#ODDLight: Yoga Teacher Training Alumns Edition 3
Hello and Happy (almost) Winter Solstice everyone! Today the ODD blog is bringing you our third and final installment of YTT alumni features. If you, for some CRAZY reason, missed the first two installments, definitely go check those out!
Joscelyne Castaneda
Nickname: Don’t have one!
Hometown: L.A.
What’s your ODD love story?
Before I joined One Down Dog, I practiced yoga at my local gym or at the Bikram studio down the street from my house. Taking classes at ODD— mostly Flow, Sweat and Sculpt at the time— broadened my scope of what yoga could be. I then ventured into teacher training—not only was it life altering but it was also soul enriching. The beautiful people I met and get to call my friends is the cherry on top!
How do you define yoga?
I have found yoga to be the connection to my inner self. I have a tendency to make things complicated for myself, I’m a worrier and an overthinker. Yoga— in its my facets— allows me to ground down and stop floating in the clouds even for a moment. I’ve also found that I have gained a stronger connection, greater acceptance and respect for my body. Yoga allows me to come back home to myself.
What is one small fact that most wouldn’t know about you?
I was raised in 3 countries and learned Spanish early on. I was born to a Malaysian-Chinese mother and Salvadoran father. But also Pie over Cake any day.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Even though I’m afraid of heights, I’d probably love to fly. I’ve missed out on a lot of adventurous things because of my fear of falling. So, if I could fly, that’d be great.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve gained from doing teacher training at ODD?
Learning to listen to my heart and trust what I truly wanted for myself. I took a leap last year to make a career shift and I couldn’t have done it without teacher training. It also served as a jumping off point to deepen my understanding of Ayurveda, meditation and tarot. I’m also super grateful for the encouraging, supportive and loving friendships I have today because of teacher training. Couldn’t just narrow it down to one—sorry! Lol.
What is your favorite asana pose and/or sequence and why?
There’s too many to choose from. But wild thing is probably one of my favorites. I used to be so afraid of flipping over, but over the years, it’s become so freeing and fun.
Shelly Price
Nickname: Shells, Shell Bell, Belles
Hometown: West Covina, Ca – about 25 miles east of LA. I’m a SoCal native!
What’s your ODD love story?
I avoided yoga for the first ~30 years of my life because I had created stories in my head that it wasn’t for me. Up until then I was used to doing very intense workouts such as kickboxing and CrossFit because I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin and felt the need to mold it into what I saw in society’s beauty standards. My boyfriend at the time (now husband :)) dragged me to my first few yoga classes and eventually I started to see a shift in my body and mind. Eventually through ClassPass I found One Down Dog and fell in love with the energy of the studio, and it has since propelled me so deeply into the practice of yoga. Bonus points that the silhouette of Patrick, ODD’s mascot, looks like my dog Milo! I was working in a very stressful corporate environment at the time and found myself at ODD any chance I could get for sanctuary. Molly’s class was my church and making yoga a regular practice was the start of a journey that has transformed my life. I can’t believe I’m now a yoga teacher, sharing these valuable tools high schoolers and students of all ages.
How do you define yoga?
Yoga is connection – between the body, mind, spirit and emotion. Cultivating my awareness better connects these to one another. Yoga is our connection to one another.
What is one small fact that most wouldn’t know about you?
My parents put me in school early so everyone in my graduating classes were older than me- I graduated high school at 16 and college at 20. I survived college without a fake ID!
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
To be able to fly and soar above the clouds and see the world from an aerial view! It would be so cool to be able to travel anywhere you want with your own wings (which metaphorically we can do now as humans!)
What’s the biggest thing you’ve gained from doing teacher training at ODD?
Self love. It has been eye opening to have the awareness to notice when my thoughts/negative self dialogue are spiraling, and bring myself back to the present moment. It’s a practice and a constant learning experience, but I’m so grateful to be able to say I love myself (light and shadows). In this love space is where I can give back to my community. Speaking of – the biggest thing I’ve been blessed with after YTT is gaining a group of friends that have become family. I love my ODDYTTDAWGS <3
What is your favorite asana pose and/or sequence and why?
