EACH TIME I WRITE . . .

Yes, each time I begin to write, I wonder 'what to write about?'.  I begin, and the fingers start to move on the keyboard, thoughts come to me, and words magically appear.  I finish, I re-read, I edit, then I post. Easy-peasy (a phrase that came from somewhere, but that I find creeping into my vocabulary more and more).

Not so easy-peasy was our Wisdom Warriors practice yesterday.  A combination of poses that moved, stretched, asked us to strengthen -- right out of the gate.  In fact, we had 4 new faces in the room; Desiree's comment to them:  "I bet you thought we'd spend some time warming up, right?" Wrong.  No warm-up needed, just hard work.

I have mentioned that the emphasis has been on creating action through udyana bhanda and mula bhanda (energetic locks at lowest of ribs and base of pelvis).  This action creates the shape of an egg in your belly (more like a football, I'd say) -- as though someone pushed the egg (FOOTBALL) into your belly lengthwise and your job was to energize the muscles at either end (and in-between).  On top of that work, we still stand tall (shoulder loop, to some).  If none of this makes sense, please feel free to comment and I'll try to answer questions.

What does this action do?  It creates more strength through the core and into the foundation of the pose.  For example, in a handstand (or other inversion), if I create this egg (FOOTBALL)  shape in my belly, I will move into the poses more easily and be straighter (no more banana shape).  BTW, anyone know the sanskrit words for banana and FOOTBALL?

We used the egg (FOOTBALL) analogy for the entire 2 hours, moving towards our goal of a wide-legged press-up to handstand (using chairs if needed).  I was especially excited to get into the shape of the pose (with feet on chairs), even tho I didn't press up.

What were other highlights for me?  Seated on the floor on left hip, left hand on floor just in front of shoulder, I placed my right foot on the inside of my left thigh, energized my egg (FOOTBALL), and pushed up to vasisthasana, with legs in vrksasana (tree) pose.  I NEVER THOUGHT I'D BE ABLE TO DO IT.  But, there I was.  (Almost as exciting as my first bakasana.)  Better yet -- I turned around and did it on my right side!!!

After all that fun, we adjourned, got in our cars and made our way to Desiree and Andrew's home in Cardiff.  A beautifully re-done modern home with INCREDIBLE un-blocked view towards Swami's beach and the ocean.  (I mean totally unblocked.)  Amazing, BIG windows to enjoy the view.  So spacious, light, and comfortable.  We enjoyed a raw food sampling and a short talk by Mimi Kirk; raw food vegetarian extraordinaire.  We also were able to spend some time getting to know our fellow warriors (and others) better.  Wonderful way to conclude a great practice.

And, what about my own teaching/practice?  Well, since last week's Wisdom Warriors, I have been working on my padangusthasana (standing on one leg, holding the other foot and extending that leg).  It has always been a dvesha (sp?) pose for me - meaning I don't like it very well.  However, as with all things, a little - or a lot of - practice works miracles.  I'm not standing totally erect, but the leg is straight; and, each time it gets better.

My own teaching is moving along -- the Library is humming; 32 students on Monday!  I teach 6 other classes at 2 studios in Temecula; those range from basic to gentle/therapeutic, and are smaller but mighty. I truly admire the students who show with an injury or a chronic condition -- so courageous.

I've been sharing a bit of my Laksmi knowledge (taken from Eric Stoneberg's webinar).  I love that 99.9% of the students enjoy hearing about this Goddess (and others).

The Grand-Dudes took a vacation this month and were gone for 10 days.  I missed them!  They've returned, and came out last Sunday for breakfast.  So fun to watch them explore our acre, swing on the tire, pick avocados (and plan their how to spend the fortune they are going to make selling same avocados), we even had time to take a short walk up to feed Breeze, the neighbor's horse, carrots.  

Today, I'll teach one of my Gentle/Therapeutic classes, then conduct Temecula's Wisdom Warriors practice with much new material to share.

Hope you have a great Thursday.