Day 343 Intention ~ Adapt

Day 343 Intention ~ Adapt

Okay, a.k.a. work with what you got.

The internet is out at my house. Luckily these days there are smartphones to do many things (like type a blog).

Learning to adapt to the situation can be a practice in and of itself.

How do you react when things don't go as planned?

Do you get angry and upset or go with the flow?

It's interesting to look back on how I used to respond to these types of situations.  I would get huffy & upset. Nowadays,  do long as my yoga practice has been steady, I can take a step back before reacting negatively.  Chances are that the world isn't against me as I once suspected.

Next time you find yourself flying off the handle because something doesn't go as planned,  check yourself. Take a step back & breathe. Try ujjayi, victorious breath, by constricting the glottis and breathing in and out through the nose. 

It may just save you from saying something you don't mean and you will feel better regardless.

Til tomorrow...

Shanti,

Marcia

Day 268 Intention ~ Play To My Audience

Day 268 Intention ~ Play to My Audience

I have three yoga classes today. All are very different audiences. The first are at the Centers for Families and Children. Most of these students are stressed out and just need some gentle poses and breath work to find ease and relaxation. We always practice yoga nidra also to soothe them even more. 

The next group is a group of seniors that need to go a little bit more slowly and gently. I also need to be clear and talk a little bit louder. They still do many of the standing poses, but just enter into the poses a little bit differently and more gently than in a full on vinyasa flow class. They usually have more questions or things that are harder for them to do, so it's always a good lesson for me also to discover what directions and processes are the best to help them get the most out of their practice. 

Lastly, I have a class at the community center. It's an open level class and it runs in 6 week sessions. Some of the folks have been coming since I started teaching this class 3 years ago and are getting pretty advanced; this time there are also a number of new people that are new, not just to my class, but to yoga in general. Although this class is more vigorous than the other two today, we are still working on some basic poses for the newer people. 

I used to go into classes with a whole plan and if I got off of that class plan, I was thrown off completely. As time went on and I got more experience, the plan became less strict. I always have something in mind that I would like to work on, but depending who is there and their injuries or limitations, teachers need to be able to adapt to what is going to be best for their clients that day. We always want to offer a safe, maybe challenging class to our students. A class that makes them learn how to listen to their own body, to feel stronger, more flexible, relaxed, and wanting more.

Til tomorrow...

Shanti, 

Marcia