PLAY
The theme for Saturday's 9 am class was "Play" -- patterned after my departure from routine during the past week. My taking time to 'play'.
First, I looked up the word 'play' on yourdictionary.com -- I was surprised by the amount of information provided for this relatively short word. The dictionary is a good resource to expand my verbiage (I also discovered that I have been misspelling this often-used word in my writing; so, forgive me.).
For me, it is so effective to use themes that have a basis in my own life experiences -- I am able to teach the class AND remember to infuse it (the class) with stories, similes, reminders of why we are 'playing' (or whatever personal life experience I choose to use).
This is good practice for other themes -- themes that relate to yoga philosophy, poetry, other life experiences that perhaps I haven't personal knowledge of. Those themes I introduce, then tend to get lost in the technical -- forgetting to return to them during the class; I just teach poses.
So, yesterday, we 'played' in class. A flowing warm-up, moving with the breath -- allowing students to think a bit for themselves. Then some standing poses, warming up the hips. Balancing in vrksasana; modified natarajasana; then using a strap for a more full experience of the pose (natarajasana); moved on to ardha chandrasana and then ardha chapasana. After all this, there was little time to 'play' on the floor, but we got in a couple twists and - since someone was struggling with some psoas issues - we gave that a little extra attention. Apanasana, then to savasana. Good class!
If you're looking for a chuckle, read MariaCristina's blog -- she's doing Darren & Noah's workshop this weekend in L.A. One or the other by themselves is a challenge; the two together, formidable!
Enjoy your Sunday,
First, I looked up the word 'play' on yourdictionary.com -- I was surprised by the amount of information provided for this relatively short word. The dictionary is a good resource to expand my verbiage (I also discovered that I have been misspelling this often-used word in my writing; so, forgive me.).
For me, it is so effective to use themes that have a basis in my own life experiences -- I am able to teach the class AND remember to infuse it (the class) with stories, similes, reminders of why we are 'playing' (or whatever personal life experience I choose to use).
This is good practice for other themes -- themes that relate to yoga philosophy, poetry, other life experiences that perhaps I haven't personal knowledge of. Those themes I introduce, then tend to get lost in the technical -- forgetting to return to them during the class; I just teach poses.
So, yesterday, we 'played' in class. A flowing warm-up, moving with the breath -- allowing students to think a bit for themselves. Then some standing poses, warming up the hips. Balancing in vrksasana; modified natarajasana; then using a strap for a more full experience of the pose (natarajasana); moved on to ardha chandrasana and then ardha chapasana. After all this, there was little time to 'play' on the floor, but we got in a couple twists and - since someone was struggling with some psoas issues - we gave that a little extra attention. Apanasana, then to savasana. Good class!
If you're looking for a chuckle, read MariaCristina's blog -- she's doing Darren & Noah's workshop this weekend in L.A. One or the other by themselves is a challenge; the two together, formidable!
Enjoy your Sunday,