Friday, July 4, 2008

Vancouver Day Three

Being and Becoming

We worked with the theme of being and becoming today and made a foray into Inner and Outer Spiral. The idea of being and becoming is that there are two aspects at work in our yoga practice and we need to be in a dymanic relationship with both of them. There is the truth that "Who we are is just fine, perfectly full, already that which we seek and so on". There is also the truth that we are changing, growing and expanding and in order to recognize our deepest truth we are also engaged in a process of becoming. (And some pretty reliable sources have told me that even "after enlightenment" becoming continues.) We are in a universe that is always expanding. We are aligning with Grace which is an ever-epanding process. So- some days yoga might be ablout deep acceptance of how we are with no pushing and so on. Being. And some days yoga might be about super heroic efforts to change and evolve. Becoming. Like that.

The morning class was full of technique and partner work to help clarify certain aspects of Inner and Outer Spiral as they apply to the poses we were working on. It seems to me that he group has a pretty strong working concept of the UPAs and a lot of what we are doing this week is filling in certain gaps- like "Oh, "apart" means lateral expansion away from the midline not just widening your siting bones!" It was great morning, I thought.

In the afternoon we made a foray into some basic anatomical terms and a review of Muscular and Organic Energy from the teacher manual. We did another palate cleanser yoga practice and ended with a pranayama class and practice.

After our day Shelley and I went to Yaletown Yoga for a sweaty power yoga class with Steve. It was pretty much a fun sweat fest informed heavily by Anusara Yoga. He had a really nice teaching presence and Shelley and I had a good time. (And we worked on Handstand scorpion which due to the heat I was able to do in a fraction of the time it usually takes me to warm up for it!) After drinking two litres of water and a 16 ounces of coconut water to re-hydrate, Shelley and I ate a simple dinner at home and went to bed early. All in all a great day.

My email is not sending mail out so a few things that came in on personal email that I cannot answer yet but hopefully you are reading this-

Dawn- yes. that is fine. 400 Centre Street. San Marcos, TX 78666. Glad you can make it.

Colleen- 21 poses is recommended not required. Think "guideline, not requirements". The main point is just keep things moving.

Brent- I wrote it but I cannot send it from this connection so as soon as I can it will be there.

Mary Kate- I got them on ebay and I am not sure if that style and color is still something they carry. I do not think so. I wear a 2 in pants and a 4 in their tops.

Ana- A+ . Sounds awesome to me.

Okay time to plan today's class.

2 comments:

Leanne said...

Hi! Great day 3. Wish I could have participated in more. btw- your hair is really looking good!

I wanted to ask you about questions. Some of the questions you were asked yesterday were way beyond my scope of knowledge.

Not so much the yoga questions- those ones I could have answered- but the ones on chinese medicine and facia manipulation etc. You have a very broad knowledge base and answered them with ease but I would have been "I can't speak on that." " I don't know but I could look into it and get back to you with an answer."
Is that appropriate when teaching in that type of workshop/immersion forum? You and John seem to have an answer for everything and are very professional. What advice do you have to pass on in this department?
Thanks again!
Leanne :>)

Christina Sell said...

Over time it will beocme painfully clear that I absolutely do not have an answer for everything! Many, many times I say "I do not know," "I have to check" and "Is there any one in the room with expertise in this area?" Good phrases to say also include- "to the best of my knowledge" and/or "as I understand it right now" and "my teacher explained it this way..."

Anyway, its fun- we just keep learning a nugget at a time.

John, however, does seem to know everything. (!)