INTERESTING & INSPIRING READING (some not for the 'faint of heart')

From my list of favorite blogs and websites, I check in almost daily with two: Christina Sell's and MariaCristina's. I also frequently read Bernadette Birney's. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Karen Sprute-Francovich, whose writing is much less frequent but enriching and eloquent when it appears.

These women all write for my benefit (and yours), and each has a different style. Examples:

• Christina's are filled with good teaching tips, sequences she has used, and - on occasion - rants that are entertaining to read and well thought out. Take her latest post - her topic was the benefit of all yoga styles (if taught well). A gentle reminder for those of us in the Anusara® world to not get too wrapped up in our 'video-qualified' mentality. I recommend reading it.
• MariaCristina is inspiring, gracious, and over-the-top smart. Take her recent post comparing the development of the embryo to the Tattvas!?!?!? Who would have made that correlation? Now, I know who -- MC. And, as importantly, her writing continually reminds me that it's not just about how well I (we) can teach or do the poses, it's about the students - their needs, their desires; and my (our) relationship with them. Another way of pulling me (us) back from the 'video-qualified' precipice.
• Bernadette Birney's blog is, to say the least, irreverent. Filled with spicey language (language I naively thought I'd never hear coming from a yogi's mouth); yet, also filled with lessons to be learned. One of her recent posts was a letter to me (us) as a 'wanna-be-Certified' teacher. A cautionary note from her, written in letter format, reminding me (us) to savor the process, not rush, not get too wrapped up in my (our) 'video-qualified' goals. This process of Certification is meant to teach me (us), as well as propel me (us) onto the next step of my (our) journey.

Are you noticing an energetic theme here?

• And Karen's? All good stuff, from stories of her son's travels to how to build the pose, Garudasana. I've followed her through her last India journey, and, when I am visiting my family up north, I try my best to get to one of her classes in Coeur d'Alene. A teacher's teacher, happy to be where she is, enjoying what she is doing, loving her students; 'satisfied' would be a good adjective for Karen, I think.

Each is different. Each has chosen to share their knowledge with me (us). Their path has inspired me to write this blog, which - when compared to theirs - I might describe as 'comfort food'. I write the way I ask questions at a workshop. Huh? I ponder a question; hesitate to ask it; then remind myself that there are probably 15-30 people in the room all wondering the same thing; why not ask it? Why not write it?

Not sure if that makes sense, but my blog is my blog -- my thoughts, my correlations, the story of my journey. That's one of the reasons I try to stick with "I, my, me' rather than "you, ours, us" -- it might not apply to you and I certainly don't want to sound like I'm preaching to anyone. So, I read, I learn, I - in turn - share my thoughts.

It's a teaching day - 2 classes; one in Carlsbad, one in Temecula. Better plan.

Hope you have a nice Thursday,

THE WEEK, IN REVIEW

Granted, it's only Wednesday, but a 'week in review' post seems in order. It seems it has been a full 5-6 days (that, plus, I haven't written for a few days).

You know about the dog. A brief update: he's perkier each day, still gets along with other dogs, still views cats from afar, eating more eagerly, and has even managed 2-hour stays at home alone with the other dogs without incident. As to bonding, he still stays close but I'm not so sure he won't 'go to the dark (husband) side'; there are signs -- just sayin'.

Step back, now, to the day before the dog was adopted - to Friday. Friday is a 'no class to teach' day; unless I'm subbing for someone. I did, however, travel in to Carlsbad to help with a little sprucing up of that studio (Carlsbad Wellness and Yoga). We have an influx of students and new-to-us teachers this month, and the place needed to look welcoming and warm. Thanks to Michele and Debra (and Robert, the owner), we knocked out some decent work in a couple hours. Increased mat space, wall space for our practices and general ambiance.

Saturday was 'Claus Adopted Day' - see previous post for that story.

Sunday was a lazy, lay around the house kind of day. That is, after a walk in the park with dogs and a pancake breakfast at a 'roadhouse' in Rainbow. I have always tolerated pancakes. After tasting the pancakes at this particular restaurant (a favorite of the motorcycle crowd), I found myself craving them (what's that about?). Let's just say, pancakes (of this type) at 9am mean there is no need for another meal until 6pm - after a long nap.

