Thursday Morning

Sitting here drinking tea and listening to a new Ben Harper album. It is great. I love it.

I am pretty darn sore this morning. I did a practice here yesterday and then met my Iyengar Yoga friends for a practice in Austin. Me, Anne, Heide and Gillian (Who just moved here from California) all did a rockin' arm balance and back bend practice. I must say I was kind of in the zone. WE used one of Patricia's sequences from Feathered Pipe for the back bends and at some point early in the proceedings threw in what they call "the birds". No, this is not me, in a fit of rebellion against the Iyengar system, throwing my middle fingers in the air... "The birds" are the arm balances named after birds-- bakasana (Crane), parsva bakasna, kukkutasna (rooster) , parsva kukutasana (Which I did on one side from sirsasana 2 for the very first time ever!), hummingbird (although they did not know it since it is not 'in the book"), tittibasana (which is a firefly and therefore an insect not a bird, but which made the cut anyway for being a winged creature that flies), kapinjasalana (partridge), mayurasana (peacock), padma mayurasana, pinca mayurasana... I think that covers the birds. We also did eka pada galavasana although Galava was a sage and not a bird.

And those of you who come to class, expect a class theme on "the birds" at some point. And those of you out there teaching, isn't that a great theme? Use it shamelessly! Birds- wings of grace, shoulders the wings of the heart kidneys the vastness of the sky, lightness, eagle vision, all kinds of things could work with it... connect to the earth firmly (rooting) to sail freely like a bird (rising), our inner nature is free like a bird... Wow, I could teach a month of classes on this alone. (Of course people would not keep coming to class if all I was teaching was these poses!) You can throw in garudasana (Eagle)... Have at it!

Then Anne and I got a kombucha and went over to 7th Street Yoga with enough time to go shopping. (I definitely worked for clothes last night!) Mikki had a new order of Hard Tail clothes in and I could not resist 2 of the tank tops.

The class went so well. We had a few less people last night but the group in attendance was really stellar. We worked with the 5 principles of the shoulders (which are, repeat after me- 1.inner body bright/side body long, 2. head of the armboneback/throat back, 3. shoulder loop, 4. spirals of the arms, 5. laterally broaden.) and did a basic back bending class. My intention is that this class be doing the eka pada rajakapotasana back bends by the end of our series. I think we will get there.Most folks anyway! I worked with the theme of the Ocean of the Heart. It was great fun.

All right then, time to go but I must direct you to anew link on my blog roll. www.virayoga.blogspot.com is my friend Elena's new blog. She is awesome and so follow that. As she gets going with it there is no doubt it is going to pick up some steam. She is one of favorite people in the world. And if you are ever in New York, hers is the studio to go to. (And wherever Marjorie is teaching whose blog is also on the blog roll!)

Okay, enjoy your day. I am going to try to get tickets for Marcia Ball's concert down here on Friday night. I have always wanted to see her and she is playing right down the street at my favorite local venue. Yippee.