waterford

I teach a class for the faculty at Waterford. Waterford is a private school that goes from 2 pre k up to 12th grade. It is quite funny I teach here because I used to go to Rowland Hall St. Marks which is the rivial school of Waterford. Ha-ha.


Anyways. I absolutely love the group of students we have been working together for over a year and they have all made tremendous growth. I remember when I started working with them I showed up and there were probably around 20 students and all seemed very hesitant. We started the practice with questions because I could feel that people had lots of stuff on their mind. All of the questions revolved around "how hard is the class going to be". Many people wanted me to know that they thought the class should be very easy because most hadn’t had any exposure to yoga. A few people spoke up about injuries. So we started with a very gentle class. However as people started to gain familiarly, strength, and better alignment we started to go a little deeper into the practice both physically and spiritually. By the end of the year the students were doing hand stands, headstands, arm balanced.... Students were even requesting a more challenging class. It has been really amazing to be part of this transformation. I do see transformation a lot. But this is normally in a studio setting and I normally think the transformation that I see in students is coming from the wonderfully teacher I work with. I normally don’t think it is me. Don’t get me wrong I know people enjoy my classes. However I feel like I am just another student who study’s diligently and then passes on what she knows. However working with this group of students who don’t practice with anyone else it is a really nice reminder that I helped these students in their transformation. I was receptive to what they needed and may offering really made a difference.
Big smile

Moving on. We are starting another year together.
I taught a class to them on September 28th.

Main teaching point: fist principle (foundation, inner body bright, outer body soft), shoulder loop (starts in pallet curls head back, helps maintain natural curve of neck)

I talked about how though our life we have programmed our self in certain ways. Specifically that if we round our shoulders forward and down we will experience more ease. However this is not the case. I spoke about how the practice of yoga asana 9postures) can help us re program our self. When we roll our shoulders forward and down we unplug from he heart. This reminds me of what happens when we are reaching toward something. Think about a baby reaching out to grab something. The shoulders unplug from he heart. We do this all the time reaching for material things to bring us happiness. What we forget to realize is that these things will never bring us lasting happiness they will always change and eventually go away. What will never go away is our heart (at least as long as we are alive). If we can learn to plug in, to stay connect to our heart we can find stability and contentment no matter what challenges confront us.

Language:
Plug in
Heart
Lengthen
Freedom
Stability
Broaden
Happiness
Contentment
Expand
After teaching for about 30 mins I paused and asked if there were any question (I love this group of students my nick name for them is genie pigs, they are up for anything). A student I love asked what melting the heart ment. I term I have been using for a very long time. It was a wonderful oppurtuniny to break it down. The student who asked a very big wonderful man didn’t know the terminology but his body knew it. I asked him to demonstrate this in chaturanga and cobra. He did a wonderful job and it helped him and the students grasp the concept of melting the heart.