Thursday Morning

Last week I posted this picture here and I also posted it on Facebook, wondering how to get closer to the classic form for this pose with the arms straight. And then I got a message from Desiree Rumbaugh who was in Israel and she said the only way she can ever get her arms straight is to take her arm bones back more than seems humanly possible. (my words, but she did say, there is a fair amount of grunting groaning and grimacing involved many times!) So, on Tuesday I wrote a sequence to head into the pose again and when Gioconda and I practiced I was in a pose a lot like the pose above and then I buckled down, sucked my arm bones back as hard as I could and kicked my feet as hard as I could into my hands and lo and behold, I got my arms straight by the third try.
So that was a very exciting thing on Tuesday afternoon. After that I came home, made dinner and then The Other Desirae came over. (Sometimes we call her "Little D" as opposed to "Big D" but that is another story.) So we sat outside and ate roasted veggies and had a lovely talk about life, yoga, business, and such.

She and her mom and Omar and his wife are all in the Kombucha making business now. Their product Kosmic Kombucha is really fantastic. It has great flavor, awesome effervescence and a very low sugar content. Seriously it is very good AND it is available for sale even as we speak! Call Desirae at 512-917-2234 or stop by Breath and Body Yoga for yours.

Yesterday was Focus on Form day in the morning. We worked on back bends and twists which went well. We spent a lot of time on the belly down back bends and getting all the different parts f the pose to come together in unity. (I started telling a story about how, as a community, we need all parts to work together, etc. and it is much easier said than done once you add in the business element of teaching yoga and so on.)

I met a friend for lunch and then met up with Gioconda again for a practice. We did lots of hipwork and twists (to work out some of the residual soreness from Tuesdays back bends!) and that resulted in a nice foray into padmasana, simhasana, and parsva kukkutasana, which is big pose for me. Lotus does not come naturally for me, twists are not my strong suit and with a long torso getting my leg high up on my arm is a major undertaking. Anyway, after several attempts I did it on both sides and Gia, bless her I-phone once again, captured it on film.

So after a short break, I taught the 6:00 Level 2-4 class which was a really fun time. Last week, Miranda requested some help into how to get her leg behind her head and so we worked on that last night in class and celebrated Jeremiah's 26th Birthday! Yippee.

Here's our sequence:

AMV

AMS

uttanasana

surya namkasar variation lunges and with no long holds- 5 minutes

malasana -2X

pasasana -2X

maricyasana 1- 2X

maricyasana 3- 2X

Virabhadrasana 1

parivritta parsvakonasana- 2X

deep lunge with forearms down

lunge with shoulder under front knee

parighasana variation

visvamitrasana prep with back knee down

visvamitrasana- 2 X

omega pose

eka pada raja kapotasana prep- moving back and back until the front leg looks like omega pose

laying on back with one knee down to floor by arm pit

supine babay cradle

eka pada sirsasana- 2X

setu bandhasana

windshield wipers

setu bandhasana

savasana

Once again, we had a really great turn out for class, with lots of folks working really hard. (And I was happy to see I didn't totally freak everyone out last week with my empowerment rant! Or if I did freak them out, they did at least come back for the most part.) I will be out of the Wednesday classes for the next 3 Wednesdays but Hannah will be holding down the fort for me so please support her, please support the class, please support the other students and please stay connected to your practice on Wednesdays. I will be back teaching Wednesdays on May 26.

I am planning a practice for May 15 before I head out of town to the Certified Teacher's Gathering. I am just deciding on a place. I am very tempted to have it down in San Marcos with swim in the river afterwards just like old times. The space is revamped, it would be a nice way way to initiate the space and so stay tuned for details.

So, that's the update for today. I have an appointment and then some work to do all morning and then I am subbing the Group Practice for Mandy-ji this afternoon and The Love Yoga Coop. We have requests for headstand and variations, twists and back bends, a specific request for standing up from urdhva danurasana and so it should be a pretty fun time. Come ready to work and to play.

All right then- onward with the day.