This journey began when I was pregnant with Pepa, while we were living in Riyadh. One of the wives taught yoga (for free!) at the Embassy. Every Tuesday I’d race there after work, already dressed for class under my abaya to meet my Riyadh bestie, power through an hour of Vinyasa, then we’d meet our husband’s and kiddos upstairs to eat pizza and drink wine. This was our Tuesday evening ritual. The rest of the week JR and I would workout with the crew or I’d practice yoga on my own at home on. I loved that yoga was a consistent part of my life. I felt more balanced with it.
Eventually, our yoga instructor would be leaving. That’s the thing about foreign-service life, we’re always moving every 2-3 years. We all knew the dreaded day was coming and began asking ourselves, “Who is going to teach yoga?” A few suggested that I teach, to which I quickly responded with a flat out “NO”. I enjoyed yoga a lot, but I didn’t know a single thing about teaching. And if the thought of being in front of a classroom of people wasn’t intimidating enough, I’d have to memorize a script for an hour-long Vinyasa class every week. No, thanks.
And then I started ruminating on this idea. If other people thought I could teach, then why don’t think the same? Our teacher and her family left Riyadh right when I was leaving for my med-evac back to The States to have Pepa. I actually started looking into certification schools in Ann Arbor, on the crazy thought that I might actually be able to start while pregnant and finish after her arrival. I know, incredibly ambitious. I have no idea what I was thinking. A few months later the kiddos and I returned to Riyadh and I began focusing on my personal practice solo. My Riyadh bestie was also gone. There are a ton of online yoga resources I could use on my own at home and I I got into a great routine for about 6 months.
In September 2019, we moved to Cairo and suddenly life is very different. We no longer have a live-in nanny, the boys are in school, but I now have a very active toddler at home all-day. I was trying to stay busy and social at this new post. I was maintaining and creating connections with my old colleagues in hopes of working remotely, but no position surfaced. My workout and yoga routine fell to the wayside while I focused on taking care of our home and kiddos. Then Covid hit. The boys were home from school and I was now a taking on preschool teaching responsibilities. We’re social distancing and quarantining. I had even less time for myself. I needed something though.
JR had been building out a gym for us at home for months. Since he was home from work most days we started working out together again at the end of March, while Pepa napped and we let the boys have their iPads. It’s so much more fun and motivating to have a workout buddy. We balanced our workouts with yoga. A lot of yoga. My body craved yoga. There were days I’d do yoga before or after our workouts.
Then, out of the blue, a friend in Cairo asked if I was teaching yoga, which I wasn’t. And then our Riyadh yoga teacher commented on one of my Facebook posts (that had nothing to do with yoga) suggesting I get certified. I was flattered that people thought I could get certified and teach. Immediately my mind went to all of the reasons why I couldn’t get certified. The biggest one being our three small kids at home and no full-time help. I can see now, that was just my insecurity coming up with excuses not to do it.
The universe was trying to tell me something though. If people think I can teach and if someone who is a teacher is encouraging me to get certified, then why aren’t I thinking of myself the same way? It’s like I subconsciously knew I was on the verge of something BIG and the universe was pushing me towards Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) even more.
The timing was perfect. I’m stuck at home and I’m not working. Surely with Covid there has to be some schools back home doing online certification. So I started researching and there it was – Samskara, a school in Virginia not far from our home base. It was important to me to find a school where I’d have a connection with the school and people to build a relationship. Yoga is about connecting. Getting certified from some faceless online program or a studio in a city I would likely never visit made absolutely no sense to me.
Samskara’s next 200-hour YTT program was to begin in September, running to December. I had a phone interview with one of the owners and I liked her immediately. We had planned to Facetime, twice, but of course I had technical difficulties connecting with her on both occasions (ahh, Egypt and its sub-par internet). I was relieved she was super chill about it. Of course this immediately started my anxiety about the internet actually working for class (I’ll get into that another time). Classes would on be live on Tuesdays and Thursdays, via Zoom, starting 9a in Virginia, which is 3p in Cairo. Again, another thing I was nervous about since my mind starts shutting down in the afternoon. I would be journaling, practicing yoga and meditation everyday, in addition to the coursework that needed to be completed for the certification.
It was all a little daunting to think about, but I wanted this. I needed this. And all of the pieces were falling into place perfectly. JR was completely supportive, too. We knew it would come with some challenges, but we’d figure it out along way. I’m going to become a yogi!