Thursday, August 31, 2006

Julie, teacher of Mom & Baby yoga

Today must be my lucky day. In the middle it seemed like a crazy, frantic, too much to do kind of day, and then I went to meet the owner of Elevation Pilates & Yoga about teaching a Mom & Baby yoga class. I guess I expected something more formal than, how about Thursdays at noon? But there you go. This is the same locale where I substitute taught for my friend Heather two weeks ago and happened to meet the owner. Oh yeah, and the owner has a 4-1/2 month old baby and is my guaranteed student!

Yesterday I taught a practice Mom & (Crawling) Baby yoga class with my fav pre/postnatal teacher Jane observing. Adding babies to the mix of a yoga class is definitely an adventure. I was blessed to have two students & their babies and I was blessed to have ONLY two students. I have to acknowledge my spontaneity ... I only planned this class on Saturday and managed to get two students I didn't know and a busy teacher to observe.

Jane had marvelous feedback - good stuff and constructive stuff. I learned that vinyasa is not for new moms and it's really good to acknowledge that whatever the babies do or need is just fine. I'm really glad my new class - starting Thursday 9/14 from noon - 1:30PM - will be babies that don't crawl yet.

Tonight I subbed a7:30PM hatha flow class at Elevation. The clock read 7:35 when my first and only student strolled in the door. "Am I late?" she asked, breathing quickly.

"No, you're just fine." I said a silent thank you to the dieties in charge and remembered one of my teachers saying that if you only have one student, teach it like a private session. So I did. For the first class ever, I didn't use an index card with a strict sequence. I asked my student what she wanted to do, which meshed beautifully with what I wanted to teach - easy vinyasa and a good restorative finish. I loved being able to lavish attention on one student without feeling divided. I love that this week I taught two yoga classes to people I'd never met before and overall they went really well. I have a long way to go before teaching becomes routine, and I relish the journey.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Talk of work and yoga and transitions

Greetings, my loyal fan base of five, which include my close friends and mom!

I think frequently about how I should write what's going on with me on this self revelations blog, but alas, I am human and that fleeting moment when I have a poignant thought that would love publication is usually when I am driving and by the time I reach my destination the thought has evaporated.

Since we last left our heroine (me) I got my first check as a yoga instructor for teaching at my daughter's pre-pre-school. I scanned it so I have a copy forever and ever (for me, and the IRS as needed).

I've been bitching about my job for a while now, on and off really since I started 18 months ago. There are things I love about my job - and those things are people who have names identical to those of my co-workers. I love the team. But what I am completely and exhaustively tired of are the clients - the people at client sites who have dozens of problems with their computers that I get to fix and I'm somehow responsible for in the first place.

Then I got an email from a friend and ex-coworker from our fabulous company Scient that met with an ill-fated demise. The subject:

"Are you looking for work?"

And although I didn't think I was looking (funny how that is) I thought, if a gift horse trots it's way into my email, I better investigate. I better see if this new job is what I want to do.

So I found out, and it was precisely what I was looking for and wrote in my journal ages ago. It's a nonprofit, hours are super flexible, contract work so I'm not a chained down employee, it's web infrastructure work in a datacenter, not in an office fixing a kazillion problems. It's the stuff, if I have to work in computers, that I would rather be doing.

I gave notice at my present job, not the usual 14 days "take this job and shove it" but 14 days as usual, then 14 more days working a bit less, and rather an indefinite "I can do one day a week as long as you need me or are willing to pay me." Because, as I said, I love the team. I'm willing to live with the clients for a while longer because I love the team.

Other things are that I passed my yoga teacher training final exam.

I PASSED!!!!

I am now, just shy of the actual certificate, a certified yoga instructor. This week, with the laws of synchronicity helping me out, I substitute taught a yoga class to adults. Two adults, to be exact, but they were still adults and I still get paid to do it.

I also received my self-designed business cards, well I say self, but what that really means is that they are Stef-Becky-Diane-Shanta-T designed business cards. I'm grateful to be past the stage where I don't have to do things all by myself anymore. They're beautiful, I think they're beautiful, which is super-cool because how often do you look at a business card and say "that's beautiful"? Exactly. Not often at all. If you want one, send me a quick note or post something here and I'll mail you one :)

Now though, looking at the clock, it's time for me to eat the rest of breakfast and head to one of those client sites with people that want me to fix their computers. But it's much easier to do a job I don't like when I know there's an end to it.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Success and Moods

I woke up in one hell of a mood this morning. Of course, Ava's mood was bad because my mood was bad. Poor T, having to tolerate and pacify two moody girls in the same home.

I figured out after a bit that I hadn't eaten since 1PM the day before, except a snack bag of cheetos and four or five mini chocolates. I went to a great gentle yoga class after work nd forgot to eat.

Then I talked to Becky, who is indelibly good at playing "name that mood" and she guessed why. But first, the good news.

I got my first ever payment as a yoga instructor! I got my first check from LPW for teaching toddler yoga! Not enough to pay the mortgage, for sure, but it does cover the cost of mats I've bought for the classes.

So Becky's guess...that I got a check for yoga and it's not enough to make any major changes in my life, but it sure makes me frustrated with the life, especially the JOB, I have now.

Since yoga teacher training ended last weekend I've been moody anyway. I'm starting to take baby-bear sized steps towards teaching yoga classes, getting help from those around me, but mostly I hate my job. I'm just done, done DONE with desktop support, the same job I had ten years ago and meandered and stomped my way away from. A year and a half of this and I am so DONE!

There's something looming on the horizon though, that I'm not ready to admit to the Internet yet.

But I have a check. For seventy eight whole dollars. Yoga isn't paying the mortgage yet, but it will pay most of my mobile phone bill.