Roxy Yoga

yogitis and tree man February 9, 2009

Yesterday was the first day I practiced teaching some of the new Vinyasa flow’s I’ve been learning at training so far (day 3 of 10). We had to teach only by saying the following for each asana:

1. Breathe (inhale/exhale)
2. Action Verb (reach/lift/open…)
3. Body Part (your hands/legs/feet/arms…)
4. Where (direction/to the sky/floor/to your heart)

Trying to teach without saying the pose name was challenging, but it made me think outside of my typical teaching box which felt good.

Later in the day I was walking down the street engrossed in conversation with another yogi and this tree suddenly moved and stepped in front of us!   The tree looked at us and said “the tree has moved.”  The tree turned out to be a man on stilts dressed just like a tree, with bark, crazy branches coming out of his head, face paint, and who knows what else.  He made my heart jump through my chest and my friend screamed and we just laughed.  I thought, this is totally part of my Venice Beach Experience. I snapped a photo of him fixing his branches while looking in some windows. I wish I had a better photo, this does not do him justice. Later in the week he was hanging out in my hotel and I was so excited! If I lived in Venice Beach, I would be friends with Tree Man. I send him positive yogi mojo for making me look up instead of fiddling with my blackberry.

We also went around the whole room and did introductions today and spoke of what inspires us in yoga.  It was really inspirational and amazing what people decided to share.  My reason?  I get to love complete strangers all the time!  Yes, I think that’s the shit.  There are more reasons for me of course, but that one popped into my head.  Other thought provoking questions?  What changed and made me want to start teaching it?  What do I dedicate my teaching to?

Today teacher training yogitis set in, day 4. It feels something like this. We had an epic arm balancing class first thing this morning and I felt like falling asleep right afterward but had many more hours of yoga ahead of me.  I felt a little grumpy.  I felt like I couldn’t quite comprehend what she was trying to teach me today.  It’s like you hit some kind of capacity or something.  I powered through it though.  My eyeballs are burning right now and I’m falling asleep as I type, but a little push is good and a-ok by me.

Arm balances have always been difficult asanas for me and we did 9 of them this morning! This is an example of Crow Pose, Bhakasana, from Yoga Journal. Arm Balances require a crazy strong core and the ability to suck in your lower belly and keep it locked. I don’t quite have this down yet. My buddha belly is happy to stick out and announce itself to the world. Love me with more cheesy goodness it says!  Arm balances also require flexible hips and I really don’t have much flexibility in my hips yet either.  I need to start teaching these much more than I do.

I have more I could say and ellaborate on, but yogitis is telling me to go to sleep.