Monday, with dog following me everywhere, I did housework before heading into the Library for my community class at 3pm. This is the one volunteer class I teach since arriving in California, and it's growing! I am up to 10-11 in the last 3 classes! This is rewarding, and I love to see the effort being expended by students and the improvement and general enjoyment happening.

I decided my theme this week ought to be 'remembrance'. Why? Well, on Sunday morning, Howard walked into the room and announced that Claus (new dog) was our anniversary gift. What, I thought? As usual, he (Howard) and I had both forgotten that it was our anniversary Saturday. And, not just any Anniversary -- our 30-year Anniversary. So why remembrance -- shouldn't I be embarrassed to admit this? Yes, I should. It just goes to show you that you can make a theme out of just about anything, including forgotten anniversaries.

Step back many, many posts to one where I described banter between John Friend and Darren Rhodes about the topic of remembrance. John's message: that we remember the things that are important to us. Granted, our anniversary is important to us; more important, is remembering every day to be loving and kind to one another.

Yes, we do remember what's important; and remembering the anniversary is a good thing -- but only if we've remembered the other 364 days of the year to honor our commitment to one another. How does this relate to yoga? Teacher asks us to do something to improve our pose. We do it, it helps. The task now is to remember - not to come back next class and be reminded over and over of the same improvement tip. All these 'little things', like placing hands strongly and mindfully, having feet parallel, etc., add up to great poses! I used the same theme in yesterday morning's class -- as I said "Place your hands with commitment, don't forget to claw the floor. If I were to walk by and try to lift a finger, it won't budge!", one student looked up and smiled. I, of course, asked why -- to which she said "I heard John Friend say that on a video!" Well, he is one of my teachers.

Today? It's Wednesday, another 'no class to teach' day. That means housework, grocery shopping, computer work, practice - yoga and guitar (Yes, Leslie bought herself a guitar. Now let's see what happens -- will she learn to play? Let's hope so, that's the goal.)

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

ABOUT A DOG (not yoga)

We own 2 dogs (that was yesterday). Today, we own 3.

I love dogs, and I would own many - if it were feasible. I have selected each of our dogs since our first, in 1983 or 84. Each has had it's good qualities and not-so-good. They have all been good dogs - calm and cooperative, friendly (except for one who didn't like little white dogs) and loving.

The problem? Each time I select a dog for me, the dog bonds with my husband. I see why. He loves them and his affection knows few boundaries. If the dog is nearby, he has his hand on it. He walks them each day (unless he is traveling), and most days feeds them. You might be thinking 'well, why don't you (Leslie) get in there and handle the dogs, walk them, feed them. I do. It's no use -- once a dog decides their preferred 'person', I've found it's useless to try to persuade them otherwise.

One caveat to this -- the dogs love him, they follow my instructions better (does that mean I'm the alpha?).

So, a few weeks ago, we began to think in terms of adding a 3rd dog to our 'pack'. We currently have a German Wirehaired Pointer (runt of a litter), and a Corgi/Australian Shepherd mix. After owning the hunting dog (named Tucker), we've decided 'no more hunters - too much desire to roam and run'. The shepherd mix (named Driggs) is smart as a whip, yet unassuming and undemanding. We decided another type of shepherd might be the dog for us.

We explored border collies. Nice, beautiful dogs, but with a different style of herding; one that often doesn't mix well with small, running grandchildren (not good for our situation). Then, we were sitting at a stoplight last week, looked ahead at the vehicle in front and noticed the man driving was carrying on a conversation with his dog in the passenger seat - a German Shepherd. I said "I think those dogs are beautiful. My husband agreed. The research and search began.

Found that the German Shepherd is loyal, good with children, and trainable (all good things). We (I, actually) hoped to give a home to an older dog; one that might have trouble finding a place, otherwise.

Well, we found Claus - an 8-year-old, who had been rescued 9 months ago with severe pneumonia, underfed, neglected. We took our dogs to meet him yesterday (on neutral territory). All went well; we brought him home with a short stop to drop off a birthday present. For being the new dog, nervous, etc., he handled himself well -- calm and unfazed by the 3 children (ages 2-5) moving around him.

