Day 44: Cuteness

No, not me....a tiny little yogini.

Today was 1:30 with Yuko. I had a good practice. I kept thinking of some phrases that teachers say "this is surgery without the knife" "be precise". I've really been focusing on form, listening to what the teachers are saying and making tiny adjustments based on dialog/advice. I say tiny adjustments because that's exactly what I'm doing. Separate leg stretching I literally shift my weight ever so slightly forward onto the toes, then try to get the hands more back so they are gripping the heels, then I suck my stomach in, make sure my quads are still locked and picture my butt shining up to the ceiling like a flashlight, trying to relax my neck, trying to get that forehead to the floor. Once I make it through that series of tiny tiny adjustments, I start all over again....a little more weight forward, is the grip solid?, are the quads still locked, stomach- suck it in more...etc etc. All the while trying also to listen to the teacher and make sure I am following those instructions. I'm exerting myself, but because I am breathing so smoothly, it feels almost like exertion w/out effort. Another thing I worked on today was something I heard from Sumach yesterday regarding triangle. He said once you are in that posture, picture squeezing your heels toward each other to engage your inner thighs and he said something about your core, I didn't catch the whole thing. But I did that, I squeezed my heels toward each other and felt the thighs engage. Suddenly my "base" because that much more solid, my upper body was not leaning any weight on the bent leg, and I was able to really stretch up and do that small spine twist back with the body and felt really strong.

The tiny yogini: oh my goodness. One of the regulars brought his eight year old daughter in. She's been doing gymnastics for four years and is flexible and strong. She was so cute! Big blue eyes, little pink bathing suit bottoms on, bouncing up and down in the lobby excited to be at yoga with dad. It was her second time. Usually small children sit out in the lobby for standing series and come in for floor only. She wanted to try the whole thing her first time and did every posture. So today was her second time and she did the whole class again. What a cutie! She couldn't hold the postures for very long, but when she was in them you could see how flexible she was, like a little rubber doll. She was quiet and focused and did a fantastic job. Like I said.....cuteness!!!!