I hate yoga classes

Okay, we all know that’s not ENTIRELY true but I went to a new class this week and that’s always a crapshoot.

Let’s start with the fact that I teach. Rather, I have taught (it’s been about a year since I taught a yoga class) and did so for several years. That makes it hard to go to a lot of classes anyhow, just because I have to get my own head out of the way in order to focus. This was easier, by the way, BEFORE I taught.

So when we accept that, there’s the fact that I’m attending a beginning class. No big – just that the system requires it before I can take a different class. I can get something out of ANY class (benefits of having been a teacher) but beginning classes can be… twitchy.

Last but not least, a teacher with whom I have no experience. No word of mouth, just going in cold. Not the best way to start a new class, that’s all I’m saying.

We start Threading The Needle. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say – even though I’m not “supposed” to say it – that Threading the Needle is the worst fucking yoga move ever. Lots of people teach it. Hell, my TRAINING CENTER taught it. But if you look at it – if you watch someone DOING it – you will see what I mean. There’s no good safe way to explain this position without having your hands on someone (a physical impossibility in a decent sized class), it puts pressure on the neck, shoulders and back which could EASILY cause damage and – speaking ONLY for myself – it doesn’t do a damn thing for me. Nothing.

So yeah. Inauspicious start. Followed by standing and swinging arms as though it’s a stretch. Ugh. I was managing to let this go, honest, getting out of my head and focusing on my form. This is an instructor who does the class while teaching so I kind of shuddered when I saw some truly uncomfortable looking down dogs but HEY. NOT MY CLASS. I even mostly ignored the “breathe into your inner thighs” nonsense (albeit with a truly juvenile internal monologue that went something like “If I could do THAT I’d never leave the house! Heh! Heh! It’s the fuckin Catalina Wine Mixer!”).

I did my usual thing, modifying to what I needed and got decent muscle burn all the way through to savasana. I lay down, pulled my sweatshirt hood up, got comfortable and started to relax. And then I hear the instructor telling us to relax various parts of our bodies. “Relax your shins.”

I’M SORRY. WHAT? It’s a fucking BONE. It’s a SOLID STATE. It is IMPOSSIBLE TO RELAX A BONE. So that tweaked me. Then she continued through some other soft tissue and then back to cheekbones and TEETH. RELAX YOUR TEETH? WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?

I do not know if she’s a new teacher or not. I didn’t ask and I’m kind of ascribing that status because it makes me want to grit my teeth less. This is the thing I think is wrong with yoga. Not that people do it in different ways or have different styles – I think that’s great – but this embracing idiotic woo-woo talk that doesn’t MAKE SENSE to the people you’re ostensibly TEACHING. Woo-woo, by the way, has NOTHING to do with spirituality and everything to do with new age bullshit. You can’t breathe into your inner thighs unless you a) have lungs in your legs or 2) are Cirque de Soliel flexible and if that’s the case I think we can all agree you ain’t BREATHING down there.

Talk about muscle movement and for CRIPE’S SAKE please talk about the CORRECT muscle (sorry lady, that wasn’t the I. T. band). Talk about using your breath to concentrate. Talk about ways to change the movements and change how the pose feels. Leave your woo-woo at home.

An actual yoga post- sort of!

I frequently get asked if there are DVDs and/or books that I’d recommend for new students (or even experienced students). I just got an email from Yoga Journal offering a discount on the DVDs I like best.

The Step By Step series is a great introduction to yoga or even as a way to fine-tune your asana and breath practice. The coupon is 20% an individual DVD or something like 45% off for all three.  Enter coupon code SBS2 at checkout and click “Redeem Coupon” to receive your discount or call 1-800-I-DO-YOGA (436-9642).

I don’t plug a lot of yoga ‘stuff’ here, just the things I use and love myself. I highly recommend getting all three discs.

In related news, my recommendating for practicing with a DVD (whether you’ve practiced yoga previously or not) is to watch the DVD at LEAST once to make sure you’re familiar with the positions. If there’s anything that sounds confusing, make notes on a sheet of paper that you can keep next to your mat during practice. You should NOT be looking up at the DVD while you’re practicing – it’s bad for your body and negates all the good work you’re trying to do!

The New Year begins with a BANG

I’ve got some temporary part-time employment, as of today. Even though it’s not permanent, I’m feeling pretty good about starting the new year with a job.

