Okay, I know this sounds silly...

but I got a buzz from the produce department. Hmmm....

Okay, so here's the story. My husband and I decided to stop on the way home and pick up ingredients to make a fresh/healthier pizza. We walked into Central Market and got pizza dough, skim mozzarella, wine, and then made our way over to the produce department. I was super exhausted, as usual, from another rough week at the lab. When we walked into the produce department, I immediately started to feel better. And not just better, but great, high even! And I wanted to touch, smell, be with all the produce. Sounds really weird, I know, but the prana coming off all those fruits and veggies gave me a huge pick me up. I felt soooo good! Either that, or they pump drugs through the vents ;)

On Saturday we got to spend some quality time with a couple of close friends, Jesse and Meg. It was so good to see them. We had a long leisurely lunch, and caught up. We hadn't seen them in forever! I hope it isn't as long before the next time :)

Conversation

I was chatting with a friend this weekend about the sometimes paradox of teaching yoga classes. It is obvious the students want to "get something out of the class" and "progress". I know most do, I do too as a student. Ironically, the thing to "get" is that you don't need to "progress" or "get anything"....and how to give a good class, where people want to return and yet emphasize that they are already all they need to be and so much more, is beyond me!

Anyway teaching is still blowing my mind on a regular basis. Loving it.

Fun with Yoga

I've put all my eggs in one basket. After next Sunday I will only be teaching at the downtown studio. The multi-location larger than life studio chain is not working out, too many teachers, too few classes, so I gave up my only class (Hatha) I was teaching with them. The energy of the smaller studio is so much more my speed.

So now I'm teaching the one mysore and two led primaries. The mysore class is SLOW going, in terms of getting people to show up. Most students at this studio don't know what it is, and are intimidated by the idea of a silent practice. I can totally relate, it took me over a year to get up the guts to go, and my first class was terrifying. I think that was mostly the teacher, who didn't welcome me or help me even though I said it was my first mysore class, but anyway. So, I print out cheat sheets of the whole primary series, and I encourage people in my led classes to try it, saying I can work with them one-on-one, but maybe that's scary too?

I'm practicing both Ashtanga and Anusara regularly. LOVING the anusara classes. Handstand, headstand, and forearm stand in one class, Yes Please!:) Also the heart openers are so good too, I'm hoping my backbend will open up soon. I do feel some shifitng, like more fascia pulling across the length of my stomach from hips to ribs in Urdhva D, soreness across my chest from spreading my collarbones, and strength and soreness in the back muscles. Plus the variety in the sequencing is really fun.

My day job at the lab is really crazy right now, too. Experiments on top of experiments, I'm drowning in work. So this makes me finding time to practice more difficult but all the more necessary. I've decided that I will practice every other day, at least, and that there is no room for negotiation!

Hope you are all having a nice week :)