Making decisions that will alter the course of your life

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to decide on a yoga teacher training course, a location for the course and the school I'm going to train with. Seems like an easy decision, but it is in fact one that will alter the course of the rest of my life. 

There are so many options, but so few viable choices, as I had a few list-whittling challenges:

• Can't take time off work during the week as it would be a logistical nightmare. 
• Don't want to give up my weekends (and need them free in case of work).
• Don't have $7000 lying around and won't be taking out a loan. 
• I won't be giving up my day job. I love it too much.
• I need time free to work with my coaching clients to pay for the course fees!
• Needs to be either close to home (already impossible) or an inexpensive overseas destination where I can combine it with a holiday.
• Dates need to synchronise with my schedule.
• I can't really do a whole whopping great length of time away from work at once.

I need a qualification from a widely respected school that is affordable in terms of time and money, fits my schedule and will produce the desired outcome. It's not about getting a fast result, it's about making this fit with my already pretty awesome life.  

So, I narrowed it down to two possible options - Santosha or Byron Yoga. 

Santosha do a month in Bali or a full distance learning option. It's at Canggu, where I could also learn to surf. But, I'd still have to finish the course in Australia.

Byron does 12 days intensive in Bali with the rest of the hours as distance learning. It's in Ubud and I could still go to Canggu and learn to surf.  

Byron is a very highly respected yoga school and is the longest established school in Australia. That's quite the pedigree!

I spoke with my yoga teachers and the director of my studio and did lots of research. I finally decided on Byron Yoga. 

Doing the YTT200 through Byron means I get two weeks in Bali, at half the cost of doing the course in Australia. I can do the remaining 80 hours in Australia and get to enjoy a few days either side of the course in Bali to chill out. I have plenty of time to save up and airfares to Bali are dirt cheap (cheaper than flying to NZ return, in fact). 

Yoga teacher training is just one more feather in my cap, as my Granny would say. It fits nicely with the coaching practice, fits nicely with my day job and will enable me to help more people. 

It will still take me around 12 months to complete the YTT 200hr certification, but I get to combine it with a holiday and develop my own practice further between now and the end of July 2014.

Winning.

Vinyasa and movies - the perfect Sunday

Sometimes it's good to break your routine in favour of creating a new one. This morning I braved the (literally) freezing cold and walked down to the local yoga studio for Vinyasa yoga. The studio opened about six months ago and this was the first time I have made the effort to get back on the mat since blowing out my shoulder two years ago.  I wanted to go last week but slept in on purpose and didn't get  there. I promised myself I'd go today instead. And I did!

My physio told me a few weeks ago to get back into yoga for strength and flexibility and boxing for power, coordination and strength, so I've now got my yoga back on and will be actioning the boxing hopefully tomorrow night.  

Vinyasa is a style of yoga that I hadn't done before. I've done Hatha and and Iyengar before, but I'm thinking that I like the flowing style of Vinyasa. I'm sure my muscles will hate my guts tomorrow (I can feel my quads already, although my hammies are nice and loose) but that's just too bad. Lots of stretching, lots of movement, lots of breathing, a bit of Om chanting and some blankie time at the end - 1hr 15mins later I was struggling to get my shoes on because I was so darn relaxed!

I trotted home from class listening to Tibetan singing bowl recordings and then headed off to the movies.  I've been wanting to see a couple of movies that were released recently so today I saw The Hangover Part 3. It was a good way to lose a couple of hours with a few laughs at the sheer ridiculousness of the situations the characters find themselves in.  Resourceful drama, as Joe Pane would say. 

I have now decided that as part of my "have more fun" pledge to myself, I will go to the movies once a month. I think I've seen four or five movies since moving to Australia three years ago - two were events courtesy of workplaces - so this needs to change. 

I've also decided that I need more yoga, so I will be doing the studio's unlimited monthly membership so that I can do Vinyasa on Thursday nights, Saturday and Sunday mornings, as well as a beginner's class straight after Saturday morning Vinyasa. I need the practice for my body, mind and spirit - it's been a hard seven months at work and it's time I started looking after myself properly with good things to focus on.

The unresourceful state I've been in since Friday night's events seems to be lifting and although I've still got some work to do around this space, making a list of all the stuff I have to organise and book for my upcoming holiday has reminded me that looking forward to stuff is far better than looking back. Why spend all my time looking in the rear view mirror when I need to be watching the speedo and the road ahead? I will be writing a list tomorrow during my hour of power of all the things I have to look forward to - believe me, there's lots of them!

Additionally, I will be encouraging a potential client to do the same this week. He is going through a marriage break up and is very wired up at the moment. I believe he needs resourceful things to channel his energies into or his mind will eat him alive. 

I'm up to module 7 of my coaching course and nearly halfway through the certified professional coach portion. I'd like to get it done before I go to Malaysia on holiday for three weeks and I dearly need to get the NLP side of things up to date also. I have downloaded all the remaining audio sessions for NLP and need to find some some NET (no extra time) to listen to it. 

I also need to find some coaching clients to work with.  Better make that a priority this week! 

I must away...work to do!