10,000 Vinyasas

Ok, I’ve done this once before, when the gym I teach at had no yoga classes on a holiday (4th of July), and after hearing my students lamenting that fact, I came up with the idea of an informal practice, where I would go through much of Primary Series, not teach but just call out the names of the poses and those who showed up would just follow along.  That worked well, and after detecting some similar interest on Sunday for Labor Day, I decided to repeat it. I had 6 show up this morning, one a woman who brought her young daughter who’d never practiced yoga, and we went through my “basic” practice, which is Suryanamascara A/B, all the standing poses, paschimottanasana, purvattanasana, and then skip to setu bandasana, backbends, and then the closing sequence, which takes about 55 minutes.  I had a great time, and I think my students did too.  I am inspired by my students enthusiasm and their willingness to keep practicing; another benefit of teaching I would have never experienced had I not taken that leap forward 2 1/2 years ago.  It’s difficult to find the words to adequately describe the amazement and fulfillment I experience both from the practice itself, and the teaching and all the other experiences which seem to spontaneously come from it.

I think the shoulder is completely healed, a combination of rehabilitation (Airrosti) and me being careful in practice.  At any rate, we did 3 kickovers in a row at acro today without issue, and I believe it’s time to move on.  Anticipating tomorrow’s practice with hope and enthusiasm. A death in the family this week caused me to miss some practice, and I was especially glad to get back to it; it feels like your body truly needs this and suffers when it is not available. Teaching notes:  I am starting my fourth weekly class tomorrow, and intend for it to be a more vinyasa-style class, in the vein of what my original teacher used to teach.  I continue to sub a different class at least once a week, which keeps things fresh and at the same time makes me appreciate my “regulars.”  One of the unanticipated pleasures of teaching is watching people make progress.  I imagine some of them may not even notice the slow but steady progress, but when you look at the group as a whole and compare them to the students in a subbed class, the difference is noticeable.

Well, I was kind of joking a few posts ago about the “sweatiest practice ever,” but I think yesterday’s return to my Saturday led Primary Series really was, in fact, if not the sweatiest, then certainly up in the top three. Also noted that this practice was done on perhaps the hottest day of the year here. At any rate, brought one of my students along to help him experience a different teacher and environment; he acquitted himself well.  My shoulder has almost completely healed, and I did not aggravate it yesterday by jumping back (I am doing this with more awareness now, so I think we can continue without fear of further injury). I had missed the led Primary class quite a bit, and despite some normal difficulties, got through it with a sense of serenity and peacefulness.  Looking forward to getting back into more practice, although I may have to attend to my “other” job more than usual this week. In other news, I have picked up a new class at the gym on Saturday mornings, and am scheduled to sub for a teacher at the gymnastics center not far from the house.  Acro has been going well, also (pictures to be posted).

I have noticed, probably without thinking much about it, that I have recently developed a weakness in my left shoulder, manifesting itself in pain when jumping back into chaturanga.  When we resumed acro-yoga this week, I was doing a kickover when I felt a searing pain in the front of the shoulder.  I immediately attended to it, and was actually able to do a regular practice of handstands, but the pain has really prevented me from doing my usual yoga practice, and in some of the classes I’ve taught this week, I most obviously cannot jump back in the normal manner. I discovered today that one of the issues was my left hand coming slightly off the floor when jumping back, and consciously planting that hand eliminated the pain. Further healing seems necessary, though, and I have decided to forgo my usual led Primary Series tomorrow and Mysore practice on Sunday.  I can do some of my personal practice without straining the shoulder, and my teaching job at the gym enables me to take some rehabilitation without cost, so I have an appointment Monday for some of that. It’s a little discouraging, but I do have a history of using injuries in a positive way, to develop other skills or parts of my body. For acro specifically, we are working on extending my handstands by quite a bit, and that is developing my endurance.  I am also emphasizing more of my splits, which are already almost developed, but need a little extra attention.  It was kind of upsetting to have to teach in pain this morning after I strained the shoulder again (couldn’t help demonstrating something I shouldn’t), but I do think acro-yoga does slightly help the injury, since the alignment is fixed and the shoulder is worked in that position. Sorry to be so self-centered in this post, but I think it’s valuable to record some of my responses to adversity in addition to the positive ones (which, by the way, outnumber the negative exponentially).

