Warm Smiles & Hard Work = Great Training
“Can you see this? Can everyone see this?” asked a smiling Manju Jois as he held up a bottle of water. He was standing in front of the larger window of the Chicago Yoga Center’s main space moments after walking in on the first day of the Teacher Training Intensive, waiting for an answer still with that big, warm smile lighting up his face. After several nods and answers of “yes” he chuckled and said, “Good! You’ve passed the eye test then!” Instantly, I felt more at ease and his infectious smile spread to my own face. This is going to be good, I thought to myself.
Today was day three, and the work has been intense and challenging (physically and mentally), and while it is serious and all 25 of us who are in this training hold an obvious level of respect for our teacher, there have been many moments of warmth, smiling, laughing. Manju is very humble and kind…down to earth, you might say. He has been open to questions of all kinds during the discussion portion of each class, and we have all enjoyed listening to him when he occasionally trails off on various tangents.
In this training we are learning what he refers to as “authentic, traditional Ashtanga yoga” that was taught to him by his father K. Pattabhi Jois. Our focus this week is the Primary Series (although we did do some of the Intermediate Series today as well), and he is teaching how to lead a Primary class. We begin with the opening chant, and he leads the class entirely in Sanskrit having us repeat every word…over and over again. After hours of work on this each day we then move on to learning hands-on adjustments for nearly every posture in the Primary. Today we worked through all four marichyasana postures (which felt sooo good!) After all the physical work is done we sit and discuss, and then we chant. I love this part of the day, and while I struggle with many of the mantras (even with my cheat-sheet in front of me) I still enjoy this very much. He encourages us to keep practicing…just as with the postures it will come with much practice.
One very helpful aspect of this training is Manju’s assistant…Greg Tebb (who is an accomplished yogi himself.) He is amazing to watch, and just as impressive in his chanting skills. He is just as humble as Manju, but quiet…waiting for his teacher (our teacher) to instruct him on what to do next. When I ask Greg a question during partner practice, he will refer to Manju nearly always. Clearly he is a devoted student…even with 25 years of his own experience. (I did a little homework on him and looked up his website ~ www.gregtebb.com.) Having him here is definitely an added bonus. Check out pics of him and Manju below.
More to come soon (my clicking is keeping MY favorite yogi awake…) G’night!
Here is Gregg Tebb, Manju Jois, and Shannon Moran
Gregg on his mat while the rest of us were on a break.
Manju demonstrating the adjustment for Supta Kormasana (I love this one!)
Me with Manju…moments after finishing the full primary series (note the sweaty mess I am!)
