On a cold, snowy night.  In a warm, cozy room amid a steady refridgerator hum and the smell of coffee, a yoga class was taught….  For me, great.  I have cleared the hurdle of the scary first.   For the three women in attendance, I’m not sure.  Only one had a real point of reference given that she maintains her own regular, very different, practice.  The other two were newbies and after an awkward silent moment following our final Namaste, we got up to fetch our tea.

I think it was a good introduction to Vinyasa flow.  Given the experience level, it had to be very basic and quite slow.  So despite the nine pages of material I had prepared based on my own 75 minute practice, in 90 minutes we only tackled about three of them.  Perhaps tackled isn’t the most appropriate term to be used when relating to things yogic…  Well, even armed (again, not best yogic terminology) with my nine pages, I really had no expectations.  I felt prepared.  And I planned only to enjoy myself.  Sure, I was really quite nervous, but we got into the swing of things.  It was challenging, yet I felt it was accessible to everybody.

While I didn’t feel right grilling everyone about the practice- and my performance- at last nights inaugural session, next week (yes, everyone enthusiastically agreed to be there) I will begin with a discussion to encourage feedback.

And so.  There it is.  Will practice on dear Filipes this week.  He could use it…. 

A great 75 minute practice today followed by a nice, if somewhat inadequate, five minutes of Savasana. 

Closing my practice with a good long Savasana is still a challenge and one I will continue to work on.  But I feel so good and I am ready to move on and tackle the demands of this crazy house.  I also knew there was a pair of pretty blue eyeballs staring at me from outside the glass door that provides my only barrier from the rest of the house.  I had an audience.  An audience anticipating my completing practice very, very quickly…  so, I did.

Despite a somewhat rushed ending, I really felt like I had made some progress in a few postures.  Namely anything involving a forward bend.  I am much more conscious of bending at the hips instead of my waist and lower back.  As well, when seated I am pretty effectively combining my breath with the posture and allowing myself to extend through the spine on the inhale and deepen the stretch on the exhalation.  It felt very good today. 

I was also loving the twists.  A good wringing is necessary these days.

I’m feeling pretty zen about this upcoming inaugural class I will be teaching in a few days.  While I was allowing myself to get right bound about it earlier in the week as of yesterday I forced myself to step back and get some perspective.  This is something I have thought about doing for some years, now and I am now fortunate enough to be asked to do so by a close, safe group of friends and neighbors.  It’s all good.  I will certainly expand and grow my own practice through this opportunity while, I hope, providing some fun and oh so beneficial physical activity to some very lovely women.

It was a good practice yesterday afternoon.  A first one in a good long time, as is evident from this PLOG o’ mine.  One hour.  With Baron Baptiste. 

OK, not really.  Not the man in person, but his voice.  In my Bootcamp in a Box.  I had to admit to my husband last night as we were discussing my upcoming teaching, that I am somewhat of a Baptiste disciple.  As I am trying to work on my cueing, I am listening/watching other practitioners.  While all good, certainly some better than others, I have been practicing the Baptiste method of Vinyasa for so long now, my body just knows it.  

OK, so I’ve also been to one of his bootcamps.  It’s a form of yoga I enjoy.  I feel like I have worked out and I feel that I have centred and relaxed through it all at the same time.  This is what I will bring to my class.  Not officially, for any of you out there about to run to Baptiste crying copyright infringement.  But as it is a practice I enjoy and rely on, there is no question it will influence my teaching. 

So now I develop my own sequences of postures, in the Vinyasa form.  It was recommended that I literally talk my way through my own practices to work on my cueing.

I’m nervous about cueing.  Stutter….  Uh…… Stammer….  Um……  No way, man!  I’m gonna have it together.  Really…. 

Well… an interesting development.  A friend and neighbor has asked if I would teach an informal yoga class every week to a group of other friends and neighbors.  It will be in her coffee shop nearby, after hours.  It’s a fantastic, large but very cozy space with dark, wide hardwood planks, a gas fireplace and coffee and tea time afterwards.

A week from yesterday… 6 days and counting to come up with a good, solid sequence.  An hour long.  Hmmmm…..

Now, when I started this PLOG, it was to be a motivational tool.  When I am doing it, I love yoga, but for some reason it is the hardest thing to incorporate into my day…

One issue facing my developing a regular practice:  a warm, tidy and peaceful place.  This is probably my biggest challenge.  Or at least my biggest excuse.  So, in an effort to render this challenge/excuse null and void, I am creating such a space. 

It won’t take long and I will be back to resume a regular practise. I’m almost there.