Vinyasa

I need to get this out of my system: The words ‘Christmas’ and ‘rain’ do NOT belong in the same sentence. Especially in Canada. Especially when even Texas is having some version of a ‘white Christmas’. I was feeling a touch gloomy as I headed to my noon class, huddled under an umbrella to stay dry.

It’s so ugly out right now and I hate the cold damp. It feels like London, except in London, they have *snow*.

Anyway, now that I’m finished with today’s cat visits, the annual parental Christmas Phone Call (in which my mother and I only barely avoided sniping at each other over health care and Obama) and walking my dog, I’m not planning to leave the building for the rest of the day.

Today, my yoga practice was Power Yoga #2, 30 minutes with Natalie. I didn’t like this one, found it inconsistent. It was supposed to be ‘intermediate-advanced’ level, but the first part felt geared toward beginners while the section in the middle felt more ‘advanced’ than ‘intermediate’. The holds were too long (especially the interminable Downward Facing Dog in the beginning) and the flow was choppy.

As I’ve mentioned before, Natalie is a bit too flakey for my tastes and some of her cues actually made me cringe. I had an easier time with this style in the Chakra Balancing class because I was anticipating it. But in a Power Yoga class, I’m looking for a solid flow that moves along at a good clip with minimal chatter.

Eventually, I swear I’m going to get back to some Astanga. But my Lady’s Holiday arrived shortly after I finished my practice, so I’ll be doing Yin for the next couple days.

Hatha

I finally reached the end of my rope on this sleep thing. This morning, after a night of restless sleep (I have no idea why...over-tired maybe?), I woke for my morning meditation. To my credit, I persevered, but I was drowsing out every few minutes and by the end, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and rest.

So I went back to bed. I slept for three hours. It was *great*. I didn't get anything done (which is another issue to contend with), but at least I slept. The punchline? I'm *still* tired. The good news is, I'm not teaching tonight, so I'll be able to go to bed early.

After lunch, I reviewed my to-dos and highlighted the 'absolutes'. Mainly, my email box needs to be emptied, Princess Fur needs tending and attention and I'm teaching two classes. I'm working my way through the list, but I feel drained.

Practice (done this evening because I was busy sleeping in the morning and avoiding my to-do list in the afternoon) was Chakra Balancing Yoga with Natalie, 20 minutes. If nothing else is balanced, at least my Chakras are!

Hatha

Finally, *finally*, I have something nice to say about poor Natalie Maisel, who I've been so critical of in the past. This morning, I tried Chakra Balancing Yoga #1, 30 minutes and I was so impressed!

This is a terrific, beginner level class that explores and balances the Chakras. For each Chakra, she offers a location, description, a colour visualization, a vowel sound (not the traditional ones that I'm familiar with, but that's okay I guess) and an affirmation. It was nicely done, relaxing, really a meditation in motion.

I liked most of her asana choices for the Chakras. That said, I would have left out the two deeper backbends (Ustrasana and Urdhva Dhanurasana). Given that this is such a gentle class, there's no opportunity to warm the body; it's tough to do backbending cold if you're not naturally bendy).

As alternatives, I would have offered Bujangasana (Cobra, with a Sphinx variation) for the Heart Chakra, and Sasangasana (Rabbit Pose) or Sirsasana (Headstand) for the Crown Chakra.

The Savasana was soothing and lovely, with a review of each Chakra.The Sanskrit names of the Chakras would have been a nice addition for more advanced students. Overall, though, I liked this class and I will do it again. It has given me some ideas about how I might integrate Chakra work into my own teaching (Ever practical and science-minded, I'm particularly interested in how the Charkas relate to the endocrine system).

Now, I just have to get this out of my system...

Today's pet peeve: *sigh* 'Fallen Leaf' is NOT a yoga pose.

The pose being reference (I think...) was Child's Pose', known as Balasana in the Sanskrit language. But did I have any way of knowing that as I was looking forward to the counter pose to my backbend? No, I didn't. Cue FAIL.

This kind of thing drives me crazy! Since this pose was not listed on the YogaDownload 'cheat sheet', I had absolutely NO idea what Natalie was talking about when she asked me to take 'Fallen Leaf'. In fact, I'm still not sure.

