Is it possible

I haven't posted in that long? I have been teaching about 5-8 classes a week, practicing 5-6, working a new job. The answer is yes. When I catch my breath I will come back.

A NEW START

My blogs have been slight, but I will be returning soon.

I am changing jobs and today is my last day on the stinky one and I start Monday on one I hope is NOT stinky.

I am teaching A LOT and practicing A LOT. Thus, my shortage of blogging activity.

October 1

Already.

I outdid myself this weekend. I went to a bikram class on Saturday and then did Jackie’s flow and then did bikram yesterday morning and taught three classes last night. So I spent about 6 hours yesterday in a hot yoga room. I also joined the Y yesterday and did some elliptical. I thought John would have to shovel me out of bed this morning but I actually got up early.

Doing the flow after Bikram is a real challenge. About half way through I feel like walking out but I wanted to stick with it because Jackie’s class is so amazing. I was almost in tears afterwards. No lie. Her presence is so amazing after that Baptiste bootcamp and she was trying to convince me to go and I do want to, maybe next year or the year after. I am going to get married so just can’t commit money to something like that right now.

Last night I taught intermediate flow and Jackie showed up for the class, which I really appreciate but I hate it when teachers show up to classes I am just starting to get comfortable with. It actually was way better than the first one, but I need to get the flow down a little more. I feel like it is rough yet but that takes practice, so I am going to make my 6 am people flow a little more. I am substituting an hour class in a few weeks so I am taking all the practice I can. Julie wanted me to sub a class last week but I wasn’t able to. The people who take the intermediate flow are getting to be pretty advanced. They have had flow about a year now at the studio and the students who have gravitated to that are really getting advanced and like to be challenged. I think I challenged them though. I had them using a lot of props which the other teachers do not do at all, well except for Alex, but his use is pretty minimal. I had them doing a lot of hip openers and closed with a restorative type of sequence and I think they liked that. One student said she felt very relaxed by the end.

After that I had to teach a Bikram class and I almost died during that. Literally, I was sweating buckets and drank a ton of water. That class is always the same but the group had a really good group energy last night and I love that. I feel that is a class I can disappear in when the class is running on it’s own dynamic and I think that is really the best way in Bikram. The advanced students know the series and are in their own world.

Then I ended with Yin. Which is the best way to wind down at the end of the weekend. That class is getting big. The students are loving me teaching that I am getting some good feedback. I did not prepare a sequence but decided to do shoulder openers so started by working the upper back and moving the scapula around and then did some front shoulder openers. I am having John do this sort of thing at home. I am getting so many questions from students. Really. I am getting so many questions on upper back issues from people who work at a desk all day. I also worked a lot with a student who has sciatica. I am not a yoga therapist yet, but I believe the way to open the front shoulders is my starting with the upper back and then moving to the front. I am working on this series at home and it is really changing my shoulders. I am going to continue to work this series into my teaching.
Also with the lower back I think it is because of how people do forward bends at our studio. I have really been watching this and have been trying to correct the alignment and have people use more props so get the pelvic tilt corrected before they start going deep and most tell me this is helping with their pain.

There is really no work with alignment at our studio now other than my class and Alex’s and I am just beginning to learn about this and incorporate it in my teaching. It really makes me appreciate my teacher training and the alignment work that I learned. It is absolutely crucial to teaching yoga. All yoga feels good but doing yoga the wrong way is like anything else. Over the long run, it will hurt you.

Global Mala

I have my new schedule for fall. I have my Tuesday 6 am Hot yoga class, which is pretty much flow at this point. I teach 8 pm Bikram on Wednesday and 6 pm on Sunday Bikram and a Sunday 7:45 Yin Class. I am hoping someone takes at least some of the 4 pm Saturday Bikram classes so I can have a day off, but that is doubtful. Dar wants that time off and Alex isn’t teaching and Karen works her job during that time, so I probably will get most of them. I did not get a flow class but there are so many flow teachers I wasn’t surprised. I am on the sub list so will still get some experience.

Last night I did Alex’s 108 sun salutation class. It was very challenging. We did non-traditional poses in lieu of lung during most of it and we did it on our own, so we were coming up with interesting stuff. By about 74 my stomach hurt and I thought I was going to get sick, but we stuck with it and by the last 20 were re-energized. We did it. I had to teach the Bikram class afterwards for Dar and was sweating a lot just teaching. I drank a lot of water and was stiffening up but did a few poses with the class. Today I am not stiff but can tell I will be when the lactic acid decides where to settle. I thought I would get sore arms and shoulders from all the chatarangas but now am thinking the hips, hammies, and legs may be sore. Depending on how I feel tonight, I might go to Bikram. Dar is really working my last nerve though. She is whining all the time about things and I get tired of it. I hate going to class to take a class and have her pour her bs at me when I want to practice and then expect me to teach. Last night was twice in the last week. Then she wants to trade and wants to tell me what class is convenient for her. A lot of students are getting sick of her too.

I get complimented a lot on my Bikram classes probably because I am not focused on myself like she is all the time. I try to help people, not use it for my own self-therapy. I gave two people props last night. I know other teachers won’t do that but if they need it, I am giving it to them. This one girl who was new had really bad pain in her knees during bow so I gave her a strap and she had no pain. What could be wrong with that?

