'TEACHING FROM THE HIP ...'

All right, as I wrote the title, I wondered if readers would understand. Therefore, a brief explanation -- replace the word TEACHING with SHOOTING. Got it?

Last Saturday, after Sundari observed and video'd my class, one of her comments was that now I need to teach a few classes without writing everything down (I literally had a script last week -- tho, since I had dress rehearsaled it, I only had to refer to it once.)

Yesterday, that's what I did -- I formulated in my mind what I would talk about, and what poses I might work towards, but NO script.

(By the way, yesterday I broke what I call the "7 Barrier" (replace 7 with sound). Since I took on the Sat a.m. class in January, attendance has stayed steadily at 7; yesterday, there were 8 -- some new people to me, to boot.)

What happened, you ask? Well, I changed theme, heart quality, apex, all within the first five minutes of class. I taught from what I was seeing in the class - who was there, their experience level, their apparent mood, what I could sense they hoped to get from the class (active, mild, whatever). My theme was just that, 'going with the flow', heart quality: acceptance. My apex pose turned out to be moving from trichonasana to ardha chandrasana back to trichonasana -- with control, accepting the outcome as perfect because we are giving it our best effort. We threw in bakasana just for good measure after that -- fear holds many people back in that pose (face plants are not a welcome outcome). FYI, no face plants in this class.

Side note, back to Sundari & Bakasana -- at her workshop in January, she taught us the value of hugging the inner edge of the feet together in the pose. I've probably heard that before, but had never applied it religiously until then. I think I probably was touching the big toes and trying to hug in, but that doesn't create the energy you need in the pose. Immediately getting those feet together works wonders to create the hugging in to hold the pose. Once that is established, you can work to straighten the elbows.

What else happened? They worked hard, we all laughed a bit, and had a good time. I believe everyone left feeling better about themselves; I know I did.

Enjoy your day,