Teaching Yoga B Side; 2nd Weekend. Day 2

Today was hot and I knew 2 of the participants were going to be late so we started with a restful restorative practice.

Legs up the wall with hips on bolster and legs bound.
Rest in baddha konasana in front of bolster
Easy Spinal Twist with Hips on Bolster
Savasana with Bolster under thighs

Sit for 10 minutes

Gather and Connecte
We looked at the questions as all about the teacher student relationship.
So the first question we wrote was, "What are my hopes for/wants for /expectations of my students?"

Everyone wants the same thing. We all want them to feel better, feel connected, enjoy themselves, and "get it". And yet we are continually filled with anxiety that we are going to fuck that up and turn them off from yoga for forever. We looked a little deeper at this and discussed how our need for them to be having a good time is actually our need for affirmation that we are doing a good job because we are not at rest within ourselves. We spoke on this topic for a while.

I had them answer the question:
- Is there anyone in your life that you have expectations of. Write them down.

Then a few questions that i asked and they wrote in their journal were:

-Describe the last time you actually felt relaxed. What were the conditions? Can you recall the feeling?

This promoted one woman to notice that she had never felt relaxed in her adult life and opened the question up more to: Is there a difference between feeling relaxed and being relaxed?
We spent some time here, cuz the irony is that we are all yoga teachers and none of us are relaxed.

- What is something beautiful that you have recently seen? Can you remember the feeling?

- Can you describe an event/person/experience that recently made you sad? Can you access that sadness?

- What is something that recently resulted in a sense of joy? Can you still sip from that experience?

We continued to discuss this which lead to a brief discussion of needs and wants. We spoke of the muladhara and kama, artha, dharma and moksha. And how we cut it off and tune oursleves to the needs of others to ensure love.

- What are you needs/wants?

Then I assigned homework. Answer the question:
- Recall one of your most potent magical mystical experiences. Write it out in as much details as you can. (Notice the mind's tendency to want to belittle, couch or shrink it. Allow the mind to do it's thing without letting it win.)

And we switched gears completley.

Did a short 40 minute practice playing with creating tension for structure and support.
Checked in the beginning of these actions.

Then from Tadasana
Sun to Lunge Both Sides

Sun to Lunge
Hammock
Low Deep Lunge with Back foot Still Wide
3 Legged Dog
Dog

Updog Vinaysa

Repeat Other Side
Rest Childs Pose

Trasition to Backs
Bridge x 1
Cosmic Rest
Savasana
Sit

Then we hung for like 40 more minutes.
I am really getting the importance of coming together like this.
We talked about the Winter Solstice Retreat.
We played with it being silent for most of the day and then gathering and talking at night.