BLOOMING

I took my friend, Susan, to her first yoga class yesterday. We drove to Garden Street Yoga (Coeur d'alene), and took a level 1-2 class taught by Jennifer Harbour.

(Remember about six months ago, I was coerced into a kickboxing class? Same friend, pay back time. But - in my mind - a good pay back.)

As we entered, there was the usual welcoming cacophony of voices in the room (no one meditating or warming up, everyone just visiting - happy to be in the room). Not that I have anything against meditating or warming up before class, it's just that the quiet can be so deafening and so intimidating to a new-to-yoga or new-to-the-group person. For me, a room full of chatter is a good thing.

Jennifer is on the same path as I am -- I don't know her exact timeline, only that she is an Inspired™ instructor who studies with Karen Sprute-Francovich. I have attended several of her classes over the past few years and each time, I see growth. In this class we worked on kidney loop and shoulder loop -- or, in her words, 'humble' and 'worthy'. As she talked at the start of class, the theme resonated with me so much that I found myself on the verge of tears! That doesn't happen often. Before we centered, she concluded with a poem by Mary Oliver, The Lily. Nice touch.

Class went well, also. The theme was carried throughout, her instructions were clear, and I found myself breaking a sweat even though we were moving slowly -- loved it.

Throughout, I found myself thinking about my friend -- how she was receiving (1) the practice and (2) the talk about humble and worthy. I asked afterwards. She clearly enjoyed the class; and it is all so new to her, that the verbiage probably wasn't focused on too much -- just trying to get into trichonasana takes a lot of the mental 'space' we have -- not much leftover for contemplating a theme. That's not a bad thing, it's a 'new-to-yoga' thing.

I was next to Susan (mat-wise), and the temptation was strong to offer 'tips'. However, this wasn't my class to teach, I was a student just like her. So, I remained silent, letting Jennifer do all the instruction. Whew! That's tough.

After class, we had a great bowl of soup at a local coffee shop, and returned to Spokane, where I spent much of the afternoon visiting my parents.

Obviously, I'm not in Salt Lake this weekend. Came to visit family, leaving Howard (husband) at home to take care of dogs, et al, and to shovel the snow that's been falling. (Another pay back from the many times he has been traveling and I've been shoveling over the years.) Good exercise, however.

Today? More visiting, maybe a little shopping, some research to finalize the sale of my parents' home.

Hope you have a great holiday (assuming you're taking today as a holiday)!