Yes, the little things.
This harkens back to a blog I read once (written by Christina Sell). In it, she wrote that - to her - the sign of an advanced practitioner is not how many really hard poses he/she can accomplish; but, rather, how do they place their hands on the mat? do their hands remain on the mat or are they fidgeting? stuff like that. The little things that form the basis of our 'advanced' or even 'basic' poses.
I got a good dose of that thought process over the weekend during the slow movement Bo Forbes asked us to participate in. Could I stay aware enough to slowly transition from one pose to another (slow meaning 4-8 seconds in each transition)? As I mentioned yesterday, this was a teaching I'd experienced before and was, therefore, in a head start position as we did the practice (this doesn't happen for me often -- the head start, that is).
Yesterday at the Fallbrook Library there were 30 people in attendance at the one-hour class I teach. All levels, many ages, many body shapes, and a number of people with injuries or limitations. Let me say that, first, I was truly excited and honored to have 30 in the room. Granted it's a 'free' class, however all but 4 of these people had come to my class over the months. Even 'free' doesn't guarantee people will return. Therefore, I choose to believe that they are finding value in the class -- other than it's 'free'.
So, back to the little things:
I offered the Library crew a brief warm-up; centering - baseline - cat/cow (modified to the way Bo taught us over the weekend) and then asked everyone to come to standing. Standing in mountain pose and moving with the breath, I asked everyone to raise and lower their arms. As I looked at the students assembled, I noticed how straight everyone's arms appeared from the front of the room. I walked the rows to see what was happening in their shoulders -- were their arms moving to front plane or were they next to the ears. Goodness gracious!!! Everyone, and I mean everyone, was standing with arms overhead, no elbows bent, and biceps next to ears -- arms lined up just like railroad tracks. Be still my heart.
It is the little things that reflect studentship in the room. Wow!
Today? Taking a day off to spend with my husband. Looking forward to it.
Hope you have a good Tuesday,
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