In yoga news, this is how I teach yoga. A friend sent me the article because I’m always talking about how yoga doesn’t have to be serious and how I love to hear people laugh in my classes. Part of the reason I use pop music is because it relaxes people – lets them know I’m not going to be going all Bhaghavad Gita on them – and they sing along. Singing along is my next favorite thing to laughter. I’m not sure what the yoga community is like in this area, which is why I’m not pursuing teaching immediately. My style may or may not mesh with the locale.

A lot of folks I know are doing the 365 meme, where you take a photo of yourself every day. My friend told me about another variation: 52 weeks with a self-portrait each week. I’m going to give it a shot, but my real meme this year is going to be the Daily Leadville photos. Each day I’ll post a photo from the area – not necessarily Leadville, but I’m going to try.  I’m going to use it as my way of documenting my new surroundings.

52 weeks - week one

Nearing the end

I taught my last class at the gym yesterday and my last class in Michigan tonight. It’s a little sad and totally strange. My life has kind of been dicatated by my teaching schedule for the last three years and I’m going to be a little lost without it. I also had really, really great students here and I’m going to miss them. On days when I didn’t feel motivated to teach (yes, it happens) they motivated me. Watching them grow and get stronger was awesome.

I’m getting ready to close up the house – little last minute things to get it in order. Paint the bathroom, empty the cupboards and fridge, take out the trash, get the canoe down and load it up, get the chimes off the effing tree (I keep forgetting). Possibly the most challenging will be packing the car.

Given my list, I won’t be doing much blogging today and then tomorrow I’m on the road. I’ll be giving road updates on twitter because I love the text to tweet function.

All of my belongings are arriving at my house in Leadville RIGHT THIS SECOND.

Go at your own pace

It’s unusual for me to get into yoga diatribes very often. Most people I know do not practice yoga regularly and I don’t generally talk about my teaching philosophy unless I’m talking about classes. When most of the people you know don’t practice, it doesn’t come up in conversation that frequently.  This weekend, though, my mom and I were talking about the move and whether or not I’d teach yoga in Colorado.

I’d love to keep teaching. I enjoy it SO much and it would be great if I could keep on doing it. At the same time, I’m going to be in a new place setting up a new life and starting out is hard. As evidence, it’s taken me two years to get a serious following of students.

I teach to all levels and there are a few reasons for that. Most importantly, it’s because you never REALLY know what kind of limitations people are working with. Sometimes they’ll tell you if they’ve got an injury, more often than not they don’t. Second, people need to feel like they can choose their own workout. Providing modifications lets them do that. Third, when I’m doing my own asana practice I run through a checklist of things – foot placement, which muscles are active and how, how I can change the position. If it’s valuable to me after my years of practice, I’ve got to believe it’s valuable to others.

When I teach, I typically use the modified asana. It’s simple – given an option a) or harder option b), most people feel pressure to go with the harder option. By taking the modified version a) myself, I’m eliminating a competitive element in the class. It’s not about MY workout, it’s about the students. And the fact is that most students feel more comfortable using a modification if the instructor does.

This is all apropos, by the way, of my classes this week. In every single class this week, my students made their own modifications. Students who were relatively new and students who have been in my class for a while, relative beginners and folks with prior experience. In every. Single. Class. someone (or more than one someone) modified down to where they needed to be.

I don’t get all new-age catchphrase about yoga. I’m pretty pragmatic about practicing and its benefits. I don’t utilize chanting in my classes. But I’m going to tell you that it actually gladdened my heart to see my students do their own thing. It was like it filled me up with light each time. I thought, “I’ve done my job.” Because with yoga, you’re SUPPOSED to go at your own pace. You’re supposed to listen to your body and adjust your concentration. And by listening to your body you IMPROVE your concentration. You improve the connection between your body and your brain.

I’m incredibly sad to be leaving my students. I feel guilty about leaving them with limited options to find instruction. But this week, I thought “They can do this. I’ve done a good enough job. They can adjust in any classes they take.” My shoulders felt lighter. I felt accomplished.

Tough acts to follow

It’s hard to teach other yoga teachers.

Everyone comes to yoga with their own baggage (flexibility, health, stress, et cetera). Teachers have a little extra something, in that they’ve got a way of doing things that they’re used to and may think is the only ‘right’ way. In my experience, most teachers are pretty good about being able to pick and choose what they’re going to use and adapt themselves. It’s challenging though because you’re never quite sure how they feel about the class.