Following a improvisational vinyasa class last week, and hearing an unfamiliar and startling cue, I started thinking about how as yoga teachers, we try to find new ways of inspiring our students to go deeper in their practice or into a particular pose. As yoga students, I am sure we are all familiar with the “aha!” moments when a teacher says just the right thing to help you find your way into a pose, or you leave practice thinking more about some spiritual aspect of yoga that was mentioned. At this point, I thought I would throw the floor open for helpful or inspiring cues that you’ve heard, or used yourself. You can attribute these, or not. I’ll start with a few:

On poses:

“take it to wherever it goes”–Ken Willian

“don’t hurry”–Lisa Long

“no forcing”–Ana Hollis

“surrender to the pose”–unknown (or, mine)

On the breath:

“let me hear you breathing”–Lisa Long

“soften your breath”–Ana Hollis

“without the breath, yoga is just exercise. With the breath, it becomes something else.”—mine

And one of my all-time favorites:

“I just make this crap up”–Meg Stecher

And here’s an original one from me: “some of my language is aspirational”

Now, let’s open the floor to readers…any takers?

Well, last week I ended up teaching twelve classes, ranging in size from one (twice) to twenty-five. I taught full Primary Series twice, an advanced Ashtanga class with Second Series variations, and several basic or introductory classes. Far from being tedious or tiring, I found this experience to be educational, enlightening and just plain fun! I remember when I first started teaching and was trying to teach three or four classes a week; at that point, it just seemed almost too much, although admittedly some of the classes were not scheduled at convenient times and locations. Seems clear that I’ve come a long way in my teaching progress, and yet I do understand with quite a bit of clarity that it is really important to be able to continue practicing if you teach yoga. Your teaching should be an evolving process, and that can only come through a continuing yoga practice, which is also changing as you learn and move deeper. I have been gradually moving back towards Ashtanga in my yoga practice over the last few months, and I am happy with how that’s going, although the aches and pains of body parts occasionally require my attention. I am working on rehabilitating my knees, and hoping to get back to the correct form of padmasana (I have to draw the left foot in first right now), but I am also trying to remove myself from expectations about this practice and just enjoy the moving meditation.

This week’s schedule calls for only one extra class for me to teach, so I am getting a break, I guess. Hoping to get all three sessions of acro-yoga in before next week; we won’t be practicing for a couple of weeks after.

As mentioned, this week I was called upon to teach Primary Series twice for the very first time in my teaching career. As is true with my entire teaching experience, I found it difficult and rewarding. I have previously posted on the difference between counting the breaths and using descriptive words in teaching Ashtanga, and this week offered an opportunity to explore that. My first class was rather, well, like my first teaching experience: nervous and excited, but with some confidence that I could translate the knowledge I had to my students. After all, I have been teaching a modified version of Primary Series for quite some time, so I only had to add the rest of the series. Of course, I was somewhat awkward in my verbiage with these “new” poses, but everything seemed to work out well–I only forgot a couple. My second try was better. Ten people showed up, some of whom were obviously inexperienced, but they all stayed until the end. I also tried to add in the traditional elements of the led Primary that I have been taking recently, even chanting the opening and closing mantras, even though that is not often done at the gym (for fear of offending those who think we are trying to convert them to the “religion” of yoga). Of course, my counting is far from perfect and I need more experience in counting in Sanskrit beyond Suryanamascara A and B, but overall, it was great fun. I was quite impressed with the students who were new or had limited abilities continuing the class until the end, remembering clearly how ferociously difficult I found the Primary Series when I first encountered it. At any rate, I will be looking for more opportunities to teach Primary in the future. As always, I must express my gratitude to my many teachers who have given of themselves and conveyed their knowledge and skill to my great benefit.

