So I'm going to back track a little. There's a pose, Eka Pada Rajakapotasana #1 (Pigeon #1) which when I do it on my right side, I get a little knee tweak, which means I have to really work my outer spiral and then it goes away. So there I am doing Erich's video and I'm in Down Dog and he gives this instruction of moving the foot forward, curling the toes against the left wrist and lo and behold suddenly I not only find myself in one of the deepest Pigeon #1 that I've ever done, but it does not hurt. It does not hurt. Hmm, how interesting!

My theory is that often when we hear the name of the pose that's coming up, a part of our brain decides beforehand that we:

*like that pose or not

*are good at that pose or not

*will feel pain in the pose or not

Subconsciously we start to create these impressions or samskaras that through time become more and more powerful and end up determining the outcome of the pose, of our day and even- sorry to be so dramatic- of our own lives. 

Samskara is a Sanskrit and Buddhist term that means: "latent impression; predisposition; consecration; imprint; innate tendency; innate potence; mold; residual impression. It comes form the words sam + kr= which mean "to fashion or to do together." Samskara sounds like the word "scar" which is a great mnemonic device to remember the meaning of the word since a scar is an impression on the physical body. We all have samskaras. Often they are lodged in the physical body but they are also in our subtle body. Whenever we meditate and awaken our own deep reserves of consciousness, we have the ability to "burn off" samskaras. Sally Kempton talks about that in her sublime book The Heart of Meditation. And whenever we practice with spaciousness and openness we also have the ability to create new impressions in both our physical and subtle bodies.

These days in my classes I'm doing something completely new and trying to lead class without actually "naming" the poses. Somehow guiding the students so that they end up in the poses and the poses reveal themselves to the students without simply calling out a pose and the letting the student get there. Although we had a fun class today at BD and students laughed when I would mistakenly call out poses, most said that they enjoyed getting to the poses without knowing where they were going. It made them more present.

It certainly for me as teacher was a way to become even more creative and articulate in my expressions.

Today several people had huge breakthroughs. Ali and Natalie are balancing in the middle of the room in handstands and forearm balance. Art's drop back was so full of ease. Sarayu did a full lotus for the first time... So great to witness people's growth and how people are trying to change old patterns so that they can be more open in their own lives.

I have one more class at BD tonight. I look forward to sharing this with them...