In the class I attended today, there was a beginning student and two teachers (me and another). It was a really good class, in terms of pacing and difficulty. I only had a couple of quibbles – and those come from my own experiences attending and teaching classes.

First, teach the modifications first. It’s difficult (especially for beginning students) to ‘drop down’. Everyone has a certain level of competiton in their nature and if you start with Hard and go to Easy, people almost never take the Easy option. If you start with Easy, more students are likely to stay there when they should. For this reason I also teach that even if your teacher doesn’t offer a modification, if there’s a mod that you like or use – use it anyhow. A good teacher won’t make you feel bad about that.

Second, make sure you’re balancing out the right and left side equally. We worked the right side a little longer in most positions. It happens pretty easily because you start describing what you’re doing and the students are holding the asana while that happens. Then you switch to the other side and don’t stay there as long because you don’t have to explain anything. This is why I wear a digital watch. I can time – to the second – how long we are where we are and make sure it equals out. Not sexy, but effective.

I really did enjoy the class and will probably be going back for more. I’m going to try all the classes to see if they’d be applicable for all or most of my students. The teacher was very nice and approachable and I got a nice solid workout.

I love teaching yoga

I know I get gushy about this probably more than people want to hear it, but I really really love my job. There has never been a single class where I’ve left and thought “Wow, that was crappy” or “Man, I totally just wasted my time.” In every single class, someone has an ‘a-ha!’ moment or at the end of class, there are big sleepy smiles. I get to put a little awesome in someone’s day and it is the best feeling ever.

It makes me sad that I’m leaving this area, just as I’m starting to REALLY have a following, but it’s nights like tonight that convince me I’ll keep teaching wherever I’m at. 

First classes are hard. I used to get really nervous that I’d trip over my words or give fumbling descriptions, or that someone would injure themselves. Now I don’t really get nervous. I worry that someone will leave and not have enjoyed the class, but that’s a subset to making sure that everyone in the room feels comfortable. I think I’m pretty successful at that. First classes are tough because there is SO MUCH STUFF going on in every stretch that you can’t talk about all of it. So trying to get enough in that people can choose the work they want to do, without overloading them or chattering nonstop, is a fine balance to strike.

Based on the feedback I get from students, my style seems to be very approachable and laid back. I show that I don’t take it too seriously and the students get comfortable pretty quickly. I also talk about how I’m lazy and cheap, so I think that helps.

So yeah. Tonight was a nice class in a new place. Makes your brain work differently!

Sneak attacks

I don’t really make a secret of how to tackle difficult asanas in yoga. One of the easiest ways to do it is attempt something harder. Then when you go back to the first thing, it’s not nearly as intimidating. You have to be careful, of course, not to pressure students too far and let them know it’s okay to dial it back or not go ‘all out’.

Today I had a request for Virbadrasana (Warrior) III! I love that because it’s challenging and we just did some work with it last week. Today we prefaced it with  a standing half-entry into Half Moon. We did a partial entry – standing on one leg, chest and hips open to the long side of the mat, and then leaning forward (block in hand) to find a balance point. After repeating it a couple of times, we came all the way in. Then we switched to Warrior III, which after Half Moon seems a lot less work.

There were big smiles and straight backs, and everyone made it into THEIR Warrior. Loved it.

P.S., that Glade commercial where they’re going the yoga? FAIL. Bad, bad, bad for your backs!

TV Notes:

NCIS: SHUT UP! They had the Numa Numa guy! I love that guy! Also, nicely done with the creepy serial killer.

The Mentalist: Love, love, love this show. Truly. Clever, engaging, and not afraid of doing the unexpected.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta: I adore Ed and Lisa. They are my favorite reality couple, evar. That said, I’ve never seen a show that better illustrates that money and class are not related. Also, What exactly has Sheree been successful at? She keeps talking about being a success but the only thing she seems to have done was get married and divorced. Weird.

In unrelated news, I discovered the Gwyneth Paltrow GOOP site via Jezebel. I’m not sure how I feel about sites that purport to tell you how to make your life better or happier by following their directions. I’m also suspicious of any site that endorses buying particular products (that includes Oprah) because it encourages people to not be happy with what they have. I’ll reserve full judgement until it’s all the way up, but I’m skeptical.

Tonight I am making a run to the bridal shop with Carly for her final dress try-on. There is more packing to be done, but I’m postponing it until after the wedding.

Mondays!