For some reason, probably because so many go on vacation during this month, I find myself with quite a few additions to my teaching schedule; specifically, I will be teaching Sundays and Thursdays at Yoga Shala (Beginning Ashtanga), as well as filling in for a couple of fellow instructors at the gym where I teach. This will give me an opportunity to teach the full Primary Series for the first time, something I’ve been wanting to do. This is the point at which I say, “well, you wanted to teach yoga, right?” Actually, far from dreading my full schedule, I am looking forward to adding to my teaching experience. I have reached the point where I have very little negative feelings from teaching; I feel accomplished enough to have acquired a bit of confidence in my ability to lead a class. In some ways, teaching is a furtherance of your yoga practice and the direct feedback you get is encouraging. I feel lucky enough to have had some really excellent teachers and instruction, and to be able to share that knowledge with others is inspiring and gratifying, in a way that my “other” job is not. I am completely impressed at this point with the direction yoga teaching has taken me, and am curious and eager to find out what’s next. Come by for a class if you find time in your schedule; namaste!

An additional note on practice: one of my favorite teachers is filling in at Yoga Shala at the end of the month, so I will probably have to wander over there a bit more.

Well. I have become aware, since I started my yoga practice about four and a half years ago, that yoga was something different from just another exercise routine. Specifically, yoga takes you places, and yoga brings people together. I know these are somewhat banal, at least to those who practice, but they are and continue to be meaningful aphorisms in my practice and life. The culmination of these thoughts occurred in the past week, when I traveled to a resort south of Cancun, Mexico, and taught yoga there. This arrangement was facilitated by a group called FitBodies, which places fitness instructors including yoga, in resorts around the Caribbean and other places. Basically, the deal is you pay a fee to go teach for a week in an all-inclusive resort, which works out to be a substantial discount to regular prices. Since I have often traveled to the Riviera Maya in search of underwater experiences (i.e., scuba diving), this seemed like something to explore. I chose the most elaborate, expensive resort of all selections and it proved to be an outstanding choice, in quality and service. Everything was as luxurious as I expected from perusing the website, and the level of accommodations, food and service turned out to be simply amazing.

overlooking the pool

My only duty was to teach one class a day, and of course, that was just fun, from my perspective. It also gave me the discipline to practice every morning, before anything else, which I have not done before or at least in a long time. At any rate, it was quite an enjoyable experience, and enhanced by the fact that I got to teach a number of people who hadn’t practiced yoga before. One couple came faithfully and worked hard for the two days we had with them, and repaid me at the end by paying for my scuba dive! I would be more surprised, but I have also noticed that teaching and practicing yoga tends to produce these kind of experiences. Soooo, what I found was that yoga had taken me to a luxurious seaside resort and enabled me to take a quite excellent scuba dive, and all without any effort on my part. It also helped that the scuba dive was exceptionally exciting, since the currents were very strong, and the dive master who accompanied me actually drove from Playa del Carmen a couple of days after that to take my yoga class. All in all, a wonderful trip, and one I will certainly repeat at the earliest opportunity.

I am teaching this week at a resort south of Cancun. I’m intending to post a more detailed explanation of how I got here and my experiences soon but just to say today, it has been a wonderful experience and yet another example of how yoga just takes you places, opens doors, and connects you to people. If you are considering a yoga practice, do not wait, just do it now!

Well, as of yesterday, I’m officially done with teacher training, following a brief and painless meeting with our trainer. I note that this certification has really very little to do with how good a yoga teacher one is, and it was only for the value of the credential that I undertook to obtain it. It was the only ambition that I had regarding my yoga practice, and now it is over. Seems that I can now consider teaching at resorts in exchange for free or reduced stays, which would be interesting, I guess. I did actually learn some new stuff during this training, and I enjoyed getting to know many of the trainees (“yoga brings people together”). Despite the above, I did feel an unexpected sense of accomplishment when I exited from the meeting yesterday. Not that I’m looking to expand my teaching much at this point; my “other” job has been busy and I also have many other interests and projects that take up time. Nonetheless, I get enormous gratification from teaching people yoga, and my life would be quite empty without it. Sure, it sometimes infringes on practice time, but the psychological benefits are tremendous. That was one point of agreement I had with our trainer.
(practice notes) I’ve been doing more Ashtanga, both on my own, and in led classes lately. The style really is cathartic; it burns away mental impurities and leaves me feeling relaxed and joyful for the rest of the day. At the same time, it’s challenging enough to retain my interest and record my progress, at least in my head. I’m picking up a lot of good practice tips from Lisa Long’s led class. Oh, and acro’s going well too.