Forward folds – whenever I need to move my body I do a few of these and some halfway lifts and my energy shifts. I also gain a different perspective when upside down 🙂
Haikaz Vardavarian
Nickname: Haik
Hometown: Los Angles
What’s your ODD love story?
I came to ODD after years of knowing I wanted to do yoga but being too afraid to start. Fear of strange new people, fear of trying something new, fear of judgement, the list continues. As soon as I decided to do what I knew is right for me things began to shift.
I am beyond grateful for the journey that going to ODD started me on.
Some of the things I found at/through/because of ODD include self-acceptance, self-love, self-confidence. All those “cliche” things we say and hear. It all starts there. You can do anything you want in life if you believe in yourself. You can manifest your dreams. It’s all true! And having a network of amazing people around you and supporting you with their actions, words and all around good energy makes things so much better and easier.
At ODD I found a community of people (teachers, students and staff) who are positive, caring, kind, open, accepting, encouraging, funny and all the good things. If I had to list all the friendly people I’ve met, I wouldn’t know where to end. The positive experiences helped me go from being afraid to really talk to any “stranger” to opening up to all the wonderful people there and in doing so I opened up more to life, to really living and fully experiencing this wonderful, beautiful thing we humans can do here while we’re on this earth.
And, I met the chillest most down to earth owner of any business I’ve ever met who authentically cares about and understands the importance (as well as challenges) of building connections, relationships and community.
How do you define yoga?
Yoga is a practice of introspection and reflection.
It is about movement, breathe and finding your deepest, truest self.
It is about trying to find balance in all things.
It’s about stretching and strengthening.
It is about getting tough while remaining soft.
Yoga is so many things, but to me more than anything it is a way of life.
What is one small fact that most wouldn’t know about you?
I can’t burp.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I already believe we all have super powers. The power to make change, the power to make things better, the power to positively impact other peoples’ lives. The question is are we in touch with those powers and are we using them to serve the greater good.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve gained from doing teacher training at ODD?
Strangers that became friends who are now like family.
I never expected the training to force me so much to look at myself. To go to the deepest and darkest places that scare me the most and to come out stronger on the other side with a crew of people who embraced and supported me (and each other) every step of the way. The experience was really indescribable and I’m not even talking about all the feels. Something weird and magical happens when you put 20 people in a room together for 200+ hours with some really experienced guides and have them explore existence and the purpose and meaning of life.
It also helped me reconnect with so much ancient wisdom that I feel many of us have lost touch with. Mechanisms of the body and mind, natural methods of self-care and healing. Reconnecting with spirit. The list goes on and on.
I learned and continue to learn soo much from the teachers at ODD and their wealth of knowledge it’s crazy.
What is your favorite asana pose and/or sequence and why?
Warrior 2 – it just screams yoga. When you think yoga, you see warrior 2 (in your mind, on the cover of yoga magazines).
I also like that it’s a strengthening pose and empowers you to deal with any challenge life may throw your way.
#ODDLight: Yoga Teacher Training Alumni Edition 2
Hey ODDballs. We’re back this week with another round of #ODDLight Teacher Training alumni features. Keep reading to learn all the juicy details of their lives and as well as what they got out of doing teacher training at ODD! And if you’re really moved by what they have to say, the next round of ODDYTT starts in January!
Shaharyar
Nickname: Shari
Hometown: Lahore, Pakistan but my heart is in LA, so it is home
What’s your ODD love story?
My teacher training crew, aka oddyttdawgs, is quite the love story. It’s truly amazing to have the unconditional support of people who are always down to accompany each other on anything. You probably won’t find a group of 20 people that love each other more.
How do you define yoga?
In one word: devotion. It’s commitment to personal and spiritual growth. Basically, yoga is life.
What is one small fact that most wouldn’t know about you?
I usually overthink things but I am very impulsive, or should I say intuitive, when it comes to major life or financial decisions. I didn’t come to yoga or ODD through classpass or anyone I knew. One day I decided that I should practice yoga. I walked into ODD that evening, signed up for the new student special and took my first yoga class ever.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Ability to time travel!
What’s the biggest thing you’ve gained from doing teacher training at ODD?