First, I cannot believe this blog has gotten over 4,000 hits. I’m just shocked. I believe that it happened on the backs of Ariel Tweto, Naked Family, and True Blood. Whatever. I have no idea how many people actually read this regularly and I suspect that most people trip over it on accident.

I should be packing a computer tower, a stereo receiver, and loading computer monitors into the back of my car. Obviously I am doing none of those things. My couch is feeling very comfy and I was even considering a nap.

My yoga class this morning was small but nice. My schedule changes this week and I’m picking up a set of out of town sessions on Wednesday nights. I am continuing my search to locate a replacement teacher for my classes in this area.

True Blood was awesome again this week. I’m loving the sort-of reformed Jason, his new crazy girlfriend, and the super-chipper Sookie. Tara also makes my head hurt because I like her so much and she’s so incredibly broken. Lafayette continues to be my favorite. There is something about Bill (possibly his bad accent) that really prevents me from liking him as a character. I don’t know if they’re telling him to play it stoic, but I have a hard time buying him invested in any of the drama that’s currently ongoing. I WILL say that I’m STOKED about Alexander Skaarsgard. Love him!

I’m trying to avoid political talk here because, well, I don’t generally talk politics with complete strangers unless they bring it up. Same goes with religion. Maybe I’ll change that policy once the election is over. I’m not sure (feel free to weigh in, if you care).

Today we didn’t do a single sun salutation in class. I had a request for ‘gentle’. It was more like ‘mellow’, though I gave my usual admonitions about how you can work harder but don’t have to. The class was pretty well-received. I think after Thursday evening’s class, my students are going to take my ‘make requests’ policy seriously. If they ask for something, I do my best to deliver. Most of them don’t ask. Since Thursday was almost all plank, all the time, I think I’ll get more suggestions this week.

Rumor has it

That Ariel Tweto returns to Wipeout on the season finale this week!

I’m in the process of backing up all my music, pictures, et cetera onto an external hard drive. It’s taking a lot longer than I thought.

My AT & T DSL service is working now, after a couple of brief snafus, and I’m quite happy – especially because it’s been raining cats and dogs the last two days.

Mad Men is continuing to be impressive. I think the incredible part is how well the actors who play Don and Betsy manage to so very subtly – with just a slight change to a facial expression – convey a wealth of meaning and emotion. The show doesn’t need action because there’s so much going on in every single conversation.

We went and saw Tropic Thunder over the weekend and it was hilarious. Tom Cruise was positively brilliant and one of the best things about the film. Now I’m spending my free time regaling all my friends with my new Tom Cruise impression. 

Spouse has a going away lunch with his staff tomorrow. The bigger university send off is on Wednesday. I can’t believe he’ll be gone by the end of next week. We’ve never lived apart for this long. Even when we were in different cities, we saw each other almost every weekend. I’m not really looking forward to that. He got a laptop today so that he’ll be able to communicate with everyone via blog (!?!) while he’s out there.

In other eventful news, I have gotten some very nice feedback from students about my classes but I’ll probably talk about it in another post.

This week is going to be a bit crazy because of the packing/moving stuff as well as Carly’s shower on Saturday. I’ll be relieved when September is over.

I shouldn’t have joined a golf league.

I did it because Spouse enjoys golf, doesn’t really have any other hobbies he spends much time on, and it’s something we can do together.

I should have chosen something we can do together in the SPRINGTIME.

On my top 20 list of Fun Things To Do, you will never ever find Spend 2.5-3 hours Hitting a Tiny Ball Around a Very Long Course in 85 degree heat with 50% humidity. Now I wake up every Thursday and think, “CRAP. I have to GOLF today.”

I like golf, I’m just a seriously fair weather golfer. As in, the weather must be sunny to overcast with temperatures between 67-75 degrees.

Last night during (and after) yoga, I got to talk about body mechanics in detail with a couple of students. That doesn’t happen incredibly often, mostly because I think there are few students who are as much A&P geek as I am. The body is an awesome machine and I love learning (and teaching) about how it works. One student was a dancer for many years and is used to ‘turning out’ in standing positions. She also has the same problem that I do with my elbows- extra flexibility. One of the most interesting things (for me) about yoga is that the more flexibility you have, the more difficult practice becomes. In many ways you have to retrain your body to use different (or better) muscle groups to accomplish the same work or find an appropriate stretch.

I’ve got lots of lecture and lab today and then (joy!) golf.

Why am I posting instead of studying?