I just realized that it’s been two years since I started teaching yoga, and wanted to comment on that. During the last two years, I’ve consistently taught at least 3 classes a week, and for most of that time, taught one or more private lessons averaging twice a month. I’ve watched as my teaching has grown more confident and my classes have gotten larger, for the most part. I now have what I consider to be the best teaching schedule, at the right times and places, and so I don’t spend a lot of time traveling or finding subs when I have schedule conflicts. I’d have to say that teaching yoga has become one of my great joys in life; it is just so much fun to help people discover the benefits of practicing yoga, and to think that I have something to offer, well, I still find that kind of amazing. Part of me still wonders sometimes why people come to my classes; I guess I have a little of the “imposter syndrome” when it comes to teaching yoga, and this is probably because I started teaching only after I took a weekend yoga teaching course. Of course, what I didn’t realize was that I had accumulated quite a bit of knowledge about yoga that wasn’t reflected in the brief formal teacher training, and so I do feel that one should have a strong yoga practice before beginning teaching. From my teacher training (the 250 hour one), it’s clear that some people who want to teach yoga don’t begin this way, to their detriment. At any rate, I no longer have that little gasp of apprehension when I face a large class, or some other yoga teacher appears in my class. From the howling success that I’ve had, I’m glad that I started teaching by trying to modify Primary Series, because I believe in the Ashtanga system, but at the same time, its full application to a mixed-level class has some challenges. A balance between authenticity and not scaring off beginners, is what it boils down to. From here, I’m looking forward to wherever this second career will take me. Namaste!

For awhile now, I’ve been trying to learn to count in Sanskrit during Suryanamascar. It’s kind of difficult, especially the B, since the count goes up to 17, and the words are relatively unfamiliar, mostly because I learned Ashtanga Primary Series from Ken, who did not count, but instead used descriptive words to get students into the poses (no doubt reflecting his background in teaching yoga at the gym, which was where I met him). It has become clear to me recently that the benefit of learning Primary from this kind of teacher turned out to be that I can quite effectively take new (or newish, I guess) students into the poses easily, using descriptive words. During my attendance at some of the community classes we are required to teach and go to, I noticed that other teachers don’t necessarily have this facility, to their detriment. What this did for me specifically was to allow me to more easily move into teaching, since I had basically memorized without trying, the descriptions of the large number of poses in Primary Series. So, back to counting: I’ve been practicing it during my private lessons, and last night felt confident enough to count the last “B” all the way through (I made it funny by using my “Pattabhi Jois voice”). It was fun, and added a new dimension to teaching. In other notes, I’ve been expanding my pose repetoire to include some Second Series poses, like Dhanuasana, Ustrasana and Bhekasana. I’m sure my longtime students appreciate the variety; I sometimes feel like I’m in a bit of a rut teaching the same order and kind of poses every week (then again, it’s modified Primary, so it should be mostly the same, I suppose).

With teacher training. It’s been a long slog, and I’ll be glad when it’s over. I’ve learned some things, and have gotten more exposure to the Yoga Sutras, chanting, meditation, and other practices. It certainly has taken up a lot of time, and I’m sure I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when I have more space to do stuff (like rebuilding a used espresso machine, to be discussed in an upcoming post). Anyway, I’m not sure this particular version was exactly what I was expecting, in the sense that I was thinking there would be more Ashtanga-specific teaching. At any rate, I’ve picked up a new private lesson this week, and a potential opportunity to teach a class, outside of a formal studio. My practice is going well; my knees are still sore but sometimes allow Padmasana and other poses.

(Update) Ok, we are done (well, not quite–still have to teach three “community classes,” my exam is not graded yet, and there was a mysterious hint about a possible “additional assignment” for some), but at least most of it is over. Will be nice to concentrate on other things. In addition, it may be a while before I take another workshop; I think I’ve done enough for now and want to concentrate more on my practice.

