Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Tuesday Night Sweatfest

So Anne, Chelsea and me went to Matt's 4:30 Flow Class and his 6:00 Ashtanga class. I had a lot of fun, worked up a nice sweat and really enjoyed just being in a class, following along and not being in charge of anything. Lovely. Absolutely lovely. I think Matt is a great teacher- he worked people hard without killing anyone, he was encouraging, non-threatening and he is obviously dedicated to helping his students improve and take care of themselves.

As an added bonus the A/C was broken at the south studio and so it was nice and hot. (Again the sweat helps with so many poses and then hinders others so it is a pretty good trade off.) Even Anne was dripping in sweat. And lucky for us we had a camera to prove it. See how dripping wet her hair is. Also note the post-Ashtanga-glow. (Sweaty flow is good for kapha.)
One thing that Matt said in his flow class that I really loved is that there are three categories of yoga practitioner. If you look at the yoga practice like a camp fire, there are the people who never get close enough to the fire to benefit from its warmth or light. There are some people who get close up and can enjoy the fire- its warmth and light. And then there are people who keep sticking their hand in the flames, getting burnt and expecting each time for it to be different. I love this analogy. Obviously we want to be the second type of practitioner. Close up, engaged and involved. Nice metaphor.
Anyway- just checking in. I slept in later than usual today and have a fair amount to check of my list before heading to Austin to meet Pammy at the club.

4 comments:

Anasazi said...

"Even Anne was dripping in sweat."

Ah, I will remember those words for as long as I live. :-) Thank you, O thank you, for having a camera!

(Sayeth the man who is renowned just a little bit for beginning to cascade sweat in Child's Pose!)

Jesse

Lisa said...

I recently attended an Ashtanga star class with Matt and found it surprisingly fun. Ashtanga is not going to replace Anusara's #1 yoga spot in my heart, but Matt really is a terrific teacher. It was cool to get alignment instructions in an Ashtanga class. And I got at least as much sweat going as Anne! That felt nice until it came time for the arm balance and I kept sliding off. More muscular energy needed? Oh well. Glad you had fun. :-) Love!!
p.s. I know it's way in the future, but is there anything at all you can tell us about Noah's week long seminar next year? Are you going to co-teach with him?

Christina Sell said...

Yes, Noah and I are going to co-teach. Porbably he will teach some sessions, I will teach some and we will teach most of them together. Our current plan is that we are going to do part asana intensive and part TT.

So something like morning asana classes and afternoon TT sessions. TT people must come to all, asana junkies can pick and choose. That is the current plan. The exact content is yet-to-be-determined since we are not yet sure of what our community's exact needs will be then.

Part of my intention for 08 and 09 is teaming up with my favorite people and team teaching- thus the Immersion with Darren, this seminar with Noah, the India trip with Genevieve. (Only a few more slots left on that one...) Anyway- fun for me to be with my friends and to learn with and from them, more value for the students because they get two great teachers not just one and so on...

Lisa said...

Oh, that sounds FABULOUS. Thanks Christina!