ANOTHER SUPER, OVER-THE-TOP, SHAKTI-FILLED DAY

Some of you reading may not be familiar with Sanskrit, and - therefore - when I throw a word out like 'Shakti' you are thinking 'what?'  Shakti is a Sanskrit work that means, in part, 'empowerment, or the agent of change'.  While our entire life is comprised of 'shakti', I think it's safe to label yesterday 'super, over-the-top, Shakti-filled'.  Read on for details:

Saturday with BJ began at 9:30 for 2.5 hours (plus) of standing poses and backbends. New and more faces in the room - how exciting !!! (Unless you're the coordinator of an event like this, you may not know that feeling.)

What 'feeling'? You schedule a great, fun presenter. You repeatedly remind students and friends. You publicize. You fret and worry whether people will attend. You know what fun it will be, how much your students and others will learn from her/him. Finally, when you see a bunch of people in a room, waiting to experience what you've 'known' for a long time, it truly is rewarding and exciting.

Yesterday morning began innocently enough. We moved through lunges, down dogs, planks, standing poses - over and over - lifting our hearts; working our shoulders and shoulder blades. Warming and loosening that stiff upper back. We all know where we're headed -- backbends. By savasana, we had stood in poses, twisted in poses, folded in poses, been upside down, played camel and camel droppings, done wheel (some stood up from wheel). End result - a bunch of people excited about approaching and, perhaps, crossing threshhold in their practice. LOVE IT. (Oh, and - for Doc's benefit - we used mucho towels; thank goodness the swamp cooler was turned on for the season on Thursday.)

So, lunch.  Fortunately, past experience has taught me to eat lightly - especially since we're going back for the second session of the day -- forward folds and twists.

An afternoon session, I've begun to expect, will be - in general - less strenuous. Not necessarily true when BJ is working the room. As she stated, any pose where the hip is flexed forward is a forward fold -- that leaves a LOT of poses to explore. I felt my 'light' lunch more than once(?). By 4 (the scheduled end-time), we were still going strong. Ended 30 minutes late, but no one minded. Most frequently heard comment afterwards? "that kicked my ___, wasn't it great?"

The whole day was great. The best part? Watching BJ, watching students laugh and enjoy themselves while working very hard. Having my mat next to Karen and Clytie during the day gave me an opportunity to glance sideways, moan or laugh, then get back to work. Fun, memorable times.

So, this morning?  HAND BALANCES - with BJ, no less, the Queen of Handstands !!!  Eight hours of sleep and a few Ibuprofen ought to leave me in good stead for this one.

Hope you have a nice Sunday (and, think of us),