Awesome teachers who are so knowledgeable and inspiring. They are mentors who continue to guide me through this journey.
What is your favorite asana pose and/or sequence and why?
These days I’m committed to pincha mayurasana. I love working towards a pose that seems impossible at first. Going from “I will never be able to do this pose” to “I will get there one day” is my favorite part of the asana practice.
Meg Bradbury
Nickname: …
Hometown: Pasadena, CA
What’s your ODD love story?
Initially, I first came to ODD in 2014 for two reasons; one, I wanted a yoga studio that played music I loved and wasn’t stuffy or stuck. Two, at the time, I used yoga as cross training for all the running I did and I loved that ODD offered classes like SWEAT. While that second reason doesn’t exist anymore*, the first reason — contemporary relevance/perfect irreverence — continues to delight me, every time I unroll my mat.
*backstory: Several years ago I was dx’ed with an eating disorder that, among other behaviors, expressed itself in obsessive exercise. As I first approached recovery, I stopped running and then took a break from all forms of exercise, including yoga. As hard as this was, it was a vital part of my healing and gave me the insight into what my body really wanted and needed in terms of movement. I came back to ODD after just about a year away and it was coming home. I was welcomed back with such warm and open arms. Stepping into one of the ODD studios and unrolling my mat remains one of my most sacred and safest spaces.
How do you define yoga?
Yoga is remembering, with breath and with movement and with stillness, that I am whole, able to love and be loved, and connected to every living thing.
What is one small fact that most wouldn’t know about you?
I was a second gen Hollywood punk rocker circa late 70s (pre Henry Rollins, yo) and have so! many! stories! and got into so! much! trouble!
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I wish it were something magnanimous and in service to all humanity, but I seriously just really fucking want to fly.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve gained from doing teacher training at ODD?
Sangha. Totally. My YTT cohort and teachers have become not only friends but family, with all the messy, inevitable times of grief, self-reflection, doubt, fear, and vulnerability a close group goes through during yoga teacher training. We counseled and consoled and celebrated and cried and laughed and overshared and nicknamed and fell asleep during story hour and listened and heard and we became teachers. TOTALLY One Down Dog teachers. Together. #bravespace
What is your favorite asana pose and/or sequence and why?
Right now it’s trikonasana. I find a lot of expression and openness there, and there’s a way my body just shines into it happily, like a belonging. A slow, syrupy Sun A, too, feels full of love. The slower the better. Pleasure, grace, poetry.
Hannah Elder
Nickname: Banana, Banana Welder, Han, Han Solo, Hanzo
Hometown: San Antonio, TX
What’s your ODD love story?
I was a serial Groupon-er when it came to yoga until I realized a good chunk of my friends practiced at ODD. I fell in love with Cindy’s sweat class immediately but it was in one of Adam’s classes in November 2016 that I had what can only be described as a spiritual experience. I was so stressed and angry and confused and scared and when we were in savasana this wave came over me that just said, “You’re going to be alright. Everything is going to be alright.” I had never ever had an experience like that and I knew I was on to something special. Finding not only a practice that worked for me, but a community and a physical space has also been instrumental in my sobriety. I didn’t come to yoga to get sober but it’s definitely helped.
How do you define yoga?
Self-study. Svadyaya is one of my favorite yogic ideas and it’s what I always come back to. I explore my body and my mind and a connection to a higher power and my mood and so many other things that I’ve only found access to through yoga (for now).
What is one small fact that most wouldn’t know about you?
I was born at home in the house my dad still lives in (bonus fact- the address is my IG handle)
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Flying! Or teleporting. But I think flying because then I could enjoy the ride and flying would be faster than driving anyway.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve gained from doing teacher training at ODD?
Community. It feels cheesy to say but it’s so dang true. We all brought such unique elements to the group and rely on each other for different reasons. It also pushed me to get more involved at ODD- introduce myself to front desk staff, go to more workshops, etc.
As I’ve also started to teach my own classes it’s been so helpful to be able to reach out to YTT friends and say, “Is this how it is for you? How do you handle this certain situation?” You learn it all in training but putting it into practice is a whole new ballgame.
