As I wrote that last sentence, I thought "never should I write 'just 6 attended'". What I would give to have 6 consistently in my weekday classes! But, that's another subject.
Because neither class is named "Anusara®" or "Anusara-Inspired™", I am trying to figure out if I felt more free or if I felt more constricted (like, what do I teach?). Interesting dilemma. As I went into the room, I asked Ashley how she handles this situation -- response: "I always chant and teach Anusara®". So, that's what I did -- chanted and taught two pretty solid Anusara-Inspired™ classes, without getting too wrapped up in details about the UPA's or Anusara's® philosophy. Simply asked for the alignment elements we expect to see in our Anusara® classes -- feet parallel, fingers spread comfortably, hands shoulder width apart, like that.
The first class (the larger one) was impressive. Several were either new to the studio or new to yoga; yet, mid-way through the class, I took a minute to comment on two things I saw: (1) Each person had straight, strong back legs in their lunges and (2) When coming out of vrksasana (tree pose), each person calmly released foot to the floor and simply stood in tadasana -- no jumping around or ankle shaking. Be still my heart!
FYI, later in the evening, while going through a stack of papers, I found a set of notes from session #11 of Christina Sell's first on-line mentoring series. In that, I had written "In the warm-up, articulate what is going well; in the middle of class, articulate what everyone as a group is doing well; then move to what individuals are doing well". I was pleased that pausing to comment (above paragraph), fell in line with these notes -- and I know, I was doing the individual thing all along. I even remembered names!
Class #2 (smaller, but no less skilled), was attended by 6, 5 I had never met before. For some reason, it felt a bit more 'stilted'. I was not as relaxed with this group, even tho they were very nice people. (Maybe that's 'safety in numbers'.) One woman had practiced quite a bit and jumped right in, taking poses a bit farther than I intended. Her alignment was o.k., so I made a decision early on to just leave her alone. I think my tendency with these students is to jump in, try to fix everything; maybe to just show them that I see the places that need enhancement (ego?). This would be consistent with the 'testosterone' competitions you witness on freeways around the world -- like, who can drive the car faster, more adeptly, more daringly. I held back, we moved through the class. At the end, she spoke up, telling me that she had never attended a class like mine before. (How does one take that?) Fortunately, she went on to say that something about my teaching had propelled her to places she had not visited before in her practice. (Whew!) So, it was a win-win. By holding back, I didn't embarrass her or get in a 'battle of wills'; by letting her watch, listen, move with moderate guidance, she progressed.
We teach and learn; interesting, especially when you write it out.
Today? It's the big birthday celebration for my son (Derek) and Grand-Dude (Brady), who turns 3. But, first, I travel back to Temecula for another 2-hour Expansion Class. This time, the topic is "Contraction to Expansion". Hope to see some people there; so much to choose from right now at that studio, we'll see.
Have a great Sunday!
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