LAX

I am Los Angeles with some time to kill and the need to charge up my laptop so I am in Starbucks sitting with some peppermint tea and a very expensive bottle of water stealing some electricity.

I went to Annick's Ashtanga class this morning which was kind of interesting. We made a brief foray into the second series through ardha matsyendrasana and then she just gave everyone the last 30 minutes to do whatever they wanted and finish however we wanted. I was a bit disappointed by the ending because everything was so tight and orderly up to that point and I was there for guidance (or so I thought!) and I really felt the benefit of the structure this morning. More importantly is that I do not know the second series very well. Had she turned me loose in the primary series it would have been no big deal I could could have performed a reasonable semblance of things. (And seems like they do finish up the same way but it was so abrupt of a shift it really caught me off guard. I am thinking to myself "Somewhere in there there is a scorpion and some arm balances...." At one point she looked at me and said, "You know, drop back, do whatever you want." I am thinking, "Whatever I want relative to the Ashtanga Second Series or just whatever I want?? Obviously I know how to practice alone and I know how to take class and follow instructions but I am not so good at the in-between aspect of things. Different mindset for me.) So I busted out some back bends which really felt awesome. (That is the beauty of the 2nd series evidently! My back bends on the day I went to Primary Series class felt like shit. I was however in the zone with everything else that day!)

Anyhoo- it was sweaty, enjoyable and fun which was pretty much want I wanted. And she seems like a wealth of knowledge and experience. And because of how I am you better believe I am going to do a bit of study and memorizing of the second series. Flailing is suh motivation for me!

Then I went to Anne's to shower (She is right the furniture I gave her looks great in her house!) and then I met Kelly for a veggie burger at Central Market. While we were sitting there Jessie came in and so he sat down for a while with us and I really enjoyed visiting with him. (And he was really was still glowing and clear-eyed from the weekend.)

Kelly went back to class and Anne and I went and got Mani/Pedis. I branched out of red and went with an orange and peach theme. I think I like red better but the change is kind of fun. And really nail polish is a great place to deal with impermanence and the transitory nature of phenomena.

Anne took me to the airport and then all the United Flights were delayed so my itinerary was changed. So now instead of getting to Vancouver at 8pm I get in around 11:30. Ugh. The good news is I got upgraded to First Class for free. Tomorrow morning we start at 9 which might be a bit brutal but most likely will catch up with me more like Wednesday! I called Shelley and said "This might call for Lattes tomorrow morning" to which my consummate host replied, "I know just the place!" Chances are I wil be able to sleep on the plane though. At least some.

I guess that is about it for now. More to come.

Friday Morning

The first day of our Teacher Training was really incredible. We have a really great group. There are 19 people in the group- 3 people who were not in out Immersion (Brent from Arizona/Vancouver, Darren from San Antonio, and Jerry from Louisianna) and it is really great to have them in the group. The fit right in and add great new energy which is not always the case when you add new people to a mix after 100-hours and more of study and group bonding.

The first day is a lot of "Context" and setting the stage for the more experiential work that will follow. We spent the morning with some "getting to know you" stuff, reviewing Anusara Yoga Philosophy and Anusara Yoga Methodology. I spent sometime reviewing the Video Assessment Form that we use on the Certification Committee because I am using that as a guide for the "Anusara Yoga Standard". It is a tricky thing because there are so many things that you can do in a class that are still "Good Teaching" and "Effective Teaching" but are not on that list. There are just as many things that are necessary to get the job of teaching Ansuara Yoga done that, if evaluated for certification on a video would not pass, but oh well. And there is the whole tendency of preparing so much to pass a video that you are not preparing to teach a class itself but still it is good to know that the basics of the standard and the expectations for passing the test, so to speak. And if you do all the things on the video assessment form regularly and get used to evaluating your class along those lines, you are going to be teaching good, solid classes. My point is that it is not the whole ball of wax.

Teacher Training Level One is about learning the basics of what I call "the recipe." It is like making a good pound cake. No chocolate chips, no icing, not a marbled variety. Just a good basic pound cake. I happen to love pound cake so this is not a criticism. I shared with the group today that I have taken Level One teacher training wit John about 5 times and that while everyone gets excited for Level Two and "more advanced" things, the truth of the matter is that people never fail their videos for Level Two problems. They fail them for basic Level One problems like their pound cake was not sweet enough or it had no leavening agent. (Think observation and verbal adjustments or not keeping a heart theme alive.) And fail is to strong a word, but for the sake of making a point I am using it anyway.

We spent a lot of time talking about Intrinsic Goodness and with how to create heart-based themes. And the group praticed presenting themes in partners and small groups. We talked about how to go from Univeral to Personal and from PEersonal to Universal and the encessity of really establishing very clearly a few words that you are going to use to bring the themalive. Verbs, adjectives and so on.

Well, ther ismore to share but I ahve to get in the shower since I ahve a long drive up to Nroth Austin in rush hour. More to come.