Soooo, Asana Intensives are the bomb!!! Extremely draining, but the bomb nonetheless. Today we started out our first AI with a 2 hour yoga class. There were 7 students and 4 teachers in a tiny little room, but I could barely even tell that anyone else was in class with me. I was so incredibly involved in my practice this morning that everyone and everything else fell away. That has never happened before. Usually I'm so distracted by what others are doing or focusing too hard on what pose I'm trying to do that I can't tune anything out. Today, however, was amazing. I was focused but not hardened; had intention, but not the desire to compete; I was peaceful, peaceful, peaceful. My favorite part was pigeon pose which we stayed in for at least 5 minutes on each side. I never knew how much stress I carried in my booty until having to stay in pigeon pose for so long.
After breaking for lunch (where we ate outside on the lawn on a beautiful Southern California day) we embarked on our first anatomy lecture. I never thought science could be so interesting. We learned all about the different types of connective tissue, the types of joints, about breathing and the ribcage, etc. In addition to the lecture we performed poses and observed each other's differences so we could understand that no one's body is the same and therefore everyone's yoga practice will manifest itself differently.
Next came more anatomy combined with observing, practicing and learning Sun Salutations series B and C. I'll be happy if I don't have to do Plank pose or Ashtanga Namaskara (Knees, Chest, Chin) for the next week or so. During this time we learned about the 7 moving principles and the examples of poses that correspond with these principles.
The last bit of class involved some deep stretches and an extra long Savasana (corpse pose) in order to relax our minds and bodies after a intense day. I treated myself to a nice long jacuzzi session and then a dry sauna, but I know I'll still be pretty sore tomorrow.
They weren't kidding when they named it Asana Intensive for it was truly an intense day. I cannot wait for the next one in 2 weeks and hope to be a little bit more prepared in terms of what to expect physically. Until then I'll be brushing up on my anatomy (our assignments include some coloring, woot) reading some awesome yoga books, starting to connect with my mentor, and spending some quality time in my own personal practice. Looking forward to what's to come!
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