Class Update: May 2009

Class started only a few weeks ago @ the new location and time-slot. The class culture has evolved very quickly. This post is a wee report on what the class has become: content, style, current level and future vision of practice. If you’ve stopped by this blog to get info about the class, this post will give you a good impression of what the ongoing Saturday morning practice has to offer you. There are more classes planned for the near future so please drop me a line if you’d like to go on my contact list for class info updates: moveoften@gmail.com

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When a new series of classes begin, I can never foresee in advance what kind of practice will evolve. Y’see, I’m not a purist in my teaching. I really believe that to teach yoga down here in a small regional Aussie town, where there isn’t a strong and prolific yoga culture/community and history, there’s a need to create content for the group based on what the individuals bring with them, rather than set the participants a rigid yoga template to squeeze themselves into. Having said that, there’s a really important place for a more didactic approach to teaching and learning especially in the case of this old tried and tested form that I respect immensely. If I’d been asked for a breakdown of what might be expected from this class 4 weeks ago, I’m not sure what my reply would have been. Perhaps: “…as the group grows, I’ll know more, but I hope it’s a physically strong, internally challenging and a socially easy class.”

I’ve not taught many morning sessions in the past, and this variable on my teaching methods is a relative challenge to me. Morning practice requires a different approach to instruction and practice than evening practice. I’m far more experienced and better aligned toward evening teaching. I’m enjoying the challenge and see my own learning process in the group as somewhat nascent. I’m grateful for the group’s faith.

I see the class very much as a place to come and practice as a group to ready ourselves for the weekend’s rest and recreational character. Every participant comes with an existing yoga practice. It seems to have already evolved away from beginner’s group.

We’ve agreed to learn the Ashtanga Primary Series together, at the groups pace. We come, work quite hard, focus on postural techniques, have a giggle and take away something learned or remembered. This is not a very passive, therapeutic class. I see it as a pool for learning that participants, me included, dive into with the intention to take something away for development in personal practice. I’m advocating this goal/method at the moment, yet don’t expect that personal/home practice has become habitual, YET.

K (a group member) and I were chatting after class last week about her sense that there is a logic to the Primary Series sequence that the body seems to understand and know inherently. I fully agree with her. In a nut shell, the ongoing Saturday morning class is for those who see that corporeal logic, understand it on some level, and intend to study it’s potential further within a small group of like-mind/bodied people.

To elaborate personally on K and my quick chat about yoga body-logic: in my experience this topic is the core purpose for developing a strong & regular practice. This logic doesn’t exist without good reason OR on it’s own. With practice (again in my experience) a story comes from the logic, a body narrative. It’s the story told to the practitioner via the body’s narrative that holds all the reasons for me to continue with my journey into learning yoga, because it keeps and makes me brightly faced toward life, with faith. I feel that I’m at the tip of this lesson’s iceberg.

I’m going to Japan in a month for a few weeks, so no new classes are on the cards for the short term. I’m planning a beginners evening course, open to all levels, in August some time. Beyond that point, I’ll be encouraging the Saturday group to attend a beginner’s class as a drop-in option. As the beginner’s group/s develop they will be invited to the Saturday session as their private practice evolves. I’d like to aim towards bringing beginners and more experienced students together, but only when their practice has a clear independence from the instructor (moi).

Guruji: RIP, passed away May 18th 2009