Hi there.
I hope you have had a lovely week. I have had an interesting week in that the universe decided to stop me in my tracks by giving me very intense muscles spasms in my lower back. If you have ever had this you will know what a challenge staying a nice person is, ouch! It started on Tuesday lunchtime at work, and by the time I got home an hour later I could hardly move.
My yoga teacher Shola Arewa just said ‘nothing like a back problem to reassess things’, and I think she was pretty much right. I spent two days at home, just me and my ice pack, thinking about life and my work and especially about the Yoga Teacher Training program I will be running this September. I realized that my current back problem, which the osteopath said was largely from and little rest (yes very un-yogic I know , I’m working on it!), was largely because I don’t manage my schedule as well as I could, and that I need to do less demonstrations in class and maybe ask some of my regulars to helps me out on the demo front (I will let you know how that goes). If you are a teacher, is that something you do regularly or are you in the routine of doing everything yourself and hoping everyone follows?
How to protect yourself as a yoga teacher from injury is something no one ever seems to talk about. Is it because we let our ego get in the way and don’t want to admit defeat, or that we like people to think we are beyond injury and physical breakdown? Or is that just me? I’d be really interested to know your thoughts on this. I feel this kind of questioning and information is so important if we are to have a long teaching career, and I will be discussing it with other teachers and teacher trainers I will be working with later this year in Wales.
As I said I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the above and anything yoga related: info@sallyparkesyoga.com
Sally Parkes teaches in London at Indaba Yoga, and will be running Laxmi Yoga Teacher Training 200hr in Wales at The Dru Yoga Snowdonia Lodge.
