Babs Playful Babble

One of my guilty pleasures is checking up on another yogi/yoga teacher's blog: babsbabble. Her post from yesterday made me smile. Here it is:

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Ah. Class tonight was so great. I had a fun group of students who were willing to try new things. We kept things flowy and fun and then worked on some balancing poses. There was a lot of laughing!

And, then we worked on arm balances. They kept playing until they couldn't anymore and collapsed into bhaktasana laughing.

Classes like this make me think I'm not crazy to be a yoga teacher. Like I might have something to offer.

And here is my reply after reading about a class I wish I was at:

Sounds like the best class ever. My favorite sound in a yoga class is laughter and it is all the more amazing when it comes out of playing with inversions and arm balances. I read somewhere that a yoga teacher will say to her students: "If you wobble smile, if you fall laugh." I love how encouraging laughter encourages yogis to move closer to their edge and challenge themselves to try the poses they might be nervous to try in a silent room.

Maybe this is why there is now Laughter Yoga. Can't wait to see that part of "Enlighten Up!"

Innovative Yoga Sequences

After I teach and when I am practicing alone at home I like to just let go, be present, release any expectations or plans, and allow my body and subconscious to dictate what poses I do, how I move in and out of them, where I wiggle and shift engergy to, and what shapes I can create to open spaces that have not felt that open before.



Sometimes during these personal yoga practices I come up with fun and often challenging sequences. I try to use exciting transitions between postures, link a number of balancing poses together, move from standing to a seated twist and back to standing in one flowing sequence. I even make up new poses...except maybe they are not new poses, but just poses that I have never seen or been taught before.

I can hold the left and right sides for as long as I wish, do a bunch of hip openers, choose the arm balances I feel like working on, rest in supta badha konasana for ten minutes, start with 20 sun salutations or 2 (I don't think I have ever started with just 2), and allow myself to go on for 20 minutes or 2 entire hours.

To be completely honest, I am my own favorite teacher right now. If you have not spent some time doing your own yoga practice lately, I hope you will do so soon. I am sure you will realize that you are your favorite teacher as well.

Walk Out Update

Found out from the teacher that I took over the class from that the student that left is in fact someone who does not want to be touched and does not want personal (or any) corrections. Just like Kira Ryder said, it isn't usually about you. I guess I will just let it go.

I Experienced the Walk Out...

Taught Saturday and had 12 people in the class. Was a sequence I had come up with the week before and involved a lot of twisting to squeeze out the stagnant energies from winter. We started in balasana and stretched left and right before moving into a flowy version of cat cow where we exhale from cat through balasana and then inhale pulling up with an open heart through cow. After some organic rounds of that we pushed back into a bent knee downdog and walked our dogs and came up to tip toes and then sunk our heels back toward the floor before slowly walking feet to hands and relaxing in a slumpy uttanasana with knees touching thighs and head hanging heavy. Finally, we rolled slowly up to tadasana to move into our sun salutations.

Sun A/Surya Namaskar: Urdhva Hastasana, uttanasana, step left foot back into lunge, inhale right arm to sky, exhale hand back to mat, inhale left arm to sky, exhale hand to mat, inhale step back into plank, exhale through chatturanga, urdhva muka savasana, exhale to adho muka savasana. Step or jump feet to hands and inhale half lift, exhale uttanasana, inhale to urdhva hastasana. Repeat other leg and then one more round.

Sun B/Surya Namaskar: Ukatasana, swan dive to uttanasana, chatturanga, urdhva muka, adho muka, inhale right leg to sky, exhale sweep through to right lunge & plant back heel to inhale to Vira I/Warrior 1. Exhale humble warrior with airplane arms, inhale warrior 1, exhale reverse warrior, inhale Vira 2, exhale through vinyasa and then repeat opposite side. Repeat 2 more times.

Standing sequence was parsva ukatasana to right, step left foot back, twisting parsvokonasana and optional bind with step forward and take twisted bird of paradise. Well nobody in class bound so we skipped the balancing posture.

Vinyasa to Warrior 2, Trikonasana with core challenge, Revolved triangle, Parsvottanasana, then standing splits prep and eventually revolved half moon with option of taking that to chaporasana (aka candy cane). Release padangustasana A. And Repeat other side.


Next sequence was moonrise to hip opener or as called in jivamukti- turtle stretch and then moved into flying pigeon/crow.

Moving to the floor we started with back stregtheners and stretches. Salabasana/locust A then B. Bekhesana/ frog with Right leg, left leg and then both. Dhanurasana. Vinyasa to Ustrasana--and I offered variations of either lago or kapotasana. I helped one gils with a really open back into lagu for her first time and she said it felt fabulous.

Time was passing so I took us into seated twists. Mareychasana A, C and then Ardha Matseyendrasana. This is where I lost my student. I was helping and adjusting people and when we were in ardha matseyendrasana I could see that the girl could easily access the full posture to hold her knee and put the other hand reach back to crook of the hip. Well All I did was ask her whether or not she wanted to do the bind and wasn't sure what she said. I asked quitely once more and she didn't want help moving into it. Next time I looked over to that corner she was gone. Lost one. I didn't dwell on it at the time but did feel bad and sad and wondered whether she doesn't like any of my class or whether she just doesn't like to be touched or if she felt I told her that she was doing something wrong. I am not going to be too bent up about it because it would be wrong for me not to try to offer adjustments because one person left. I had noticed that she didn't take verbal corrections even when they were made to the entire class, so perhaps she doesn't come to class for the instruction, but more for the energy and the flow. Just hope I didn't turn her off from all yoga classes.

After this was closing sequence poses. Plow, shoulderstand, karnipidasana, supta hasta padangustansana A, B, across the body, supine twisting, supta badha konasana & savasana.

Full Moon Yoga

Tonight was a full moon and I had an 8:15 pm class to teach so I decided to focus on the moon as a theme and do a practice centered on the full moon. As I have mentioned before, my style has a heavy ashtanga influence and therefore I do pay attention to the philosophy of full and new moon yoga practice. But, since I do not teach ashtanga at the Tuesday night class I did not feel blasphemous leading a yoga class. I even made a music playlist with the moon as the theme to the songs (well except for the one called "Ocean," but since the ocean tides are a major part of moon cycles I thought it fit well). Most everyone in class was at a beginning or early intermediate level so a full moon practice was very skill level appropriate.

I opened with an explanation that tonight was a full moon and gave a quick talk about our bodies being 70% water and the belief that our bodies are affected by moon cycles just as ocean tides also are affected by full moons. The full moon corresponds to the end of the inhalation, the aspect of the breath cycle with the most prana. As a result, full moons leave us with energy and lots of emotion. Although we are often energetic at this time, we are also likely to be headstrong and lack grounding. The focus of the class, therefore, would be strength and grounding.

The style of the class was more along the Kripalu branch, but of course there were flavors of Jivamukti, ashtanga and yin yoga woven throughout. I guess that makes it a class of my eclectic and non-dogmatic yoga style.

The integration/warm-up sequence began in sukasana/easy seated pose. First we did side stretches. Next, easy twists. Coming to all fours we started cycles of cat/cow and eventually worked our way into downdog with deeply bent knees. Everyone was invited to slowly walk their dogs and ease into lengthening the spine, hamstrings, and achilles tendons. After rising up to tip toes and sinking the heels back toward the floor we slowly stepped the feet up to meet the hands for rag doll. In rag doll everyone was invited to sway their torso, bend the knees, allow the head to hang heavy and perhaps wiggle from side-to-side and front-to-back. Finally, we rolled slowly to tadasana.



Moon Salutation A:
1/4 moon side bend Right (R) and Left (L)
Open left leg to side for goddess pose
Take star
Side bend R/L
twisting forward bend R/L
Goddess
1/4 moon R/L

Repeat once more.

Chandra Namaskar:

Urdvha Hastasana
Uttanasana
Lift
Step back L leg to low R lunge with L knee on mat
Low crescent moon pose/anjeleyasana (spelling...?)
Down Dog/Adho Muka (DD)
Plank
Knees, chest, chin
cobra
DD
Lift left leg high
Low L lunge
low crescent on L
step to uttanasana
lift
uttanasana
Urdvha hastasana

(repeat 4 more times quickening pace)

Standing Sequence 1:
Vinyasa
Virabhadrasana/Warrior 2
Utthita Parsvokonasana
Bind
Extend to bound trikonasana
Return to Utthita Parvokonasana
Cycle through Vinyasa
Repeat on Left

Repeat entire sequence with 1 breath to 1 movement.

Sequence 2:

Ukatasana/chairpose
hands heart center and step back to a high R lunge/Crescent moon
Lower back knee and take intense quad stretch by pulling back heel toward same thigh while in low lunge.
Hamstring stretch/ Hanumanasana prep
low crescent
DD
Uttasana with lift, etc.
Ukatasana

Repeat L side.

Balancing:
Vrksasana/tree with optional arm variations
Moon rise from Jivamukti sequence (variation of utthita hasta padangustasana and parivrtta utthita hasta padangustasana
Seat of Isis with variation with feet hip with and then staggered {tip toes on inhale and lower to squat while remaining on tip toes}
Malasana and variations there

Seated Poses:
Dandasana
tolosana/lolasana
paschimottanasana
Swamp monster paschimo variation
to & lo pick ups between all
purvottanasana or table pose 3 times with Navasana between
Vinyasa to belly
Sphinx
locust/salabasana
swimming locust
balasana
roll down to back for supine twists

Suggested relaxation into savasana.

Hopefully everyone left feeling grounded, strong, and harnessed their energies enough to fall into a blissful sleep.

