Thirty Things: Do a Headstand (unassisted) – first attempt!

We had a fun Flying Fitness session with Paulo this evening! Since all of us were his regular students, he just made it an inversion workshop and taught us all, especially the Chua girls how to headstand.

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With Christa, Jenn and Polo

And since we had a pictorial session, I was able to keep the headstand up for a few seconds, just enough to take a picture unassisted.

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Next goal: hold it for 10 seconds

Thirty Things: Become A Teacher

Barely a month after I completed my teacher training (four days of lectures, 50 hours of apprenticeship and a 200+ point exam), I auditioned for a slot to officially become part of the Beyond Yoga Teaching Staff.

Cara de Ocampo, owner of Beyond Yoga, invited the trainees who completed all requirements to audition in front of a sample class for them to assess if the trainee’s ability to teach in their studio.

My “class” for the audition are the yogis and yoginis of Yoga For Life. They were a tough bunch of experienced Anti-Gravity students and teachers from different fitness backgrounds such as yoga and dance.

I only taught for about 45 minutes, about half of the class time, but it was one of the most terrifying experience of my life. For one, we were dealing with the BHS Studio. During our teacher training, I mostly conducted practice class in the Quezon City studio. The room dynamics of the BHS studio is much different that QC. Two, there were about 15 students in attendance. In practice class, we had maximum of 8 students. And three, it was another thing to be observed by your students, mentors, peers and future employees – absolutely nerve wracking!

But in the end, I was happy with my experience to teach these fantastic group of people. I learned so much from them about myself, about teaching, and the yoga community. It was definitely a fun experience and boosted my confidence into teaching. They gave good feedback and complimented on my knowledge and confidence. I just needed to practice the other side of teaching, which was connecting with the students and other little tips.

With my co-teacher Mark Mizal

With one of our mentors Paulo

Class picture

And officially, as of January 18, less than a week after the audition, I was officially given slots to teach starting for the month of February.

Come join me in my classes starting February 2013, 8.30pm in Beyond Yoga Bonifacio High Street Central on Tuesdays, and 9am and 7.30pm in Beyond Yoga Quezon City on Wednesdays.

Thirty Things: List of things to do By 30

2013 is a special year because it marks my 30th year. So basically I’m 13 going on 30 🙂

To mark this new decade, here are some of the things I plan to do by 30. I will post some accompanying article as well as I go along.

1) Quit Smoking For Good

2) Become a Teacher – done

3) Travel to Europe

4) Learn how to pole dance

5) Live at my own place

6) Climb a mountain

7) Learn to cook my signature dish

8) Have a beach worthy body

9) Formulate my signature party drink

10) Meet my future husband

11) Raise funds and support a charity

12) See COldplay live

13) Perform a routine (dance/singing/AGY) in front of an audience

14) Learn to play the ukelele

15) Run a 21K marathon

16) Finish photoaday

17) Own a set of real jewelry

18) Own a heirloom worthy watch

19) Do a headstand (unassisted) – done

20) Go bungee jumping

21) test drive a sports car

22) Get featured in a magazine

23) Own a pet and really take care of it

24) learn a new language

25) Plant a tree

26) Fall asleep under the stars

27) Go on a cruise

28) Read 20 classic books

29) Watch AFI’s list of 100 best movies

30) Go Scuba Diving for one day

This is also part of my bucket list, but this time, it’ll be 100 things 🙂