5/21/2012

Week 5

Week 5 was tough. My willpower to actually try and finish classes in the hot room without sitting down was gone. We also picked up the pace in our posture clinics. It was not a bad week, it was just a tough week.

Posture Clinics: In posture clinics I have greatly improved. I reached the point where we were learning postures so quickly that I had my nerves kinda flew out the window, it was one of those situations where it was too stressful to get stressed out. As a result, I took one teacher's advice to heart and smiled. I started smiling when delivering postures and everything else kind of fell into place. Our progress in posture clinics as a whole is varied, you have your rockstars who were amazing at the beginning then start to fall (NOT FAIL) as they no longer have time to get that perfect dialogue prepared. People go up one week then down the next week then back up again. People make huge leaps in posture clinic and it is one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced to watch someone change (gain confidence, loosen up, let it out) and blossom (like a flower petal blooming) right in front of your very eyes. I am someone who does not have much faith in humanity and this gives me hope. Nights when we have posture clinic usually end about 11:00 which is awesome.
br> As a result of all this time spent in posture clinics where we grow and change and become stronger, we become very close in a unique way to our group. As I said before there are about 20 people in a posture clinic group and two groups are paired at (semi)random so you deliver postures in front of 40 people. This is a picture of my posture clinic group. I love them all.


The Hot Room: We have had our first couple of classes with Rajashree and all of the rumors are true.. she really does kill you with kindness. Her voice is like a songbird. We usually have Bikram in the evenings and Emmy Cleaves on Thursday mornings. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday there were 130+ teachers visiting for recertification which = a very hot and crowded room. All in all there were about 600 of us in there on Friday night and it was a class to go down in my record book. Bikram taught, it was beyond hot and humid, and class lasted about 2.5 hours, and I did not leave the room. Bikram gets up on the podium and tells stories while you are holding postures, people were carried out, people were passed out, and there was a steady stream of people leaving the room. I drank 3 litres of water and died a couple of times.

On Thursday night we were taught by Ashley (?last name) and she was hands down my favorite teacher yet. I trust her completely up on the podium first of all because her practice is amazing and I don't believe she would steer me wrong. She reminded us after every standing posture to 'lift our chest' and as a result my breath was less labored. She was one of those teachers who with her every word encouraged us to make our practice our own and to try the right way because it is so much more beautiful.

The Body: My body is holding up and I am finally seeing a glorious release in my right hamstring and hip flexor which have been SO tight from all the snowboarding. I feel strong and my core is powerful.

P.S. Thanks to everyone from training whose pictures I am borrowing.

4 comments:

Kat said...

Ashley Hooper!! Rocking teacher with rock star abilities all round. I loved her class & even spared me 30 seconds one evening to chat in the water line. Wait till you see her in action at the advanced demo :-)

yogeekirsten said...

Kat!? Did you stop by for recert or are you in training now?? THanks for the comment and for filling in her last name. She demonstrated a couple postures at the end of that first class and I was blown away.. walking down the street you would have NO idea if you ran into her that she is capable of such grace and power.

dgd said...

Ashley owns a studio in my hometown, Kennewick Washington. (She taught in Seattle for a while before opening her studio.) Maybe on your road trip home, you should swing by!

yogeekirsten said...

Des- Road Trip cxlled! We bought a car in BC so flying home instead.

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