Yoga and Beekeeping
I'm fascinated by beekeepers and dream of one day owning a farm and maybe beekeeping.
Who knows?
Maybe one day...
I was reading recently a beautifully designed and structured cookbook of the incredibly delicious Big Sur Bakery. The book is entitled: The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year In The Life Of A Restaurant. I was thinking about something I read in that book, as I drove from my Black Dog Yoga class today at 10:30AM.
It was a crazy class. In the best way, but it was crazy. The students were rowdy, they were making jokes, they were not listening and one time they were talking about the game last night! In Pigeon #1! I can't even think of anything else but outer spiraling my front leg in pigeon 1, much less talk about sports.
Anyway, I was revisiting the class as I was driving home, and as often happens with me, I was beating myself up a bit:
"why were they so rowdy?
(it's okay maria, they were having fun)
but do they respect me?
(of course they do!)
they don't respect me,
(yes they do, you were giving them space to be playful and they did so many fun and challenging poses, and even pranayama!)
oh they would never be like that in front of such or such teacher!"
The truth is class was great and challenging AND I did notice that it wasn't them but it was my energy that was a little off today. You see I'm leaving in a few hours to go to Puerto Rico and whenever I travel and whenever I go home, I get a bit discombobulated. And I'm sure the students picked up on my energy. Teaching is a transmission of energy. Teaching IS a transmission of energy. And I just have to make sure that I am clean and clear with what I'm sharing.
Which leads me to beekeeping.
Listen to Jack Koch, a beekeeper from Big Sur explaining the important personality traits a necessary for beekeeping:
"You have to be really calm. You can't go in with residual feelings from someplace else because the bees will pick up on it. They can smell if you are upset."
So next time I teach I will walk in clear, calm as if I was walking into a humming beehive!
Theme: concealment and revelation
Focus: we played with how in every pose different parts of the body have to be "concealed" and others have to be "revealed." I also reminded them that traditionally the left side has been considered the moon "dark" side and the right being the sun or the "light" side
Sequence:
Actually we started with Surya Bedhana, the sun pranayama that stimulates the sun nadi.
Moved to Surya C, then did a few Surya A's
Parsva,
Warrior 2
Trikonasana
Timed Handstands
and Timed Forearm Balance
Paryankasana
Pigeon #1
add thigh stretch
Ustrasana
Ustrasana drop backs
Urdhva
Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana at the wall
Janu Sirsasana 2x
Parvrrta Upavista Konasana
Paschimottanasana
Chandra Bhedana
Savasana
Anusara Poster Project Pose: Forgot to do it...
I might not have email for the next few days. My parents are not really into technology that much. I still don't think they have a computer set up at home...
I'll be back on Monday.
More stories later...
safe travels brilliant yogini!
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Wonderful. Thank you for sharing
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I love yoga and have been practicing a few years now and I am a newBee beekeeper as of this year. I've been thinking of ways to integrate the two...not necessarily in the form of asanas though but I have a lot of ideas. I just did a random search combining the two highest passions of my life and stumbled on this.
Peace Bee with you and feel free to contact me and share some of your thoughts.
"Like the honey bee the sage should gather wisdom from many scriptures" Bhagavadgita
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