Theme: Kula, sanskrit for a family of spirit, the community of the heart.
Setup: two rows of mats facing each other
1. We come to class instead of working out at home to find community of like minded people...we're social beings
2. Finding a like minded community of beings like the Y gives us the support to push ourselves to improve
3. We are all separate threads woven together to form a tapestry so if one is a little weak one day the rest hold the fabric together
Seated Mediation: remember someone who supported or inspired you, and bring their strength to the community of the heart. That highest ideal is what you want to manifest in yourself and your practice so you can shine it out for others as a light in the world. By community we don't mean a group adhering to strict rules of behavior, but a collection of unique individuals bound by a common respect for the divinity in themselves and others.
Partner Stretch - Utkatasana
Tiptoe Uttanasana
Downdog stack hips and twist open to touch neighbor if you can reach
Surya Namaskar x3 (your asana practice should look different. our community celebrates diversity because it is beautiful, the many colored threads form a rich tapestry of life)
-Parsvakonasana support partner, pressing top palm into their hand
-Trikonasana
-High Lunge/Warrior III - hold partners forearms across from you and to the side
Vrksasana - support partners hands
Padangustasana - support partners ankles
Natarajasana - support partner across from you
Chatturanga Vinyasa x3 - Dhanurasana (tops of feet then ankles, and last one whichever is harder)
-partner demo, first thing we look for is Sri, beauty in the partner.
Setubanda Sarvangasana - lift the leg
Urdhva Dhanurasana x3 - pump heart toward your partner, walk toward partner and high five if possible. shine your heart out toward your friends. your uniqueness is your offering. Third UD lift leg on each side or rest if you are tired.
Eye of Needle
windshield wipers
Happy Baby
avasana
Closing: We come together as a Kula today, a community of the heart, the family of spirit, to celebrate the divine light that shines in all beings everywhere.
Success!: We had good participation in the class with the partner poses. An Anusara Certified instructor who teaches at YogaKula and the Oakland Y visited my class serendipitously and I asked her how it was. She said it was good and she enjoyed the class and theme. It was nice to get some feedback from another Anusara teacher trainee on the class. The students are giving good feedback as well. I asked one of the regular students for suggestions on things they want to work on and she said that shoulder openers would be beneficial so her, so I will work on shoulder openers and shoulder loop next class.
Concerns: I was concerned about some foundation alignment and some people had tightness that I was looking at and encouraging people to do the backbends more gently so they weren't muscling into the poses. I did several adjustments at the end of class as well. Last few classes I've had some students come into the room and open the windows so I've been negotiating with them by closing the windows during the warmup and then opening them back up after the first 30 minutes. I want to make sure all the students get adequately warmed up for the deeper poses and sometimes with the windows open it cools off too much in the room.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Ganesh, Embracing Change and Overcoming Obstacles
Theme: Ganesh, the Remover of Obstacles
Lessons: Obstacles are doors to understanding ourselves
Props: Two blocks and a strap
Flavor: Ganesh wrote the epics with ink on the end of his tusk. Reminds us to dance even when our head is heavy.
Told the story of how Ganesh got his elephant head. Reminds us that sometimes an obstacle, like angry Shiva will blow our minds and transform us radically. Ganesh accepts and makes the best of his new visage and form, he doesn't spend all his time lamenting that he now has an elephant head. We want to learn to accept transformation when it happens in our lives, in those instances when we can't just blast an obstacle out of the way like Shiva does in the story. Sometimes we're the ones who divinity forces to change to overcome an obstacle.
Cat Cow - Alternate Arm Leg/Thigh Stretch
Chatturange Vinyasa x5
-baby cobra
-drunken cobra
-wide armed cobra
-bow feet
-bow ankles
Surya Namaskar x3
Iguana w/ locust
Parsvakonasana w/ locust - arms behind back
High Lunge w/ locust - up into cobra
Natarajasana w/ strap
Padottanasana w/ arms behind back
Elephant w/ blocks
Camel
Setubanda Sarvangasana - raise leg
Dhanurasana - demo, partner, self
help partners by lifting knees and rocking hips side to side then lengthening spine and rotating legs in circles to unwind any tension in the low back
Uttanasana
Dandasana - Forward Bend
Knees to Chest
Savasana
Closing: We practice Yoga to be more like Ganesh, skillfully engaging our hearts to embrace any transformation or change that happens in life and helps us overcome the obstacles before us.
Success! Parner Urdhva Dhanurasana was awesome. People had a good time.
