I’m in London on an 8 day Yin Yoga Traiing with Norman Blair and 12 really interesting and amazing yoga teachers and have committed to sharing my thoughts here each day …
Day 4 (Sat 14h April)
Waking up to sun and some blue sky after days (and days – and a whole winter it seems) of wondering where the sun had gone. It’s back. Spirits soar and energy vibrates as the sap rises. Spring is here I’m pretty sure of that.
Another morning of the same and a settling into the pattern. Feeling slightly at odds with things and not quite grounded. Not used to so much quiet and time to myself and wonder how everyone is back at home brings tears to my eyes.
I walk deliberately the long way round from my AirBnB to the Yoga Studio to get as much walking and sun as possible and shake off my strange mood before settling into training.
Key learnings from today:
– Today was mostly focused on meditation, looking at the principles of practice, how we might choose to hold the body, find comfort – sitting, lying, standing, walking.
I know I have quite a strong aversion to a standing (still) meditation after really not enjoying it the previous times I’ve tried it. I caught a fellow teacher Lucy’s eye and we shared a cheeky grimace. Felt like little naughty rebels. We were having the same thoughts. We figured we could just sit down if it was really unbearable, but to my surprise, I experienced a pleasant sense of solidness and the ground rising up to support my feet. Nice. And it is always uncomfortably instructive to be in the posting of being encouraged to do something you don’t really want to do. Is this how you feel in class when I announce we are about to do your least favourite pose?
– The walking meditation was promising to be excruciating as we were to walk in a loop on a little meditation path in the narrow back garden of Norman’s residential North London home (which is where his studio is). The neighbours were out in full force and the hedges were not high. I realise I am quite a private person. Luckily none of us could understand what they were saying (it’s soo much more multicultural than Bath, I had forgotten how much so) and I think anyway that they’ve seen it all before and we were in fact being rather boring. It was a very nice practice indeed and helped me work through some deep seated issues with public displays of yoga practice!
– I learnt many many more things but it’s a Saturday night and I want to put the screen away.
No links today. Maybe turn your screen off too 🙂
