Fun Practice
Today I taught twice at Still, and then in a few hours will return to teach the restorative. Class at 9 was lovely- really lovely people with beautiful practices. I was teaching about aligning so that you can have faith in your practice and connect to the fullness within. I spoke about how in the last few days I've had several students say to me that they have "been doing yoga for so long and yet their shoulders hurt." And when I had them show me how they were aligning, they were not doing it in the most optimal way. I told them with gentleness that you can be doing something for a long period of time, but if you are misaligning you will not get better. It reminds me of Malcom Gladwell's assertion in his book "Outliers" which states that professionals are people who have been doing something for a long period of time (10,000 hours). But what he left out (from -I believe- Erikson's study) is that you have to be doing something for a long period of time, yes, but you have to be doing it right! Otherwise you are simply reinforcing bad habits. These two students were completely misaligning in their shoulders, and practicing yoga like that for years will indeed make your shoulders tighter.
It got me thinking about how yoga shouldn't hurt. How as we do all these poses, we should feel uplifted, not diminished. So, today I focused on the First Principle of Anusara yoga, which has to do with opening up with the fullness that is there and embodying it. I focused on an aspect of First Principle which is "Side Body Long." I could see the student's practice become fuller, sweeter and stronger.
Then after my 9 AM class, I met with Keric for our weekly meetings for our upcoming Anusara Teacher Training, which starts next week! So excited. I have been holding back cause I don't want to say too much before it begins, but we are so excited on how we have designed it and on how we are teaching it... More on that later!
Then I went to teach the Practice at 12:30 and it was insane. The cast of characters included several of my closest friends (Jenny, Mackie, Hagar, Michelle), beloved regulars (Takeo, Raoul, Christine, Carolyn, Carolanne, Amberly), plus guest stars like Heidi (Happy Birthday Heidi!) and superstar Jason from Miami. Hagar and I brought out favorite deities (Durga and Kali) and we had a fun, rocking practice which included several variations in Vasisthasana (including -inside joke- "sad tree.")
One of my favorite moments was when we were working on Kasyapasana and Hagar and Jason offered tips to get into the bind. We all worked on it and then came out and conversed about what we liked. That is my favorite part of this class- all of us practicing together, sharing what helps us go deeper in these wonderful and challenging poses.
After class, Mackie took a picture of Hagar and I for our upcoming Immersion. The pictures look great! I drove home and in a few hours I will return to teach a restorative class.
So blessed to have such fun friends and to have yoga in my life!
Have a great day everyone!
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