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Kids, I'm sorry my posts have been less frequent than days without car bombings in Baghdad, but I have been a) so busy it's hard to find time to pee b) on vacation at my Grandma with 'net access circa '94 BUT HEY she's got it! and then c) again, with the business and not so much with the peeing!

So! We're going to hit it hard and fast, like that horrible feature at the end of E! News LIve where a rapper runs down the week's entertainment gossip.

Speaking of which, my favorite photo of the week via the brilliant blogger who brought you the term "sideboobery." I'm just putting the link so the dedicated will cut and paste, because I ate a doughnut half an hour ago so my mind is racing and homey don't remember the little html tag whatnot for embedded links. SORRY!

http://thesuperficial.com/image.php?path=/2006/08/30/jessica_simpson_yahoo_02.jpg

BUT I DIGRESS! IT'S THE SUGAR!

I still have no yoga business cards. I still have not sought yogic employment outside my own dear studio, but have heard from 4 more people comments along the lines of: "You should teach at my gym; the yoga teacher there is not so good." New goal: graphic artist in NC notwithstanding, I will get a plain, simple, but high-quality business card, to be distributed with half-sheet flyer topics of which: Why I am the shizzle. Why Barkan yoga is the shizzle.

I did not teach last week. :( But! I taught last night and BOY HOWDY there were 18 students, five of which were new. The newbies did VERY WELL. I managed the timing OK even though with all the paperwork (new people) and renting of mats and purchasing of packages I started a few minutes late. This was the first time teaching where I neither consulted my notes during the day, beforehand, nor brought in my little cheat sheet with the Bikram order of poses. And I think, without the Dumbo's feather of studying my notes, I was forced to project more confidence. At one point I was about to take the kids from Standing Sep Leg Stretching into Standing Sep Leg Forehead to Knee and I KNEW I was missing something. So I asked the class! And they knew: Triangle! Hello! So I just kind of laughed and said glibly "Triangle! HOw could I forget?! My favorite pose! The climax of the standing series!" and moved them smoothly into the pose. My good friend was taking the class, first she'd taken from me since I got back from training and was favorably impressed overall, helpfully recommended more Voice! Projection! and said the Triangle incident didn't harm my credibility too much. After all: Krista forgets poses sometimes and she just laughs it off. My friend's dearest praise was that my class provided positive energy--thus it is TRULY my heart intention that is getting through to my students. (Ergo, they are not sitting there and nitpicking "She said the same thing on the other side! She didn't leave us in that pose long enough! She's not giving us enough information about this pose!" like *I* am.) That makes me so happy! What we say and *how* we say it truly affects those around us, in any context.

My main joy/frustration remains the fact that I LOVE teaching and the more I do it the more I *want* to do it and because of many factors, financial and personal (see the paragraph with the business card procrastination,) I'm not doing it as much as I'd like. With rare exception (like the two days I took off to visit my grandma) I am working 7-8 hours per day at a desk. THE MARMOT WANTS TO TEACH YOGA FULL-TIME!!! Or at least half-time, thankee very much.

I hope to have good news on the subject for you soon!

My friend and I

My friend and I, originally uploaded by NiceMarmot.

Our anatomy teacher (the MD who is a Barkan-trained yoga teacher and soon-to-be qualified acupuncturist) called this skeleton "our little friend." This, and many other things she said CRACKED ME UP. She also really knew her sh*t and her lectures were really relevant and her handouts excellent. SHE ROCKS! She is standing in the background in the blue shirt. Bad hair day for me, I'm afraid! I WANT one of these skeletons so I can have a "little friend."

Today I got the opportunity to teach Wednesday, so I'm teaching then as well as tomorrow (Tuesday.) Schweet! I haven't taken a hot yoga class in a week and now it is a half hour away...can't wait...withdrawal...body needs heat and asanas...mmmmm...

Tuladandasana (Balancing Staff Pose)

Jimmy & Kate, originally uploaded by NiceMarmot.

Jimmy clinics Balancing staff with the awesome Kate B.

Standing Head to Knee pose

Standing Head to Knee pose, originally uploaded by NiceMarmot.

Another photo from training. This is a signature pose from our yoga lineage. Guess which one's me. Hint: I am not wearing a bikini. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You will not that here I am working on straightening my right leg. Jimmy is at right with his back turned; better photo of him later this week.

Last night I had an awesome class from Krista. In this pose I straightened both legs, bent my elbows below my calves, and started to round my head down to my knee. That all has happened maybe once and never since training, certainly. I don't know what was going on, since I hadn't practiced since last Wednesday and I was poorly hydrated. I was definitely connecting with my breath!

Teaching Report: Bonzer!

Last night's class went really well!! I feel like I did much better than last time. The class was much different than last time. Six of my friends were there--one total beginner, three pretty new to hot yoga, and two of my buddies from Barkan training takin' it on the road! There were five or six other students, as well. Before class began, I was standing behind the desk and a woman with whom I've taken a lot of classes came in. (To take my class.) She saw where I was standing and her face LIT UP and she said "Are YOU **TEACHING**?!" and when I said yes, well, she acted like Christmas had come early, she congratulated me and she was so excited. It was the sweetest thing; I'm lucky I didn't start crying. I am now, thinking about it. (I didn't sleep well last night and as a result, I'm like a fragile little china thing. Some customer at the bank just now called one of the tellers, for no reason at all--was not even doing a transaction!, a "sorry little bitch" and I cried. But I digress.)