I feel crabby today though. I just feel like everyone is unloading on me, especially at work and I have problems and my own stuff to sort out and I just get so sick of everyone whining all the time. I will offer them a great big cup of STFU! LOL

Happy Monday

What a busy weekend. I taught four yoga classes.

My first was an hour and a half flow class. I was taking it over for Julie who was out of town. It is an intermediate class and I combined some choreography from Julie and incorporated some Astanga moves. I felt a little choppy teaching it and felt it might have gone a little too fast in the flow, but the students were not familiar with some of the asanas and I think they liked learning something new. Most of the students at our school do like a challenge. The floor series was challenging. I did a lot of hip work with strap and as Debra would say, the next day it was all “HELLO HIPS!” I could really feel it and wonder if they were all cursing me. I ran into a couple of students over the weekend and they indicated yes they did feel it but they liked it. I hope to teach that again, but if I do I intend to slow it down and not try to fit in so much.

On Saturday and Sunday I taught two Bikram classes. I am totally comfortable with that now and feel I do not sound so much like a robot now. I have been doing a lot of reading for my home study and my yoga therapy book and am taking that and trying to apply that to my teaching while staying true to the Bikram series.

Last night I taught a late Yin class. Everyone loves that class. It is so relaxing and I was able to practice that with them after having already taken a Bikram class in the morning. It felt great. What a great way to wind down the weekend.

Last week I went seven days without a Bikram class and focused on my home Yin practice, other than the hip torture class I taught on Friday and my Tuesday am class. My hips are opening up and I was very relaxed but I always miss Bikrams. This week I intend to do six Bikram classes, but tonight am doing a home practice and will kick John’s butt since he was lazy all weekend. He tried to fool me by being in bed on the bolster when I got home all night but that is all he did. The bolster is really opening up my shoulders and he needs to be consistent too. Mr. Petrified Spine and Shoulder Man.

I had a student ask me about his back issue last night and I was able to answer his question! I really am getting in to the therapy aspect of this. It just so happens I had been reading about this particular problem. I felt so knowledgeable and was so glad to give him specific suggestions that were accurate and I wasn’t just grasping for easy answers! It felt great. I love love love love love teaching and all the students I have contact with.

Thursday

Tomorrow I am teaching my first Intermediate Flow to sub Julie’s class. I am using bits of choreography from other classes, my 6 am class, and some Astanga asanas that are a little more advanced than some of the flow classes at our studio. I really want to challenge them so I hope they like it. I have to find some music too so I have a lot to do before tomorrow at four.

I haven’t gone to the studio to practice since Sunday but am focusing on my home Yin practice. I am going to Bikrams tonight because I feel I need to work it out really hard.

I am experimenting with my diet and am going raw for a week. I hope I can do it for more than a few days but right now really have my mind set on a week. I feel very heavy and like things are not flowing right. I need to unclog the drain or something. I don’t feel very energized lately and am not sleeping well.

Marit sent around the new schedule for fall. She is adding quite a few classes so I hope to teach more. I have been teaching a lot but mostly just taking sub classes and I only have two scheduled classes. I would like more and since I teach Yin and Flow now, I can pretty much teach everything they offer so that gives me more flexibility. I am low on the Flow list though since we have Baptiste and Shiva Rea trained teachers but that is okay. I don’t mind just subbing for those for a while and I need to practice teaching that a while so I get in my comfort zone with teaching Flow. It is so different from teaching Bikrams and I feel like I have to change it up more whereas with Bikrams I always am teaching the same thing. I like the flexibility of flow but I also like not having to prepare for classes.

Monday

Although this journal is to record my yoga experiences and that I might be leaving a lot of my other life out, that really is not the case. My life and schedule seems to revolve around yoga at the present moment. I did three classes over the weekend and taught two, one of which I participated in. I also worked on my homestudy and choreographed two classes. Plus I did extra reading in the yoga therapy books I bought recently.

The weekend was short. I have to teach tomorrow morning and am going to practice at home tonight and kick John in the butt to practice too. I am also choreographing a flow class and might be teaching my first one on Friday. Julie asked me to sub so I told her to ask Marit. My Tuesday class is basically a flow as it is so I just need to lengthen it a little.

My Yin class is going really well and Yin is the practice I am using to try to be less of a pusher in my normal 5-6 Bikram classes each week. Yin is easier to do at home and more relaxing. I practiced with the Yin class I taught last night and the women loved that class. I had John do a class at home with candles and he complained much less than he normally does. He is my worst student. He does nothing but whine and complain and keeps telling me he can’t do it. I am pushing him though. His spine is practically petrified and it will just get worse as he ages.

This man who works with financial reporting with me at work came over today and told me about his back. Talk about a candidate for yoga therapy. He is 69 and just discovered he has quite a back problem. His spine is totally misshapen because he lies on the floor and has for 30 years. I thought he meant while he sleeps, but no. He lays on the floor every night and watches tv and reads the paper. He went to a doctor who gave him muscle relaxers which of course did nothing. So now he has gone to a chiropractor for a couple of months and claim it has helped. I mentioned yoga to him but he had no response to it. I am sure the chiro can help, but would love a patient like that for yoga therapy. Of course, people want a quick fix. He would expect results immediately, but I can only imagine that getting his spine in line would take a long time. I think I will research this a little.