Flying

Some acro-yoga – Sky is flying our instructor, Jen.

Already the time is flying by! Sunday, we had our first anatomy lessons. A lot came back to me from Dr. Daddy teaching me when I was little. I can’t imagine this course with no anatomy background whatsoever! It really helps to know the names of the muscles, bones, and how they interact.

My roommate has a scientific anatomy book and every time we learn something “weird” about the chakras or awakening the nardis, we look up what it would be relating to in the body. And, it’s not far off. I think it just depends on how you approach the body. Those ancient Indians were very spiritual and as they learned about the body, it was of course colored with intangible ethereal things. Our anatomy was approached from a typically atheist view and accordingly “what you see is what you get”…  I probably won’t be leading a class with the purpose of opening the throat chakra or something, but I’m not sure it doesn’t exist. That’s where I am with those. Anybody know more about the chakras?

We’ve talked about more yoga virtues – non-greed and purity. For non-greed, I interpreted it in the vein of  nonattachment and talked about how the military teaches me nonattachment – you don’t get attached to your stuff because it may get lost or broken and you go without it for a time each time you move; you don’t get attached to where you live, but you certainly enjoy it while you’re there, etc. I think I do good justice to the awesomeness of military life – any single pilots want a hot yoga chick? I could probably set you up…

For purity, a lot of people talked about de-toxing the body. But I chose to emphasize the “de-toxing of the mind” and not taking in bad things, dwelling on good things, etc. I said the Bible was my Scripture and I used it to “cleanse my mind” as it were by reading it often and applying its teaching to my life. (at least I hope that’s what came across! It’s hard to remember what I actually said because I was a bit nervous, unsure that the Bible was an acceptable Scripture here!) But it was well-received…. I’m pretty sure.

One of our recent assignments was to look at ourselves in the mirror and notice details – do I stand evenly? Is one leg shaped differently? Are my hips the same height? Are my shoulders the same?

So, as she was assigning this, I was thinking, “Aw, I’m not going to find anything, my body doesn’t have kinks and weirdness.” Ha! I was wrong! Apparently, my right hip is higher than my left; my left foot rotates out slightly; my left achilles tendon is bigger; my humorous bones are longer than my head and neck (makes me need a blanket under my head to do a correct headstand!); and my left foot is bigger than the right. Yea! So much for perfection! :-)

ALSO, we were to listen to the sounds our body makes. “Sounds? What sounds?" She meant things like hips popping and the like. Again, silly me thought, “Well, my body doesn’t make any sounds.” Ha! It showed me! My ankles have lots of little pops; my wrists as well; my scapulas seem to grind down my back when I open my shoulders; my knees pop every so often; and of course my stomach gurgles when I move it breathing, and usually during quiet times…. of course.

Interesting, huh? It’s been a great study of the body! We’re meant to try and make our own connections in these observances before she teaches us more reasons these things happen.

Maybe more on that later. This is more of us learning poses and how to assist them.

Today, we practiced teaching again, this time a 20-minute flow. I end up going a lot slower than I think and have to cut things out, but that’s better than having to throw stuff in unplanned because it’s not long enough. This was a my beast teaching practice yet! I felt confident and comfortable instructing. I was able to demonstrate and jump up to assist throughout the practice! I want to work on describing the pose more. Like rather than say, “come into downward facing dog” say something more like “lifting your hips toward the sky, lengthen the spine, push through the hands and feet, coming into Ardha Mukka Svonasana.” Yea, doesn’t that sound cooler? Okay, maybe the sanskrit is too much, but it’s good practice using it.

Tomorrow, we have a a morning yoga practice and then we’re going to Puerto Viejo for the rest of the day! A welcome break for everyone! I haven’t written because we’ve had lots of homework and you all know I’m a little bit of a nerd and like to learn, so I read ahead some and review my notes more, etc. But it’s just so FUN!!