By The Grace Of God

Last night I had the honor of tandem teaching my first yoga class.  Up till now I've observed and adjusted poses, but have not led a group, yesterday at 9pm I led a group of 47 souls, class begin with my words "child's pose please"

The four days leading up to this I had not been nervous.  I studied with my fellow teacher trainees all week. 10 mins before class began  a slight case of nerves kicked in, very slight.  Julia a full time teacher at YTTP and the first teacher in my training to help me was my co-pilot for the evening.  Julia is out of this world.  If you are ever blessed to take her class at YTTP you'll know it, she has an energy unlike any other person over there, Julia also speaks fluent Italian, is drop dead gorgeous, her kindness, giant smile and empathy shine through at all times.

In the front row was my yoga wife, Marisol, who's quickly become one of my closest friends, supportive, fun, brilliant, sensitive and passionate.  Marisol taught her first class the night before and guess who was in her first row :)   I didn't notice until after class Marisol had worn a really funny shirt with a cartoon bunny on it so that I would laugh. 

Tandem teaching allows us to work at a pace that's actually less frantic, we lead until the teacher feels we have gone far enough and then they take over, the transition is very smooth.  I got about 15 mins into class I think, past chair pose.

After class Julia and I sat down, the notes she gave me were invaluable.  Encouraging and also eye opening, together we discovered something new.  I also asked Julia last night if she would be open to working with me further in my studies, enthusiastically she said yes, for which I am grateful.

The teaching piece at YTTP last night was just a small portion of my day on Thursday.  It's also been a pretty interesting week. 

German Bravo who is one of our teachers began teaching yoga the year I was born invited me to observe and participate in a class he teaches once a week at a senior center on the Upper East Side.  The class consisted of approximately 10 senior, all levels, everyone was warm and friendly, we had a terrific time.  I'm very interested in working with seniors as well as kids and will return next week with German to class.  After class German invited me to meet his wife and cat at his apartment not too far from the center.  German is a former employee of the Colombian government at the United Nations, now retired.  Very intelligent and interesting person.  The conversation ran the gambit from interpersonal relationships, the universe, Wagner, AA, UN pets, children, yoga sutras, movies, etc.  German runs a yoga program at the United Nations and invited me to teach class in the future.  We are both very excited to have become friends.  His wife Geraldine is beautiful, and quick witted and of course his cat Winston is a darling.   A very special morning indeed.

I've been thinking a lot about my next steps with yoga and believe I have a small game plan for the next two months laid out.  Not too structured, but some further studies and practices to continue moving me along. 

This evening our class with do 108 Sun Salutations.  This takes approximately 3 hours.  I'm very excited.

The teaching experience has made me think about how much my life has changed in the past two years.  These are all gifts of my sobriety.  I can't wait to fully engage myself back into my AA program when yoga teachers training is over night Saturday.

Mostly I am thankful for god for giving me all of this, for giving me that moment of clairty on June 20, 2009 that told me to get help.  None of this would be possible without that moment.

Oh one shout out to my friend Lawrence who is celebrating his 1 year anniversary today!  I had the honor of having a text exchange with him last night at midnight!  Welcome again to the good life dude.  

Kicking My Asana....

It's almost 6:30am here in Brooklyn and I'm awake from yoga teacher training weekend one, day three.

Going in on Friday night I was super nervous all day, convinced that I would be the oldest, most out of shape person in the room.  Convinced I was doing the wrong thing, when I got there none of it was true.

So far the process has been incredible.  Friday evening was a "getting to know you" it sealed that I had picked the right studio to train at, the owner Greg studied and worked for Bikram for many years!! Bikram!! He also does a great Bikram impression, at one point he used the phrase "trust the process" which got me super excited because we also use that in AA, so I'm wondering if he's part of that cult too....

Saturday was a loooooong day.  I got to the studio almost an hour early at 9am because I really just wanted to be there.  Of course I had to wait outside for 30 mins until someone let me in, but I met Erin a really nice teacher who teaches hot yoga (another name for Bikram if you don't have a franchise) and we discussed um...me.  

The day officially kicked off with a wonderful Colombian speaker named German Bravo, a yoga history expert, as well as a laundry list of interesting things, he works with mental patients teaching them yoga, and most important to me studies the brain and effects that yoga has on it!  Brain, hello!!  I speak brain!  German and I had a lovely conversation afterward and he emailed some of his writings on yoga and the brain.  Once again "in the right place" check, yes I am and apparently I've picked up a lot of information over the years because I felt very confident listening to what he was saying, much of it was familiar.

The afternoon consisted of picking a partner and teaching them something called "The Flow" which is child's pose, downward dog, plank, upward dog, downward dog.  Pretty easy (there is a longer version with warrior 1 and 2 that we worked on as well).  Not so easy, talking through each motion, especially when you don't do these poses often.  My partner and I were chosen to then teach each other in front of the entire class (aprox 50-60 people).  It wasn't horrible, but I am going to make some flash cards for sure, this morning.  Now if this was a Bikram sequence I could have taught the hell out of it, but I don't do vinyassa often enough to feel comfortable with the dialogue.  

After class I was full of energy, bought myself a new pair of yoga pants at Lulu Lemon (the best yoga pants ever) and cruised up town listening to Eminem, I was feeling a bit like the underdog fighting my way out of the trailer park for some odd reason, which is funny because I'm from Beverly Hills and I live in Park Slope, I don't think I've ever been in a trailer except for a production work rental.  But nonetheless, I was feeling feisty, and headed to 27th St between 6th & 7th Aves for Yoga To The People's Hot Yoga at 7pm.

We get all our yoga classes at all the studios free until training is over!!  Yippee. 

Hot yoga is the Bikram sequence almost word for word, at least at YTTP.  The studio is nice but could you a bit more TLC, it's slightly creepy.  Def not my type of studio if I was paying extra to practice.  YTTP also has hot yoga on 26th St & 38th St in Manhattan and a new studio in Williamsburg, I'm planning on checking all of them out.

It felt really good to stretch, their room isn't too hot, I could have gone a bit hotter, it reminded me of the temperature in the studio at Bikram Maui.  Teaching hot yoga is what I would like to do.  I just need to get this vinyassa practice down first so that I can move into hot.  

One thing I didn't dig was people making too many noises, Bikram wouldn't be having any of that, after practicing during meditation people were breathing weird and during class making all kinds of exasperated noises, um, that is distracting and wastes energy.  Quiet!  I'm focusing on me please. 

Today is breaking down "The Flow" I hope that we work on our own postures because I don't want to be a teacher with crappy postures, I'm sure that comes along eventually.  Oh so far my favorite teacher is Julia, she's got huge saucer eyes and a tongue ring, she's very friendly and to watch her move from one posture to another is inspiring.

I'm going to neti pot now, I fell a little cold creeping in.  Tomorrow I'm going to look at the apt in Queens, I'm less scared now of moving.  Guess the anxiety has fallen a bit.