Me & The Boys

Taught the kids again yesterday—supersmall class—only my two boys Bradley and Kieran were there. I don't know if that's due to the weather, reorganization of the kids classes, or what, but lately, our classes have been two-to-four kids, tops.

Winging It
Even though I only had my boys (who I think are around eight years old), we had a blast. I decided not to sequence the class beforehand, but to wing it instead. This is both a good and bad idea for a green teacher. Although I wasn't at a loss for things to do, it does allow you to be a bit more scattered, especially with kids as an audience. That's not really good for a cohesive practice, but it did work in my favor because the boys are more high energy and more difficult to have a serious practice with than the girls. Had I spent a lot of time on a sequence instead of reading the vibe that day, I would have been at a loss because the boys were fired up! A typical practice doesn't work well for them...they need constant stimulation and challenge, or they get bored.

After the boys came in and got settled, we started centering and breathing and I was totally blown away when Bradley took Guyan Mudra with his hands while sitting! I explained to him what he was doing and tried to tell him a little about his mudra, and was so glad that I had an explanation for it. He obviously had seen it before and associated it with Easy Pose, although he didn't really understand what it's about. To think that a kid under age 10 would come in class and do a hand mudra is unbelievable (if only I could have started practicing at their age).

After centering, I put my Bond, "Shine" CD on. With the weather being bright and invigorating, I wanted music that reflected this. Bradley actually said he loved the first track which I believe is the DeBeers diamond commercial track...pumped up classical. I was shocked. I didn't know what to expect when he said, "What is this music? It's CRAZY!" I was about to jerk the CD out, then he said it's "crazy" but he likes it. One point for the teacher!

I ran the boys through Surya Namaskar A and B, but with a twist or two. I added a mad dog and a flip dog in there, which they found difficult, but they were fully invested in it, and intrigued as they'd never flipped their dogs before. Bradley commented that he wanted to practice it at home, which also really took me by surprise. Kieran tends to be more centered in his practice, but Bradley really gets into the complicated asanas. He wants to be able to do them and although at times in class he may seem like he's not fully engaged, he is. He's thinking about the mechanics of certain asanas and in his head, he's coming to terms with them even if he's not fully there physically.

Since the girls weren't in class, I allowed the boys (who are friends) to be a little rowdier than I prefer. To channel their energy, we tried more challenging asanas in one practice than I would normally. The boys loved Tripod Headstand. I had them work at the wall, and they decided they didn't want to try it at the wall the second time, and both got almost fully extended on their own strength and balance on their second attempt. It was so cool to see—they were so proud of themselves. Handstand at the wall was much harder; one did get all the way up, while the other was fearful of it. It gave me a good opportunity to talk through being OK with one's abilities as they are right now.

Both boys love Crow/Crane, so we did some Crow and I showed them Side Crow, and they tried that as well. Their Crows were just absolutely effortless and lovely, and I could that tell it's their favorite asana. We closed class with a very short Savasana—it's all I can do to get them to be still, much less be still with their eyes and mouths closed. I think they might have shut their eyes for maybe 15 or 20 seconds, tops. But as they rolled their mats up, Bradley's mom peeked in and asked how class was, and Bradley responded with an enthusiastic "It was FUN!" and that was all I needed to hear to make the rest of my day.

Yoga Teacher Training, Day 6, Module 1

Today was our last day of yoga teacher training for module one. It was a bittersweet day...six 12-hour days in a row, two-hour practices daily, and not getting enough sleep definitely take their toll. Our lives outside yoga and this training have come to a screeching halt, so from that perspective, it's nice to finally have gotten through it.

But...

We've had so much fun living, eating, and breathing yoga for six straight days! We've had a blast getting to know each other throughout this endeavor. And aside from the yoga, the opportunity to spend so many hours with Dolly—a humble, gifted, and enlightened soul if there ever was—was just such a blessing. If I could clone her, I would. She would likely never accept the label, but she is a guru in her own right. She is a very, very special person, and just so cool. For me, she will always be the yogini against which all others are measured.

Balances and Inversions
Before practicing today, we studied arm balances like Crow, and inversions like Tripod Headstand. Check out this video (Dolly Floats to Crow) of Dolly demonstrating how to go straight from Downward Facing Dog to Crow—she's so steady, so controlled, it's sick. If you don't do yoga, let me just tell you this: this is hard as hell to do! Don't believe me? Try to mimic it!

You can also view photos of our class working balances and inversions.

Our Practice Today
Oh boy...this is the practice we've been dreading since we got our assignments yesterday. Dolly split up a typical 90-minute Power Vinyasa sequence into 15-minute increments focusing on warm-up, Sun Salutations, standing postures, and floorwork (none of us could teach Savasana...damn!) Each person in the class had to sequence and teach their 15-minute segment. Cay and Lauren both have some experience teaching yoga or fitness classes, so I don't think they were are freaked as Marge and me who have zero experience whatsoever. If Greg was worried, he never let on.

A 15-minute sequence?! Crap! I was up til midnight last night working on sequencing Side Angle, Revolved Side Angle, Ardha Chandrasana/Half Moon, Standing Splits, Bird of Paradise, Eagle, and all the transitions required to move people from one asana to the next. And I still ran about two minutes short, but overall, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong...it was very difficult for me, and I forgot to cue breathing for the first bit of the sequence, but overall, I wasn't as nerved up as I thought I'd be. As I pointed out in the discussion after, I'm not sure I would have been able to feel nerves because my heart was already pounding, and I was already sweating bullets because I'd been participating in the practice up until I took over teaching my sequence. I honestly thought I was really going to flounder, but I managed to remember to cue the next posture by name, then give details if needed, and that helped a lot.

Despite little issues here and there, overall, I think our first practice teaching session was really very good. Physically, it was challenging and all the sequences adequately prepared us for the asanas to come. No one totally lost it it or full-on floundered. It felt awesome to see and experience our final product and to know that we all made so many strides in doing it. And when it was over, we were elated to go out for Thai food and call it a week!



Namaste!

PS: Please visit again soon. I may not blog here for the next couple of days—but I will be attending a Rolf Gates weekend workshop February 9-11, 2007, and will definitely be blogging about that. Of course, if the urge hits me I may be back before then.