I’m giving props to Shelley by billing her equally with her husband, since she was such an integral part of the instruction (and, I liked her very much). David Swenson is perhaps the last of the traditional Ashtanga Yoga people that I’ve been taking workshops from over the past year (readers will recall David Williams, Doug Swenson, Nancy Gilgoff, and Tim Miller), so I was eager to hear his perspective. The first session was a led primary class; I got a lot out of David’s suggestions for modifications to some of the poses. In the afternoon session, it was nice to get, yet again, another perspective on lifting up and jumping back. I guess I would say that David Swenson is pretty close to Nancy Gilgoff in his traditional style, although he has a sense of humor very similar to his brother, Doug. Doug, of course, is kind of a maverick in the traditional Ashtanga area, and incorporated some tai-chi movements into some of the transitions between poses. David does not actually have a studio in Austin where he and Shelley live; apparently, he just travels and teaches, along with the sales from his books and videos. Nice way to make a living from yoga, in my opinion. The second day’s opening session was an introduction to Second Series, and of course, I’m familiar with this, having practiced many of the poses in some of Yoga Shala’s classes. I’m only able to do about 50% of Second, but it’s still fun to try. We did a lot of work with partners in this session, and overall, it was a very nice experience. (I had to skip the pranayama session at the end, since I had to go teach). I probably should purchase at least one of his books, since it seems very helpful in teaching modifications to difficult poses.

Through practice (both Acro and yoga), my Pincha Mayurasana has improved to the point where I can know expect to perform it away from the wall, at least according to one teacher I took last week. I never thought I would get that one, at all; for some reason, I just found it to be especially difficult. On another note, my Primary Series practice has improved to the point that I’m able to do a passable version of about 90% of the poses. The practical effect of this is to make my self-practice even more enjoyable. Yesterday afternoon I went to a practice room at Spectrum and just worked through it…it was wonderful in restoring my peace of mind. I can now perform dropbacks and standups from backbend without a whole lot of fear, and once again, this is something I would never imagined doing even a couple of years ago. Steady progress does wonders for your motivation to practice more. It really is like a drug, sometimes. On the teaching front, I subbed for Ana a couple of classes at the studio, the more advanced ones, and had a great time doing it. I do like teaching a less mixed level class sometimes, and trying to get people into more advanced poses is fun.

I took the workshop this weekend.

The first substantive portion (after the led primary, which I had to skip) was the building strength and lifting up module. Kino Macgregor has studied directly with Pahttabhi Jois, which was entertaining, since she shared some stories about Guruji. Kino has an interesting diction, which reminded me of the skateboarder/surfer Jay Adams, and made me wonder if she originated in California. She spent some time talking about the common personal excuses that we utilize in avoiding difficult poses in our yoga practice, i.e., “my arms are too short, my butt’s too big, I started too late,” to be able to jump forward and back. This is a favorite topic of mine. At any rate, she most effectively broke down the jumping forward and back process, differing slightly from Mike Matthews’ approach, who encouraged us to jump into a preliminary position with the tops of your feet to the floor, before scooting the feet forward of the hands (Kino referred to it as walking the feet forward), whereas Mike told us to pulse the hips, bringing the feet forward until they came past the hands and “kick the feet out.” In contrast, Kino spent quite some time teaching us what she called “building the foundation,” which meant placing the hands with fingers slightly digging into the mat, bringing the “ball” of the index finger deeply into the mat, rotating the eyes of the elbows in to a 45 degree angle, and emphasizing the strength of the deltoid muscles, along with bringing the spine into flexion and drawing the lower belly in. We went from all fours into plank with these cues. From there, she encouraged us to bring one foot forward, placing the top of the foot near the hands, and then the other, and walking the feet forward, straightening the legs, and then lowering the hips. I can mostly do this without instruction, so this part of the workshop was not enlightening for me, although I did enjoy the different perspective, and the emphasis on uddiyana and mula bandhas in attaining this difficult skill. Separating out all the parts seems to be Kino’s special talent in Ashtanga yoga. The part for me that needed clarification (and Kino gave it to us) in this workshop was the action of bending your arms and bringing your chest forward and down before jumping back. I attained several almost perfect jumpbacks using all of Kino’s cues, and of course, doing it once means you can, eventually, do it again, and then over and over with practice. Speaking of which, Kino mentioned that it takes about 10,000 repetitions of movements to enable familiarity within the body, so once again, we have to practice over and over. Kino also said some things that I’ve been noticing, and have previously posted here, specifically about the long horizon in yoga, the fact that beautiful-looking poses should be looked at as expressions of the amount of work and dedication involved, and that injuries result from students trying to push themselves into poses their bodies are not yet ready for. That was kind of cool, to hear someone that accomplished say what I’ve thought for awhile.

