Courage
Inspired by the exhibition I saw over the weekend at the Skirball Museum on the Civil Rights movement, I've been teaching about courage. I've been thinking about the courageous men and women who were involved in the Civil Rights movement, and wondering if I would have been as courageous as the Freedom Riders were; all those people who stood up against injustice.
I don't know the answer. But yoga teaches us that we contain within us the entire universe within us, so we all have the capacity for courage. We all have the ability to connect to the best part of us, the right-brained part of us that is one with everything, and move from that place.
In my own life, the moments that I've been my most courageous have been moments when I was fighting for something bigger than me, and when I connected to something bigger than my fear. It applies to dramatic moments of literally trying to save someone's life, as well as more mundane moments like trying to do a scary yoga pose. In both situations my fear was overcome by something else: a desire to help, to be of service, to grow...
One of my first yoga teachers used to say that your desire has to be greater than your fear in order to do a handstand. Handstand was a really scary pose for me when I began yoga years ago- now I do it every single day!
So in the last few classes, I've been teaching the poses that are said to develop courage: backbends.
Theme: Courage
Focus: First Principle
Class sequence
So- if I'm teaching backbends I know that I have to open the student's shoulders and hips. I have to have their bodies warm and supple, as well as make sure that their backs have been opened with twists, side stretches and forward bends. Not to mention thigh stretches, which are very important since one of the quadriceps is a hip flexor. So backbends require an enormous time of preparation to get the body ready.
And at the same time I've been playing around with trying to warm up the student's without agitating their nervous system. So that they are not fatigued and exhausted by the time they get to the backbends.
Lastly, I have to make sure I have plenty of time to wind them down.
Started with a down dog, some warm up and about 5 slow, mindful surya namakars.
A few standing poses including parsvakonasana and warrior 1.
Handstand and Handstand with backbend
Some forward bends and twists...
Hip Openers and Thigh stretches...
Backbends: locust, cobra, dhanurasana, bridge, urdhva, one armed urdhva, one legged urdhva, and drop backs!
Supta Padangusthasana
Agnistambasana
Ardha Matsyendrasana
Happy Baby
Savasana
Anusara Poster Project Pose:
Level 1 Backbends- been going through all of them!
PS. John is coming to town. Advanced Intensive is this week- Just got an email from John about his intention for the workshop. We will be exploring the divine feminine: Kali on Wednesday, Saraswati on Thursday and Lakshmi on Friday. Am getting very excited about it. And a bit nervous- we'll be doing The Eye of the Tiger sequence.
Courage!
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