Our October theme was Heart-Opening, which we explored through:
Asana
Sarah (me!) led a flow inspired by Jason Crandell's Yogaglo class, "Open your upper body". People typically think of "heart-opening" as a synonym for back bending, so instead we looked at how important it is to PREPARE for those backbends, particularly by strengthening the back and neck, by lengthening the hip flexors, and by activating core support.
For our workshop portion of the evening, Lindsey provided some excellent resources on locust, cobra, and deeper back bends, which inspired us dissect and discuss how poses feel in different bodies. We also talked about our teaching language might become more illustrative of what really MATTERS in a pose. I for one, walked away questioning my current practice of calling baby cobra a "baby BACK BEND", when what might matter more is the strengthening/lengthening aspect of the pose. As an Educational Psychologist, I believe that thoughtful questioning of existing teaching practices=growth! And that's what this collective is all about. Green, fuzzy, spring-new growth :)
Chakras
Katelyn is now officially my chakra guru! I must confess, somewhat sheepishly, that sometimes chakras are a little "new-agey" for me. But Katelyn is so sincere in her passion for this system, and so light and easy with her delivery, that I couldn't get enough. We opened the evening with a meditation to connect our hearts and later we did a meditation on the color green, the heart chakra's color ("green is the fuzz that covers up where winter was" was a favorite line!)
Discussion
Katelyn also provided a short passage that we read together. It got me thinking in particular about how complex it is to talk about love. I'm fully engrossed in wedding planning right now and in particular, with choosing wedding readings, so I have been thinking a lot about how prevalent the notion of your spouse completing you is. Similarly, I keep finding readings about the notion of marital love being fixed and never-changing. Neither of these ideas seem particularly honest to me and the reading we discussed was full of poetic language describing why these ideas are insufficient to understand TRUE love and open-heartedness. SELF-love is the way to go.
Most importantly, the spirit of camaraderie was in full force. I am so looking forward to seeing what next month brings on the theme of Communication, Honesty, and Integrity. Sooo much else was discussed and explored and enjoyed last night though! Those of you who were there...what else am I missing?!