The second day was Mysore, followed by a module on backbending. I loved the Mysore in that hot, crowded, sweaty room, but I must’ve done a little too much, since I injured my left hamstring pretty severely (it’s frustrating that I can never pinpoint when I actually injure myself, apparently; it just happens, and the effects show up later). The backbending was interesting. Since I’ve been practicing with a former gymnast, Vladimir Vladev, I have gotten his instruction on backbending, and it’s slightly different than a yoga-style backbend instruction, but I’m always eager to get a different perspective, and maybe even blend some things if possible. I really liked Kino’s approach to this area, beginning again with building a foundation with tucking the tailbone and drawing the lower belly in, and lifting the stomach, ribs and chest up, creating space in the spine, and then bending the upper back. I can see that my chronic lower back pain has to do with not tucking the tailbone, and this I certainly can use in my practice. All in all, an excellent workshop, taught by an extremely accomplished and charismatic teacher. I can only imagine what my practice would look like with regular lessons from this yogini.

Continuing on last week’s theme of opening, I observe that much of the pain that beginners feel (and let’s not kid ourselves, as much as we try to make yoga a pain-free experience, it just isn’t, not by any stretch of the imagination) has to do, in my opinion, with the feelings of opening parts of bodies who’ve spent years behind a desk, or doing some monotonic exercise (running, weights, and don’t even mention golf!), or some other sedentary aspect of what passes for life here in industrial civilization. People spend years and years cultivating stiffness, rigidity, lack of inner strength and flexibility, and then come into a yoga class. The movements being taught there are designed to open the body and increase strength and flexibility and so of course the sudden opening of previously closed parts is painful, often excruciating. This may, in fact, be the reason that many people’s first visit to a yoga class is their last. This also suggests that there are more than one level of opening; in fact, there are multiple layers of openness, and this is echoed in the seemingly endless progression of ever-increasing levels of difficulty. I can also see from this that a lot of injuries can occur when people don’t understand this principle, and attempt to force their bodies into poses that their level of flexibility doesn’t yet allow, and realizing this brings up Pattabhi Jois’ admonition, to much clearer effect: “do your practice, and all is coming.” Of course, Guruji was Indian and his pithy aphorism must be explained to literal Americans, I suppose, but that’s my shot at an exposition.

Note: teacher training starts Monday. Should be fun and exciting. I’m looking forward to it.

Recently, I’ve begun to notice how important the placement of the back foot is in many standing yoga poses. In poses like Virabhadrasana A, for instance, angling the back foot at the proper angle will allow rotation of the hips without twisting the back leg; letting the foot angle out too far will prevent squaring that hip towards the front of the mat, while rotating the foot too far inward contributes to loss of stability, because you can’t “plant” the back foot very well. This same dynamic is echoed in Parsvottanasana, as well as Parivrrta Trikonasana. I find that many beginners neglect this crucial aspect of alignment, which is why their poses look like, well, beginners’, but the good news is it’s easy to correct. In other news, we are taking a slight break from Acro, due to circumstances beyond our control (hey, aren’t they all? isn’t control just an illusion?), but this is ok since it gives us a chance to rest the shoulder, which occasionally suffers from overuse. A good week of yoga practice is what we’re looking for this week.

Well, my brief tenure as the Saturday morning vinyasa teacher at Yoga Shala has come to an end. Attendance varied, but was in the low numbers most of the time, and the owner wants to start a new class at the same time, so there you are. I am trying not to bring my ego into my teaching, which of course is sometimes difficult, but it isn’t in this case, particularly. My teaching schedule is pretty full already, and I’ve been doing it long enough to feel some confidence that it wasn’t my abilities that caused this change, so on the whole, I’m not unhappy with this latest development. I also recognize that there are many things that one shouldn’t try to control, and my yoga practice and teaching fall into this category. So, I am now free to practice or do something else on Saturday mornings. Perhaps I will use this time to explore other teachers or areas of yoga, and then of course I have teacher training coming up.