Red Elephant

Two for the price of one

<Shameless Self Promotion Follows>

I'm excited to be teaching a new class over at Lighthouse. We've changed up the schedule a bit, so my Monday night class is 7:45pm instead of 7:00pm. It's still Levels 1 & 2, so everyone is welcome. I'm also teaching a new class on Wednesday nights. It's in the early slot 6:00-7:30pm, and it's a Level 2 class.

Will it be that much harder? Well, it depends. We've done a lot of talking around the studio about standardizing our classes a bit more so that when you go to a Level 1, 2, or 3 class that you will get a class appropriate to the label. You always have to teach to the class that's there, but you shouldn't be pushing students farther than the scope of the class. Just because someone has been studying yoga for a long time & is quite flexible, doesn't mean that they want to push their own limits in a Level 1 class.

That said, I am excited to try a class where the bar is a little higher. Basically, Wednesday is for people who've been doing yoga for a little while, and want to take things further. As a teacher, I have to do some more exploration within my own practice. I should only be teaching what I know, so I had better know some more if I'm going to teach this class.

<End Shameless Self Promotion>

Now, on to the technology roundup. The other topic for which I'm usually ready to type a couple of paragraphs, or talk your ear off.

For starters, I'm poised to replace my computer. I've had one of the old 500 mHz white iBooks for about five years now, and it's time for an upgrade. I'm pretty stoked with the new MacBooks, but I'd prefer to wait for the next generation. Usually, newly-released software or hardware still has a few kinks to work out.

As I've told a couple of people, I'm really stoked to try out Delicious Library. It's software to keep and inventory of your books, albums, movies. And it's called Library for a reason. It allows you to "check out" items to your friends, and reminds you who's got when, and whether it's overdue.

Besides that, if you've got an iSight camera, like the one built-in to the new MacBooks, you can scan in the barcode or ISBN on the back of your book, and it will enter all the relevant information for you. Less typing is a good thing when you're talking about entering all of your stuff. Besides that, there's integration with Amazon.com for recommendations for similar items, if you're into that sort of thing. You can also turn on two-click ordering, etc.

I'm also interested in the different ways to run windows, either with BootCamp or Parallels. Jim asked me why I wanted to bother, and I didn't have a good answer ready. Maybe I just want to hack around with it.

So, after going over some finances last night, it will still be a bit before I'm opening a new box. But I'm still pretty excited. Maybe I wait for the new Mac OS to debut at the Developer's Conference. Maybe I figure that I'll use the older software. Leave the new stuff for the fanboys and early adopters.

Yogaversary and other delights

Last night's class marks one year since I started teaching yoga, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

I think I've gotten the most out of developing my own practice. Sure, going to classes is a great way to learn, but it really comes down to whether you can internalize the lessons, whether you can teach yourself, whether you can figure out what you're doing right and wrong.

I've also drawn inspiration from my teachers. Jed, who I've been studying with the past few years, has really gotten me interested in exploring things a bit more. It's not just doing the same poses over and over -- though there is some of that -- but listening to my own body. I've started off practices just stretching out, seeing what's tight, and seeing if I can make it feel better.

Another way I've approached my own practice is to take something that I learned in class or a workshop and break it down. For example, I have some students who just don't like Ardha Chandrasana [Half Moon Pose]. I've been trying to find other ways to approach the pose, rather than launching from Utthita Trikonasana, as most people do.

It's somewhat similar to Virabhadrasana III [Warrior III Pose], but I wanted to start from a much more supported and stable place, since that was the complaint that I was hearing, that it was too hard to balance. So, I had the class start in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), and take one leg back like Warrior III, but with the hands on the ground, just to keep the pose supported.

From there, we opened the hip up, moving towards Half-Moon, but building it up from the floor rather than launching into it. The other variation, I got from Jed, which is to start at an "L" on the wall with your palms on the wall, folding at the hips, feet on the floor. From there, you can take one leg back. You then open the top hip, and move towards a supported Half-Moon with your hands on the wall.

I've had good results, overall. Some people prefer the original pose & getting into it from Trikonasana. Others feel more supported building it from the floor, or using the wall as a prop. In any case, the exploration has been the key. It's not something I would have done a year ago, and that's the difference.

There's a teacher training exercise where you take detailed notes of someone in a pose so that you can re-create the pose with your body. That way, you can approximate the student's position and perhaps feel anything that's grossly out of alignment.

That's what it's really about, trying to figure out what's going on in your own body, and in the bodies of your students. This way you can do more than just practice the pose the way you first learned it. It becomes about learning principles of alignment, paying attention to what's going on in your body and asking questions.

Then you try to answer them.

Son of Brain Dump

And I'm back.

