First my week in review. I’ll roll all the way back to Saturday Jan 1, 2011 we had fun hike with Randy followed by a rockin’ practice in our studio. Thirty-five smiling faces squeezed into our studio, the most ever I know of. Two hours of Shakti blasting Asana and a few minutes of Beatles “All You Need is Love” sing-a-long. I taught a total of 12 classes, 2 therapy sessions, and 1 discussion with one of our staff on how to get into the thoracic spine for backbends. Started getting back into cardio trainings again since I found my fitness level well below where I’d like to be during our Sunday hike/attempt to climb Harney Peak. Logging has hidden the trails combined with a nice pile of snow made it more of a play session in the woods with friends followed by a hike around the lake vs. a summit. It was great to be out in the woods with Davey again. We haven’t been out in the wood together much over the last year with both of us going different directions when he’s in town.
Another of my objectives for 2011 is to bring more discipline to my asana practice. Over the last year I would either just get on the mat and do what felt good at the time, practice a sequence or pose I wanted to teach, or (not near as much as I should) do a practice that served my own opening, advancing my practice. So this year I’m starting with the Anusara Yoga 1st syllabus and going to practice every pose in the syllabus each week until they’re rock solid. Most of them are in pretty good shape right now but could always use refinement. There is a few that aren’t accessible to me right now so I’ll work on the prep poses to get me closer and then it will happen. This was the first week and I had to figure out how to track this and hit all the poses. I missed a few of the seated poses, some of the twists, and didn’t do much if any restoratives (they’ll be the hardest for me). So now I have a tracking system and will use my Friday and Saturday practices to fill in the gaps. I’ll report more as this goes along and should get some feedback from several of the teachers, like Adam, John, and BJ that I’ll be able to practice with.
More on Ahimsa, non-harming. I want to get more skilled at being solid with my students and telling them when they have stepped outside the boundaries while being firm, fair, and kind all at the same time. For instance, a few of my students are regularly late for class, meaning they arrive at the studio as I’m ready to start class. The rest of the class is in the yoga room, ready to rock it. So we wait a couple minutes while they change, fix their hair, roll out their mat, go to the bathroom or anything else I would have hoped they would have done before the time we’ve set to start class. If it happened every now and then, life happens, I’d understand. But almost every class??? I’ve got to figure out a firm but kind way to address it. “Clear boundaries, no limits”…Dr Douglas Brooks
The harmonium is coming along good. I’m going to try and be ready to play the Anusara Invocation this week in my Thursday Anusara-Inspired class. I’m doing to SARGAM exercises from Daniel Tucker so my fingers are starting to move better. Maybe this will also lead to more flexibility in Mudra??
So my plans for this week, practice Asana, meditate, practice harmonium, teach, cardio, dog hikes, add iRest Yoga Nidra, movie with my Mom and Dad on Sunday night, read/study and just generally have a good time. Donna and I ordered some new bookcases that I need to go pick up. Scary that I’m getting so many books I need bookcases. I’m a bit behind on my homework for Christian Sells’ on-line mentoring course so I’ll try and catch up on Monday and I need to send Douglas the other registration to add the Ganesha Puja: Crossing the Threshold of Tantric Understanding and Practice.
A couple things I’m interested in this week. Tuesday Verizon and Apple have a “Special” announcement that should be the iPhone coming to Verizon. My contract just expired so I’m looking to move to a smartphone and have it down to the iPhone (if it’s available soon) or the Motorola Droid X. Then on Friday Anusara will announce the acceptance to John’s Therapy Training and weekend workshops in Miami in Feb. I’ve got a place to stay, just have to buy plane tickets. Did I mention I really don’t like to fly but don’t have time to drive to this one?
Drop a comment if you’re reading.
Peace!!!
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