AND, IT'S FRIDAY

I've been up for a while, scouring e-mails, reading Facebook, listening to Amy's downloaded sessions from this week's "90 Minutes . . ." series, taking pictures (yes, even that). About time to get on with the day; but then, I remembered the blog -- which has been woefully neglected this week.

First, tho, a photo from this morning's 'moon-set':

It is Friday, so I'll re-cap the week and move on to the "tip of the week":

Monday, as you know, was Valentine's Day and my opportunity to teach at YogaTejas. Still vibrating from that experience.

Tuesday, taught in the a.m., on to Pilates, my private with 1/2 of the 'less-than-flexible' couple. Home to collapse, tired still from Monday's excitement(?).

Wednesday, Gentle Yoga defines this day. We had a smaller group, so I was able to focus on one student's low back pain and another's rib pain (brought on by a bout of whatever respiratory stuff is going on - severe coughing). What did we discover from this class? That ME, especially during transitions, will help to alleviate much of the discomfort being experienced. The other students in class, were subjected to listening to my theory many times over, but know that their turn may come in a future class - everyone gets their time in the sun.

Thursday, the busiest day of the week for me. First, my recently-hired housekeeper comes. That means I have to have the house pretty picked up, so she can do the deeper cleaning. Sometimes that's no easy task. On to another Pilates session (amazing to me how I see a correlation to yoga, especially as you do things for the second time around -- things/ability change and improve). The second private of the week for 1/2 of the 'less-than-flexible' couple; she is making great strides in her practice. She desires perfection; that's a lesson to be learned -- perfection is not the goal, accepting what we can do and working diligently to grow our practice might be the better goal. Then, a class to teach -- fun journey into some arm balances with a great group of fun-loving and open students. Home to crash, again.

Busy week!

I will go back to my teaching this week for the 'tip'. In recent trainings with JF, he repeatedly has reminded us to NOT get too stiff (energized) through the fingertips, to soften a bit. Why? When we energize too vigorously, and then visualize the prana moving in our body - it reaches the fingertips and stops, almost like it hits a concrete wall. As we create prana, we want to have it flow throughout our body, AND we want an 'escape valve' -- for lack of a better word -- a place for the excess prana to leave the body and - hopefully - be shared with others. What better place for this 'valve' than the fingertips. How to do this? I tried asking students to maintain strong muscle energy through the wrists, softening the hands a bit. As a teacher, when I look at students, I now see fingers that have a softness to them - even though they still are straight and extending from the wrist. Make sense? Try it. I've gotten comments that it is an effective instruction, and have consulted mentors about it; I believe it's a 'keeper'.

Today's schedule:

• Gentle Yoga, 10:30 am at The Yoga Center
• Misc. Appointments
• Private at 3:30, assuming others are timely

Hope you have a great weekend!