Jam Session 1, Sunday Afternoon

I love gathering with teachers. I am so glad that this is the beginning of 2 more sessions together. I hope they had as much fun as I did.

Today the intention was:

- Continue the demonstration of teaching the necessary key actions at the beginning of class as the opening
- Lots of hands on work. Convey the idea of "assistance" vs "adjustment".
- Convey the idea that if we are behaving appropriately to the moment, it will sometimes appear that we are contradicting ourselves. Holding the opposites is a part of the practice.
- Possible communication of the use of FEELING and EMOTIONAL words to convey alignment as oppose to anatomical
- Some practice teaching

Homework:
Design a 90 minute class setting up the necessary actions at the beginning and leading up towards a peak posture that uses them.
Choose to relax as often as possible. Record it.

My sense is that we all learned a lot today. I got to experiment with a new style of working. Everyone got lots of opportunity to touch. Some got the opportunity to teach. Everyone got the chance to feel new things and play with the expression of the asanas in a new way.

Opening 1
Impressing the Heart
We used the posture to
- start to establish support and movement in the shoulders
- practice adjusting blocks under a partner and being able to see and feel when they are in the right place
- practice guiding the breath with hands and words
- practice assisting the extension of the arms with gentle touch and language
- practice offering resistance to allow a partner to feel more (relationship)

We switched roles and practiced teaching here.

Opening 2
Supine Hand to big Toe Pose at the Wall with a Strap
We used this posture to:
- Stretch the hamstrings
- Open the Hip
- Establish the twisting lines of the Legs
- Practice assisting in this posture
- Practice Teaching
- Comparison of Sides
- Connection to the feeling words
- Connection to staying present in the rest

This is a safe and effective place to start practicing touching and everyone benefits.

Opening 3
Solo Shoulder Rotation Understanding
'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'

'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues' with Partners
This was effective for everyone in understanding the ease in the neck and wrap of the shoulders.

We did it solo again to bake in the memory.
To answer R's question about Down Dog, we looked at how the actions could apply there.
We talked about how you cannot "retrain" a down dog in one class with one cue or one adjustment. But starting with the basic actions supine or sitting can help set peeps up for success.

Peak
Then we looked at how these actions could be taken up against a wall for forearm balance prep, headstand prep, handstand prep.

Took 10 minutes to play on own with revolving headstand as a kind of "peak" to put shoulder and hip and hamstring work together. Seemed like everyone got to experience something new. And this allowed me to be available for everyone.

Counter Pose and Rest
Bridge Pose with 2 bricks and a blanket. 10 minutes of play here getting into the front thighs and moving towards viparita karani.

Supine supported baddha konasana. 5 minutes

Savasana.

Sit.