Day Off
Today is my day off from training. I'm down to about three extra brain cells at this point, which is two more than someone I was talking with last night has available. What is there about sitting in a room all day long, listening to lectures and making conversation during breaks, that is so exhausting?
Yesterday we had our third test. Turned out to be a take-home, which meant that we were on our own after the morning, with instructions to deliver the test to a concert last evening. I'd studied for what we thought would be an oral test, called on randomly in front of the entire group, expected to be able to retrieve Sanskrit terms and complicated healing models from those few available brain cells. I had dinner with two students at a Thai restaurant right after we were reminded about the test (which has been on the schedule since day one, but who has time to read the schedule?) Over green curry, we verbally tested each other. One person learned by closing her eyes and saying the terms and concepts aloud. Another learned by creating mnemonic devices. I learn visually; I need to see my notes and somehow, that creates an image in my memory that I can access by mentally visualizing the page. Not nearly as mysterious as that sounds, more of creating a picture in my mind. This worked very well in art history classes in high school and college. I'd recopy the names of paintings and their dates onto a notebook sheet; during the test, I could "see" the page and find the needed dates.
After dinner, we adjourned to Alive!, the raw foods restaurant on Lombard two doors down for what was promised to be the most exquisite chocolate almond cake with coconut whipped cream. Much to the dismay of my companions, no cake available. Raw food is such a precious, artisanal endeavor. (I had dinner there the other night. A young man came in to order take-out and was told by the very serne, steel-hand-in-a-velvet glove hostess that it would be a 45-minute wait. "We always take care of the guests in the restaurant before addressing the take-out orders," she explained to our table.) And at this restaurant, you get what you get, and they serve what they serve. So instead, we ordered the chocolate berry cake and a strawberry almond cheesecake. To me, both were evocative of instant pudding. Afterwards, I went back to my room and re-studied my way. Stayed up too late, which is entirely against my principle of not cramming your brain full of information, but trying to relax the night before a test.
Just to prove my wavering being unnecessary, the test turned into a case study of a patient. We were asked to state any assumptions that we drew from the case, then note short-term and long-term goals and practices that we would suggest to the patient. Very fun and interesting, and a good learning experience. It set some of the many Sanskrit words into my brain: uppayam are tools for healing, such as meditation; sadinam is the type of care one gives in the case of immediate intervention being required; annamaya is the physical layer and manomaya the education and vijnanamaya the conditioning and personality; and that's perhaps more than anyone not working on a yoga therapy education needs to know.
I finished the test and took a walk to a bookstore. Today, I'm hopefully going out to Muir Woods with my teacher and a student who rented a car. I'm hoping for a low-key day and lots of beautiful scenery. Still no knitting getting done. From raw, windy, rainy weather, it's shifted to hot, hot sun and no breeze. Beyond the incapability of my brain following a lace chart correctly, I'm not feeling the alpaca-silk yarn The desire. Oh, and if you have a book to suggest, I'm open to suggestions. I bought The Painted Veil and finished On Beauty this morning, but I'm still searching.
Yesterday we had our third test. Turned out to be a take-home, which meant that we were on our own after the morning, with instructions to deliver the test to a concert last evening. I'd studied for what we thought would be an oral test, called on randomly in front of the entire group, expected to be able to retrieve Sanskrit terms and complicated healing models from those few available brain cells. I had dinner with two students at a Thai restaurant right after we were reminded about the test (which has been on the schedule since day one, but who has time to read the schedule?) Over green curry, we verbally tested each other. One person learned by closing her eyes and saying the terms and concepts aloud. Another learned by creating mnemonic devices. I learn visually; I need to see my notes and somehow, that creates an image in my memory that I can access by mentally visualizing the page. Not nearly as mysterious as that sounds, more of creating a picture in my mind. This worked very well in art history classes in high school and college. I'd recopy the names of paintings and their dates onto a notebook sheet; during the test, I could "see" the page and find the needed dates.
After dinner, we adjourned to Alive!, the raw foods restaurant on Lombard two doors down for what was promised to be the most exquisite chocolate almond cake with coconut whipped cream. Much to the dismay of my companions, no cake available. Raw food is such a precious, artisanal endeavor. (I had dinner there the other night. A young man came in to order take-out and was told by the very serne, steel-hand-in-a-velvet glove hostess that it would be a 45-minute wait. "We always take care of the guests in the restaurant before addressing the take-out orders," she explained to our table.) And at this restaurant, you get what you get, and they serve what they serve. So instead, we ordered the chocolate berry cake and a strawberry almond cheesecake. To me, both were evocative of instant pudding. Afterwards, I went back to my room and re-studied my way. Stayed up too late, which is entirely against my principle of not cramming your brain full of information, but trying to relax the night before a test.
Just to prove my wavering being unnecessary, the test turned into a case study of a patient. We were asked to state any assumptions that we drew from the case, then note short-term and long-term goals and practices that we would suggest to the patient. Very fun and interesting, and a good learning experience. It set some of the many Sanskrit words into my brain: uppayam are tools for healing, such as meditation; sadinam is the type of care one gives in the case of immediate intervention being required; annamaya is the physical layer and manomaya the education and vijnanamaya the conditioning and personality; and that's perhaps more than anyone not working on a yoga therapy education needs to know.
I finished the test and took a walk to a bookstore. Today, I'm hopefully going out to Muir Woods with my teacher and a student who rented a car. I'm hoping for a low-key day and lots of beautiful scenery. Still no knitting getting done. From raw, windy, rainy weather, it's shifted to hot, hot sun and no breeze. Beyond the incapability of my brain following a lace chart correctly, I'm not feeling the alpaca-silk yarn The desire. Oh, and if you have a book to suggest, I'm open to suggestions. I bought The Painted Veil and finished On Beauty this morning, but I'm still searching.
Comments