Post date: Jan 07, 2015 1:7:38 AM
Finally, I can sit down and write about my experience of the Intro 2 assessment. It was a lot more stressful and overwhelming than the first one and it took me a while to recover from the test. Also, 2 days before my test, Gruji (Mr. Iyenga) had left this physical world,so I was very emotional and sensitive about everything.
For Intro 2, I had to study 42 asanas (yoga poses) and 3 pranayamas (yogic breathing) in addition to certain knowledge on anatomy and philosophy. It was a lot more content than the first assessment, though with the experience of the first one, I wasn't totally lost.
It required intense practice of asanas and teaching over and over again for the year.
I choose Denver again for my venue and luckily I got my first choice. I thought it would be easier to take the test in a familiar space than in a totally new one.
Friday
10 candidates got together with 3 assessors. The assessors gave us a brief introduction and we had the first assessment: Pranayama (yogic breathing)
We were asked to lie down on folded blankets and do savasana first. Then the assessors came in and started calling out the names of the pranayama. There were 3 kinds of pranayama with 7 stages. I was expecting to do all 7 but they were calling out only 3 of them. Good thing that I memorized the names of the stages as well. :) It was a lot better than the Intro 1 experience and that made me happy. I could relax and actually do what they asked us to do. It was not perfect, but I can say I have improved from last year. We in yoga say the will power doesn't work in the practice of pranayama like it does in asana practice. We shouldn't force pranayama and when both our mind and body are ready for pranayama it will come to you, of course, with practice. Finally, I feel like I am ready for it.
The second part of the assessment was the written test. Oh my! I have studied so much! I memorized all the Sanskrit names in philosophy and the Latin words in anatomy. And taking a test in English is especially hard since it’s my second language! But to my relief, the written test was a lot easier than I expected. :)
The third part of the assessment was Asana (yoga poses) practice. The host of the venue used a timer and called out the names of the asanas. Each asana was held according to the recommendation of Mr. Iyengar, and they were a bit longer than I expected. ;) Since I enjoy asana practice so much, this part didn’t worry me. Again, I noticed how every one has a slightly different way of going in and out of the poses. My challenge was Chaturanga Dandasana (four limbs staff pose) for 30 seconds. I could do it properly by lifting from the floor only once. Then, one assessor asked us to do it one more time. She wants to see it again. sigh... I tired once more, but my body was shaking and I could feel my waist is dropping to the floor. Then later in the sequence there was Urdva Dhanurasana (upper face bow pose) with a chair support and push up if we can. I love this pose and enjoy it quite a lot, but we were asked to do it for 5 minutes. What? 5 minutes! Oh boy, it could kill me. Then he said we could come down on the chair if necessary. What a relief! ;) Other than those two poses, I felt like I had the rest of them pretty well covered.
Then we got the teaching sequence for Saturday/Sunday, which had us teaching the following 6 poses in 40 minutes: Ardha Chandrasana (half moon), Parivrrta Ardha Chandrasana (revolved half moon), Adho Muhka Svanasana (down face dog), Salamba Sirsasana (supported head balance), Salamba Sarvangasana (supported whole body or shoulder balance), Bradvajasana (seated twist)
Saturday
Right before my test, there was a huge gathering at the studio in Denver for Gruji's passing. Lots of people came, chanted prayers and shared stories of him. I didn't attend it since there was no room and my test was right after it, but I was able to hear them chanting in the other room. It was kind of overwhelming for me to prepare for the teaching test in the emotional chaos of all those people, but nevertheless, the time came.
I went into the room and there were 8 students. I briefly introduced myself and started teaching. I can say my problem was preparing too much. I wanted to give cues for the refinement of the poses, especially for the poses from the Intro 1 syllabus. But then, when I taught the first pose, I noticed that half of them couldn't even balance! Oh boy! How could I teach these people revolved half moon? I did anyway and for most of them, there was no twisting coming. Ha ha ha! I kept demonstrating how to twist in revolved half moon, but there was no improvement from the students. Crap! Then I had to quickly shift my plan to whatever I saw at the moment, which was so hard for me. My ego came out and shouted that it wanted me to stick with my plan and show the assessors how good I am! There was a battle inside my head as time ticked by. I managed to control myself and got the situation settled, then I noticed that I didn’t have enough time! It was the shoulder balance that threw me. I expected the students to at least know how to do a shoulder balance, but then I noticed that a couple of them didn't even know how to set up the props correctly. Oh no! As I fussed with those two, I looked around and most of them were crooked in the air with their buttocks sticking back and their legs forward. In my head, I was yelling at them to move their buttocks forward and legs back as they press their outer upper arms down. But nothing came out of my mouth. I was looking at them and just froze. Anyway, I barely finished the 6 poses and felt terrible. My plan to refine the poses and impress the assessors didn't work at all. Although I can say I wasn't that bad since I passed, but it was a great lesson for me.
Teach what you see in front of you!
Now I am working on the feedback I got from the assessors: teaching from the foundation, students should improve after my instructions, and adjust with words and props first (before physically assisting).
It took me about 4 years to prepare these 2 assessments to become a certified Iyengar yoga teacher. It was hard at times, but I am so glad that I walked this path and came this far. I can say: because of the assessments, all the things I studied actually stuck with me. It gives me a personal goal for how much I study at a time. For at least the next two years, I will work on my feedback from Intro 2, and when the time is right, I will move on to the next stage. Thanks to Gruji for setting up the guidance and system of assessment!
Namaste!