Concerns: Had a few students who left partway through class but I checked in with them and they advised their bodies were okay, they were just short on time. Had another student ask about tucking toes under in Ustrasana, she said she felt intense pressure (not pain) in the knees when tucking the toes under but normally didn't when the toenails were clicked down into the mat. I told her that her body was probably used to putting weight on a little different part of the knee since she'd been doing it with the toenails clicked down for a while and that in time the knees would probably become accustomed to having the toes tucked under. I explained that the toes tucked under protects the knees an ankles, but that she was welcome to do whatever variation felt best for her body. In retrospect, I would have like to suggested that she engage muscle energy even with the toes tucked under and see if that or apply other principles could have resolved the pressure as well.
Lessons: Obstacles are doors to understanding ourselves
Props: Two blocks and a strap
Flavor: Ganesh wrote the epics with ink on the end of his tusk. Reminds us to dance even when our head is heavy.
Told the story of how Ganesh got his elephant head. Reminds us that sometimes an obstacle, like angry Shiva will blow our minds and transform us radically. Ganesh accepts and makes the best of his new visage and form, he doesn't spend all his time lamenting that he now has an elephant head. We want to learn to accept transformation when it happens in our lives, in those instances when we can't just blast an obstacle out of the way like Shiva does in the story. Sometimes we're the ones who divinity forces to change to overcome an obstacle.
Cat Cow - Alternate Arm Leg/Thigh Stretch
Chatturange Vinyasa x5
-baby cobra
-drunken cobra
-wide armed cobra
-bow feet
-bow ankles
Surya Namaskar x3
Iguana w/ locust
Parsvakonasana w/ locust - arms behind back
High Lunge w/ locust - up into cobra
Natarajasana w/ strap
Padottanasana w/ arms behind back
Elephant w/ blocks
Camel
Setubanda Sarvangasana - raise leg
Dhanurasana - demo, partner, self
help partners by lifting knees and rocking hips side to side then lengthening spine and rotating legs in circles to unwind any tension in the low back
Uttanasana
Dandasana - Forward Bend
Knees to Chest
Savasana
Closing: We practice Yoga to be more like Ganesh, skillfully engaging our hearts to embrace any transformation or change that happens in life and helps us overcome the obstacles before us.
Success! Parner Urdhva Dhanurasana was awesome. People had a good time.
Concerns: Had a few students who left partway through class but I checked in with them and they advised their bodies were okay, they were just short on time. Had another student ask about tucking toes under in Ustrasana, she said she felt intense pressure (not pain) in the knees when tucking the toes under but normally didn't when the toenails were clicked down into the mat. I told her that her body was probably used to putting weight on a little different part of the knee since she'd been doing it with the toenails clicked down for a while and that in time the knees would probably become accustomed to having the toes tucked under. I explained that the toes tucked under protects the knees an ankles, but that she was welcome to do whatever variation felt best for her body. In retrospect, I would have like to suggested that she engage muscle energy even with the toes tucked under and see if that or apply other principles could have resolved the pressure as well.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Anjali Mudra: Sealing Your Highest Intentions
Anjali Mudra (meaning Gift/Offering and Seal) is a hand gesture that focuses our energy.
Some of the things I think about with Anjali Mudra:
1. It's a bowing inward towards the divinity in yourself as well as a bowing outward to the divine in all things around you.
2. It's a balance point between the right and left, past and present, any opposing forces.
3. It's a container, you hold the seed of your intention between your hands in front of your heart and nourish that seed by shining your heart out during the practice.
When we cultivate an intention, it might be like a desire for something in the world, but part of the practice of sealing the intention is emptying ourselves of any attachment to the outcome or need for the object of desire. When you release your desire or attachment to that thing into the world you create a container in yourself for that gift to flow back into your life.
Illustration: Like the person sitting at a table with a bunch of smokers and the smoke drifts toward the non-smoker, so the person who is not attached to something will attract that thing to them.
Seated Mediation, focusing on the light of the breath. Holding your highest self in mind. We will explore your highest intentions in various facets of your life in the practice and nourish and seal those intentions in Anjali Mudra over the course of our practice.
Surya Namaskar - Low Lunge w/ Anjali Mudra - Open to Grace
Surya Namaskar - Low Lunge w/ AM (raise back leg after twist) - think of highest and best intentions with regard to your health and well being
Surya Namaskar - High Lunge w/ AM - highest and best relationship with beloved and with your family, what gifts do you already have and what more can your bring as an offering. Cultivate the qualities you admire in others in yourself.
Vrksasana w/AM - what's your career ideal. Do you enjoy going to work every day. If not, think about what that would feel like. If you do, then how can you make work more enjoyable for others.
Utkatasana w/AM - hold someone who needs help in your heart. Someone you know may be having trouble in life or be ill.
