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.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Monday, October 1, 2007
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.
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.
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