The image above is one my teachers, Kathryn Budig, reminding us to be playful (hint, hint .... next week's theme!)
This past week we incorporated longer holds into our asana practice. With lots of vinyasa, and a nice variety of twists and balancing poses, we sprinkled in about 6 longer holds ( 1 minute each ).
When we can give ourselves time and space to just be in a pose, and we can resist the urge to get out of the pose, then we can start to see our mental and physical states transform. We might enter the pose fragile, noisy, distracted .... and we can end the pose quiet in the mind and free in the body. My teacher, Darren Rhodes, calls this "shape shift to state shift". So with these shapes, your breath, your focus & intentions ... you can shift your state to be who you want to be and how you want to be today.
We opened with ujjayi breath, then a minute of dog to plank followed by 2 minutes of half salutations. Onto surya namaskar, a playful kick up to handstand, and then deep into our longer holds. I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that the highlight of class was the minute hold in boat pose! Class concluded with pigeon, camel and students could pick their finishing posture then onward to a deep, integrating savasana to experience letting go as a beautiful counter to the strong asana practice. Namaste, Lynn