Virbhadrasana II/Reverse Warrior - student request
Iguana Lunge
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana - Pigeon
Hanumanasana
Virabhadrasana III w/ Anjali Mudra - stand firm in your own truth. Speak from your heart. Partner demo and assist stabilizing the pose and spotting friend's alignment. Spa dog to root thighs and heals back after standing poses.
Child's pose w/ hands in Anjali Mudra - set an intention to see the world clearly, witnessing the beauty and divinity in yourself and the world around you.
Eye of the Needle
Cactus Twists
Kapalbhati Kriya Pranayama - seated with hands in Anjali Mudra - set intention to use the gifts you are given in life to set a good example for other. Ask yourself how you can lead others better.
Savasana
Closing Statement from DailyLove.com:
To often we do not say what we are feeling in our hearts and we hold back our true words of love, courage and compassion that should be said. When you become courageous enough to express the Truth of how you are really feeling you set yourself free and align with the vibration of your Truth.
This is when miracles, synchronicities and amazing things begin to happen. At first it might be a little rough because you are clearing out everything that isn't true for you.
Once you've reached a clean slate, your Truth will set you free, your Truth will make you happy and your Truth will always provide for you.
Your Truth will deliver a life greater than you have imagined. All you have to do is let go of what is not true for you and let it in what is.
Closing Anjali Mudra: I bow from the spark of the divine in myself to the spark of the divine in all of you.
Concerns: I didn't feel like the students were following my directions in the demonstration/partner pose, so I want to do a little bit better job of structuring the partner work so they're following a set up alignment instructions. Everyone still had fun though and it was Warrior III so everyone looked like they were working safely. They were supporting each other minimally so it didn't seem like anyone would get hurt by not following my instructions on looking at the alignment.
Success!: I saw a shift in the students. I received positive feedback from the class afterward. I felt less anxiety in my introduction that in some previous classes and was more at ease and spoke more slowly.
Some of the things I think about with Anjali Mudra:
1. It's a bowing inward towards the divinity in yourself as well as a bowing outward to the divine in all things around you.
2. It's a balance point between the right and left, past and present, any opposing forces.
3. It's a container, you hold the seed of your intention between your hands in front of your heart and nourish that seed by shining your heart out during the practice.
When we cultivate an intention, it might be like a desire for something in the world, but part of the practice of sealing the intention is emptying ourselves of any attachment to the outcome or need for the object of desire. When you release your desire or attachment to that thing into the world you create a container in yourself for that gift to flow back into your life.
Illustration: Like the person sitting at a table with a bunch of smokers and the smoke drifts toward the non-smoker, so the person who is not attached to something will attract that thing to them.
Seated Mediation, focusing on the light of the breath. Holding your highest self in mind. We will explore your highest intentions in various facets of your life in the practice and nourish and seal those intentions in Anjali Mudra over the course of our practice.
Surya Namaskar - Low Lunge w/ Anjali Mudra - Open to Grace
Surya Namaskar - Low Lunge w/ AM (raise back leg after twist) - think of highest and best intentions with regard to your health and well being
Surya Namaskar - High Lunge w/ AM - highest and best relationship with beloved and with your family, what gifts do you already have and what more can your bring as an offering. Cultivate the qualities you admire in others in yourself.
Vrksasana w/AM - what's your career ideal. Do you enjoy going to work every day. If not, think about what that would feel like. If you do, then how can you make work more enjoyable for others.
Utkatasana w/AM - hold someone who needs help in your heart. Someone you know may be having trouble in life or be ill.
Virbhadrasana II/Reverse Warrior - student request
Iguana Lunge
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana - Pigeon
Hanumanasana
Virabhadrasana III w/ Anjali Mudra - stand firm in your own truth. Speak from your heart. Partner demo and assist stabilizing the pose and spotting friend's alignment. Spa dog to root thighs and heals back after standing poses.
Child's pose w/ hands in Anjali Mudra - set an intention to see the world clearly, witnessing the beauty and divinity in yourself and the world around you.
Eye of the Needle
Cactus Twists
Kapalbhati Kriya Pranayama - seated with hands in Anjali Mudra - set intention to use the gifts you are given in life to set a good example for other. Ask yourself how you can lead others better.
Savasana
Closing Statement from DailyLove.com:
To often we do not say what we are feeling in our hearts and we hold back our true words of love, courage and compassion that should be said. When you become courageous enough to express the Truth of how you are really feeling you set yourself free and align with the vibration of your Truth.
This is when miracles, synchronicities and amazing things begin to happen. At first it might be a little rough because you are clearing out everything that isn't true for you.
Once you've reached a clean slate, your Truth will set you free, your Truth will make you happy and your Truth will always provide for you.
Your Truth will deliver a life greater than you have imagined. All you have to do is let go of what is not true for you and let it in what is.
