Laurie Blakeney in Austin

Just a lovely weekend workshop with ms blakeney!

      Marj, Jeff, Laurie and Anne - several ann arbor t-shirts in austin

    me, Mary, Laurie, Anne, Charley

 LeeAnn, me, Mary Laurie, Anne, Charley

Marj, Susanne and Peggy - Dallas!

Here are a few things we practiced, no not in order - Mary and Melissa helped demo for the pics, Thank You!!

This is from Saturday afternoon - wanna wake up your thighs, this should do it

sit on bolster, place 1 leg in virasana 1 leg bent, now move off (this was just for ease in getting in)

 1) foot on floor

 2) foot on low block (don't come out in between have the block so you can reach)

3) block on medium height

 4) pull knee in

5) flat wide block under both buttocks

Adho Mukha Virasana - 2 medium height blocks with blanket on top

elbows on blanket back of hand on bolster - partner gently move thumb pads down toward bolster while extending arms toward them while doer extends back through hips

And now for some hopping -  

measure, the head will go between where the feet are - up touch wall with toe tips down up down...

the partner places their hand on the shoulders to not allow them closer to the wall

pranayama - 2 blocks about an inch from the bolster or no space depending on you

 hand down by body

 without moving elbows bend the arms, some may need blanket under each wrist/hand or under entire length of elbow to hand, she added a shelf fold blanket on top of bolster for me

couple things from today

            Parivrtta Trikonasana - rope loop around shoulder, hold tight strap try to go across the elbow sort of hooking it with the strap, 

 now turn hips hips hips

 now arms arms arms

Chatush - 2 blocks flat hip width apart mat folds over with extra to catch with hands

Humble

i am still trying to process some experiences i had in india

in pune, i am in the elevator with 2 people as we head to the lobby for the first full day of the event, the 2 are yoga students from what i pick up, they are talking and i turn to them and ask 'where are you from' and they say townA, well i have been to a workshop with a sr teacher from townA before so i   say 'Oh SrTeacher1' (insert name here) !!! 1 of the people turns on me with venom and says 'i own my own studio' i am in total shock i am staring at her mouth open in disbelief at this as i walk out of the elevator trying to detach from this, speechless, the other student seeing my horror says oh but we really like SrTeacher1 at which i look at her with please dont that is such an untruth as to be ridiculous... at any rate that was an amazing conversation ender since i no longer spoke from the time i mentioned the teachers name....so i get to the event find my square lay out my mat and turn to a student next to me and since i can't be taught i say 'where are you from' and you guessed it townA, i am now prepared for horror so with zero excitement i say 'Oh Srteacher1' at which she turns to me and with a little less intensity of disdain but its still there informs me 'i am a sr teacher' and since i am prepared this time i am oozing my wordless response from every pore 'i do not care' , at this point the only thing i am thinking is no more the end thats it im done...i resolved to not start another conversation with a non-indian student and guess what i have for the rest of the week...pleasant conversations

just to make sure i was not imagining something i started every conversation everyday exactly the same, i lay my mat down i look for an indian student near me and i say 'where are you from' they say as the first day for example 'mumbai' and i say 'Oh Birjoo" or whoever and not 1 indian student turned on me in disdain, it actually started a conversation with them replying no i go to ... and you might be thinking well they weren't teachers, nope after speaking to 1 student the entire day at the end he showed me pictures from where he was from including the 2 studios he owned all i could think was wow thats not part of your hi i own 2 studios introduction said with venom toward me response, whats wrong with you

i was talking to one student and he was singing the praises of his teacher, someone i had never taken from but now want to, he said his teacher was wonderful and so humble. i was stopped by this word, humble is that a word, have you ever used that word or had it used in conversation by anyone around you, i don't think that's a word, the last time i used that word was referring to a song by humble pie in the 70s and i have had no need for it since. the last day in india at the event for Guruji's birthday i saw this teacher standing alone and went over and told him his student said he was a wonderful teacher and he just laughed and said that is because i am his teacher, which i loved that response he took none of that praise into himself he put all of it on the teacher student relationship

there are several things going on here that i have been thinking about, is there any city in the US with 2 studios where the owners can stomach each other, sorry let me rephrase that, where the owners have true warmth of friendship towards each other? and can we please end the levels attached to teachers from the assessment process, in a place where humble is not a word this is a disaster

a total change of subject: at Guruji's birthday event they had students from different countries speak, the teacher from Canada who told many wonderful stories said one time they were in a plane with Guruji traveling from 1 Canadian city to the next and Guruji loudly says 'i am the only one on this plane who speaks Kannada' :)