Hollywood Florida

So we are three sessions into a four session weekend. Last night we worked with rooting the femurs in a sequence that went through virasana and standing splits to triangmukaikapada pascimottanasana and krouncasana. This morning we worked on vasisthasana variations and introductory back bends. This afternoon we emphasized inner spiral and outer spiral in forward burned, twists, padmasana and ended with pranayama, mantra and meditation. Good times.

The students here in South Florida are a lot of fun. This is one of those gigs where I am coming in to teach a group of students who are well trained in Anusara Yoga and so it is a very wonderful kind of fun for me. I love "pioneering" Anusara Yoga- going into areas that do not have a lot of exposure to Anusara Yoga and introducing them to the broad strokes of our method. But it is also a whole lot of fun to come to a place where the students are well seasoned in the method and to have a chance to offer my perspectives on the method and more nuanced alignment details and nerdy yoga geek kinds of things. That is how it is here. For instance, Everybody knows how to keep their foundation anchored well through surya namaskar, how to keep their arm bones back in chatauranga, how to engage their legs in standing poses and so forth. I am getting to work in finer details rather than broad brush strokes. And while I am taking no creative liberties with the method, I am able to be creative in it's application.

Also notable here in the South Florida community is a great sense of camaraderie, friendship and warmth amongst the members of the kula. The students here are smart, funny, receptive and fun to be with. They seem to be very connected to one another and the team of senior teachers here is working together very well to keep things on track. Seriously, that is an inspiration to witness. Yoga community when it is good, is so very good and yet it can easily become civil war when personality overrides universality. And that can happen pretty easily, even when we are trying to avoid it. Anyway, it is great to see an example of such great team work, collaboration and common vision.

Darlene and Steve, my hosts and the owners of Yoga One (www.yoga1.net) are awesome committed yogis in the full swing of running a studio, raising a family and managing a full time chiropractic practice. They are long time students of Anusara Yoga and are examples of high integrity and personal excellence. They have been great hosts. I often tell people when I am traveling to teach that I am typically a very boring house guest. I will generally want to eat dinner right after I teach, talk a little bit and then retire to my room with a good book. After talking to group of people all day long, I am usually ready to stop talking and withdraw to a bit of quiet time, They have been great to talk to and great about letting me be boring also!

So, that is my check in for tonight. We have advanced back bends on the docket tomorrow and then I head back home for ten days. More soon.

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