What is your favorite asana pose and/or sequence and why?
Super into Warrior 2 right now. It’s a pose we do so often and I feel like it’s easily overlooked so I’m trying to be more aware in my home practice. In class lately it seems to be where I find the most gratitude. Sinking lower and stretching longer and trying to find new aspects of it and just so grateful I have a body that can do any of this.
Yoga Teacher Training – Continuing Education in East LA
July is a month of yoga teacher training continuing education at One Down Dog. Open to any yoga teachers or teachers in training we have a range of opportunities for you to remain a student. Learn and work alongside fellow teachers to grow your practice and what you have to offer your students.
Hands On Assisting and Seeing w/ Janine Glass
July 13th 1:45 – 3:15
This workshop is for yoga teachers and teachers in training.
Awaken your intuitive “seeing” skills in order to strengthen your ability in giving hands-on assists while teaching and working with private clients.
This workshop will cover theory, demonstration, and training of safe and effective hands-on yoga assists
What you get:
- “Seeing” skills training: “seeing” blockages and brightness in bodies.
- Hands-on assisting theory and injury Q&A
- Guidance and coaching in assisting with partners
- Working with injuries and clearing pain
only 20 spaces available onedowndog.com/workshops
Restorative Yoga Teacher Training – Level 1
This is Sam’s second visit with this training. Take level 1 now, she will be back for level 2 again within the next year! Check out the first group of ODDfam that attended.
She will also be offering a 2 hour Restorative class open to the public and the students who attended the workshop. It will be delicious!
Join the relaxation revolution!
Restorative Yoga is a healing practice that brings the body, mind, and nervous system into balance. Learn to teach Restorative Yoga, guided by Samantha Akers (formerly Joseph) (E-RYT 500) (C-IAYT), creator of the TheraYoga Method. Sam is passionate about the immensely powerful practice of Restorative Yoga, since it has been a major part of her own journey to health. These trainings are for teachers & students who are looking to deepen their knowledge of Restorative Yoga!Teachers receive a certificate of completion once all homework and assisting is completed.Level 1 of this training covers the main poses of Restorative Yoga, how to adapt them for a variety of students, how to use props, how to design a satisfying class, and more. Special attention is given to therapeutic applications of Restorative Yoga, and how the practice can benefit people with special needs, or simply relieve stress. The training also includes discussion of the three Ayurvedic Doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) and how to build a Restorative and breath practice to best suit the needs of all three. You will also learn the basics of a mindful awareness practice to aid those with anxiety and trauma disorders, helping to keep students feeling more grounded, clear and balanced during their experience of Restorative Yoga and beyond. Students will receive a manual and a reading list.
These trainings are designed to prepare current yoga teachers to teach Restorative classes in studios and other environments. These weekends are also open to students simply wanting to deepen their knowledge, and for those in allied professions (massage therapists, those in the mental health care field, etc.) as a vital part of their practice with clients.
The goal is ‘happy kitty face’ here.
COST:
$400 prior to July 1st
$450 after
DATES & TIME:
Friday July 14th 5-8pm
Saturday July 15th 9-5pm
Sunday July 16th 10-5:30pm
Samantha is currently under the private direction of her teacher George Haas as well as being a student in his 11 month program, A Meaningful Life. She completed Community Trauma Resiliency training, through the Trauma Resource Institute, in August of 2014. Her Restorative practice has been influenced by her teachers Judith Lasater and Leeann Carey. – Learn more about Sam in her bio under the workshop.
Hands-On Savasana Adjustments
7/25 + 2-3:30pm
Did you know we had a massage therapist at One Down Dog? Did you know she’s a yoga teacher!?
Want to give your students that little extra love in Savasana? Need a refresher course or brand new on feeling comfortable palpating and moving areas of the body? Then this workshop is for you! We will…+ Review basic structural anatomy
Where to apply pressure, where not to…+ Simple massage therapy techniques
Help ease muscle tension after an intense practice
+ Carefree joint mobilizations
Traction and movement to areas of the body without
assistance from student
+ Savasana Sequence
Learn a quick sequence outline that allows you to add your own flavor throughout
COST: $40
“Who am I to be a yoga teacher?”
