Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sunday Night Post-Immersion

Well, wow! What a weekend we had.

We really did lots of asana. Yesterday we had a long asana practice emphasizing Inner and Outer Spiral and focusing on standing poses, hip openers and arm balances. We did almost all of the arm balances on the Level 1 syllabus with a few thrown in from Level 2. It was a good strong class and many people told me they got more clarity on Inner and Outer Spiral as the practice progressed.

Today we spent some time clarifying some questions and then launched into a practice of reviewing the UPA's and applying shoulder principles to cobra and up dog which led us into some strong vinyasa work and eventually to drop backs. It was fun watching several people do their drop backs alone for the first time. Always an exciting moment.

The Part One Immersion is always a very intense process. There is a lot of downloading of technique, of philosophy, of context. Students are getting used to working in an immersion format which is different than a classroom format and it really is like trying to get a drink from a fire hydrant. What is cool about Part Two and Three is that the foundation has been laid and so we work more on clarifying the principles, applying them to harder poses, diving into different texts and build on the basics. It is an amazing process. It really is.

Speaking of which the Immersion Dates for Part 2 and 3 and Breath and Body are set and so are the dates for the 2010 Teacher Training at Breath and Body. If you want those details, drop me a line and I can send you the flyer.

Okay- so after the Immersion, Kelly and I went down town to the Driskill for Svetha's Mehndi party before her wedding tomorrow. I used the affair as an excuse to wear one of my outfits from India. Tomorrow, is a sari occasion although my sari will be nothing as fine as the Indian women in attendance who- wow- understand the fine are of dressing well in a way we white women just cannot touch! It was a nice evening with yummy Indian food and a very festive atmosphere. I am pretty excited to see the pageantry of the whole affair tomorrow. I had meant to take pictures but left me camera in the car. Tomorrow I will remember though.

1 comment:

Dale said...

HEY!!!

I was practicing oday at Breath & Body Yoga, and got all the way over to wheel in a dog flip - first time :-). The key was thinking about side body long, keeping the hip high - the combination moved my shoulder into a better place so that it didn't lock when I tried to rotate into the wheel. Cool!!

Thanks for the increased understanding of applcations of human bio-mechanics that allowed me to unlock that movement & have more yoga fun :-).