want to have reason behind the chosen pattern of postures for each class lead, and be capable in aiding students into the most accommodating movements right for their bodies and level of experience. As a successful yoga teacher trainee, I plan to continuously study and reflect on approach, method, and theory beyond the practice and in reference to my own experience as a student.
Thank you for presenting teacher training scholarships as a way to assist aspiring yoga teachers. It has empowered me as a yogi to challenge my reasons and ambitions for acceptance into this rigorous teacher training. I am grateful to have the opportunity to apply for such a scholarship and yoga program.
Since my application submission, I have been contacted and accepted into the program under a full-tuition scholarship in SHPY's Teacher Training Program. I am grateful that such a path has aligned itself so gracefully with my current practice and as a yogi. Looking forward to this transformation and new life adventure, I wanted to share my accepting yoga school application and my new found work as a life-long student of yoga and future teacher of such a beautiful ancient movement and healing art.
-Namaste
1. Give a brief history of your yoga practice. Include the styles practiced, how often and for how long, favorite teachers/styles/approaches.
When I was about eight years old, I distinctly remember my eldest sister Katherine waltz into our living room, place the crown of her head to the tough forest green carpet and raise her legs straight into the air in between the piano and floral printed couch. She had done so with such grace and ease, I was instantly awed and desperate to learn. It was not until a decade later that I revisited my fearless ambitions to yet again move into headstand. Since then, I have practiced a few different styles of yoga in attempts to discover my response to each style. On my mat, I have tried asana, yin-yang, hatha, restorative and vinyasa power yoga. Each form of yoga has aided in a new exploration of how my body moves and I have come to appreciate various styles. I have been most consistent with vinyasa power yoga because of the way it challenges my physical and mental state. Whether I am excited about my yoga practice for the day or heavily avoiding it, by the end, it is guaranteed to leave me feeling cleansed and positive. I have also come across such dedicated and relatable teachers through the practice of vinyasa. Jen Lee, Stacy, Candace, LA, Sean and Lisa, each have a unique flow and relationship with yoga as teachers and fellow yogis.
Over the past two years, I started to develop a personal practice. It was not exactly planned, but it sort of just happened. I had moved to Indonesia as an English teacher in a rural farming village. I searched throughout all the rice paddies and never came across any local yoga studios. I did however live next to a small mosque (or mushella) and was awoken each morning to the Islamic Adhan, “call to prayer.” As my fellow community members and neighbors gathered at the mosque with their prayer mats and practiced their spiritual ritual of the morning, I rose to roll out my yoga mat and practiced my yoga ritual of the morning. The heat was free and never not available. After nine months of living and teaching there, I had grown the courage to share my interpretation and practice with community members and students. I held informal classes at my house and sometimes at school. It increased my motivation and kept me honest to my personal practice. Students had questions therefore I had to be prepared with answers, which lead to studying yoga off my mat. With the growth of learned knowledge and the interest shown from students and neighbors, I gained the eagerness and confidence to teach yoga.
When I returned to the States this past summer, I was lucky enough to have a new group of willing students—my nieces and nephews. They have incredible character and are the most inspiring yogis to practice alongside. From this teacher training I hope to gain a renewed knowledge of how I am connected to yoga and how I can continue to share this gift with others.
2. How did you find yoga? What inspires you to continue practicing? What do you love about it?
I had received a scholarship to play field hockey in college and was by far the least experienced player when I arrived the first day of intense athletic preseason training. It was just a matter of time before I got injured. I look back at my past experiences with injuries and reference them as the very opportunities to become educated on the “how to” best care for my one body. I learned how to transform my physique, increase my endurance, and most importantly respect my limits.
In my dorm room, I began a practice of yoga guided by a deck of cards and a book given to me by my coach. The first break home from college I took my first yoga class at Breathe studio in the Southside. I started to respect yoga as a practice and new form of training beyond a gentle stretch. I learned how to ignite this power that yoga presented in my body with each cycle of ujjayi breathing.
I continued attendance at Breathe studio (BYS) every break home from school until I spotted an Amazing Yoga “heated Vinyasa class” pop up two blocks away. My first heated yoga class overlooked East Carson Street in a sweaty, crowded room that was suffocated with a visible fog that reached to the very top of the tall window seals. The class was taught by L.A Finfinger, alongside 40 plus yogis, packed inside the narrow studio like sardines. I felt sweat, thirst, but the most memorable was the feeling of energy as I left the class. Just from 90 minutes, my yoga practice was taken to a completely different page and level of yoga. It was then that I realized I was hooked to this feeling generated from the practice.
I continued to practice at both studios during school breaks and rigorously in the summer as I prepared for the new field hockey season. From all the running and stress that came along with school, sports, and work, I appreciated the “hurt so good” feeling I experienced when rinsing my spine and oblique muscles in twisting triangle and when releasing all the weighed emotions hidden in my hips through pigeon pose.
Yoga has helped my body stay resilient and strong. It has been the best recovery and prevention medicine to aid in injury and stress. When I crossed the finish line at mile 26.2 in my first marathon, I knew I would not have recovered so quickly without my dedication to yoga.
To my surprise, yoga was the last physical art that I discovered, but so far it has proven to be the most healing, the easiest to pack for my travels, and beyond meaningful to my life.
