Tuesday 15 January 2013

The Art of Teaching

Yesterday I didn't post because I was out til late (well, late for me) doing a stack of yoga. Two hours of purely awesomely fun yoga. Lululemon had their free class for the week on, so I wanted to go there. I went there Monday to see all the lovely stock, and I picked up a brochure to a yoga studio that did hot yoga. I looked it up later and found that they had a good deal and looked really professional so I constantly begged dad to go until he let me. It was on before the lulu class so I decided to go there too.

Hot yoga was fun. Really really fun. It was challenging too, but the heat wasn't as bad as I had imagined. The class started with some nice half moons (where I had to learn to let go and not focus on miss yogi in the corner, or the other guy dripping like a tap already on the far side of the room) and for a bit we did some easy (to me at least), bendy moves where I realised that I was more flexible than half of them. Can't remember what we did exactly but it was basic sort of low lunge and high lunge stuff.

Then we moved onto standing balances, where I finally realised that I'm more flexible than I am balanced. My tree was swaying heavily in the breeze, I could say. And doing eagle, I wobbled before my toes got behind my calf, and then she wanted us to straighten that leg behind us?! I will work on that.

Hip openers were up next, while I was grateful for. I love hip openers, because my hips are not open and so I do these type of moves every day. Pigeon was held for a substantially long time. Which was... not so fun. My hips don't really like pigeon that much. So I watched the sweat drip down my nose into the disgustingly absorbent yoga mat. I really hope they wash those.

The last bit of class was really slow restorative stuff. Once again, I can't really remember what, but some of them required some balance so I tried to focus more on staying upright.

After a towel off, I sat in the park for a while and waited for my next yoga class. Leaving that sauna was probably one of the best feelings of the whole thing. It's like a wave of cool and you feel like you've had this amazing massage that's relaxed every muscle, joint and bone in your body. No wonder so many people love it. I'm going again a few more times in the week while I'm doing the course, but I can't say that I feel like superwoman now.

I ended up waiting outside lulu, and when the doors were unlocked we rolled out our mats and were introduced to Crawf, the owner of another yoga studio, which I WILL go to. The moment I saw his naturally oxygenated face and heard his Yorkshire accent, I knew that the guy I marry better be like him.

We started class in a dark child's pose, and the class was pretty much a basic beginner's class but he added some awesome moves like horse with eagle arms, warrior is with reverse warrior and triangle, and my absolute new favourite: wild thing. Sitting up, one leg is straight in front, the other foot is on your thigh, your bent leg arm is behind you on the floor at your back, and you push your hips up, keeping the bent leg shin on the ground, stretching the other arm past your ear as you do the obligatory growl.

But the best thing about this guy was that he was a born entertainer. He talked not too much and not too little, he showed us that he knew the universe about yoga, but barely told us much about the technicalities and the beliefs behind it, and he made us laugh heaps. THAT was what made him spectacular. THAT was what made me even stronger in the last minutes of doing two hours of intense yoga. THAT was what made me take the business card off him and thank him like a thousand times for a great class. THAT was what made me do yoga better. Humour. If and when I become a yoga teacher, I WILL be funny, and my students WILL be fantastic because of it.

I guess that's all. Yesterday I leant a big lesson (apart from everything I learnt in acting class). I learnt that every yoga teacher is different and amazing in their own way. They all have a unique way of getting people to do stuff. The girl who took our hot yoga never shut up ("Andwhileyoubendforwardmakesureyourkneeisn'toveryourheelandbringyourpalmstogetheratyourheart'scentreandasyoubreatheintwistaroundtoyourrightside..." - I was scared that she wasn't breathing herself) and Crawf made us fall out of balance from unexpected jokes. Don't just settle for one yoga teacher. Try as many as you can.

The divine in me honours the divine in you.

Namaste

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