Friday, September 25, 2009

Oklahoma City

Well, it was an early morning wake up for me and Kelly this morning to get me to the airport by 5:30. I landed in OKC at around 10 in the morning and Martha (my new BFF) picked me up and we went back to her house and then got some yummy Thai food before we went to her studio for a group practice and the evening class.

We ahd a very nice practice. We did a fair amount of standing pose flow and then worked into our hips, and practiced vasisthasana, urdhva danuarasana and dwi pada viparita dandasana. I was in ecstasy getting to get off a plane and have a three hour practice. Many times I can practice on a travel day but rarely is is a full specutrum practice and rarely in the midst of travel am I as focused in practice as I was able to be with a group there for support and comaraderies. Especially on a 4:30 wake up day. So, it was awesome for me. The group did very well and I think I gave them some tips for approaching dwi pada viparita dandasana that should serve many well.

I really think those two back bends are so crucial for so many other back bends that they are worth spending a lot of time sorting out. We can certainly rush toward other poses but the time spent in those will pay off for sure.

The evening class was great. I don't think it was my theming at its most brilliant but the sequence and alignment and the overall feeling in the room was fantastic. We worked on some basic aspects of Muscle and Organic Energy aas well as Inner and Outer Spiral and took it from gentle standing pose flow into deeper hip opening and seated forward bends and twists. We had a very mixed level of ability, experience and so forth but a very compatible group in terms of rapport, compassion and zeal. The students at Spirit House Yoga have so much heart, humor, passion and care for one another that it is a really fantastic thing to be a part of.

Martha and her husband Ted (who is a certified Baptiste Instructor and Anusara Yoga enthusiast) have been in business for over 5 years and they really are creating such a cool community here. I said it in class tonight but I think it bears repeating here- At the last Certified Teacher Gathering John Friend talked about his vision for Anusara Yoga and he talked about how he always had imagined it as clusters of community spread out all over the map. It really struck me in his description how important a local community is to have to practice with and how cultivating our local communities, as certified teachers, is such a vital aspect of the well being of our method. So anyway, I just kept thinking about that while I have been here because they are really very passionate, intelligent, devoted practitioners and teachers and their dedication to their studio and students is inspiring.

So tomorrow we begin at 10 and continue on with the fun.

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