Reflections on a year of Daoist Flow Yoga Teacher Training

In the days after a near-year long deep dive into a Daoist Flow teacher training, I’m taking a little time to reflect on my initial intentions when starting this course, observing the things that have shifted and the things that have deepened in my practice 11 months on.

Daoist Flow has been a beautiful progression, so wonderfully structured to allow for the slow unfolding of information with space between modules to develop a curious self-practice, gather in our supportive study group (so much love for these long chats and the space my group gave each other, acknowledging the challenge of placing a somatic experience in language and observing as we made discoveries through this process). 

I give the biggest thanks to my teachers Jean Hall, Mimi Kuo-Deemer and James Rafael for the continuously thoughtful, kind and generous approach they gave to this training. Their unique teaching styles came together through a shared philosophy, with nature as our greatest teacher and the undercurrent of oneness as themes throughout all the teachings they shared. Our morning practices were challenging, spacious, powerful and so perfectly demonstrated all of the teaching skills this training led us to. I have so much appreciation for the way they held space for such a large group of students and created the freedom for each of us to experience the content in our own way. I feel positively inspired by not just the things that have been shared, but the way they have been shared also.

At the beginning of the course I wrote down several words and themes to form an intention that would run through the year. These were; connection, presence, deep listening to myself and others and a loosening of the grip around the practice. I have certainly felt all these things grow over the months, as well as feeling all that connectivity pouring back to me from my classmates.

Here’s just a few reflections and noticings from the past year.

1. Appreciation of seasonality

I have loved reading Mimi’s book ‘Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis’ across the seasons, finding a new found appreciation in the shifts and changes we experience through the body just as in nature, over the course of a full year. 5 modules of learning paralleled with 5 seasons of the year; beginning in the mysterious depths of winter, blossoming into the slow opening of spring, the bright heart-full days of summer quietly resting into the earthy roots of it’s late seasonal partner before shedding a layer in our closing autumnal practices together. Following these practices according to the seasons has allowed me to really feel nature's shifts and acknowledge the effect it might have on my practice.

I have particularly loved working with organ awareness within this seasonality. According to Traditional Chinese Element theory in Qigong practices, each season is associated with a particular element as well as pairing of organs. For example, our current season of Autumn is linked with the organs of the lungs and large intestine, quite fitting with feelings around letting go replicated in nature at this time of year. Along with this organ awareness, I have spent this season working around breath and felt sense of lungs within the body, exploring the inherent spaciousness this can provide. Embracing seasonality really gives an endless pool of themes to explore within my classes and self practice, as well as creating a class that feels current and relevant for my students.

2. Experience of primary movement patterns (... and a love letter to the spine)

This course took a somatic approach to our anatomy, working with experience of different body systems and a functional approach to asana drawn from our first learnings in movement, or primary movement patterns as well as embryological development. This makes so much sense to me and I have found these explorations so much more engaging than previous anatomy work drawn from a more isolated and minute view of the body.

Through the course we explored yielding to ground, radiating from centre and unilateral movements that appear again and again in familiar yoga shapes. These movement patterns have come to form the basis of the cues I use in class - promoting the inquiry based process that I have had the benefit of experiencing on this course. Through the teaching of these patterns I hope to facilitate a real sense of support in movement and a balance of effort and ease in motion.

Underpinning each of these patterns is the central channel of the spine and all it’s subtlety of motion, attachment and corresponding nervous system channel. This is the centre we move from and there is oh so much to explore here. Alongside the breath, an awareness of the spine forms a starting point in almost everything I teach. It really is the structural and energetic pillar that supports all other movements.

‘There is a current of love-energy that flows

Between Earth below and Sun above.

The central channel of your spine is the riverbed.

The streaming is as delicate and powerful

As the tingling touch of lovers.

Entering here,

Radiance arches between above and below.

Your whole attention resting in the subtle,

Vibrating in the centre of the spinal column,

Tracing this current between Earth and Sun,

Become magnetism relating all the worlds’

The Radiance Sutras (35), Lorin Roche 

3. Confidence in my own experience and knowledge

As a yoga teacher there can be an expectation we put on ourselves to know everything about the practice (... I have a secret fear when I open the floor to ‘any questions?’ at the end of the class someone will put me on the spot and leave me speechless with a question I have no idea how to answer!)

The practice of yoga is vast - historical, philosophical, geo-political, incorporating the spiritual as well as the physical and crucially, constantly changing. While I strive to continue reading, studying and critically analysing my approach to the practice, I will never know everything. Studying this course has affirmed this for me - and given me the confidence to share the knowledge I do have and teach from my own experience as a practitioner.

Through the course we were encouraged to develop a curious self-practice and journal alongside. This completely changed my approach to practising at home, as well as the way I sequence my classes. While I still take huge inspiration from the classes shared by my own teachers, I will now spend time working with them and allowing them to evolve into something new in my own practice. I feel more confident sharing cues which are fed from my direct experience, and not parroted from a textbook or training. This often means planning more around themes, movement patterns and texts to inspire but allowing the cues themselves to emerge in the moment. What a beautiful thing. Without spending hours and hours practising teaching and being graded on the result, this course nurtured a real depth of practice which has formed the foundation of a teaching style that feels deeply authentic.

I have loved being a student of Daoist Flow and am so excited to return on next year's course as a mentor. The course will be running from May 2024 to January 2025 at Mission. Do get in touch if you’re curious about this training or have any questions about the experience.