I slept in a little this morning and went to a Level 2 Vinyasa. It was still at 8 am but during the week I tend to go to 7 am class. Hence the whole sleeping in... and by sleeping in I mean I got up at 6:45 instead of 6:15.
Anyway, I really love and appreciate when teachers can admit that they are still learning. My teacher this morning, Kristen, said that once she decided she wanted to become a yoga teacher, she became a lifelong student. I think that is true of most things... If you decide you want to teach on it, you have to be constantly learning and expanding your mind. I like her classes because she always does a slightly different flow than the usual Vinyasa classes. We started with some meditation and about 1/3 of the way through class, we had a fun little instructional on how to properly do Chaturanga Dandasana. We put blocks behind our forearms to make sure they stayed straight from High Plank to Low Plank to Upward Dog. It didn't feel too different for me so I feel like my form has been good thus far. We also had a mini-instructional from another teacher who was in class on Down Dog and I think that may totally change the pose for me. I have a tendency to put the weight in the back of my palms which just puts more stress on my forearms and wrists. He explained the engagement of the fingers a little differently and I think I get it. I'm going to have to keep practicing it to change the muscle memory but I think it will make things way easier.
We also learned Yoga Sutra 1.2: "Yoga is the restriction of the fluctuations of consciousness". (Yogas-citta-vrtti-nirodhah) With the occasional (frequent) scatterness of my brain, this is one of the things I really love about yoga. It keeps me centered. Overall, a really great class and a great way to start my Saturday.
The first time I went to one of Kristen's classes was about two weeks ago. Her theme that first time was "Abhyasa" which roughly translates to "practice"; I also found this: "Abhyasa means having an attitude of persistent effort to attain and maintain a state of stable tranquility". The word and the descriptions she gave really hit me but I couldn't remember it all after class. In retrospect, I knew I was going to see her today and I feel like "Finding Abhyasa" would be an equally accurate blog title for this little year long yoga adventure. However, those who know me well know that when I decide to do something, oftentimes I have to do it right away.
Also, I'm debating if I want to try doing two classes tomorrow. It is supposed to be a rest day and I feel like I can get away with one Kind Hot class but adding a Vinyasa Level 2 class may be a bit much. Also, I did legs today and the day after is always interesting. I may play that one by ear, especially since the Super Bowl is tomorrow.
Namaste, friends.
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