Once home, he was equally unfazed (in fact, almost a bit leary) of our cats - as they were of them. Age has its benefits.

18 hours in -- this is a good thing. Oh, about that bonding thing -- so far, Claus follows me everywhere. Maybe this time . . .

Have a great Sunday!

IMAGINE (this is NOT a song)

The classroom is quiet and dark. I am at the desk waiting for students for my 4pm class - almost worried that no one will show. Then . . .

In bounds a young girl followed by her sister and her mother. They sign in, remove shoes, head into the quiet classroom. I follow . . .

These will be the only students in my class today (Thursday). And, they set their mats up in a strange configuration -- 2 in back corner and the smaller girl in front. As we sat for a few moments, I struggle with that form and decide that the better set-up would be a circle; so, we switch things. Class begins.

Teaching young people is a challenge. I've discovered over the years that (in most cases) the 10-year-old is a more focused student than the 13-year-old. Why? Not sure. At age 10, they don't embarrass as easily; at age 13, they are becoming painfully aware of their 'image' and drama begins to enter their persona. Maybe that's the reason. No matter, on with my story . . .

This family has been coming to the studio for a while. I wonder if they are Korean or Chinese, and I am not sure that all I say is understood (I hear whispering in another language at times). I decided to begin with some easy banter - like 'do you like yoga?'. The younger-appearing girl answers 'no'. The other says 'yes', and the Mother clearly enjoys the practice. With this in mind, we begin. More questions about any pets they might have. The 'do you have a dog?' question brought giggles from all, so I pursued -- 'do you have a cat?', 'do you have a 'cow?', like that. (BTW, they don't have any of the animals mentioned.) More giggles from this up-to-now stoic group. My goal? To have the younger-appearing daughter at least look like she was enjoying something about the class.

Class proceeds. A little unorthodox sequencing - wanted them doing something fun, so we worked into some variations of vasisthasana (2 of 3 doing fine, the 3rd so-so). Got to "wild thing", more giggling. The girls are piano players -- the song 'wild thing' (of which I can do a crazy air band demo) is NOT in their repertoire. But, they had fun trying the pose, Mom & older-looking daughter doing great -- even the one who doesn't 'like' yoga was giving it a go.

Once that was over, then - knowing they spend a good deal of time each day at the piano - we did some stretches that they can do at home, at times when the back or the wrists/hands are tired and aching.

The class that began with a 'no' to my 'do you like yoga?' question, ended on a good note. Progress from the one who doesn't 'like' yoga, and the other two had fun, did some challenging work, learned some things to do at home when fatigue sets in. BTW, I found out as they left, both girls are 13 (tho one looks 13 and the other looks to be 10); they are fraternal twins.

They'll be back.

The Universe keeps throwing me curve balls -- it's fun trying to catch them; tho, some days, I wonder why. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate each and every one of them. And, I find in myself a gift to just 'roll with the punches' -- I actually enjoy these challenges.

Have a great Friday!

SHARING GRATITUDE

There are many times I think "I sure appreciate what that person does/did for me." Few are the times I have stopped to verbalize or write my gratitude. I am changing that.

I recently took the opportunity to thank one of my teachers (Adam Ballenger) for his advice on accepting feedback. What was it? "Just listen. Don't be defensive, don't offer excuses; just listen." This advice has served me well. I use it every time one of my mentors or reviewers, a student, a fellow teacher -- anyone -- offers me feedback. I 'just listen'.

Interesting that, if the feedback is other-than-complimentary, I know what will be said. Tough to listen to it being verbalized, tho. Sometimes, like when I am told about my 'parrot words', I haven't a clue that I've been saying the word 'bring' or 'take' or 'gently' over and over, ad nauseum. Add to that the feedback moments when you get a gem handed to you; for example, 'just listen'. All good stuff, whether we want to hear it or not.

