PLANNING A CLASS

I have spent the last hour working on a theme / story for my Gentle Yoga class at 10 this morning.  As I write this, I'm smiling.  Why?

These glimmers of creative 'something' cause me to smile as they begin to emerge.  I thought the tricycle was good, but this morning has been more fun.

So, what has me smiling? In January, I participated in Sally Kempton's 3-part teleconference on the Goddess energies. Beginning with Durga and moving through Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswati. It was a great learning experience for me and - leave it to Leslie - I loved hearing the stories behind these Goddesses. For me, the stories help me understand their deep meaning in a more relatable way (if that makes any sense).

Today, I'll talk about Kali energy and - taking a cue from the well-respected Anusara® instructor who writes the YogaNerd blog - we're going to work with muscle energy.  What I love about this sharing of energy and ideas that is happening through blogs, websites, newsletters, etc., is not that I can plagiarize other peoples' ideas, but that they inspire me to think a bit further about the subject at hand, apply my own logic and meaning, and go forward.  They 'tickle' my thought processes.

We'll focus on muscle energy from the inside out.  Keeping the thought that while we are strong on the inside - Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswati all contributing to that strength - we must also remain soft on the outside.  Like a diamond (inside), with a coating of caramel and a shell of chocolate (milk or dark).  The diamond is our strength; the coatings are soft, reflecting our personalities.  Notice I gave us the choice of a milk or dark chocolate shell -- that's because some of us are smooth in our sweetness; others have a bit of a bitter edge to our sweetness. We can't all be the same.

The soft coating allows us to be 'dented'; but our strong core saves us.

O.K.  This is going way out there.  But I love doing it; I love taking something that's a bit "out there" to my demographic, giving it a 'story', and then relating it to my life - and, maybe, they find a relatable piece for themselves.

If you want the whole story of Durga & Kali (according to Sally, which is different from Douglas'), let me know -- I've summarized it into a good kick-off point for a class.  You have to develop it for your own teaching, tho.

SNOW ON THE GROUND - STICKING!!!  The roads look clear, but our poor plants.

Enjoy your Friday,