HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

So it is my birthday yesterday. It was a great day. We started the Immersion Thursday night with our opening circle meeting at Darren and Bronwyn's house which is always a lovely way to begin the week.

We began yesterday with a talk and discussion on the malas- those lovely coverings of the heart that create feelings of unworthiness, separation and doership/inability to act. It is a potent consideration that built into the machinery of being human are the malas and yet one thing I love about this teaching is it can really help us to feel less blame for ourselves or judgement for ourselves when we know they are part of the deal of being human. Also when we can see these patterns as patterns, as malas, we can gain a little distance from them and we can know that the mala, while operative, while sometimes even self (or other) destructive is not who we are. We get to tease out the mala from the Self which is very big work.

So we started off with a pretty ambitious sequence and we didn't quite have time to really sort out the peak poses as would have been nice but we made a great journey into eka pada rajakapotasana- almost everyone I saw was grabbing at least their toe behind their head and we got strated on natrajasana. We are going to have ot visit that one again this week since, like i Said, we didn't really have time to sort out the challenges of just getting into it! Lots of people in the room could do it, with a little more help and time to explore it.

The afternoon we talked about the the margas or Paths that are outlined in the Gita, we had an anatomy class and finished with shoulderstand, meditation and savasana. All in all a very big first day.

I love Part 3 Immersions. the group dynamic is already formed, the commitment is always high and they generally feel like the run themselves. (Sort of!) This group is of a very high caliber. For instance, last time during Part 2 I asked people not to lie down during the talks and if they were tired to stand in the back when we were in the afternoon talk, not one person was lying down or treating the space casually. I didn't have to repeat the instructions I had given last time, which was a real gift.

So, on my birthday I got to the thing I love best which is teach yoga and particularly delightful was teaching yoga with my friend Darren. He remarked at the break that our teaching is feeling smoother than ever and I think that is true. This week concludes three cycles of Immersions we have co-taught and each one has been potent, unique and growth producing. I think that is what I like about the,. I see the profound shifts that the students have by engaging the process but I am right there in the mix also. The Immersion facilitate big shifts inside me also.

Today Douglas Brooks is here and so we have a weekend of Gita studies which is awesome. Tonight we have my birthday practice and party which I am excited about.

Oh, and those of you in Austin, I am going to teach a practice at Breath and Body on Saturday May 15th from 4:30- 6:30ish. (ish means that we might go over just a bit if we get into fun things.) $20. The air will be on, the door will be open, the music will be fun, the sequence will be rockin, the company will be fabulous... really, don't miss it. I leave for another 10 days sunday so please do come and play.