SOMEONE, TELL ME WHY

Caution: Not everything written in this post is 'happy, happy'.

So, 'tell me why' what? Why do many of the events scheduled that we would love to attend attach the caveat: "must be able to do handstand at the wall and urdhva dhanurasana (full wheel)".

I used to just see mainly it for JF's advanced events; but, more and more, I'm seeing it attached to weekend workshops, advanced practices, etc., conducted by regular(??? - couldn't come up with a better word) instructors. And - until 3 months ago - I couldn't do either; now, I can do the urdhva -- still working on the kicking up to handstand (12 years on that one so far).

One explanation might be that doing those two poses is a sign of an 'advanced' practice. However, I've been in enough classes, trainings, workshops, etc., to know that sometimes a very new-to-yoga person is more than able to get themselves into these positions. (Imagine my envy - oops, murdita.) So, to me, that is not a valid reason.

Another might be ____?_____. I truly can't think of one for those particular poses. Someone, please tell me why!

It's a discouraging and demoralizing requirement that ought to be stricken from our verbiage - we can be more creative and inclusive, and still communicate that it will be a challenging practice, workshop, whatever. I'll take this statement back, if someone can tell me 'why'.

Understand the UPA's, warm up the body, open shoulders, open quads, work the hamstrings, do every pose with integrity -- in a perfect world those would be my requirements; purna.

Enough.

I did film yesterday's Gentle Yoga class -- almost afraid to watch it. The class is a great one, attended by dedicated and hard-working students. It is also a class full of modifications -- some students doing cat/cow stretches on the floor; others, as they sit in chairs. When we do trichonasana (which isn't often), we always do it twice -- first time EVERYONE uses a chair under their lower hand (why? just to equalize the playing field). Second time around, the chair can be replaced with a block or hand can go to the floor. During balance postures, the chair is handily placed at most peoples' side -- just in case; and many will use it for stability getting in and out of the posture.

By the end of this class, the room looks a bit 'trashed' -- chairs, blankets, blocks, straps, mats and people strewn around (mats and people are lined up in true Anusara(®) style). If this is a class I choose to submit a video for, I'll have to have a lengthy explanation of many of the things I'm doing. Why, for example, am I standing behind one student during many of the standing poses? Because her balance is so compromised by a debilitating disease that she will fall over unexpectedly. We do what we have to do; but, I'm not quite sure every video reviewer will be ready/willing to evaluate a video like this. If nothing else, this will be a challenge for me and them.

I read yesterday that a certain famous fitness-wear company (that is geared towards yoga, among other things) earned over $450million last year. Earlier in the day, I took a gift card I received for my birthday over to try to give them some more money. They were closed; on a Wednesday. Oh, well -- I'll just have to go back on a Thurs, Fri, or Sat. Perhaps they've decided that success is achieved by making yourself 'hard to get', ya' think? (This same company's product, a few years ago, was only available in Canada -- in the USA, we couldn't buy their stuff. Imagine the envy; oops - murdita, when someone walked in with that logo on.)

Enough on that, too.

Today's plan:

• 1 pm Pilates
• 4 pm, teaching Level 1-2 at The Yoga Center
• 5:45 pm, attending Tiffany's class at The Yoga Center -- good stuff!

Enjoy your Thursday,