It began with Ken's last yoga class at Yoga Shala. I enjoyed the class as always, but we were all sad that he's leaving. After class on Thursday Ken said that I need to work on my chaturangas because I was dipping my shoulders down and sticky my back end up too high. I knew I was doing that, but for some reason it hit me more when he mentioned it, so I focused on that during every vinyasa on Saturday, feeling like I was doing chaturanga in slow motion to try to do it correctly, and he said I was stick straight. Yay! It's very important to get that right because I do a lot of vinyasas, and dipping my shoulders down could hurt my rotater cuffs.
Immediately after that I had a deep-tissue massage that was wonderful. I was still a little sore from Thursday's class when I went back for more, so she worked on my sore areas a lot. It really is neat to have a massage therapist working on my sore limbs because I've been working them hard than on a sore back like they used to.
Then, I went straight to the Synergy Studio to catch the end of Judith Lasater's Restorative Yoga workshop. She's a neat lady, and a famous yoga teacher, so I'm glad I was able to participate in part of the workshop. Restorative yoga is very prop heavy. Some teachers feel nervous without props, but props tend to annoy me. It was a good experience and I learned a bit about Savasana, but it was just alright for me. I also got a cute picture and a signed book out of it. :) Now I have 2 books signed by famous yoga teachers. That's pretty neat.
Today I'm on a yoga high. I decided to try out something new and different for my lunchtime yoga class. One cool thing about teaching yoga is that I get to be creative. My classes are Ashtanga-based, but not Ashtanga because most of the students are beginners, so true Ashtanga would be too much for them (they're still too much for me at this point), and I like saving the room to be creative and improvise.
I have this poster from Matthew Sweeney hanging on my wall for decoration, so I decided to use it as a reference too. I don't know the Moon Salutations at all, and I've practiced them once in a class several months ago, so I decided to start with Chandra Namaskara A, so I don't overwhelm myself trying to learn something and then teach it in one day. Because I love being creative and my body just felt like doing certain things as I practiced Chandra Namaskara A over and over again. I decided to throw in some of my own variations to tomorrow's class. So here I am, trying to learn something new and teach it with variations tossed in at logical spots. I might be a little too excited.
Here's the lesson plan for the Chandra Namaskara A.
Chandra Namaskara A
Sitting on feet (like virasana but sitting on feet) (up to 10 minutes)
Engage your bandhas and begin ujjayi breathing
Exhale Extended Child’s pose (come to the pose to rest any time you need to)
Inhale all fours (spread hands, legs hip width apart)
Exhale Downward-facing dog
Inhale all fours
Exhale Extended Child’s pose
Inhale up on knees like camel
(Variations are in parentheses, add to 2nd round)
Exhale sit on feet for 5 breaths (half-moon side leans)
Inhale all fours (5 cycles of cat/cow)
Exhale downward-facing dog for 5 breaths
Inhale all fours
Exhale Extended child’s pose
Inhale up on knees like camel for 5 breaths (or camel pose)
Exhale+Inhale Sitting on feet
Exhale Extended child’s pose for 5 breaths
Inhale Sitting on feet for 5 breaths
I did all this because I should be writing up my practicum report, and making asana sheets for yoga school, and I'm procrastinating.
I've also been really into my essential oils and aromatherapy, spending the last week reading all about them and experimenting on myself and my friends. I mixed up an aromatherapy blend for tomorrow's yoga class. Since the class should be both relaxing and energizing, I mixed a blend of relaxing and energizing essential oils, lemon, lavender, mint, eucalyptus, and orange. Brad says, "So a little bit of everything?" and I protest, "No, a little bit of a bunch of certain things, every oil has a purpose!"
The raid in WoW is about to begin, but I'm skipping it tonight to work on my yoga class for tomorrow. I think I'm also going to add music. Oops skipping WoW because I'm too excited about yoga isn't very balanced of me. :-D
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