When I first signed up for yoga teacher training, I was constantly second-guessing myself. I worried about not being “good enough” at yoga. I mean, I couldn’t even do a headstand yet! Who was I to be a yoga teacher? Why would anyone want to take my yoga class if I couldn’t even do a headstand?
Looking back, I realize I was talking to myself in a way that I would never talk to a friend – or anyone, for that matter!
I think a lot of this self-doubt was coming from my desire to find external validation. There’s a lot of stereotypes swirling around in the yoga world these days and I don’t exactly fit the bill for all of them. Arielle recently wrote a great post along these lines. When people found out I was doing yoga teacher training, they’d almost always say “wow you must be really good” or “wow so you can do headstands and stuff?”
This feedback coming in was fueling a fire of doubt.
I was recently reading a blog post I wrote about one of our early training sessions where we all shared our reasons for being there and also any fears/doubts we had. It was very reassuring to hear that everyone else had similar feelings.
I realized that in order to overcome these feelings of self-doubt, I had to stop searching around me for permission to go after what I want and allow myself to follow my heart. I stopped asking myself if I was “good enough” at yoga to become a teacher and looking outside of myself for the definition of “good.” I started asking myself what it was that really drew me to teacher training in the first place.
I didn’t sign up for teacher training to be “good enough.” I didn’t sign up for teacher training to do a headstand. I didn’t sign up for teacher training to fit into size small yoga pants. And I most certainly didn’t sign up for teacher training to impress others.
Yoga is not about any of that to me. Yoga is a constant process of learning about oneself, looking inward and then using that stability of inner peace to be completely present in the world around us. Yoga is about finding comfort in the uncomfortable places, finding balance between effort and ease, finding joy in the everyday.
Signing up for teacher training was my way of inviting all of this into my life. I wanted to learn and explore ideas. I wanted to grow and challenge myself physically and mentally. I wanted to be a part of a community with others who were on a similar journey.
These days, I’m teaching at One Down Dog 4 times a week and I’m still constantly learning and growing. Every class is different and there is something to learn from every experience. I’m so glad that I signed up for the teacher training because I proved to myself that I can face my fears and that those fears aren’t even real. I get to be a part of a super fun community of yogis. And it just so happens, I did learn to do a headstand – and it’s super fun!
See you on the mat!
When Taylor isn’t teaching yoga, she’s blogging about her adventures as a vegan yogi entrepreneur on
her blog and
designing/coding websites.
You can connect with her on Instagram and Twitter. Check out Taylor’s class schedule here.
Have you ever considered becoming a yoga teacher?
Do you want to deepen your yoga practice?
Curious about yoga philosophy, ayurveda, pranayama, etc?
Click here to learn more about the One Down Dog Yoga Teacher Training program.
Come check out one of our Teacher Training Info Sessions every Saturday at 12:30pm at the Silverlake Studio! We’re here to answer all of your questions and chat about what you can expect from the experience.
How Your Favorite Yoga Instructors Blossomed Into the Zenyonces You Love and Adore
We all have our favorite yoga instructors we bow in humility to, those ones who seem to have just the right things to say at the right time when we need it. They appear to live their lives so free and full, and they hold a special space for us (students) to roll out our mats and decompress our ever changing, busy, and at times overwhelming life.
Before I enrolled in yoga teacher training, I always idolized the instructors who would flawlessly roam around the room during class. They would keep me motivated to push further to the edge just by giving a sweet encouraging smile as I would catch their eye in downward facing dog. Although I had considered many times, almost daily, about enrolling in teacher training; I always rationalized why I let the next training deadline roll away by reminding myself that “they” were a specific type of celebrity. They possessed an “awe” factor I never thought I could achieve. I didn’t meditate, I used curse words, and I stayed up until 2 in the morning. I was not what you would call “zen market material”.
