This week we did a twisting practice, lots of twisting shapes. We worked toward ardha bakasana, side crow. There were many options for students and lots of warm up twists before we attempted our apex pose … the challenging, twisting arm balance: side crow.
I suggested students think about what meaning twists might have for them in this practice. What do you want to twist into or turn toward? What do you want to twist out of or turn away from? When we make space, insights arise. I told students, “Whatever you want or need, something good will come out”. Have patience. Be present.
We started by dancing out the hips in down dog. Paying attention to pressing the knuckles of the hand and fingertips into the earth while also pressing the balls of the feet into the earth. That rootedness starts distributing space throughout the whole body. In cat/cow, we hovered our knees to add a burst of strength. Core moves were sprinkled throughout. We opened the outer hips in a variation of down down into plank with one leg off to the side. We played in crow, balanced in eagle and dancer, greeted a friend in partner squat, and after deeply breathing through pigeon pose, we dove deep into side crow. Laughter ensued. We let ourselves be buoyed up by the desire to learn, be curious, have fun and challenge ourselves. Perfectionism was left behind. We slowed it down with a nice, strong bridge pose then students let themselves feel all of their body supported in a restful savasana. Om, shanti, shanti, shanti, Lynn
