Doing our final practical teaching exam was a challenge on crutches. I was lucky that I had practiced my verbal instructions before the cycling accident.
The week leading up to the exam was tough. I was so sore from the wipe out, it was hard to hop down 2 stairs to our gym to teach.
I had asked my yoga classes if they minded me teaching verbally and they were fine with it. That gave me further practice for the exam. I am very lucky to have such helpful student friends!
I have never been so frustrated in my life. I have never broke anything before and having to deal with a straight leg in splint was harder than ever. All the feelings that passed through my head: DENIAL(“Surely it’s not broken!”), ANGER (“Why me?”), REGRET (“If only I hadn’t been messing around mid-week on a cycling event, rather than working, this would have never happened!”), REFLECTION (“Perhaps this is a life lesson”), OPTIMISM (“I’m lucky I ONLY hurt my knee, it could have been worse”), MORE REGRET (“I should have been more helpful to other friends in need in the past”), WORRY (“I’m going to lose all that fitness”)…. I could keep typing for hours about my feelings. This has been tough.
This last week, I would try and limit any movement. I slept in my clothes. I’d skip showering. Ugh, showering. I opted not to have a cast so I could shower but showering is HARD. Good thing I did so many 1 leg balancing poses!
How do people survive these injuries if they don’t have upper body strength? How do they climb stairs and pull themselves up? How do they do simple things we take for granted?
So, back to our yoga qualification. WE DID IT. After 1 year of teacher training weekends, studying, yoga practicing, observations, journals, workshops, and exams, we have completed our training!