What a wonderful team they make- both so knowledgeable and yet accessible. And both so sweet and funny. That Kenny broke us up so often with his antics. There were about 60 people in the room at Yoga Kula and it felt so intimate. I felt so taken care of by Sianna and Kenny's energy; so seen and heard. That is a remarkable feat to pull off, something John Friend does so well too, which is to make everyone in the room feel seen and taken care off.

Sianna and Kenny's teachings works on so many subtle layers. On the one hand there was so much generous sharing of information about anatomy and therapeutics. But on a more subtle level there was the way they would honor people's questions, welcoming their comments even if they were a bit challenging at times. I noticed with Sianna especially how she would embrace whatever came her way and welcomed it and then magically would include it in a later moment and would use whatever would come her way and find the good in it. 

There was  a moment, for instance, when a student who was new to Anusara asked a question, courageously I might add although the tone was a bit strong, about how she found Anusara to be not a very clear system of yoga and she seemed a bit miffed. Sianna, never missing a beat, thanked her for her comment and promised to be even more clearer in her instructions and then asked the Certified and Inspired teachers to stand and to reach over to this student in later partnering poses so that we could be of service to her. So brilliantly done.

She was embodying what was being taught. That is, there's a optimal blueprint for the body. Meaning that there is a plan for the proper spatial relationship for muscles, tissues and bones and this blueprint, if we align with it, it will bring us the most optimal flow of prana, of life force. Just the same way in every moment there is an optimal way to respond to any situation instead of reacting. She was -so subtly- embodying what she was teaching. Always responding to every comment, to every question, from the most optimal place. 

We proceeded on that first day to make an intention for our weekend and then we moved a bit to get into our bodies. 

Then they gave us the first of many lists on what to look for a healthy lower back:

1) Middle of ankle to mound of second toe.

2) Arches have to be present

3) 4 corners of the foot have to be rooted

4) Top of the shin should go forward, base of the shin should move backward. (Thus setting the stage for healthy knees and a clear lower back.)

5) 4 corners of the patella straight forward.

6) The skin of the outer shin should flow backward

7) Tissue of inner calf should be supple and healthy

8) Top of the thighbone should move back, fitting into the acetabulum.

9) Pelvic floor wide from side to side.

10) Pelvis and legs descend energetically while sacrum goes in and up.

11) Lower back needs to have a lordotic curve with length and space.

12) Healthy suppleness and tonus to msucles.

13) Tailbone descends while sacrum and lower belly rise

14) Pelvic floor actually expands on the inhalation in a healthy body.

And from this list we can flip it and see what misalignments there will be if these alignment points are not present. 

For instance, some signs of misalignments in the lower body are: 

groins tight; 

femurs forward; 

femurs externally rotated; 

pelvis externally rotated; 

hyperextension in the knees, etc.

The key will be to do thigh stretches and basic backbends so that we can release the tightness in the hip flexors, thus calming the nervous system and clearing the lower back.

A major gem to remember always is that to "line things up first and then give them length and space." In other words, create the natural curves in the spine and then lengthen them. Or to use Anusara lingo: After doing the first two of the Universal Principles of Alignment:

1) Open to Grace (Find your breath, soften, open up to the possibility of a shift happening in your body, in your life.)

2) Muscular Energy (Engage your muscles, find strength from within to honor your body)

Then do 

3) Inner Spiral (creates the natural curve in the lumbar spine) 

followed by 

4) Outer Spiral (lengthens the curve).

Lastly, keeping all of that, from the pelvis, root down powerfully through the legs- Organic Energy- and lengthen up and out through the torso.

The fist day was about the lower body and we went into details over the psoas muscle, the hamstrings, the quads. Kenny talked about the knees and all throughout we would learn adjustments and work with different partners.

The next day, Sunday was on the upper body and will write more about that later.

I will now have lunch as I am hungry.

I can't wait to teach tonight.

Whenever I study with my teachers, I am usually so fired up to teach again and share all that I learn with my students.

More later!