No practice + Venkatesh discussion

I had purchased six classes at the Yoga Mandala, and now I have run out of credit. This and my right hamstrings are quite sore (a bit of a shock since the left side of my bodies always seems to have the troubles), have given me to the decision that I best take the day off from Yoga.
The hamstring issue is to the point now where I can barely fold my leg into half lotus.
Time will take care of the soreness, that or a good Ayurvedic massage, one or the other (or both I guess).
I went to the Kevinn for breakfast, Kevin agreed that it is good for me to just take the day off from yoga.

I went back to Venkatesh today (Venkatesh and Hema were very generous of their time and agreed to meet us at 10am even though their school is closed today) to talk about their Teacher Training Program. I was very impressed with both of them (I believe Hema is his wife). I was impressed enough to consider taking the Teacher Training Course, which would require 8 weeks of training with no option to practice Ashtanga (his course is Hatha based, but unique to him). There would be no time for Ashtanga because the course starts at 5am in the morning and finishes at lunch time. There is a mandatory Bhajan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhajan) every evening (5 days a week). The program is very intense and even if I could find an Ashtanga class with the hours that do not conflict, it would be extremely taxing on the mind/body (and probably the spirit as well)

Venkatesh & Hema seem sincere in their commitment to teach people Yoga, and not just hand out certificates. They stated that there would be self practice times where a teacher would merely sit and observe their practice to see how committed the student is, since they need to show committment to their practice to be a teacher. As part of the program there is Pranayama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama) instruction. This is specific to the individual, first you are taught correct seated alignment, and then just the basic Pranayama techniques relevant to the students particular situation. The aim is not to teach you how to teach Pranayama to others (since as he said this would require much more time and cannot be taught in the manner that people try to teach it... group lead class, non specific to the individual). We were told that most people do not have an awareness of Prana and that the course is aiming to help people experience this.

In fact, over and over again, the emphasis was on the experience of Yoga. We were told that in this school, hands on adjustments were never made, it was important for the student to receive verbal direction so that they can make their own adjustments, feeling the subtle effects (within) themselves.
They stated this is very unique for any school of Yoga. Excuse me, but I do believe that Sivananda (among others I am sure) teaches this way as well.
Even still, they were very convincing, and I may sign up for one of their classes soon. (Shame they are so expensive though...)