Friday Morning

Well, let's see...

Yesterday was fun. I was a little worried about the 4-class day but it was just fine. Maybe because the classes were so different- flow at 9:30, Iyengar at 12, Anusara at 4:30 and group practice at 6:30. All in all, a fun day and the classes were all well- attended which makes teaching so much easier, generally speaking.

The group practice was really fun for me. We have been doing longer holds and more start and stop in there and last night we flowed a lot more than we have been. It felt good to me at the end of the day to move and not be so technical and still we got into some fun backbends. However, after a long flow with lots of vinyasa it can be hard to have the energy for lots of pushing up to urdhva danurasana and so forth. So really, I didn't really push the group last night at that point.

It is an interesting thing to consider though- how you prepare your body and at what cost to your strength, stamina and energy. So while flow can get a nice overall warmness and opening happening for people and the movement is fun and creative and enjoyable, it can also take most of their strength and stamina to just get through the sequences which can leave little left to apply to the more advanced poses. Neither is right or wrong, it is just a consideration of what approach yields what outcome. In general for me, its not a big problem since I am pretty strong and have good stamina. But usually I can get my open at deeper levels not in flow but with more a focused intense approach aimed directly where I need it for the peak pose I have in mind. But last night I did a few fun scorpion poses after all that flow- both in handstand and in pinca so that was great pose. That pose was a "pose-lust" pose for me for so long that I still just love to practice it and visit it. I am really going to miss that group practice in the fall.

I am finally going to unpack from last weekends trip this morning and put my laundry away and organize my desk. Things have been piling up all week as I have been pretty on-the-go.

It is an Immersion weekend this weekend which is really great. Weekend #2 of the new cycle and I am looking forward to really diving into things a bit deeper this weekend. We have a lot of people out of town from the group and a few people joining us so that will be a certain kind of twist to consider.

All right, onward.