Day Two

So actually today is Day Three of the training. Yesterday John worked a lot with the shoulders. The general structure of the training is that in the mornings we do a lot of partner work with one another learning the assists and the therapeutic adjustments. Then in the afternoon we have clients come in from "the outside" and John works with them in front of the group- always with amazing results- and that work is interspersed with us practicing some of the adjustments he is making on the client.

It is that familiar blend of inspiring and tiring. Uplifting and draining. There is a lot of interaction, a lot of listening and a lot of watching and a lot of standing. One of the things that I like best about this training is watching John work with the clients. And not just from the standpoint of "which assist" or "what technique" but how he really works with the person . He is just masterful at knowing how to set people at ease and to invite them to step into a greater fullness of Being. The men, he bonds with right away in a very natural guy sort of thing. Many of them he gets to work really hard and he is super ordinary with them. Yesterday he had several timid, vata type women with whom he just spent a lot of time building them up, honoring them for being there and getting them to relax and trust him. You could just see their whole energy change. This would be a great post all on its own.

The thing is that some of that is just how he is. He is really, genuinely interested in people. Christy Nones who travelled with him all over Europe said they were on a bus in Scotland and she was settling into a kind of introverted mode of "great, we can just ride on the bus and not talk to anyone for a while." She looked over at John after a few minutes and he was looking around the bus at people and seeming very curious. She said to him, "You are just dying to talk to someone and find something out about them, aren't you?" He said, "Yes."

So, he really is interested in people. It is not just a technique with him. I am not sure how wholly conscious he is that he is even doing that because I think it is how he really is. But he has told me before that in terms of teaching yoga we really need to reassure people that they are okay and good right from the beginning. He told me many years ago that as long as someone is trying to impress you and get your approval as their teacher then they are not being themselves. He said his tactic is just to give someone that approval right off the bat so that they can relax and just be themselves and then you can get to work.

I keep thinking about the koshas as we work. We are really engaged in the physical kosha of manual adjustments but John is talking a lot about how you have to sense people's energy and work intentionally at the energetic level. Yesterday he began the day talking about the Inner Body and about the Optimal Blueprint. At the break I asked him if he thought the Inner Body was inclusive of all the sheaths and that the Optimal Blueprint existed primarily on the level of the pranamaya kosha. He said, "Yes, that is how I thinks about it, although we cannot really isolate the sheaths completely." He said it is best is to think of it as the Russian nesting dolls and that even though we are working at one level the other levels are affected. Of course.

So, I am enjoying watching the work he is doing on the different levels and it has been great to be reminded of how important the emotional/mental levels really are for healing and how delightfully interconnected it all is.

After the session I went to BJ Galvan's class. The certified teachers who are here are all offering classes at the breaks and so I stayed after for her class which was fun. Adam Ballenger will teach at lunch and then I will teach tonight. Supposedly John is coming to my class. When he told me I said, "Great! What do you want to work on?" He said, "Whatever you like- I will be your student." So that will be fun. More on that later.

Have an excellent day. Time to shower.