Closing Anjali Mudra: I bow from the spark of the divine in myself to the spark of the divine in all of you.
Concerns: I didn't feel like the students were following my directions in the demonstration/partner pose, so I want to do a little bit better job of structuring the partner work so they're following a set up alignment instructions. Everyone still had fun though and it was Warrior III so everyone looked like they were working safely. They were supporting each other minimally so it didn't seem like anyone would get hurt by not following my instructions on looking at the alignment.
Success!: I saw a shift in the students. I received positive feedback from the class afterward. I felt less anxiety in my introduction that in some previous classes and was more at ease and spoke more slowly.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Shakti: Concealing and Revealing our Divine Nature
Theme: Story of Shakti playfully covering Shiva's third eye during his savasana meditation. When she covers his third eye he loses his ability to correctly discern his own essential divinity and manifestation as all things. So Shiva begins to see the world and himself as a bunch of separate entities and things and he becomes confused.
So we're all little confused versions of Shiva, the supreme divine consciousness, wandering around in our day to day lives, believing that we are all separate when in fact there are little clues and hints that we are all connected (coincidences, miracles, etc...)
Like a divine game of peek-a-boo as Shakti pulls her hands away from Shiva's third eye, he starts to recognize his own divine nature again, and as she replaces them again she conceals the truth of supreme consciousness.
In our practice we connect to the breath and Shakti. Shakti energy can be stuck in our bodies in places, concealing our divine nature, but with our practice we can also use muscular engagement and organic extension to cultivate Shakti that burns away the stuck energy, so Shakti can both conceal and reveal our highest and best.
Surya Namaskar - Parsvakonasana
SN - Virbhadrasana II
SN - Trikonansana
Ardha Chandrasana
Vrksasanan
Utkatasana
Malasana
Ardha Bakasana
Virbahadrasana I - curl open
Parvottanasana
Parivrtta Trikonasana
Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana - partner pose
Tricep Dips
Supta Padangusthasana
Happy Baby
Savasana
Concerns: I had a student with hearing impairment which presented an interesting challenge adjusting them. I had to be very mindful that they were aware of my presence and intention to help them before I assisted.
In the partner pose there were lots of questions, so I think I'll need to practice my partner demonstration and step by step instructions a little more before next class.
Success!: Good feedback on the class and the philosophy/theme. Themes have been source of the most positive feedback I've received for the past several classes.
I also wanted to bring a partner assist into this class as we didn't have a chance to do that much in the past few weeks and it worked out well. I'm going to work on making sure we do at least one partner assist every class because it builds a stronger community in the classroom, and community is one of the values the Y says they want to emphasize in their classes.
Conclusion: We practice yoga to clear the fog from our body and mind so we can see the divinity in ourselves and others. Shakti conceals and reveals our own true nature.
So we're all little confused versions of Shiva, the supreme divine consciousness, wandering around in our day to day lives, believing that we are all separate when in fact there are little clues and hints that we are all connected (coincidences, miracles, etc...)
Like a divine game of peek-a-boo as Shakti pulls her hands away from Shiva's third eye, he starts to recognize his own divine nature again, and as she replaces them again she conceals the truth of supreme consciousness.
In our practice we connect to the breath and Shakti. Shakti energy can be stuck in our bodies in places, concealing our divine nature, but with our practice we can also use muscular engagement and organic extension to cultivate Shakti that burns away the stuck energy, so Shakti can both conceal and reveal our highest and best.
Surya Namaskar - Parsvakonasana
SN - Virbhadrasana II
SN - Trikonansana
Ardha Chandrasana
Vrksasanan
Utkatasana
Malasana
Ardha Bakasana
Virbahadrasana I - curl open
Parvottanasana
Parivrtta Trikonasana
Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana - partner pose
Tricep Dips
Supta Padangusthasana
Happy Baby
Savasana
Concerns: I had a student with hearing impairment which presented an interesting challenge adjusting them. I had to be very mindful that they were aware of my presence and intention to help them before I assisted.
In the partner pose there were lots of questions, so I think I'll need to practice my partner demonstration and step by step instructions a little more before next class.
Success!: Good feedback on the class and the philosophy/theme. Themes have been source of the most positive feedback I've received for the past several classes.
I also wanted to bring a partner assist into this class as we didn't have a chance to do that much in the past few weeks and it worked out well. I'm going to work on making sure we do at least one partner assist every class because it builds a stronger community in the classroom, and community is one of the values the Y says they want to emphasize in their classes.
Conclusion: We practice yoga to clear the fog from our body and mind so we can see the divinity in ourselves and others. Shakti conceals and reveals our own true nature.
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