Magical Yogis, part 1

I got to sleep late last night after coming back from Game Night at Marc and Amy's and with the rain and the cold I finally yanked myself out of bed at 10:30AM. I ate my regular breakfast of eggs and flour tortillas and set off the smoke alarm - as usual. I took ibuprofen for my headache and sudafed for my congestion and I didn't want to leave the house. In fact, when i finally left the house it was 11:50AM. Only 10 minutes to get to yoga training, sign in and get myself prepped for meditation. I have noticed quite a few of the teacher training participants coming late or leaving early or not showing up at all. I don't know anyone else's situation, but I seriously contemplated skipping today.

That would have been a huge mistake for I would have missed a day of magic.

When I entered the studio the energy was very warm and open. I quickly removed my rain boots, put my bags down and grabbed a blanket for meditation. Most everyone was stretching a bit and we as we sat Shy led us through a group inhalation and an exhalation on a "HO" three times. It was funny and lightened the mood. When I finally closed my eyes I was ready to sit. It was easy and powerful. Shy eventually had us lightly open the eyes and become aware of the spaces between objects, the colors and light. As we moved into the Mystery Room we needed to keep focus from meditation and place our mats in a circle ready for an asana practice. I found that a little odd since the day ends with us taking Shy's class, why would we prep for practice with writing material. Shy lead us in a little warm up and said that the first exercise of the day would be similar to satya, but instead of sharing through speaking, we would be sharing through asana. As a group we would teach a full yoga class. Taking turns teaching a pose or a series of poses as we went around the circle. I was towards the end of the circle so I feared that I would be stuck with the crap poses. Or at least the poses that no one else wanted to do or could not remember. Either that or I would be leading Eko Pada Raja Kapotanasana - pigeon pose - a pose I've taught the last three times we had to teach a small group.

For the most part, I was completely impressed by everyone. There are a number of people I have yet to work with or have not worked with in a while. It made me realize that I really have to go out of my way and work with those folks I could learn from. I was proud to be in the company of such inspirational people - who were there to share their practice and teach from listening to their bodies. Just as in satya, I was very nervous when it came around to me. The two people that were before me I don't usually work with, so I thought they would leave me in a weird pose or not be conscious about the flow. Well, one of them did, but the other did not. And when she looked at me to pass the torch, I completely went blank. We were standing in tadasana with our hands in prayer position in front of the heart. She had us taking deep breaths and I needed to continue that breath in order to figure out what the fuck was I going to do. I brought awareness to what we have learned and we have yet to explore. And suggested a body scan head to toe to just check in. I had a feeling that no one would do dolphin pose, so that was my fall back. There were 3 people after me, so they could do the cool down. Therefore I had one last chance to do something intense. Once I got them to downward dog, it all seemed so easy. I ended in balasana. Eleni came after me and was very impressed that I was able to project my voice while in dolphin and dolphin plank. Cyrus also approached me as we broke for lunch and said that he was craving dolphin and was so excited that I chose to do it. It made me realize that this whole yoga thing is possible. That I can just share my practice and teach a good class. That the silence and the breath are okay for everyone even though I feel like I need it just for me.

It may be the reason I need to stay in California. This is what I need to learn here. To find that humility and confidence - effort and release.