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Yoga Teacher Training

Before you read on, please take a moment to make yourself comfortable. Sit with both of your feet placed flat on the floor and imagine there is a luminescent string attached to your lower back, traveling up through your spine and out the top of your head. Imagine this string is holding your spine straight as you lengthen your torso. Take a few slow deep breaths, allowing your belly to expand as you inhale and empty as you exhale. Soften your tongue, jaw, and forehead. Lift up your heart and allow your shoulders to ease downward away from your ears. Offer yourself the luxury of a smile.

Great leaders are not concerned with getting credit. Great leaders want people to take credit for their ideas. Great leaders care more about the movement, about the idea spreading, about making change happen, than they do about gaining fame for an idea. Great leaders are in it for the big picture and the change they want to see in the world.

When I was a little girl my parents fought a lot. I can remember their shrieking voices and my mother crying. I can remember the hurtful comments and the angry stomping feet, the way my father seemed to juggle my mother’s emotions like we were some sort of carnival sideshow. I felt like I was her only source of comfort. I soothed her and held her and internalized her suffering. 

When I was in middle school, my mother took a train cross-country to Ohio to visit her best friend. I had a nervous breakdown. I remember going to my Yiayia’s house because my dad didn’t know what to do with me and my hysterics. Obviously, my fear was completely irrational to an outsider, but to me it was the possibility of the greatest tragedy my mind could create, becoming a reality. Throughout my childhood I consistently developed a hatred for my father and an intense fear of my mother dying. I was so afraid that something would happen to her, and that we would be left with him. I fanaticized about how I would have to take my brothers and run away from my father’s tormenting ways.

Years went by and this hatred never ceased to bring me pain. Even though I had literally moved to another country and the fighting had stopped, it was the hatred that kept sucking the life out of me. One day, in my early twenties I had an epiphany: I thought, this hurts too much. I don't want to hate my father! And no one but myself is ever going to make me hate anyone ever again. I realized in a moment that I could choose my response to all the painful things that had happened in my life. I realized that every single hardship and struggle was not happening TO me, but FOR me. All of these negative experiences had made me strong and resilient and indestructible.

After everything I had been through: my family's anomosity and chaos as a child, insecurity, lack-of-self-worth, the unhealthy relationships in my adult life--all of this was one big (all-be-it painful) lesson. I found my power and I choose fredom. I choose freedom from hatred and embraced love. 

I called my dad on the phone right then and there and I said, "Dad, I love you, and I forgive you for everything that has happening in our family. I know now that it wasn't all your fault, and that you did the best you could for us. I don't agree with the way you treated Mom, but I also know that she always had a choice to change that. She just couldn't see a way out at the time. I know that it takes two people to have an argument."

I found out from family members that this one phone call made my dad so happy. He started to change. He started to be kinder, less of a bully, and nicer to my Mom, when he came to visit. His ignorant, bigoted anticts still surfaced, but for the first time in my entire life, I whitnessed my father apologize for something hurtful he had said. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Up there with, watching my mother give birth to my baby brother Andrew at home when I was 6. I remember seeing her cry out, and I could sense her infinite power. This same infinite power is found in forgiveness, kindness, and love.
 
Verbal abuse is not something to take lightly. There is a reason why parents and schools make such a big deal about bullying. Emotional trauma has a lasting (if not permanent) impact on our physical and mental health. Stress, and prolonged, increased levels of adrenaline (fight or flight response) are scientifically proven to reduce quality of life and cause disease, and chronic pain to manifest in the body.

At 30 years old, I continue to experience and treat chronic pain in my body. Most people would just settle for the pharmaceutical muscle relaxers and the Xanex, and continue to suffer. Not me. I am not most people, and I don’t agree with most approaches taken by conventional western doctors. I am a heretic, and it is the heretics who change the world.

Throughout my life I have continued to strive towards new ways of healing, by immersing myself in yoga, reading books on Ayurveda, and trying the remedies and diet suggestions for myself. Not only have I seen results, but sometimes they are instant. In my career as a family caregiver, I incorporate what I have learned about Ayurvedic healing, yoga, and meditation: the results are astonishing! The children I care for have remedied minor ailments overnight: by empowering them to believe in their own intrinsic self-healing power, and a simple crushed raw garlic in a spoonful of honey!

It’s the garlic and honey that work over night. Empowering kids to believe in the self-healing power they always had within takes a bit more time. I can say with joyful confidence that in just over six months working with my current family, I have seen leaps and bounds in the way that we communicate, and share ideas. I have also seen an increase in their level of self-respect and kindness to each other. Their parents have expressed to me that my presence has increased the value of their family. They have nicknamed me “Sanity-Sarah.”

