Monday, October 06, 2008

October 5, 2008
Today was my first class of my 8-week series- it is full! I’ve got 13 signed up, and we fill the space. Its not too crowded though. I'm renting a nice room from Erb St Church. Good energy and lighting in the room, nice windows on one wall. No props though, so that makes teaching a bit harder, there's just some things, like shoulder stand, you can't do without props.

I was really happy with the way the class went. My theme was intention and I think I did the best I’ve ever done at integrating it throughout the whole class. I started with setting your seat with intention, then read a section from John about intention. Next, I invited everyone to bring to mind an intention for the class, and perhaps the whole session. I kept bringing people to their intention when we would come to the top of the mat or in the middle of poses I would invite people to embody there intention. Before savasana I brought the students into a brief meditation. I asked the students to chose one word that sums up their intention. And then hold it in your mind- like your mind is a laser beam pointing to this one point- your intention. I rang a bell once ever minute to bring students back, to their intention, and then ended with 3 rings after 4 minutes. I had a student come up after and said that this meditation and the way we then transitioned into savasana (reclined relaxation pose) was really meaningful for her.
One thing I want to keep working on is my hands on adjustments. I did a good job of stabilizing people in standing poses before adjusting them, but I need to work on them so I can go in and adjust a bit more quickly so I can get around to more people. I think I am getting better at giving verbal adjustments when I see a number of people that could improve on something.

No comments: