Skip to main content

Rainy morning suburban gurus

Today was my first official teaching class at the Northbrook Yoga Center (NbYC) and I was presented with two terrific students: a woman and her 12-year old son.

I asked them about their yoga experience, and the sweet mom said, almost apologetically, that her practice had been erratic but she had been doing yoga for many years. When I presented the question to the boy, inquiring as to what he liked, or wanted to work on, and he shyly offered (and with zero flippancy) "whatever works today." The mom added that he had spent most of the previous summer practicing yoga to videos. This took me by joyful surprise.

I wanted to create a class that challenged the preteen, but not overwhelm him, and yet still be a class at a level that would (could) engage his mom. I wanted to open up the ideas of really noticing the intrinsic parts of your body doing yoga rather than just getting to any specific posture like a test of physical strength or acrobatics.

So on this rainy day, I found myself working with their positive, deliberate, and amazingly calm energy, and guided the three of us through grounding, heart-opening, calming, and core-strenghtening postures. The room was wonderfully warm and we were able to do long pose holds with controlled transitions, and generate ample heat for sweat while still keeping our breathing even.

The young man not only followed along gracefully, but had a focus and attention parallel to, equal with, and an honest mirror of his mother. It was again surprising, and motivating, and inspiring at all once. When someone speaks the adage "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" it's often in negative context, but in this case, it is surely a compliment wide and sincere.

Their peace with the practice - as a male and a female, a mom and a son, a young person and an older -brought to me a sense of gratitude that I hope I was able to appropriately express to them both.  Today Namaste is a thanking of these unexpected gurus...any of those that help you to shine your own light a little brighter.

(I look forward to another chance to practice with them!)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Yoga at the Allied Gardens SDPL branch

http://www.facebook.com/events/154090101397932/ Please note that they will only be able to accomodate 18 people per class. Class attendance is first come, first served. Join us Wednesday evenings 6:30-7:30 for "Hatha Yoga for Adults." Aryn Rannazzisi leads a gentle paced class combining breath work and postures (asanas) to promote strengh, flexibility and balance. This all-level class will include inversions, backbends and sun salutations. Please bring a mat or large towel and a hand towel or strap to class. *Brought to you by the Friends of the Benjamin Branch Library*

Those Mysterious Hand Gestures - The Mudras! a link to a post by Blissful Body Yoga

From blissfulbodyyoga.com I love mudras. They are one of my earliest discoveries of yoga, dating back to my childhood when I would "play" with my hands. Bend them, press them together, make them soar like wings. I let my hands dance as the true expression of my anahata (heart) chakra that they are. As I grew into an artist, yoga teacher and healer, the magical emanations of energy from my hands became an even deeper part of my practice, and how I share healing with others.  The Kripalu tradition is part of my lineage as a yogi, and Swami Kripalu, like many yogis, was known to have eruptions of spontaneous mudras while deep in meditation. Mudras create powerful energetic "circuits" in our system on many levels, in all of our koshas (energetic sheaths.) They hold energy, heal, protect, enlighten and express. Over the years I have learned mudras from my teachers, but many, many more have simply come through my hands in a natural way. This is the point I want most to s...

IBS oh my

I'm slowly but surely coming to the conclusion that what I have is in fact a form of IBS. Which means far more careful attention to exactly what I put into my body, from the kind of fiber to the amount of sugar, dairy, wheat, and carbonation (I'm a sucker for sparkling water). While I try to sort out what is best for me, I wanted to share with you some information on IBS, the symptoms, and how yoga can help alleviate the complications. Help For IBS . Enjoy whilst I go and fetch myself some enteric coated peppermint capsules, soluble prebiotic fiber and some fennel tea. We'll chat later :)