Fabulous Friday Home Practice

I just spent over an hour writing about my night and the gooey, delicious, and absolutely yummy home practice and went through the entire practice pose for pose in very explicit detail...only for it to result in an error when I tried to publish it. I don't have the patience or energy to rewrite it all right now. Perhaps tomorrow I will after I do it again in the morning or after I teach it in my class tomorrow.

But it was a wonderful night at home with the dog watching me practice and sleeping while I practiced with a wonderful playlist and had candles lit in the room.
Mmmmmmmmmm. Much better than drinking cocktails with the new roommate or drinking cheap beer with that person I was on the fast track with a couple weeks ago or even better than a night just sleeping.

Taught a class this morning. I had so many different ideas about what I wanted to include in the class and was having a hard time finalizing what I thought might go over well with this group. What I am most nervous about is that I am taking over the class for one of the studio's owners and I am sure she had a group of regulars that may not be excited about a new teacher bringing in a new style. I know that my style is a little different because my true yoga roots are in the ashtanga world and I value the vinyasa as the transition linking poses througout a practice. I did like my music and I look forward to putting together next week's playlist. There were about 12 people in the class, 2 of which were men and 3 of the attendees are also yoga teachers. We opended in sukasana--easy pose and did side and forward stretching there. Next we moved into Surya Namaskar A (sun salutation). I did a variation that involved stepping back with the left leg and coming into low lunge on right side. Inhale to cresent lunge, exhale twist right, inhale crescent with arch, exhale to plank, chatturanga, urdhva muka, adho muka, repeat left side, then meet in tadasana. I don't remember how many times through we did it---hopefully about three times. Next was surya namaskar B. Inhale ukatasana, exhale through vinyasa meet in down dog, inhale warrior 1, exhale warrior 2, cartwheel arms to floor and take plank and flow through vinyasa. Repeat on left side. Then did Surya Namaskar with core work. From downdog knee to nose three times and switch sides. Then right knee to right elbow and on third time option is to keep leg straight and move right thigh to right arm/elbow. Repeat left side (vinyasa in between each side. [I am coming back to this 4 days later and no longer have the clear recall that I did Saturday afternoon.] Next was vinyasa to Warrior2, to parsvokonasana, bind in parsvo, bound trikonasana, release to regular trikonasana and then vinyasa to repeat on left side. Next parsvottanasana with reverse namaste arms or hands grasping opposite elbows (actually I did a warm up parsvottanasana where inhale sweep arms to sky, exhale to flat back/half way,inhale hold and exhale fold forward allowing hands to reach to floor). After 5 cycles of breath in parsvottanasana moved into Warrior 3 with arms staying in reverse namaste. Release to tadasana. Repeat opposite side. I believe we did more blanace poses next and started with clasped hands under thigh in a preparation for uttitha hasta padagustasana A. Extend leg and hands to hips and hold, sweep leg through to Warrior 3 and hold 5 breaths and then sweep forward again to take eagle. Hold eagle and round forward in eagle and then release tadasana. For the opposite side we went from clasping under thigh and hamstring stretch to Eagle, round the eagle and straighten. From eagle to warrior3 then sweep leg forward to uttitha hasta padagustasana A with hands on hips and release tadasana. Final balancing sequence was traditional Uttitha Hasta Padagustasana A and B then return to A and release grip of big toe and hold leg out straight for 5 counts with hands on hips. Aghhhh- to the floor.

Vinyasa to 3 legged dog with right leg lifted, drop right heel to left buttock and gaze under left arm at the right foot for hip opener. After 3-5breaths straighten right leg and square hips before exhale to pigeon. Hold pigeon and/or parivrtta variation for at least 10 cycles of breath. I walked around to adjust here. Repeat on left side. After left side we took double pigeon or I have also had it called fire log pose. Again gheld here and also stretched to left and right while folding forward. I wanted to give them some luscious hip opening today because I think that seated poses and especially deepening these poses has not been a part of their practice previously. I am a bit confused on the order because I know that we probably did dandasana before the hip opening and after dandasana did padagustasana and then floating stick (aka lifted dandasana). Then Janu sirsasana A and variation...aka parivrtta janu sirsasana. Hmmmmm....other floor worknwas badakonasana A and B and then navasana with utplutihi/tolasana in between 5 breath cycle navasanas. I believe next was bridge and wheel (dhanurasana)and then closing it out with happy baby, supine twists and any other last poses before savasana.

My gripes were with me trying to mirror the class for demos, not being sure if it was too challenging with balancing or just right or whether the ashtanga influenced style was more floor work than what this class wants. Ideally, I would always like to fit in the entire closing sequence of plow, shoulder stand, carnipidasana and if advanced enough sirsasana before finishing. Well there is always this week. I am trying to decide on a theme or a master pose to base the class around. Hopefully I will decide that Thursday and do a home practice to fine tune on Thursday and Friday.