Spanda, the Dynamic Pulsation of the Universe.

Everyone needs two blocks and a bolster.

Theme: Spanda, the dynamic pulsation of the universe. Turn inwards to reflect on your highest intention and see where you are presently in the pulsation energetically, physically, and emotionally in your life. Look to see that the low points in life were doorways to new expansion and appreciate when you are at the top of a great auspicious wave or cycle in your life.

In yoga poses we don't want to just hang out when we get to the form of the pose or become a rigid statue, we want to pulsate with life and look at each moment and every breath as an opportunity to re-engage the body and new opening and place in the pose.

Talked about visiting my family last week now that they've retired. Also talked about how my parents have chosen to more deeply engage themselves in life by adopting more children to help them. Asked students to turn inward and find a compassionate place to thing about how they can better serve themselves or another (compassion is for the self as well as altruistic).

Cat/Cow - Alt Hands
DD-Cobra-Sphinx w/Thigh
Dolphin - Uttanasana
DD-Cobra-Locust
Uttanasana - use blocks to root to rise, everyone using blocks to engage more
Utkatasana - twist both sides
Padottanasana - use blocks to engage deeper and connect to warriors breath.. My dad has a sleep apnea machine that helps him breath while he sleeps. My mom jokes it makes him sound like darth vader, but it actually a similar sound to warriors breath. Connecting to the breath is one way we engage in intense poses so we can feel the dramatic pulsation in the body and the breath and be more fully embodied.
Warrior I - remember your highest and best intention for yourself.
Parsvakonasana - hand to floor
Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
Virabhadrasana II
Triangle
Parivrtta Trikonasana
Warrior III - lenthening the side body and softening the heart. My dad had his knee replaced and he goes for a two hour walk every morning to keep himself mobile and healthy, which is great, but I woke up one morning and my dad just got back from his walk and he was eating chocolate chip cookies for breakfast as his reward. So had them engage fully in warrior III knowing that they will get a reward at the end, told them we're going to child's pose right after.
Child's pose
Demo - dolphin w/ block at the wall - connect your highest and best effort to your hearts desire, open the heart to make it a container to hold your offering
Partner - knees to open heart at the wall
Self at wall - pincha mayurasana - asked student to hold highest intention in their heart during this pose, to reconnect to their highest intention. Mentioned that the peacock embodies opposites in that it has beautiful colors, but not the most musical voice.
Child's pose
WLFB
Uttansana with hands clasped behind back
Sivasana - with spine supported on a bolster - to keep the mind more aware so they can open the heart, connect to the breath, hold their highest intention and then release everything down into the earth.

Everything in the universe moves. pulsation is life. If there's no movement then there's no life. Spanda is the dynamic pulsation of the breathing living supreme consciousness that surrounds us and creates us in every moment. In every moment we can tune into our bodies and our breath and realize the greater truth, that we and all things are connected and composed of the same divinity.

Closing: We practice yoga to connect to our breath and bodies so we can feel the spandic rhythm of the universe, and to make us more aware of the divinity in ourselves and others.

Concerns:

I had more twists and hip openers planned for this sequence, but working with the students on aligning and engaging the standing poses we didn't get to them. I felt good about the energy level, attitude, and pace of the class. People said they enjoyed it. I think I want to talk more about balanced action though. It seems like Spanda is a great way to talk about balanced action. We touched on recognizing pulsation and life, but I didn't mention balance at all. Will have to integrate that into future classes.

I asked the students what they wanted to see in the future and I had several suggestions to incorporate Pranayama, which I intend to do in moderation towards the end of the next few classes. Also we had a request for more inversion and balancing poses and another for more yoga flow. We did Surya Namaskar in the last class which is good for a warmup at a faster pace, flowing with less alignment instruction.

I'm going to speed up the warmup sun salutations to make it more dynamic and then slow it down to work on balances and close with pranayama.