Because I am a WORLD CLASS PROCRASTINATOR. If I got extra credit points for the amount of time spent procrastinating, I’d ace every class. Alas, that is not how the education system works (thankfully).

Hello to anyone stopping by via dooce! There were a LOT of you yesterday but maybe not so many today.

I think the WordPress comment system is weird. It’s probably because I’m used to Livejournal, where everything threads together and you can tell when someone has commented on something in particular, but it took me a SILLY amount of time to figure out that in WordPress I have to go to the dashboard and look at “my comments.” It’s not an incredibly practical way to foster blog communication but I suppose it is what it is. Doesn’t seem to stop people from posting (or commenting) on WordPress blogs (thankfully).

My 80s mix went BRILLIANTLY last night. As predicted, just about everyone in the room cracked a huge smile when Final Countdown came on. LOVE IT.

In another fit of procrastination yesterday, I broke out the Wii and Wii Fit. I have to tell you, they are AWESOME. Wii golf is so much better than regular golf! Plus there’s bowling and tennis. My favorite Wii Sport is clearly the boxing. I totally worked up a sweat in no time. Of course I can break a sweat BREATHING, so I’m not sure that says much.

Wii Yoga is a little weird. First of all, when you start you only get access to like 4 exercises. That doesn’t make a LOT of sense to me, especially because not all of the yoga asanas are what I’d call ‘advanced.’ The difference between being on a yoga mat and the balance board is most obvious (for me) in tree pose. On your mat, there’s no one charting your center of gravity – you’re just worried about standing up (let ALONE standing still). I discovered that as soon as my gravity center was where I wanted to be, I started to wobble. Not really WOBBLE so much as the weight distribution on my foot went all wonky.

My BEEF with Wii Yoga at this point is Warrior II (Virbadrasana II). The Wii trainer has you put your knee in PRECISELY the position it SHOULD NOT BE IN. I can’t really come up with a good reason they’ve done this but it really puts extra stress on the knee joint that you shouldn’t have. They also emphasize the ‘heels should line up’ alignment idea of which I’m not a huge fan. Everyone’s hip girdle is slightly different. Some have a deeper acetabulum, the ligaments have limited flexibility (and not everyone’s ligaments are the same length), not to mention that everyone’s muscle and tendon structure is slightly different and the particular position they espouse can put pressure on the lower back as a result.

Um. Yeah. Otherwise it’s great.

*coughs* *removes yoga rantypants*

I really love it. It’s going to be fantastic for Spouse, who doesn’t really want me to ‘train’ him and doesn’t like going to classes. It is clear that we are all going to have a blast with it, especially once the beer gets involved.

Now I REALLY have to study before I teach at 9.

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Hip Hop Yoga Mix on imeem

This is my most recent class mix. As titled, it’s 65 minutes of music including about 5 minutes for savasana.

Probably when I’m willing to wrestle with imeem again, I’ll upload my personal hip hop playlist. Which includes objectionable lyrics.

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Music and yoga (and TV)

My evening classes are billed as Power Yoga, but I tend to teach them the same way that I teach my Hatha classes (I’ll give you ways to make things harder, choose your own yoga adventure). Tonight I was amped up from making dinner PLUS I dropped in my Hip Hop Yoga Mix. It’s impossible not to have an upbeat, movement-heavy class with that music mix. We did Sun Sal variations, cat/cow, dolphin, table, down dog variations, and lunge variations. Finished with the leg strap series. Everyone worked pretty hard and I was completely impressed by their form.

Some teachers don’t like to use music in classes, which I get, but at the gym it’s impossible not to. I also like that music can serve two purposes: one, setting a tone for the class (see above) and two, providing a focal point for the breath. I’ve got a few mixes I use and a couple of CDs that I normally default to. I’ve been using one disc for a little two long, so now I’m at the change it up point. Hopefully the students don’t hate it. Creating yoga mixes presents some interesting challenges.

For dinner I made chicken souvlaki with tadziki sauce and fattoush. Turned out pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself. I’m even looking forward to leftovers.

The Closer was as good as expected. C asked if I watched Saving Grace. I tried. Really. I watched the first episode last season but found their depiction of ‘atheist’ as alcoholic, home-wrecking, promiscuous, chain-smoking, and generally rude and inconsiderate to be fairly offensive. So I don’t watch.

Tomorrow is another Anat&Phys marathon (11am to 5:30pm). I’m not feeling particularly enthusiastic about it but luckily I’ve got a class to teach in the morning.

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