Sunday Night

So, it was a great weekend all in all. We had a sweet potluck gathering at my house after the workshop last night and then this morning we met for the last session with Laurie. It was a wonderful walk through some pranayama preparations, some handstand and pinca mayurasana work, sarvangasana and variations and ended with some awesome revolved uppa vista konasana, revolved janu sirsasana and revolved pascimottanasana, a foray into akarna danuarasana and ekapad sirsasana. Fun stuff. Nothing easy, nothing casual, nothing haphazard. I really enjoy her teaching so much and I got so much help and insight for my practice. Great stuff.

I came home at noon, at lunch and Kelly and I drove out to Barsana Dham. As I drove out I was aware that we weren't talking much and I realized I was really tired. Then I got to thinking about the folks at the Texas Yoga Retreat and how they had been there with round the clock classes since Friday and I thought, "Wow, I bet they are gonna be tired!"

I was the last class scheduled AND it was supposed to be a back bend class and I thought to myself, "This may not be a great idea..." (those of you who know me know that is rarely a restful event.) Anyway, I checked in with the group who confirmed my intuition (they were wiped out) and so I proposed a change of topic. We did restorative yoga and pranayama instead. It was lovely and just the right thing. What with the long weekend, the heat and the intensive study and immersion they had been doing, the last thing they needed to do were back bends. The class was great and by the end the folks had light in their eyes again and color in their faces and were relaxed and alert and better prepared, I think, to go home and take the yoga off the mat and into their lives. I even had Kelly take pictures because I thought some of you might enjoy photographic evidence of restorative yoga in a class with Christina Sell!

Also, I liked the peacocks there. Picture below in their glory.

Supta baddha konasana
twist over a bolster
Me, explaining pranayama. (Dana, you can't tell, but I have your lovely River Bend Yoga T-shirt on!)
After class we walked around on the grounds looking for some photo opps but nothing too great came along. I did like the Devis though. So this is Devi with the Devis.
Flirting.
Anyway- I had a great weekend. It really was. I feel like I had a chance to be part of the community here in a lovely way and I met so many new and interesting people throughout the weekend as well as connecting with some folks I have not seen in a while.

More tomorrow.