Thursday Evening

So- it was a good day of preparing to get out of town and teaching. I taught a fun back bend class at 4:30- we worked on ardha chandra chapasanan, kapinjalasana variation, bhekasana and variations and urdhva danurasana and variations. Fun stuff- some familiar and some a bit unconventional. Right before I was teaching I had the lovely opportunity to talk with my friend Elena Brower- a certified teacher in New York and we got to reminiscing about the early days of Anusara Yoga which some of us refer to as The Inner Harmony days.

John used to teach at Inner Harmony Retreat Center for sometime 6 weeks during the summer and we would go study with him there. For many of us those days formed the foundation of our foundation in sadhana with John, our most lasting friendships with one another and our deep commitment to the method. I will never forget the year 50 people were at that retreat and we all complained it was crowded! Now it is nearly impossible to find John in a room anywhere with under 50 people! But I digress.

Elena and I got to musing about where this path has taken us and how 10, 11, 12 year ago we had NO IDEA were would be doing what we are doing now. But nonetheless seeds got planted, opportunities came about, bonds were made, and so forth and so I got to thinking about how we never know in one moment what a particular moment may be training us for. I for instance, had no idea then that those weeks would train me to offer 6-day trainings in the future. But so often when Darren and are are planning a day or a talk to give we reflect on that time with John on a mountain top in Utah in the summer heat with 50 of our closest yoga friends, our teacher and so on.

I worked with that story toward a theme about anchoring in an immediate task and yet being expectant and trusting that the work we do today- on our mats are off- is the work that will take us to our best next step. The idea is that full anchoring and learning from NOW trains us for the highest possibility at each next possible juncture. We can feel anchored and expectant.

This is not the expectations that are unrealistic and based in some kind of false set of hopes, dreams and externally-driven standards for ourselves. It is more of an expectant hope and faith that we are being trained to be used in the highest- even if all we are doing today is figuring out how to balance in kapinjalasana variation or how to keep that top leg in ardha chandra chapasana maintaining its Inner Spiral!

At any rate it was fun and the group was really game which ALWAYS makes me happy.

After that I went and taught the last night of the Beginning Series up at Breath and Body. That class will become a Level 1 Anusara Yoga class taught by Hannah Emlen so please tell everyone you know to come join the fun next week. It will be great to explore the basic postures and the basic actions in a slower paced yet hard-working environment. I told the group tonight that Basic does not mean Easy in our world. Basic action done well in basic poses can be quite demanding.

I did joke with the group about "what is the difference between how I teach beginners and how I teach advanced students?" (other than that I am A LOT nicer to beginners!) I make beginners work hard for 20 seconds at a time and make advanced students work hard for 2 minutes at a time. Oh, let's tell the truth- you advanced students have to work hard for the whole time you are in my class! (laughing.)

All right- I head to Mexico tomorrow early early early. So we have no internet at the facility but we have access in the local town. I will check in on my blog probably once or twice but I am, once again, off the radar a bit for a few days.

have a good day. Oh and I might as well plug the upcoming Inner Harmony retreat after the whole Inner Harmony story. Now Inner Harmony retreats happen in Costa Rica and in March I am going to be teaching a teacher training piece, Martin Kirk is going to be teaching an Anatomy piece and his lovely wife Jordan will be teaching asana. Don't miss the fun! www.ihretreat.com