Stiff White Guy Yoga, Saturday 10:45am

8 Peeps

I did not blog out the sequence on Saturday, so only have a memory of it.
This was a really great class cuz the intimate size allowed for a lot of back and forth.

Several people work with wrist mischief, so we played with using the blocks in dog.
Those with wrist mischief reported that creating the wrap made them loose the press in their fingers and therefore went into the wrists. Wow! I would not have known! So, we ditched the wrap and focused on keeping the pads of the fingers active and the palms light.

Our peek seemed to be locust pose.

Finishing with Hamstring Stretching at the Wall.

Cutting towards Compassion

I got a negative comment today on this yoga video on MetaCafe.

The comment was:
uh-huh
This video is a near-perfect example of how Western hubris has infected the hatha yoga of India and turned it into a happy-talk fitness regimen for the well-heeled. If you practice what Ms. Ryder demonstrates here regularly, you will injured just as badly as she would be (that is, if she were actually foolish enough to practice it). This isn't yoga. This is New Age mediocrity. Poor alignment, poor biomechanical principles, poor execution, terrible instruction............... shall I go on?

It's kind of fun to allow these kind of comments to flood the doubt, insecurities, fear, defensiveness, numbing and inflation to the surface. The last negative comment I received was, "Too Bad her voice is so annoying."

I have come to understand that, with some exception, feedback often says more about the person giving it than the person receiving it. So particularly vicious feedback can be like a knife that opens your heart to the other person. And all you end of feeling is compassion. Interestingly enough, the commenter's name, kshurika is the name of one of the Upanishads. And means scissors, knife or sword.

Getting Feedback

this comment came in via the website today:

Inquiry:
re: video by Kira Ryder - she lost me at 2nd direction. Please remind her that the subconscious mind takes things literally and especially when practicing yoga, being in an altered state = to joke about opening the legs/hips as .. picture it like carving or slicing off a turkey leg... ??? WHAT????!!! in a regular situation it may be funny but really... the come back may be, get a sense of humor, but again.. please honor the body/mind and as a teacher, please, please honor the responsibility of your position. does she REALLY want people to envision..... severing a limb? interesting thought to plant isn't it? be well, namaste....

she had watched the free class on nov 24.  it's true.  i made a reference to eating turkey since it was thanksgiving.  i was grateful that she pointed out that i said that.  and i picked a new class to put up.

Help of Ojai Feedback

Allison saw that I kept the Help of Ojai group standing for too long. I should have had more sit down time. She noticed people resting while I was explaining stuff.

So grateful for the feedback.

Almost like church. Stand up. Sit Down. Kneel. Stand. Sit. Kinda thing.
More breaks. And the getting up and down is good.

So rare to get feedback. Mostly people just tell you what they like and leave if they don't like it.