Again I ran the class sort of long and ended up flowing poses or eliminating second sets at the end. I couldn't resist doing the variation of Balancing Staff again and I even threw in Supta Bhadrasana/Reclining Gentle Pose because it is so yummy. I liked the energy of a larger class. My total beginner, my friend, did so well and said it was really relaxing and fun! I think I managed the heat better this time, and felt calmer. My two Barkan buddies also praised me (but they're such positive people anyway) and said my voice was much calmer than it had been in training. I still don't feel totally comfortable--at training I joked around a lot more while I was teaching, but I had Jimmy to make fun of. :) When I got tongue-tied, my friend C said I was very flustered and I should probably just tango on. Which I knowI should do. I was very pleased with most of the cues I gave, though. I spent some time studying in the car beforehand and I think it helped. Although some points I probably belabored. PLENTY of lifting the thighs together and internal rotation of the thighs. Which is almost the same thing. C also said I was very clear, and did a good job of explaining the benefits of the poses. So: yay! And onward to even better teaching!

Teaching Again--hooray!

I am teaching tonight at 6:30 and I am so excited! Yesterday I was wishing I could teach that very night. I have my Barkan notebook with me so I can study a bit this afternoon. I'm going to focus on two things--directing the energy with my voice (that's for me) and in terms of the words I say, I want to talk about breath a lot. (I know, really original--but MUY IMPORTANTE!) I know I'll have at least one beginner, as my friend H. is planning to come, and that's a good basic concept for beginners and regulars to hear. Over and over. I know it sounds so simple but I need to hear it over and over in my own practice. I can't tell you how many times I find myself in Triangle, about to bust a gasket, and realize I'm holding my breath. Hello! I often think to myself that much of a yoga teacher's job is to say "Breathe!" I say it a lot when I can't think what to say next. It's never wrong.

My mom has been taking a gentle yoga class from the woman who's also her massage therapist. She and her friend Anita were the only two at the class yesterday so they got pretty much a private session. My mom was excited to tell me she got into downward dog. ("I didn't think I could do that!" she said.) I am so proud of her! I hope to teach her a yoga class while she's here next week.

Someone asked how the Barkan Method is different from Bikram, other than the sequence. First, the class starts with one set of pranayama deep breathing, not two. I cannot say this has improved my equanimity with the second set of pranayama when I now take a Bikram class--it has always chapped my hide. (By the second set I'm thinking: Let's get to the good stuff, the asanas! TOMMY WANT WINGY!) In general, I would say there's more flexibility/freedom in how the teacher can structure the class. There are never two sets of every single pose, so there are more poses. And first sets of certain poses are variations of the pose that sort of warm you up for the full expression of the pose in the second set. The flexibility allows the teacher, if she or he chooses, to do single sets of most standing poses in order to do, for example, a bunch of hip openers in the last part of class. Or backbends. I find it's a great combination of "structure and freedom" as Jimmy says--over a period of time going to the class, you are really advancing in and refining certain postures, but as it's a little different each time and you DON'T usually do all the same poses two classes in a row, it keeps you on your toes if you'll forgive a yoga pun, and tunes up strength and balance in different areas. There's also more of an emphasis on modifications/injury rehabilitation Barkan.

I have been trying to go to yoga class no less frequently than every other day. I miss going twice a day and every day! But it hasn't worked with my work schedule in the last week or so. I'd love to go every weekday at 4:30 so I can do Bikram MWF and Power Vinyasa TTh. That Power Vinyasa kicks my hiney. Hoo boy.

Over the past few weeks, it has been so neat getting emails from the people with whom I went through training. One has bought a studio, some are opening new studios, or they're moving, they've had to take over a class unexpectedly midway through because the teacher was sick to her stomach, they've had a student loudly proclaim "Wow! That was like an orgasm!" in the middle of class. And they're always positive and encouraging--I'm very blessed to have a virtual community like that.

Today I'm having lunch with a Barkan brother and sister--a woman who went through training with me, and her fiance, who had gone through two years before and looked after the heaters, the microphone system, and lots of other operational things during our training. I think of them as the Yoga Lovebirds--they are so sweet! They have applied for a business visa to go to New Zealand and open a yoga studio there. The woman, C, also teaches Yin Yoga, which I am really intrigued to experience. There's a studio on my way to work that offers it, so I'm hoping to take a class in the morning next week. (Yin Yoga is a style of yoga developed by Paul Grilley that holds one gentle pose at a time for between three minutes and ten minutes! Really gets into the connective tissue.) The Lovebirds are also coming to my 6:30 class--I have a big cheering section today!

Meditation on the Beach

Meditation on the Beach, originally uploaded by NiceMarmot.