Saturday, September 6, 2008

Fun Day

So- I took class this morning with Johnny Kest. What a rockin' practice that was. I was in such a good mood this morning- perfectly sore and open from my practice yesterday and fueled with my green super powder (see, Lisa, it is part of the formula- my breakfast of champions- whole milk and honey in tea, green powder and the vita synergy pills. Gotta take the herbs with honey and fat so that the vitamins that are fat-soluble get delivered into the system and the honey helps transfer the herbs directly into the tissues without pasing through the digestive track, according to Ayurveda. The green powder has fiber so it stabilizes my blood sugar nicely as well, along with the fat of the milk and the handful of nuts I sometimes eat as well, which Craig has me eat to cultivate kapha. All in all, its a winning combo and has been for some time now. And it digests easily which is what you want early in the morning anyway. Okay, enough about that.) And I was well-rested. I had a great night of sleep.

I was so happy to be in class where someone was going to lead the practice and manage the space. So I just parked my mat next to my friend Dale and went for it. I mean, how often does an opportunity like that come along for me? Not that often. As I practiced I realized that one of the things that I love about Anusara Yoga is that I can practice it in any class. I have spent so many hours learning the different actions to safeguard myself in practice and to open my body within various poses that when presented with a class like today's it is sheer delight. It is just utterly delightful to move, to breathe, to flow, to feel and just to "take the ride", so to speak.

Johnny has a really great teaching presence- he was warm, thoughtful, challenging, insightful and while it was a strong practice it wasn't loaded with a lot of ego crap. It was a fantastic flow practice. He had interesting flows, super fun music--(and he likes it how I like it-LOUD)-- and it was just a blast. If you did not go today and are on the fence about tomorrow, then I cannot say strongly enough that you should go tomorrow. It was fantastic. I really had a great practice. I am going to shamelessly steal some of his flow sequences- or at least some of them anyway- so that is something for everyone to look forward to! Now, other things could be debated about it from a teacher training perspective, but it was exactly--to the tee, except I would have liked it longer-- what I personally want out of a flow class.

After that I took a shower and ate some fruit at Anne's house and attempted to hydrate. (I was so sweaty it took almost a gallon of water to get my level back up!) and then we went to get mani-pedi's which was fun. (Class tomorrow will most like trash my pedicure but, oh well. Those jump back chautarangas are tough on pedicures!) Then we sampled one of Jeff's home made beer and then I came home to my dogs who were desperate to see me, having been alone all day.

There is more to write but it is time to do other things. What a great class- it left me in a great mood all day. Can't wait for tomorrow.

2 comments:

Dale said...

Yeah! We pretty much rocked the house down :-). Jonny really worked on these flows. For each of the flows, he has a theme that he applies to the pose, and he has selected music that goes with that flow, & even seems to have adjusted the volume of the music so that the flow, his message, and the music all move up & down in intensity at the same time. Today was a very carefully choreographed session. It was a very powerful and very fun experience.

This was the best workout & best flow experience that I have had in maybe a year :-).

Bring a towel :-).

Lisa said...

Well, I'm going to the SW Yoga Conference on the day that you are teaching--Sunday, I think. I was having a hard time picking my other sessions. Right now I'm signed up for David Life, but you guys are making a pretty strong case for Jonny! (I'm taking yin yoga in between, so I may survive the day.) Ahhhhh decisions, decisions. What an awesome town we live in. :-) Thanks for the info on your superwoman powder!
Love,
Lisa