KEEP RECORDS . . .

I am following the journey of a fellow Anusara-Inspired instructor as she fills out her application for Certification - sounds like she is struggling to piece together all her teachers, trainings, etc.  For me, the application wasn't too difficult.  Perhaps that's because I had done it at least twice in rough draft form in the past two years, and maybe the fact that it was time also eased the process.  And - like our yoga poses - sometimes something just comes easier to one than another (i.e. my struggles with urdhva dhanurasana and handstand).

FYI, in Wayne's class this week, I pushed up to urdhva another 3 times -- that's 9 urdhva's in the last 3 classes with Wayne.  I may have said this before; but, something clicked in February for me -- something that now cues my body where the 'push' comes from.  That detail has eluded me all these years.

Back to the application.  During the on-line mentoring with Christina, she encouraged us to print the application packet, review the requirements, check the items we had accomplished, then get to work on those not completed.

What are the challenging parts of the application?  Remembering (we're back to remembering, folks).  There's a lot of history to relate to the Anusara® staff and Certification Committee -- who you've studied with (public classes & workshops), how many hours have you spent in public classes and with who(m), what workshops and trainings have you done - also hours and with who(m), how long you've been teaching - how many hours each week - how many private clients do you have.

Anyone can look at the Certification Packet; it's public knowledge -- just go to the Anusara® website and print it off.

Five years back, when Yoga Alliance still accepted independent study for registration as a 200-hr RYT, I put together a worksheet on my computer (I used Excel; any program, even a word processing program in table format will work).  On that worksheet (4 columns), I listed the date (month/year), the type of training & where, the presenter, and the number of hours accrued.  Skip a few lines, and I also then listed a section for public class hours, a section for teaching hours, and a section for philosophy studies and reading.  Fortunately, the person I took private classes from has a computerized record of classes I attended (so, didn't have to get all those classes initialed).

Since that initial development of this spreadsheet, I've continued to add trainings/workshops, update hours from classes and teaching, etc.

This tool has been really valuable whenever I fill out an application for an Anusara® workshop or training that requests such a breakdown (there aren't many, but there have been some).  I simply write in the space provided that I will send it via e-mail - or, sometimes, I've just copied it into the space.

Seems a bit obsessive compulsive, and I usually don't do things in such an organized fashion. This, for some reason, seemed important enough to develop and continue.  I've never regretted it.  AND, when it came time to fill out the Application for Certification form, I simply attached a copy of my worksheet to the form (noting in each of the spaces on the application that the information was attached).

The other challenging part of the Application is to write a one-page essay on why I want to be Certified. Now, that's up to each individual.  If I were you and were planning to apply someday, I would start to think about it now - make notes in a separate journal - and maybe even write a short essay, no matter how close or far you are from applying.  At the very least, it will be interesting reading when it does come time to fill out that application.

And, if you've been reading this and thinking "I'm too busy" -- I don't buy it.  No one is too busy to take care of the things that are important to them.  And if our goal is to be Certified one day, this is important enough to ban "I'm too busy" from our vocabulary.

Off to teach a private, then 9 am Level 1.

Looks like it might be a clear Saturday here; hope yours is sunny, as well,