Monday Morning

I got home from SLC around 9:30 last night and I am here enjoying a cup of tea and catching up on my blog, some email and few other mundane tasks as the day gets underway. Leslie, my most wonderful host, wrote a great commentary on the workshop on her blog http://www.anusara-inspired.blogspot.com/ if you want some information from a participant's perspective.

I feel great about the weekend. There was a solid group of very avid and sincere students assembled who really went for it and seemed to be game for just about anything I threw their way. I taught a lot of refinements and a lot of technique because the group was already so schooled in the basics. Also I find my mind more on the fine details these days than on the broad strokes. Of course this has pros and cons with a new group but in a group like this with so many people already educated in the method and with good instruction and practice under their belt it was very appropriate.

Friday night we worked on hips, Saturday morning we worked on standing poses, twists and arm balances, back bends and inversions on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday we put it all together with "creative vinyasa, visvamitrasana and some good seated work. While we talked about all of the UPA's the weekend was really brought to the group by the magic of Inner and Outer Spiral.

I know from experience that it is not always possible for students to attend the entire weekend of a workshop. In fact this is the downside of a workshop coming to your own hometown. We tend to fit in a session or two in the midst of all of our other duties and obligations which remain the same. (Whereas if you travel out of town for a workshop, the only thing you are doing is the yoga workshop so of course you do the whole thing.) Anyway, I believe that some is better than none and I am always glad when people come to whatever they can. However as a teacher, I think of the weekend as a entire process, as a journey.

In fact, that was our theme for the weekend. Leslie suggested it when we were planning the workshop and I found I loved the metaphor and it really worked well throughout the weekend. So one thing I enjoy about a weekend journey is getting to link instructions through 4 or 5 sessions and having 10-15 classroom hours to explore the connections between the poses and to really play with how the poses relate to one another. Those links really came together in Sunday's class and I think the final class really demonstrated how the skill-building technical work fits into the creative expression of flow and into the more advanced postures we practice in Anusara Yoga.

All right- today I get to meet Juan to talk for a bit about my fall schedule at Castle Hill, Anne for a practice and then I teach the Beginners out at Bodhi Yoga. This morning I am going to get unpacked, do some laundry and hopefully go swimming. This morning, after all, is my weekend.

Just a reminder- We have instructor group practice at Castle Hill this Wednesday from 2-4. This week the featured style is Power Vinyasa and Desirae Pierce will lead the session. We will wrap up around 3:45 due to her schedule but that is plenty of time to explore Power Vinyasa. Remember cost is $10 and that gets split between Castle Hill, the teacher and a charity. We have no class on August 12 but when we meet again on the 4th Wednesday of August Devon will lead and Iyengar Yoga practice.