One day, after taking my favorite yoga sculpt class at a studio in Denver, I overheard one of my super strong, collected, and beautiful yoga queen guides on the phone with a significant other, arguing. She was hollering, spouting profanities, and I could hear the emotion and passionate pain in her voice. A wave of human reality shattered this perfect statue picture I had painted of her in my mind, and I felt connected to her in a way that I hadn’t before. It was so grounding that my stomach jumped like it does when on a roller coaster drop. I thought to myself, “I know what it’s like to take a frustrating phone call in the parking lot at work too! She’s a human!” Besides wanting to run around the corner, and scoop her up in a hug, and scream, “YOU’RE SO COOL, AND YOU JUST CHANGED MY DAY! AND I LOVE YOU!” – which I didn’t, I also knew immediately that I could no longer hide behind the excuse that I used foul words and lost my temper sometimes as a reason to not take the challenge my soul had been yearning for to enroll in teacher training.
During my training, I was expecting an “ah-ha” moment to happen, I figured one morning I would wake up and automatically feel collected and glide around with a centered essence, the way I watched all my instructors gracefully display. It never happened. I felt the same. 19 years old, confused, broke, and uninspired and to top it off when I would attempt to guide practice classes I felt like I was bombing every time. (YES, BOMBING! You know that thing that bad stand-up comedians do when they have a terrible joke and an unwatchable performance? It was THAT cringe-worthy) I found myself very overwhelmed and almost wanted to quit!
I was told by everyone in my life that mattered to me that I could not make it financially as a yoga instructor and in my heart of hearts I didn’t even FEEL like a yoga instructor anyways. I had a sincere sit-down with one of my mentors, the SAME instructor who had taken the phone call outside many moons before, who still to this day does not know I was creeping around the corner and overheard her call her boyfriend “an asshole!”
She gave me some really great advice.
She said, “You don’t learn to ride a bike by watching everyone else ride theirs. You have to get on the bike over and over and over and ride it. You have to fall, and pick up speed, and learn to slow down, and see what it sounds like to put a pop-can on the back of it and feel the wind in your hair when you go too fast. Watch out for others around you, and be cautious of where you lead yourself on your bike and take care of it by bringing it inside at night. Yoga is like a bike. Once you learn to ride your bike, you are able to guide people to ride theirs because you have FELT what it is like to LEARN to ride it not simply because you know the idea of it.”
SO GOOD right!? In that moment it occurred to me that I was coming to class, but I wasn’t fully being a student! I knew the poses, and where to put my foot and hands, but I wasn’t FEELING how my body got there, I wasn’t observing the transitions and how the weight seemed to shift mentally and physically for me throughout class. To keep brevity in this post, I will tell you I kept at it diligently, for years. I made mistakes and received feedback, sometimes drove home in tears because I didn’t feel the class was very good and I fumbled through the entire thing. But, just like my yoga mat never gave up on me, and as the students always continued to show up I got more comfortable in my teaching shoes – er barefeet.
I can now tell you, 6 years down the line, I am still a student. I still fumble, I still make HUMAN mistakes, but NOW what is different for me is that I observe my mistakes and allow myself to experience them to the fullest. I wallow in them so deeply, down to very last sometimes embarrassingly painful detail so I don’t miss any of its fibers. Because then once I have settled into the lesson the mistake manifested for me, I can bring it back to the mat, and help guide someone else through with a map, with a better sense of cautionary eyes, with a compassionate heart, an empathetic mind and a supportive touch.
THAT is how my teachers gave me the words I needed, THAT is how they always seemed calm and in control, they had been where I was on the mat. They had learned to ride the bike, and they had fallen off. They knew what it was like to scream and cry and stay up late, and their job was to smile their sweet smile and to help me through it, because if they thrived passed the tough stuff, they knew I could too! As an instructor now, I continue to learn just as much from my student’s persistence and love as I hope to bring them in anatomy and posture knowledge.
I am a forever student of my practice, other instructors, and this beautifully complicated life. If you have an instructor who you adore, continue to adore them but be mindful that you connect with them so much because you are the same. That thought should make you feel pretty damn cool! For this reason, we end our practice with Namaste: The Divine in me recognizes and honors, the Divine in you. The spirit within me bows to the spirit within you. I greet that place where you and I are one. I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light and of peace. When you are in that place within you, and I am in that place within me, we are one.
Do what you do my friends, and do it well. BIG LOVE, BIG HAIR, BIG FEELINGS. Alexis out.
