Yesterday and today in class: between antics and achievement

Mmmm, recently I had a walk-in, very restless lady who kept jumping into headstand and snaking her neck restlessly in the pranayama. I was quite distracted by all those antics -- so I made a mistake in the nadi shodhana -- I forgot the say inhale after exhale, my mind just went blank because it was very intriguing to see her dancing, whirling and swinging her head this way in a weird fashion!! My mind just stopped for a moment (because I reacted, a bad thing for a yoga teacher, while giving pranayama instructions!!!)  I got rather worried that she was imagining that the  kundalini was sliding up her spine... some people have weird beliefs! So that worry clammed my instructions for a brief, but important heartbeat of a second:) She had come in late, was  very restless throughout the class, her movements somehow strong but hard,  and though I corrected her headstand (she was hopping, leaping into it and complained she had a severe neck problem, what else, when u jump into the headstand??:) So with all these worrying distractions,  I did another stupid thing -- she was to pay me Rs 250 for the class and said she had only Rs 1000 and wanted change. So, I gave her Rs 750 in change and did not collect the Rs 1000 -- thus ending up paying her!! Shows how tricky the mind can be, even for yoga teachers who think too much about themselves:)

But to make up for that `disaster', this morning I had the rather lovely Sarah Windover attempt the headstand... Her first trial went off rather smoothly. But even better, when I showed her the dwi pada bhujapidasana (the double-legged shoulder pose) she was the first of my students -- in all the decade or so I have been teaching -- who came out of it without landing on her butt!! That is some control:) So, yes, some days u feel good u are an instructor, when that the sense of the guru's energy is felt, in the gift of eager students keen to learn...