Today is our batch’s graduation day.    So it took me about 2 hours to come up with the title and theme and yet, it feels wrong. I am not ready to end the YTT course yet – perhaps someone is playing a huge prank on me – it can’t possibly be at the end of Week 5 of the course. I am still a beginner.    Thinking back to a conversation I had whilst debating options for the 5 weeks I had. I wanted to do something that would just be meaningful for me. Not learning French and German for my husband, not travelling all over the world to see friends. Just something for me, myself an ..read more

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” John 15:19   I have always pondered on the biblical idea of “being in the world but not of the world”. To me, “being in the world” only applied to my physical location which is currently the tropical oasis of Singapore. It is well curated, clean and safe but not without its own stressful ways.    Our senses are bombarded by external stimulants for the entirety of our waking hours. The brain sees, smells, listens, t ..read more

The YTT experience at The Yoga Mandala has just been full of positive and emotional surprises. But since the very first class, , I have made a startling discovery of myself – I LOVE breath work and guided meditation.    I wouldn’t say I hated pranayama or meditation prior to the experience, but 2 out of 3 times, I would leave early or arrive 5 min late to a class just so that I can swiftly avoid all the “close your eyes, focus on your breathing and meditate on one thought” nonsense. No offence to all my past teachers, but honestly, the corporate Jane was trained to look for “excellen ..read more

“Where your eyes go, your mind follows” – Jess @ The Yoga Mandala   So what do I frequently look at on a typical day? The answers are hardly surprising, it’s our standard modern life essentials – phones and laptops. I spent hours replying to work emails, and when I was off work, Netflix and other social media immersion was how I used to decompress. I was often absorbed in imaginary lives that had nothing to do with mine. My mind and thoughts were consumed by the apathy and misery that reeked out of most work emails and the seemingly perfect lives lived on screens.    Rarely did ..read more

“Be the observer observing the observed. You are the observer and the observed.” There is an iridescent magic to learning the most profound wisdom in the most simple terms at the most simple moments. And Jess, our teacher, is truly a maestro at that.    The journey within through the practice of yoga for me starts with the following : The body: take a look at your neck, wrists, palms, arms, elbows, shoulders, ribs, chest, spine, hips, thighs, knees, calves, shins, ankles and feet. Examine each body part, inspect it one by one and study them. – Is there hyperextension in my elbows an ..read more

After we learnt about shoulder joints, I tried a few poses like puppy pose.   I always felt discomfort around my shoulders in puppy pose but I didn’t know why. I thought it was just because of stiffness around my shoulders.    I tried the way we learned : to retract the shoulder blades first, and to extend arms. I didn’t feel any discomfort any more.    Another interesting session was about the spine. We could spot a lot of differences between right and left as well as individual body uniqueness. It is subtle and almost invisible in most cases. When you do Yoga, it sud ..read more

This is something I wanted to learn from this course.   In week 3 and week 4, each of us created a few sequences by ourselves. It was fun for me to make sequences. It was like connecting many dots of Asana to reach a peak pose. You can also choose a theme instead of peak pose, so you can use a bit of your creativity to come up with unique themes.   When I work on sequencing, I look into each Asana more carefully. The way Jess taught us was well structured, and it makes me feel easy to apply it for actual lesson planning or self practise.    Reiko 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Train ..read more

One day I was trying to memorize Asana names in Sanskrit.   ‘Tadasana, mountain pose’ ‘Trikonasana, triagle pose’ Easy peasy. I know this.   ‘Badda Utthita Parsvakonasana, extended side angle pose’ ‘Svarga Dvidasana, bird of paradise’ Ummm, let’s see…. I wonder what comes after these complicated ones.   ‘Bharadvajasana 1, seated spinal twist..’ Bara..bara…it sounds like bara-chirashi.   ‘Ardha Bheka Sarvangasana, half frog side shoulder stand’  Ummm, okay…enough for today. Let’s have a break. It’s time to prepare dinner.   Then, I said to my husband: ‘I think I’m ..read more

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Today is our batch’s graduation day.    So it took me about 2 hours to come up with the title and theme and yet, it feels wrong. I am not ready to end the YTT course yet – perhaps someone is playing a huge prank on me – it can’t possibly be at the end of Week 5 of the course. I am still a beginner.    Thinking back to a conversation I had whilst debating options for the 5 weeks I had. I wanted to do something that would just be meaningful for me. Not learning French and German for my husband, not travelling all over the world to see friends. Just something for me, myself an ..read more