Enter Buti Yoga: Unleashing the Beast

I am officially a Buti Yoga instructor! I LOVED my training. The other buttisattvas were amazing, my trainer, Talen Lane, was special. I’ve already got my first class lined up an I still can’t believe I did this but I am so glad I did. So here’s my official review…

Day One

We started the day in a circle and went through introductions including “How Buti found me”. I loved this start. Most of the trainings I’ve been to haven’t even had simple introductions and this always bums me out because one of the best parts of a training is meeting new people so Buti gets started off immediately with community. Next is the master class. This was my first real live class. I had a mini class (about 30 minutes) at the Music City Yoga Festival in November. I didn’t enjoy the master class as much as I wanted to because I was a little (or a lot at times) lost. Idiotically, I picked a spot in the back corner of the class and I couldn’t hear anything Talen said and I certainly couldn’t see her either. Coincidentally, several of us in the back row moved up the next day so we could see. After the master class, we spent most of the day going through the manual page by page, pose by pose. About 4:30 pm we got to tribal dance, which for me was the most fun part of the day. After that was work in smaller groups to practice for our demos the next day. Finally, some sequencing guidance from Talen and then ended a long day about 6:30. 

Day Two

I wore a crop top. This alone is an amazing feat, I don’t show my belly in public. People will get a flash every now and then by accident while I’m teaching class but to purposely show up in a crop top says a lot about how comfortable, confident, and empowered I felt after Day 1. There were 21 people in our group which meant 21 demos. 21 demos x 10 minutes = 210 minutes = 3.5 hours…That’s a lot of buti! Strangely, two girls came down with flu like symptoms so we ended up with 19 demos, after about 15, we were DONE, like burnt toast. But we powered through and the energy was amazing!!! I’ve never experienced anything like it. I thoroughly enjoyed my demo and I got great feedback from Talen and my sisters. We ended the day in a circle and everyone shared what they learned from the weekend. We made all the way to last person and what she said made almost everyone cry. It was a beautiful end to an amazing weekend. 

Before I signed up for training I felt like I needed to get certified. I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Now, I feel like I need to teach this class. Talen ev n wrote on my feedback form “you need to teach!” So March 4, I will teach my first Buti Yoga Class. Whoo-eee!

End of an Era…Bye Bye Zumba

Yesterday morning, I bagged up the last of the my Zumba clothes I hadn’t sold on eBay and gave them to a Zumba instructor friend. Today I cancelled my ZIN membership. Starting February 1, I will be a Zumba instructor no more. I am switching my Aqua Zumba class to Aqua Dance and I’ll be saving $30/month. I haven’t taught Zumba in almost two years and I haven’t missed it. It is somewhat freeing to be closing that door. I never would have become a yoga instructor if I had not been a Zumba instructor first. In fact, Zumba has brought a lot of people into the group fitness world that now teach Body Pump, R.I.P.P.E.D., yoga, boot camp, etc. Every group exercise organization copies Zumba’s model and charges monthly fees now to stay certified. Love it or not, Zumba revitalized and revolutionized the group fitness industry. The hysteria has faded, the classes have thinned but Zumba is still relevant. For me, Zumba was a great first chapter. I am grateful for the experience but Zumba was a phase for me whereas yoga has become my passion.

Wednesday I started a new venture as adjunct faculty at our local university teaching yoga. This weekend I reached 1,000 teaching hours and I’m now officially an E-RYT 200 and a YACEP (Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider). I’m busy planning my yoga festival for March but after that I will begin working on my first continuing education course to teach locally. There’s a great opportunity in town to teach continuing ed because there are not any studios that provide any workshops currently. I’m willing to step out and try it. I’m not any closer to starting my YouTube channel but I just need to carve out some time and hit record. 

My Buti certification is next weekend. I still can’t believe I’m doing this, it seems so surreal. It’s completely unnecessary but I just couldn’t pass it up. There’s something about Buti I’m drawn to, it’s weird. I’ve spent quite a bit of money on Golden Ratio protein (chocolate I really like, I haven’t tried vanilla yet) and the vegan paleo plan. I lucked out and got a free bundle for the training so I got three DVDs, a buttisatva sports bra, and another slim down plan. I haven’t been able to do any Buti workouts for two weeks because I injured my groin either in lifting class or coincidentally, subbing Zumba. A couple days later I hurt my neck doing a headstand when my neck was already hurt from sleeping poorly (not a good idea). And then when my neck returned to normal, I tweaked my finicky shoulder. I’m starting to feel every bit of 35. I just don’t bounce back like I used to. I’m taking Europharma’s Healthy Ligaments & Tendons and Solaray’s MSM with Glucosamine. Hopefully, I can start back Sunday and get a little preparation in before training on Saturday. 

Out with Zumba, In with Buti!

Week 1

Here are some pics from my food this week.

1. Kite Hill cream cheese and yogurt – Really good. The chive cream cheese is insanely good.
2. Siete Tortillas – I have both the almond flour tortillas and the cassava & coconut tortillas (which are not vegan because they have lard, but I’m not concerned about being 100% vegan). I like the almond flour ones just a little bit more but they are both good.
3.  The Golden Ratio is good as advertised and pretty filling. I haven’t tried the vanilla flavor yet. It is also not vegan because it has collagen in it. It has 30g of protein per serving which is a great start to the day.

I did Buti workouts on Sunday and Monday, went to lifting class on Tuesday and ending up teaching a Zumba class unexpectedly, went to Hot 26 on Thursday. I forgot to work out last night which is silly on my part but I injured my neck on Thursday night doing headstands after class so it was probably for the best. My neck is doing better today.

Next week, I would like to get in another couple of Buti workouts during the week and make it to barre class at 5:30 am next Friday. I woke up in time yesterday but my neck was killing me so I decided to go back to sleep.

I have felt pretty good all week. I was really bloated most of the week but not so much the last two days. I was really hungry the first two days but my appetite has calmed way down and I am starting to notice the urge to eat out of boredom or craving but not hunger. I have failed miserably drinking 100 oz of water per the week one Buti plan. Most days I haven’t even gotten 50 oz of water, today included. That is really going to be the goal of week 2 .

Let’s Do This!

2017 is here and I’m excited to start my new Paleo Vegan plan courtesy of Buti Yoga. I have a Tone subscription for a month so I have access to about 100 Buti workouts. I did my first workout Friday night, Tone 145 and I did Tone 156 tonight. My Golden Ratio protein won’t get here til Wednesday but so I’ll be using Bone broth protein powder to “wake and shake” until Thursday. 

The Paleo Vegan slim down is 40% fat, 30% protein, and 30% carbs. This is a great ratio for me, I’ve tried a vegan diet so many times unsuccessfully because I eat too many carbs, but since the plan is Paleo, I won’t be eating grains. I usually do my own thing when it comes to diet and that hasn’t worked so I’m going to follow this plan to the T. This package (Buti Yoga’s silver bundle -included the diet and the DVD, mala was separate) cost me $60. It may sound like a lot but it’s much less than a Beachbody workout. I plan to do Buti workouts five days a week, it’s just not realistic for me to do one on Wednesdays or Saturdays. And let’s be real, five days a week is a HUGE improvement over zero 🙃👍🏾 And I need to do the workouts to get myself ready for Buti certification…only 27 days away!!