Awake to My Soul YTT - First Month

I still can't believe I am in the process of becoming a certified yoga instructor. There is a part of me that is like, "who is this person?!" and another part of me that fully recognizes that it was never really a matter of if I took this path, but when. 

My training is through Awake to My Soul with Ylonda Rosenthal-Greene. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy my heart lit up meeting this woman in person. Talk about an inspiration and true radiating light of inspiration. This woman is raw, real, blunt, and incredible. When she launched her first series last year I desperately wanted to sign up immediately. As fate would have it, I had weddings booked for several weekends, and while I was assured I would still be able to go through the program, I wanted to be all in. 

Fast forward to earlier this year when the 2018 dates were launched and my astonishment that I was free - every. single. weekend. Being someone who's calendar fills up up to a year and half in advance, I couldn't ignore the fact that the stars had aligned. Now was my time.

The first day was a bit of a whirlwind. Friday's we don't meet until 6pm, and I had so much to do beforehand. I was literally driving all over NE Ohio that day, aligning my schedule with picking up Ada, making 3 deliveries, getting Ada to the sitter, and then rushing to the east side for my first big day. I know, everyone has crazy schedules, so don't think I that I am saying I had it rough by any means. I mean, I was about to spend an ENTIRE weekend (and the first of 8) solely dedicated to my own personal practice. My life is pretty easy. But my point is, it wasn't exactly the smoothest entry into what I was envisioning to be a life altering experience. 

I walked in, feeling like I was late (I'm typically the obnoxiously punctual one, so 10 minutes early feels like 10 minutes late to me), and saw a large circle of women. A circle of women, who within the next 72 hours would truly feel like family.

This was a long intro to an abrupt ending in my story. The thing is, even three weeks later, I am at a total loss of words for what that weekend meant to me. It was life altering. It was empowering. It far exceeded my wildest dreams. I left feeling so full of light, gratitude, peace, and energy. So much so, that even now, I can feel that energy in my own practice in way I've never once felt before - in all my 12 previous years of practicing yoga. 

In lieu of continuing to ramble (as I am sure you will be hearing so much more about this journey in the coming months), I will share a bit of my experience via images. Because that's what I do.