While I am still battling this cold crap, I did go in and teach a yoga class yesterday. It's my favorite class of the week and evidently it has turned into a favorite around here to as I had 23 souls for a noontime class on a Friday. Most of them regulars with a few drop ins here and there. I sucked on my lozenges and blew my nose and sounded a little like Donald Duck, but I was happy to be there.
I have been teaching so long that I don't even really have any sort of class pre-planned. I may have a theme in my head but I usually go with the energy in the room and who shows up for class. This Friday group, they have been a group coming long enough that it has created a lot of trust and they are eager to go on the journey with me each week. After picking up my ballet a bit in the last couple of weeks, I realized just how linear and static yoga can be. The dancer in me loves the body placement and exploration and sometimes I long to fuse the two and not leave everyone in the room behind while I do.
This week it was about spinal flexion, flowing motion, moving to the playlist that I put together and asking them to follow me on the journey and do their best. I threw some movements in that pushed the boundaries off the mat and shook things up a bit. It's easy when you have been practicing for awhile and taking from the same teacher to get a little locked into what comes next, those are the times I shake it up and shake it out. Even though I still felt like hammered shit, it always makes me feel better when I teach. I managed to teach through the worst of my medical mystery tour and though sometimes it was a push to be there, I always felt better after. Pulls me out of my own head space and focus on my students and get into the groove.
After class I was chatting with a couple of my students, one of whom is from Denmark, though she has lived in the states for 18 years. We got to talking about Denmark and I mentioned that my paternal grandmother was Danish and how much I identified with that part of my genetics. She looked at me and said I see the Scandahoovian in you. That cracked me up, my dad and grandmother used to use that word a lot. Both ladies then said I see a Viking when I look at you. Which is interesting because I have always felt that somewhere in a past life I was a Viking war goddess.. I heard recently that some armor that they found in Denmark and for years thought was male, they have now said was for a female. One of the ladies then said I can see you with a magnificent sword and swinging it. Me too, in the best sense of that phrase. It's funny how genetics can come forward and things you don't always understand play out in your personality.
I love teaching yoga, I love chatting with my students and getting to know them and them getting to know me. I have some that have been taking from me for years and years, like back to when I started almost 15 years ago. I love creating great playlists and having eager people show up for class. It is the biggest place for service in my life, not due to ego but it comes from my heart and my deep desire to help my students live a better life through yoga. As I ponder ways to make my classes available online and include meditation I look forward to stepping outside the classroom environment and reach people outside my geographic location.
And on that note, it is time for a bit of a nap because Sunday is a full day of yoga, two group classes, a private session and a two hour hip opener workshop. It is a lot in one day, and I am looking forward to playing yoga for the day. If you are on Spotify and want to check out my playlists I am under: yogawithsherry. The list isn't long because I just switched over to using it, before that I was on Rhapsody which is not Napster (didn't they die to death years ago?), I have some non-yoga lists up there too. Happy Weekend!
XO
Titanium