3. What is motivating you to take this training? What are your personal goals for this teacher training?
In spring 2010, I had just started my first job out of college, moved back home with my parents and was trying to figure out why I was still living in Pittsburgh. During that summer I had gained lots of perspective. I continued my yoga practice and got more involved with the Amazing Yoga studio’s community through the work exchange program, which helped me meet new people and start new relationships. I could look in the mirror and tell my reflection that I was satisfied. I got to do yoga for free so I even felt lucky. Although I had not realized it yet, something from my life was about to alert my uncertainties and spotlight the insecurities that challenged my happiness.
When instructors from Amazing Yoga Stacy Vespaziani and Sally offered a guided 40 Days to a Personal Revolution (inspired by Baron Baptiste’s book), the flood gates opened and I was finally capable of being honest with myself. During the program I had developed a stronger sense of confidence and trust for my personal ambitions. I had felt resistance during some of the weeks and concerned myself with a predicted outcome. Week after week, thanks to the guidance and support from the group, I became capable of letting go and following the guided program. The more I released from the mental and emotional strain I placed on my “resolves” the more I allowed myself to flow; strengthening my practice, enhancing my intuition and listening to my environment. Through that program, it was the first time I could appreciate the patience and positivity I express towards others. I worship my projection of positive energy and am absolutely grateful for its natural rhythm. I had begun to recognize that I needed to focus and allow those happy words to also be present around my family and expressed to me in my own life.
In the spring of 2011, I flew off to the complete opposite side of the Earth with feelings of utter confusion but with the confidence of capability. In the last two years, time has moved like a strong current with strange and unexpected direction. Six months into 2013, I approached yet another off balanced world of transitions, but with awareness and renewed form of grace. I know how to engage my uddiyana bandha with deep breath, while focusing my energies on goals for my future.
Initially when I consider the idea of teaching yoga, it seemed like a skill a bit beyond me. However, after considering the opportunity to participate in a teacher training, I now think of it as a learning experience I cannot life without. I plan to take this experience to open up my practice, strengthen my knowledge, and continue to challenge my own abilities. I do feel intrigued to learn and empowered to work towards such an incredible goal. I have been waiting for the most fitting “next step” to call out to me, and I do believe that making a commitment to something I love to do, will inevitable make me a better person.
4. Do you have a meditation practice?
My most recent day to day routine does not include a meditation practice. I believe that I have been a successful mediator in the past, but have not worked hard enough on keeping it consistent. I tend to allow excuses to fly through this area and place too much pressure on the actual practice of meditation before I become able to relax and settle into it. In past experiences, I have worked well in a guided meditation practice, but when I try it by myself I get carried away when I feel I have not successfully meditated. Meditation is a challenge that I knowingly want to improve but have yet to take the initial steps to start.
5. Other than yoga, where does your energy go? (hobbies, family/friends, work)
I am very passionate about volunteer work. I take away an extreme sense of happiness to invest my time in a way that is positively affecting individuals, environments, or programs/events.
I like new discoveries and adventures and from those discoveries I most love learning about people, cultures, and the stories that come from places different from what I know. I enjoy writing more than reading, but always find myself completing books faster than creating blog entries. Music does give reason for my spontaneous dance breaks, however it is not always necessary in order to get me moving.
I like learning about the city of Pittsburgh and I hope to continue to take adventures to other cities (perhaps live in them) and then return to Pittsburgh to come to the ultimate realization that this is my chosen playground, where my yoga mat feels most grounded.
Personal Statement: Why should I be a scholarship candidate?
As a member of the SHPY studio and yoga community in general, I feel a sense of gratitude for the years of support and guidance I have gained from the series of yoga poses, styles, and literature that have deepened my understanding of the practice. I would be honored to give back to the yoga community and be involved in the yoga teacher training and scholarship program. I offer my complete commitment to this program, and would without a doubt have the best intentions and attitudes toward every practice, project, and event. If given the consideration to carry the role of a scholarship candidacy for teacher training, I would represent the opportunity with leadership as a student/trainee in the program and take the role of additional responsibilities with serious motivation and a positive attitude.
A yoga teacher’s initial request for his or her students is to simply “show up” and arrive at their mats. As a student in the teacher training program, this same request may be asked but an explanation as to why this initial step is important will be unique to each individual. Personally, I plan to arrive at my mat as a vinyasa yoga teacher trainee with the ability to be well-versed as a student of the practice. I am dedicated to study the practice beyond the experiences I have had on my mat, and be challenged with unfamiliar questions of anatomical connections and the Sanskrit names and explanations of postures. I will continue to learn and never stop educating myself on yoga. I will be capable of inviting music into the practice and help inspire and encourage fellow yogis to understand their physical, mental, and emotional reactions and responses to postures. I will reach new perspectives about my personal practice and how my own life affects my practice and how my practice affects my life, other people, and the environment.
I do believe in the dedication to training as a vinyasa yoga teacher because it will take experience and practice before acquiring a natural flow to explain the movement from one posture to the next. I hope to gain a strong role as a teacher that stands immensely outside of speaking out the steps. I want to have reason behind the chosen pattern of postures for each class lead, and be capable in aiding students into the most accommodating movements right for their bodies and level of experience. As a successful yoga teacher trainee, I plan to continuously study and reflect on approach, method, and theory beyond the practice and in reference to my own experience as a student.
Thank you for presenting teacher training scholarships as a way to assist aspiring yoga teachers. It has empowered me as a yogi to challenge my reasons and ambitions for acceptance into this rigorous teacher training. I am grateful to have the opportunity to apply for such a scholarship and yoga program.