PLANT A SEED - NOW

Many of my readers also visit Christina Sell's blog. We both offer good, albeit different, kinds of information written in different styles. And, that's a good thing -- just like my teaching, I must develop my own voice in my blog.

However, that doesn't mean I can't 'borrow' a good idea. In yesterday's post, Christina talked about her intention for 2010 and how that has worked beneficially for her. She mentioned that this is the time to think about and plant the seeds of intention for 2011 (for more definitive info., please go to her blog -- the link is to the right of this).

I'm going to do it -- I rarely do resolutions (as in never); but a seed of intention that I perhaps will nurture through the year -- I can do that.

As I explain to students, setting an intention for my practice, in the beginning, was mind-boggling for me. Like, what do they want me to do? Should I 'intend' to save the world? Should I 'intend' to only eat vegetarian? I finally figured out that, for me (and it is an individual thing), something simple would suffice. So, if I am asked to set an intention, I start small, with something accomplishable -- like, 'I will try to find that spot in each pose where I can take one or two calm breaths'.

I'll do that for 2011. Keep it simple - last year, my intention was to be clear with people in my communications. This, as a result of Scott's revelation that my throat cakra was a bit skewed. He 'fixed it', and I decided that clearer communication moving forward needed to be a result. And? Well, each time I communicate with someone, I think of that intention -- that I want to be 'clear'. Not a huge thing, an accomplishable thing, that I may not do perfectly every time, but I certainly have embraced and nurtured this goal through the year (even when I haven't been able to be 'clear' for whatever reason).

With the holiday, I almost forgot it's Friday. This hasn't exactly been notes, but I'll include the following from my training notes:

General notes on teaching (taken from my notes - JF's Teacher Intensive, Tucson, 2009:

• When teaching a class, feel the overall energy but don’t overlook those with special limitations.
• Acknowledge everyone, even the most capable (you may tend to overlook those people, because you think they don’t need your help)
• Keep your teaching as more of a dialogue, rather than a monologue
• Give your students time to breathe in the poses. Quiet is not a bad thing.
• When you teach any group or individual, and give an instruction, give the student time to follow the instruction – don’t just walk away and move on to the next move – make sure they do what you have asked them to.
• Don’t answer the question that hasn’t been asked
• Answer questions at the appropriate level (don’t give too much, you might overwhelm them)

You may already do all these things; if so, great. Or, there may be a pearl in here that you find of value.

Today? R&R

Have a nice Friday,