Wednesday Night

We had the first night of Wednesday classes at San Marcos School of Yoga. The Level 2 class had a really nice turn out with some new attendees. We worked on poses leading up to parivritta trikonasana and I introduced dwi pada viparita dandasana over a chair. Everyone worked really hard, brought great attention to detail and kept a good humor throughout. We continued with the theme of atha yoga anusasanam.
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We started a new beginning series last night which is always excited. We had 16 people there, most of whom were brand new to yoga. The first night of a Beginning Series I usually introduce the chant, talk about Open to Grace and work on simple actions in coordination with the breath. Mostly I want to not scare people and get them breathing and moving in way that they leave feeling confident and empowered to some back and learn more.
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Here is a kind of funny story-Yesterday afternoon a woman called saying she wanted to come to yoga but "she didn't want to be in class with a bunch of teeny-boppers." Kelly very nicely told her that we had students of all ages so she should expect some teeny-boppers but what he could offer her was Beginning Yoga which started that night, did she still want to come? She said yes and she came to class.
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Between that phone call and 7pm when the class started Cassie decided to enroll her girls who are 9 and 12. So, this poor woman who did not want teenyboppers in her class, was actually in class, not only with a bunch of twenty-somethings from Texas State but with a 9 and a 12-year old!
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Anyway- I thought it was fantastic because we had age range span in the class from 9 years old to mid-60s. How awesome is that? Personally, I find that as inspiring as it gets in terms of "coming together to practice yoga". There is no age requirement, there is no age limit. What is required is a sincere desire to discover your greatness and to work as hard as you can, relative to your capacity.
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And we even had a double-dipper last night. Genvieve came all the way from North Austin (Yea, G!) to take the 5:30 class and to take the Beginning Yoga class for teacher training. I always say that the best way to get teacher training is to go to an experienced teacher's class and watch how they teach. Want to learn how to teach Ansuara Yoga to brand new beginners? Go to a Beginning Series, not for your practice, but as a student of the teacher's teaching. You will learn way more that way than in a seminar called "Teaching Yoga to Beginners". It is a fact. (okay, well, that is actually just a strong opinion of mine, more than a fact.)
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All right then, up and at 'em. I have a lot to get done today. Enjoy yours.