No matter the content -- good or otherwise, the next step is to say 'thank you', without offering explanations, excuses, reasons, etc. Example: Comment: "That's a nice outfit." My old response: "Oh, it's just something I've had forever." My new response: "Thank you". This is not easy for me. I am not very good at accepting compliments. This trait became painfully clear after the videotaping of my recent classes -- people telling me how good I was, how much they enjoyed the class, how much better they felt. My response? I said 'thank you', but inside my head there was a voice telling me this can't be for me. What's that about? Why is it so hard to accept praise? to accept this gift. A contemplation, for sure.

A contemplation that Sundari would like me to embrace more emphatically, accept the praise, accept that I am doing a good job. I am getting better at it, still some work to do. I thank Sundari for pointing that out to me and challenging me to just say 'thank you', to accept (and embrace) the praise.

So, 4 words to live by -- 'Thank You" and "just listen".

I have many more teachers (too many to name here) and each has offered me 'gems' of knowledge that I treasure. I pull them out frequently and share them with my classes. Sharing them is one way to honor my lineage of guides on this journey.

Thank you all!

Have a great Wednesday,

PEER PRESSURE

I've felt it, that pressure to do more, be more, maybe act differently than my comfortable nature is willing to. It happens sometimes without my awareness, but often I know what's happening. Then the challenge is to keep moving in the direction I'm being moved (that is, if it's a healthy direction).

It's the reason I took my first teacher training with Desiree Rumbaugh (a good thing), 8 years ago. I succumbed to peer pressure from one of my friends and fellow teachers, Jen Hecht. She 'dragged' me to Arizona, to a week-long training with a woman I had never met, telling me that 'this is good for us; we need to do this'. It turned out to be one of the best weeks of my life, a time of expansion, a time of stepping out of my comfort zone to meet new people, the first time I have kicked up to headstand (thank you, whoever my partner was). And, thank you, Jen.

I started this post without a clear destination; therefore, I am going to take a slight detour, before coming back to the title's topic. Where are we going? To the land of quotes. It seems that every quote I read this week on Facebook is about comfort zones, meeting ourselves, not quitting -- not that I want to 'quit' anything, just all very relative to my thoughts on moving forward and change. The one shared recently from Gil Hedley is very appropriate:

"The tension and holding in our bodies reflect the tension and holding in our lives-at-large. To expand and open our bodies, it helps to open up your life a bit. This will mean something different to everybody of course. And if you open up your life a lot, your body may change so much you'll hardly recognize yourself~ It'll still be you though. And once you've done all that, you're still not done. There's always more."

For me, it's true -- I do hardly recognize myself. I think my family, at times, worries that I may change too much. Fortunately, Howard (my husband) sees the 'before and after of Leslie' and also sees that I've struck a balance. Perhaps that's because I do see people get too in one direction; forgetting the past or casting it aside for a new and 'better' life. The new 'better' life may not materialize, it's certainly different, but new and better? maybe not; just different issues to deal with. So, I work with the old Leslie (first 47 years) and the new Leslie (the recent 14 years). I'm still shedding things about old Leslie that are not appealing to me (hard work), and adding in new qualities that I've always wanted in my life, just didn't realize (also hard work). I would be remiss if I didn't thank my husband for accepting and pushing on occasion.

So, detour over -- what about peer pressure? It's visible in all my yoga classes -- the mother that brings her child/children to class; the friend who brings the friend; and - recently - seeing a student on the precipice of 'giving up' on a pose, only to look at her friend and become re-motivated when she observed that friend doing the pose.

What I see are great things, great exposures that people are offering their friends, family, loved ones. But, not all will 'take', not everyone will see the benefit of the practice, that's the plain truth. I have to accept that. That's a difficult pill to swallow, because I know the benefits, I know the beauty, I know the new awareness I have. I want that for everyone.

Enough with this. Some topics get to the precipice (love that word) of 'heavy' and I back off. Another growth moment? Out of the comfort zone and into the world! (New mantra material)

Enjoy your Tuesday,

THE THINGS WE TEACH (AND LEARN)

I taught two classes yesterday - back to back - a basics, then a mixed level. The basics, because it was earlier (10am) was better attended; 11 in the room. The mixed level, because it started middle of the day (noon), suffers from that start time; just 6 attended.

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!