When I woke up this morning, rain was tapping on the roof, and there was a booming in the distance. The rain increased, and the thunder moved quickly our way. I was pleased, very pleased to wake up to these sounds. The first real thunderstorm marks the beginning of spring in my book. I can finally come out of hibernation, leave the house, start writing more, and sleeping less.

[Ed note - we did have a freak thunder-snowstorm earlier in the year, but that's not quite the same.]

It's strange how these things go in spurts. I get excited about a new thing, writing photography, what-have-you, and then I burn myself out too quickly. I've been trying to do this less, to really commit to things, and to begin slowly.

The best example of this has been yoga. I started back in 2002, almost four years now, and built my practice from once a week to several classes a week. This transformed once I began to teach classes and started practicing on my own.

This past weekend, I went to a great workshop with Desiree Rumbaugh. She's a Senior Certified Anusara Teacher, and she's a pretty amazing person. While we all learned lots of technical elements, I think her attitude is what was the most inspirational. She had a lot of fun doing yoga & helping people out. She talked about how it's transformed her life, and how it's helped her deal with the death of her son.

I learned plenty of technical things, including the importance of using your tailbone to solidfy the foundation in a pose and to integrate the whole body. I learned how to apply that, among other things, to make my backbends like Urdhva Dhanurasana deeper & more stable. She helped me re-learn Supta Virasana, which has always been tricky for me.

As important as learning the technical elements in more detail, was just the experience of attending a workshop. It's great to watch someone who is really dedicated to their craft present and practice. It's great to be around a bunch of other people who are eager to learn and practice themselves. It's great to dedicate a weekend to doing something you love.

And it's great when the excitement and energy from such a weekend carries over to the rest of your life. I'm excited to practice yoga right now, to push myself a little further than I have been, to try new things out. I'm excited to share what I've learned with my students. And I'm excited to harness this energy, to do some more writing.

I'll start with a little at first, and then build upon it. That seems to be the best way for me.

Solve It, Level Two

So, I'm eight weeks into teaching at the studio and I realize that I haven't really been talking or writing about it much. Over dinner this weekend, my mom says to me, "So, I hear from your father that you're teaching a yoga class." Umm, yeah. Sorry about that.

And while I have been doing some pre- and post-class writing, it's been more personal and technical in nature. So, here's the yoga report:

Teaching yoga is freaking awesome.

It is probably the most important thing I've done in the past five to ten years. If I can take half of the discipline that I give to my yoga practice and apply it to writing, then I might actually call myself a writer. As Mikie reminds me, a writer writes. In this case, a yoga teacher teaches.

I've really taken my practice to another level. What I've found is that I'm paying closer attention to poses in the first place. Not only do I ask myself, "What am I doing?" but also, "How do I cue this?" And as I think about cuing, I'm cuing myself, and getting better at poses, developing a deeper understanding of the specific muscular action involved.

My big breakthrough has been in learning to apply opposing muscular actions, or internal action like mula bandha. This is the difference between passively adopting the shape of a pose & actively engaging the whole body. In Saturday's class, I was able to twist deeper than ever before. I could actually stretch my hands down and touch the floor in revolved crescent lunge. I've never been able to do it. My ardha chandrasana is also really coming along.

I'm also thinking more about the philosophy behind it. Physical practice aside, yoga is also a spiritual practice. I'm not out to convert anyone. I just think that you are going to get some spiritual benefits as well as some physical ones. It goes with the territory.

I'm living proof of that. Yoga has really helped me maintain my sanity since moving back to Omaha. It's changed my attitude, helped me get rid of a lot of bad habits, and opened me up to new  possibilities. It's changed me physically, and allowed me to connect with a spiritual side that I haven't really been in touch with for years.

I'm also lucky to have a really receptive class. Max, his mom Linda, Lindsy, Dan & Megan have been with me pretty much from the start, and they've all done some really good work. So, if you're reading this guys, thanks for sticking with me. Thanks also to Nikki, Justin for trying it for a while, and to Megan [the other Megan] for coming & for bringing her friends.

So, in short, do yoga. You don't have to come to my class, but there is probably a class out there for you somewhere -- a teacher that you will respond to, a story that you need to hear, a practice all your own. It will affect and inform the rest of your life. But you have to be open to it, willing to take some risks, and you will have to discover patience.

I read a story recently about an instructor walking through India, meeting a swami, and telling him about his practice. The swami said, 'Oh, you're still in the first decade of your practice. That's great. After that, the real work begins.' That's not to say that you won't do plenty of good work in the meantime, but just that it is a slow progression. This is not some quick-fix diet. This is not instant enlightenment. This is some serious, life-changing work.

And that takes time.