This morning's class was great with the master. The Diver was on top of his game. He paid attention to all of the 20+ students, which is no small feat, especially when there were a few newbs amongst a number of advanced practitioners.
We started off with his deconstructed Surya Namaskar A: Beginning with the synchronization of breath and the raising of the arms and adding the next element one by one before doing the full blown version. He reminded us that the practice is just about two elements, even though your body is moving and twisting in all sorts of directions and positions: feet grounded and breathing throughout practice.
He was also giving out the love on "frog pose" or adhvo mukha bekasana (knees bent heels up, grounding toe mounds), sprinkled at the end of each Surya B, and after each second series pose. Relatively new in this class, he had us lower the heels SLOWLY, SLOWLY while we tried to keep the deep crease in our hips.
Later, he worked in a super-wide-leg utkatasana and a "table-top" version, where the back is flat, arms are reaching straight out and the upper body is parallel with the floor. He called this the "shameless pose" because you are sticking your sitting bones out. You do that too for the previously mentioned poses too. Give them a try. They add a little zing as well as help you to remember the natural curves in your spine.
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Diver announcements: Some scheduled changes coming up. It's TBC, but he wants Sunday's class to be held in the afternoons so that he can "reclaim his Saturday nights." He also plans to add a Thurs night class at 7:30 pm. (Just be there Fri mornings, dude!) Velocity Dance (and ergo, the Diver) are still in the Oddfellows space for the time being (they're tearing up the 2nd floor bathrooms and there's construction shit going on in the main space). Apparently the builder is coming to a realization that he cannot find as good a tenant as Velocity AND also charge 3.5 times the rent. So, it sounds like we'll continue to practice yoga among the sawing and hammering. Good for focusing the driste.
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And from the Lame Department: I've not been blogging for the past couple of weeks. Got sick again with a cold and for an added bonus, caught pneumonia. I'm pretty well clearing out the last of it now (Azithromycin rocks!). Practice was a little congested last week and this morning, but doing it is very healing.
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Oh yeah, and I'm trying a new tactic of blogging without getting too involved with the pics. I'll still post pics, but I want to see if this helps me blog more entries. The next few might be catch-up posts from events past.
Now, looking forward, I'm doing prep for Burning Man, which takes place on the last week of August. I'm stoked. John Scott's workshop in Vancouver will take place shortly after that. He gives a great class. It'll be awesome, for sure.
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7 comments:
Pneumonia sucks butt. I hope you clear it out quick!!! I'm on my fourth cold in a month and a half courtesy of the baby, and I'm discovering that extended use of cold medicine is causing me to lose weight in a bad way (I think the ephedrine makes it work like a diet pill). But practice is healing when I feel up to it!
Yikes, Pi'! Hope you're putting that baby in quarantine or something. I'm losing weight as well. May not be a good thing.
poor you--I didn't know you were sick. Don't you think velocity should have reduced rent because of all the bs going on? Oh, and the cold medicine is probably fucking with your sleep, no, pi'ikea?
Hey, it was great to see you Armani--I missed you guys a lot.
Thanks, Lax! Missed you lots too! There are all these new folks providing plenty for the Diver to work on. It was starting feel like a little lonely.
Welcome back and glad you and your knee are feeling better! This is from burningman.com - I've always wanted to go. Hedonism... yeah.
"I have a theory, and my theory is that Venus reigns over Burning Man. All the gods show up for the party-Ganesh, Quetzalcoatl, Mercury, Coyote, and The Seven Happiness Beings. But Venus, goddess of art, conversation, sex, and love, is queen of the heap. Hephaestus, a deity of smiths and fire, is her husband. The gearheads and pyromaniacs who build Black Rock City and its spectacles are Aphrodite's dreamtime consorts. In an age of manufactured desire, Venus is on a mission to reacquaint us with the things we truly love. She manifests through the citizens of Burning Man to show how it's done. How can you see an art car full of hedonists penetrating each other with dildos and not rededicate your life to your highest values? Because if those people are okay doing that in plain light of day, then the least you can do is become the game programmer, novelist, naked dude, or other relatively modest thing you wish you could be."
Hey annabella, thanks for finding that great quote. I'm entranced by the other worldlessness of this party. Maybe I'll meet Venus.
Hi Armani
Ah, I was wondering what was up. Hope you feel better; that's dangerous stuff. Maybe The Diver needs a good assistant to help him once in a while, now that he has more students.
Cheers,
Arturo
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