Skeleton appreciation day

Day 5,6,7? 

I'm totally, completely, fully, 100%ly excited about my experience here.  We've been doing some awesome yoga sequences that Paul and Suzee choreographed like "flying dragon" and "infant" and "golden seed"  I love all of these.  Infant sequence is the slower/softer of the three, and you can really experience this sequence as if you were a little baby.  Starting on your back, nice and easy, just exploring the first movements as if you'd never done them in your life.  So precious!  and slowly building up to "childhood" ending in standing poses.  The golden seed is slightly stronger starting off with taoist breathing, cultivating chi, it consists of about 12 poses or so including (in english!) elephant, drinking bird, rocking horse, a few twists and ideas of directing your chi towards heaven, earth, space.  Beautiful.  Then flying dragon!!  I love it.  It's more intense, like you'd think a dragon would be.  Starting off in flying dragon (which looks like warrior 3, arms out) gecko, twisted dragon, dragon wings, dragon belly, then the dragon flies OVER the ocean to do the other side... back and forth back and forth until you are practically breathing fire.  I love the balance poses.  I found the in flying dragon/warrior 3/virabhadrasana 3 my balance is better when I invert my base foot slightly.  It was so exciting because I always felt so incredibly unstable in this pose before.  I became so discouraged always in my classes thinking I had so far to go before I could learn "balance"  But in this training I've been liberated by the idea that since each of our skeletons are so different, each pose will look different.  It is always the most important thing in yoga to pay attention to how your OWN body works best.  Keeping my planted foot straight forward took my hips out of their most stable position which of course left me falling over always.  Who would have known- if I had not been freed of universal alignment ideas- that MY hips are more stable with a slight inversion of my planted foot.  Here's the really weird part, I tend to be slightly more externally rotated in the hips (which causes my legs to turn out to the side instead of in towards my center line).  I'm so excited to explore these postures that require balance/stability with a more intuitive sense, rather than a sense of doing a posture aesthetically correct.  Really the more important part is that since we are all so incredibly varied all the way down to our skeletons, I am gaining understanding and compassion for the appearance of postures that do not or even cannot ever look like what you'd see in your modern yoga picture book.  Not everyone is a model, and I'm realizing that most models are chosen based on their god given set of bones (YES! I absolutely do not doubt that these people put in time and effort to get into "advanced" postures)  Most people who have been doing yoga for years and years that still cannot do padmasana (lotus) probably never will because of boney compression that stops the movement.  Bummer, they'll never be enlightened... I guess they'll just have to give up and work in an office. No, just do what you can do, go as far as you can go, and be content.  It's a great thing to recognize your individual range of motion, and it IS finite, recognize it and maintain it through yoga practice.  When you know your skeletal range of motion, you can become more aware of what will help you when you are tight and cannot reach your (skeletal) range of motion, and take some of the pressure off trying to be the greatest most flexible yogi.  

Moral of the story: Yoga postures are ultimately limited by our own individual set of bones, not karma, or necessarily flexibility.

Peace

PGYYTT :-)

Day 2

Wait, it’s day 3 already.  (Day 1 we didn’t do any yoga really, just intro stuff)   Today I woke up feeling empowered after I dreamt that I easily kicked up into peacock pose.  Like, yea man, what’s the big deal about peacock pose? I do this in my sleep. * Only in my sleep as it turns out.  Our lessons in the morning consisted of some more discussion as to whether or not flexing the pelvis was anteriorly rotating it or posteriorly rotating it.  Totally beyond me, yet I was still with it.  I feel like since I know nothing about teaching, and know little about yoga, my mind is still very open to this new kind of knowledge. In terms of massage therapy, however, I’ve gone over this many times before.  Now is an opportunity to really drive it home and personally understand what is meant when tipping the bowl of the pelvis forward or backwards.   (The most powerful adjustment in any pose, really).  Today Suzee started our yoga practice off with a bit of yang, starting in elephant pose (legs wide, fold forward) twisting and rotating from one foot to the other back and forth, followed by 4 Taoist breath exercises (inhale arms up “gather chi” exhale to horse and press the arms out to the side, inhale the arms from the ground palms toward the body, fingers toward the earth drawing energy all the way up, exhale pressing hands down to the earth.)  We  transitioned somehow into a yin practice which involved poses I cannot now remember! We ended the sequence with an 8 minute halasana pose, which I could not even think of doing.  Me and halasana are friends and all, but it takes me a very long time to recover from that pose not matter how long I spend in it.  Like I was in it for maybe a minute, and spend five coming out of it.  I asked some other yogi ladies why it might happen, and they let me know it could be total compression of my diaphragm, not necessarily my discs in my spine.  I’ll have to investigate that further because I always felt it was my spine.  I’m open to looking closer at it.  Paul did a yin practice with us in the afternoon session, which left me feeling so whole.  Like my body was a temple.  That’s the best way I can describe it.  My digestion has been problematic for me lately, and I’m coming to realize just how stressed out I’ve been, in anticipation of so many things.  I’m beginning to unwind all that now, so when I feel my belly cramp up I am remembering to relax and take the pressure off myself.  I am  where I’ve wanted to be for so long, I might as well just plop right down and absorb it all, no pressure.

Paul Grilley's yin yoga teacher training

Day 1

 This morning I took the train into Grover Beach where Robyn picked me up.  She’s so lovely and she and her car were both really clean, and pleasant smelling.  Hallelujah.  I was unaware how short of a drive it was to get up to Atascadero.  “Central coast” is a total scene just like Ventura or SB county.  But the C coast I never heard about until now.  Colleen topped us off and we drove all the way to Land of Medicine Buddha without stopping really but once to get gas, and arrived around 4.  The moment we began to drive further into the forest my heart began to feel at home.  The redwood trees made my eyes explode.  The LMB is a place for .. what do they say? … healing and developing a good heart.  OH!  I wasn’t aware that was what I came here for, but of course!!  It turns out that’s precisely why I’ve come.  That’s precisely what all of the events leading up to this voyage were for also.  I didn’t know the answer to the question I asked a few weeks ago was in the making for the past 6 months.  This is a place to learn and unlearn what makes a good heart.  The land of medicine buddhas is so loud with beauty and peace.  Since right now I am so blissed out, it’s hard to imagine resentment, or wanting to leave this place!!  So I’m just not going to think about it yet.  Maa vidvishavahai or something.  I’m so happy to be here to learn yoga.  I’m only a little baby student who knows nothing.  I’m so lucky to know nothing.  I’m happy I’m starting here.  I will do my best here. 

My stomach isn’t 100% happy, but I’ll settle in soon enough.  The room I’m staying in with Jessica is adorable.  It’s got nice green paint, two cute twin beds, a little desk and night stand, and a bathroom with a BATHTUB!  Yesss!  There is a sauna and a pool and hiking trails galore.  Colleen, Robyn, and I walked up a trail to a temple with a gigantic statue of a buddha and the depictions on the walls made me feel so inspired to draw.  The colors seem extra vivid here, and the detail is so ornate.  What dedication and mastery. I sort of wish I brought my colored pencils now.  Oh well I’m sure I’ll find something. 

I’m going to get a massage one of these days too.  That will probably happen closer to the end of the retreat.  For now though, I’d like to get ready for bed.

 

 I AM SO IN LOVE!