With the rise of healing sciences like, yoga, Ayurveda, meditation, acupuncture, and other natural models. People are starting to realize the power they have within to create their own healing through diet and lifestyle changes. You can learn these techniques too! Science is now proving to be true, what yogis and Ayurvedic healers have known for centuries.

It is my soul’s purpose to help people find the healing power they have within. This is why I am currently pursuing accredited Yoga Instructor, and Ayurvedic Health Counselor certifications. I have been incorporating yoga and Ayurveda into my life and practice for years. The time is now, for me to expand on my knowledge and move forward to help more people and families discover their healing potential.

I am leading a movement.

What is Ayurveda?
According to Dr. Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., the word Ayurveda (ah-yur-VAY-dah) means “knowledge of life.” The translation is broken down as Ayur: life, veda: science of. Dr. Lad is a world renowned expert on the practices and health benefits of Ayurvedic medicine and currently serves as Founder and Director of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, NM.

Ayurveda is the ancient Indian healing system designed to bring the body back into balance so it can heal itself. Dr. Lad describes Ayurveda as, “the art of daily living in harmony with the laws of nature.” Think about this, why do we eat lots of soup in the winter, and salads in the summer? It has to do with the changes in our digestive systems in harmony with the change of seasons. I am positive you will be pleasently surprised by the simplicity found in the Ayurvedic approach. It just makes so much common sense!

Deepak Chopra tells us that “thousands of years before modern medicine provided scientific evidence for the mind-body connection, the sages of India developed Ayurveda, which continues to be one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful mind-body health systems. More than a mere system of treating illness…it offers a body of wisdom designed to help people stay vibrant and healthy while realizing their full human potential.”

There are two main principles guiding the science of life:

1)    The mind and body are wholly interconnected.

2)    The power to heal and transform the body is found in the mind.

If only we could believe that the only thing standing in between our health and happiness was our mind! Through yoga, and meditation practice and Ayurvedic diet choices we can change our lives for the better!

In meditation your heart rate and breath slow, as your body decreases the production of “stress” hormones (cortisol/adrenaline). Simultaneously meditation encourages the production neurotransmitters (happy brain juices) like, serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins. (Chopra, 2017).

In my current Yoga Teacher Training at LI Kula Yoga & Wellness in Bellport, NY, we are learning that the body has more than one “brain.” This agrees with what my friend Amanda is learning in her Masters of Psychology program. There is a bundle of neurons (brain cells) in our belly. When someone tells you to “trust your gut,” there is an actual brain in there telling you something.

The gut brain is smarter than the brain in your head because it has the ability to tap into subtle energies that your logical head-brain can’t compute. When you feel that knot in your throat about doing something or not doing something: listen. That is your heart brain telling you the truth. Just like a muscle, these subtler brains can become atrophied. But fear not, you can always start to rehabilitate your inner knowing by trusting your intuition and surrounding yourself by people who trust their intuition and follow their heart. Belief systems are contagious.

These are the tuition costs for both programs. I am currently enrolled in the Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) certification, and I pray that with your help I can simultaneously embark on the yearlong, online course to become an Ayurvedic Health Counselor (AHC).

200-hr YTT = $2950
1-year AHC = $5000

Both courses complement each other, which is why I want to take advantage of the opporuntity to combine my studies.

Thank you so much for taking this time for yourself to learn a bit about Ayurveda, and my story of self-healing.

Spreading the word about yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation is more important to me than getting donations.

Please feel free to message me privately to learn more about these life-changing wellness systems. I am always happy and eager to talk about healing from within. My contact details are included below.

I hope this message has given you a sense of empowerment.

If you cannot make a donation today, please share what you have learned here with someone you know.

By making a donation today, you will be helping to spread the healing power we all have within and helping to ease human pain and suffering by sharing the good word of these ancient healing sciences with the world.

Please take a moment to send yourself some loving gratitude for all that you bring to the world.

It will be my greatest honor to serve you on your healing journey.

With peace, love, & gratitude,

Sarah Pope

Phone: [phone redacted]

E-mail: [email redacted]

References:

Radiant Living School of Ayurveda:
http://rlonlineschoolayurveda.com

The Chopra Center:
http://www.chopra.com/articles/what-is-ayurveda

Lad, V. (1998) The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies: Based on the timeless wisdom of India’s 5,000-year-old medical system. (First Edition), New York: Harmony Books.

Patwardhan, B., Warude, D., Pushpangadan, P., & Bhatt, N. (2005). Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine: a comparative overview. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Patwardhan, B., Vaidya, A. D., & Chorghade, M. (2004). Ayurveda and natural products drug discovery. Current science.

Khare, C. P. (2008). Indian medicinal plants: an illustrated dictionary. Springer Science & Business Media.


 

 

Organizer

Sarah Hope
Organizer
Terryville, NY

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