Saturday, June 04, 2011

In class

Simrat came for a walk-in (she lives in Mulund, and it is huge she should make it for a class here in Bandra).. and as usual shone -- doing everything so smoothly. Edit, new,  is also doing walk-ins. She has a calm, centered presence, does a strong headstand already, a steady crow, and settles into the zone easily. We had a peaceful class, though the heat is getting to be rather disturbing, the pre-monsoon swelter, which is terrible in Mumbai's humidity. Avriana and Simrat did long holds in the hand-up/leg-up variation of the chakrasana. This inspired Claudia to follow suit, and she got it right and held each sequence with great control too. Anuya is back, though in a rushed mode, since she switched on to the morning batch, and her cooks are giving her trouble, so she is even more super-rushed. But she always goes into any pose with comfort. She has great holds, in standing poses and her only issue is the headstand. But one day, Anuya, that too:)  The headstand students are now moving into the cycling, simple variation, forward one. This should help them steady up in the scorpion.

I myself am feeling rather stiff since I am trying to spruce up my personal practice, so trying advanced variations -- the problem with that is that you never leave the mat feeling fully satisfied. Plus that feeling I have cracked up this or that tendon or muscle, or pushed too hard in something  and on top of it all  feeling totally dissatisfied doing something I  could do a while ago, and cannot do now  simply because I  have become too smug to practice those things again and again and again! Argh!

Sachi's headstand is getting neater. Her crow also happened. So that is fanstastic. Sarika is back and doing well as usual, though I know it bothers her that she still cannot go up into the headstand on her own:) Jit attempted the wall-crawl in the wheel today, and found it `stimulating' -- which means we can proceed into the backward drop into the chakrasana next week! Yippee!  Kavita, poor thing, despite late nights makes it to class early mornings. And for me, that itself is a huge yoga zone especially in beginners.  Mayank has got the peacock and comes out of it with more confidence. Petros is also attempting the wheel variations, and now that he can kick his right leg and know that it is indeed his leg, and it is indeed the right one, it makes him happy:) But as I keep saying just attempting will get u there, in the final pose,  soon enough... Sai too has got a great peacock, slipping into the more relaxing forehead-to-ground version.  Suzanne is still feeling her way in my class ... and since she has done several other types of yoga before this one, I can sense it is inevitable that she should find it difficult to fall in step with the military rhythm , and an austerity of practice and focus, I put up in the class... The no-flourish yoga class, this one:) No flowery talk about kundalini rising up, prana moving about, or  doing some other softer poses or flourishy moves and twirls,  to break the tempo:)  But then, each teacher has a core belief: and mine is that a yoga class should offer this:  fat loss if your obese/ health if you have normal weight -- in terms of priority. Then, you must progress towards super- tone of muscles, then build on emotional stamina. Then  then work towards pure spiritual integrity/mental stamina and clarity in your yoga class . They  should ideally be achieved altogether. But if you have not got the first one(fat-loss or normal health)then  you must work on that before relaxing /chilling in a yoga class
...   Mmm, I am sooooo narrow-minded, opinionated yoga instructor... na?? Mmm. am trying to work on that, too:)

2 comments:

NoFixedDestination said...

I stay in Mulund and toyed with the idea of joining your class before giving it up coz I thought travel from Mulund to Bandra was not practical. When you mentioned that Simrat comes all the way from Mulund, I was gripped with shame and realised that I was only giving an excuse to delay joining. Nevertheless, your blogs inspired me to join a Iyengar yoga class in Mulund. Thanks for your inspiring blogs.

harsha said...

hello, i came across your post while searching for iyengar yoga class in mulund...please post the address of the mulund class and contact no of the teacher. i want to join asap.