Yoga poses have standard, agreed-upon (Sanskrit) names for a reason. They allow yoga students to study anywhere, with other teachers, even in other countries! The Sanskrit names of the poses should be the same if your instructor is speaking Tagalog or Japanese. And English, *especially* English. When the instructor speaks my language, I should be able to understand what's coming next.

To be fair, YogaDownload has it's own quirky naming conventions and that's fine, but the instructors need to keep things consistent.

End rant.

Busy day today. Lots of classes, but I'm having a good week. It looks like my noon class is cancelling again tomorrow. That's bad for the money thing, but I'm looking forward to the 'time off'. I'm planning to fill it with a few errands and household chores.

And sloth. :-D

Hatha

Tired, slept in this morning and it felt good. After I walked the dog, I did a 30 minute yoga practice from YogaDownload, Detox Yoga #2 with Natalie. It was so bad, I don't know if I'll bother trying any of the longer sequences for this particular class, which is a shame because this is one of the few that is offered in a 70 minute format.

My biggest complaints are the really bad sequencing and horrible cueing. Both made it difficult to follow the practice. Several times I came into Balasana in frustration so I could listen and figure out where the heck she was going.

The music was awful. I know this is a matter of taste, but it ranged from 'powder puff soft rock' to 'tribally inspired soft jazz' (think 'Yanni goes to a rave' and you'll be on the right track). I don't like Natalie's voice - again, a matter of personal preference. I found her style of speaking very 'info-mercial'. Her pacing was erratic - at times speaking slowly and clearly (good) while at other times speaking very quickly and slurring her words together (not good).

She used names for poses that I had never heard before. I've been practising yoga for 15 years around the world, so I was surprised. For example: Standing Splits. She referred to it as 3-limbed Uttanasana and I was all, “Huh?!” And there were others. I think she called Parsvokonasana “Extended Lateral Angle”. Weird...

I was struck by how few postures were offered in the 30 minute sequence, given how much she was talking. There wasn't enough good instruction to let me know what was going on and at the same time, it wasn't concise enough.

Finally, I was horrified by some of the 'advanced' variations she suggested. A few were valid, but she clearly 'invented' a couple of them and one of them ('Challenge Dog') is dangerous to the shoulder (rotator cuff) and I would *never* ask my students to do it. The transitions were choppy and poorly thought out (this was more of a Hatha class than a 'Flow'). For example, the entry into Ardha Matsyendrasana was so bad, I had to come out of the pose and come back in *my* way to align my spine.

As a teacher, I've learned some great stuff from these audio classes. Overall, I think the instructors are good and doing these classes has helped me clean up my cueing a lot. The one positive from this class is I spent 30 minutes experiencing how *not* to teach yoga. I'll be analyzing my own classes so I can avoid these mistakes.

Hatha

I'm going to call this morning's practice 'hatha' though I'm not really sure *what* that was. I did the 30 minute 'Goddess Yoga #1' from YogaDownload this morning. It was led by one of my less favourite instructors on the site, Natalie. I'm absolutely positive a demographic exists for this style of teaching. I'm not in that demographic.

What demographic am I? I guess I'm in the cynical, does-not-suffer-fools-gladly demographic.

Anyhoo...

I almost bailed after the first pose (Persephone Pose, Goddess of the Underworld, turn inward to your darkness - we were in Uttanasana. HUH?), but I stuck it out. At some point, I made a decision to silence my inner cynic and I actually started to enjoy the psychobabble a little bit.

I'm not entirely without a soft spot - the right teacher *can* ease me into a guided inward focus. But the Goddess thing totally wasn't doing it for me. This is the first YogaDownload class I've actually disliked. I did like some of the poses though and I was surprised by the number of 'intermediate' standing balances, given that this was billed as a 'beginner' class. Hm...

Anyway, it was an easy half-hour.

I'm having a difficult week. Specifically, I'm having a bad teaching week. All the yoga teachers out there will be nodding in sympathy. A crisis of confidence is never fun and negative self-criticism tends to build upon itself.

Now, indulge me while I wander out on a limb:

I'm the last person to credit the moon or the stars for variations in human behaviour, but I have to say this: People have been WEIRD this week, particularly early in the week. And the wee ones in my children's classes? They're nuts! They've been behaving badly, completely out of character. It was a full moon on Sunday! Coincidence?

At any rate, I'm glad it's waning. And I hope that Mercury does whatever Mercury does when it's *not* making people crazy, because sometimes I think people just look for an excuse!