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Simon Park came to DC to teach a weekend of yoga workshops. I signed up for the entire series because, well- I figured that if I wore my body out I wouldn't be spending as much time brooding and locked in my head. Also, Simon is really pretty to look at.
Instead of having the workshops at the yoga studio and disrupting regular classes, they rented an aikido studio in woodley park. I don't know if it was deliberate, or if was just the most convenient place available- but it was an inspired choice. The matted floor brings back the feeling of being 8- where one can send one's feet flying over head with no fear of really hurting on the way down. You bounce instead of break. And we did a lot of bouncing- arm balances after arm balances, legs hovering in air and sometimes crashing down. And all you needed to do was roll out of it.
One of the things that I find so fascinating about Simon is how utterly un-self-conscious he is. He is, I think, comprised solely of muscles and sinew and joy and pure essence of boy. "You just play," he says, and his legs float into the air and he's just hanging out, balanced on one hand with feet over head and a huge grin on his face.
A lot of the weekend was spent in partner work- really up close and personal partner work, where the assist requires heads going between legs and arms wrapped around asses. You have to lose yourself to the moment and just throw yourself into it or else the pose doesn't work. Friday and Saturday I was still tentative at times, by turns embarassed and or unsure or bouncing and gleeful. Sunday was just a really good day. In the morning the class was purely about assists, so it was all partner work. At the end of class my partner said "I've never felt this good. My back doesn't hurt at all. This was worth the entire weekend!" She's got pretty significant scoliosis, and many poses just leave her back feeling twingey. But she went home positively giddy.
In the afternoon, he had us start out giving massages to each other. My partner was another girl from my teacher training class- a massage therapist. No pressure there. But I decided to lose myself to the moment, and he taught us one massage that left her draped back over my legs, my toes massaging her upper back and my hands massaging her head, and she just lay there purring. She didn't want to get up.
And then Simon took his shirt off to teach the rest of the class.
Today, of course, many of my muscles are deliciously sore; 11 hours of yoga in a weekend will do that to you. But I feel looser, more free- like the knots that keep me trapped within myself have loosened, just a little.
I wonder if I could just refloor my apartment with aikido matting?
Instead of having the workshops at the yoga studio and disrupting regular classes, they rented an aikido studio in woodley park. I don't know if it was deliberate, or if was just the most convenient place available- but it was an inspired choice. The matted floor brings back the feeling of being 8- where one can send one's feet flying over head with no fear of really hurting on the way down. You bounce instead of break. And we did a lot of bouncing- arm balances after arm balances, legs hovering in air and sometimes crashing down. And all you needed to do was roll out of it.
One of the things that I find so fascinating about Simon is how utterly un-self-conscious he is. He is, I think, comprised solely of muscles and sinew and joy and pure essence of boy. "You just play," he says, and his legs float into the air and he's just hanging out, balanced on one hand with feet over head and a huge grin on his face.
A lot of the weekend was spent in partner work- really up close and personal partner work, where the assist requires heads going between legs and arms wrapped around asses. You have to lose yourself to the moment and just throw yourself into it or else the pose doesn't work. Friday and Saturday I was still tentative at times, by turns embarassed and or unsure or bouncing and gleeful. Sunday was just a really good day. In the morning the class was purely about assists, so it was all partner work. At the end of class my partner said "I've never felt this good. My back doesn't hurt at all. This was worth the entire weekend!" She's got pretty significant scoliosis, and many poses just leave her back feeling twingey. But she went home positively giddy.
In the afternoon, he had us start out giving massages to each other. My partner was another girl from my teacher training class- a massage therapist. No pressure there. But I decided to lose myself to the moment, and he taught us one massage that left her draped back over my legs, my toes massaging her upper back and my hands massaging her head, and she just lay there purring. She didn't want to get up.
And then Simon took his shirt off to teach the rest of the class.
Today, of course, many of my muscles are deliciously sore; 11 hours of yoga in a weekend will do that to you. But I feel looser, more free- like the knots that keep me trapped within myself have loosened, just a little.
I wonder if I could just refloor my apartment with aikido matting?
