Yoga

I had my first turn with David after the holidays, I experienced more of my asymmetric use, and some of my 'Alexander student' habits. I think I will dedicate this week to observe my habits at school, being banned from coffee during the Aurum experiment can certainly help.

Observing without glasses, however, still feels quite odd. I could pick up some patterns while we worked in Lailani's group on walking, but then, the average use certainly improved already a lot.

I can still get into my old yoga habits, I certainly often 'stare' when doing asanas. Layer by layer by layer. The shift from reaching a position to observe the movement doesn't come easy, yet becomes more and more enjoyable.

After the intensive

The spirit of the improvised intensive didn't prevail until today. It took me some time to get into my body in my turn with Jane, still sweaty from the ride to school. We had a short debrief about the residential, with some very mixed feedback. The circumstances certainly tainted a bit the experience, but the fires left only short time to reorganise.

The group work unveiled my impatience. I got a bit upset with Stephen for my perceived lack of cooperation. It seems that my frustration threshold is pretty low at the moment, and I need to observe my reactions to emotional shifts a bit better. The topic shifted from hands-on to monkey, you can never enough monkey around.

I worked with Rossi in Lailani's group. Lailani's feedback made the hands-on session really valuable, doing less becomes easier. Or does the ease come with doing less? Anyway, using my hands seems the best way to stay directed, and motivated.

Back to school

Things change at the school: Four new students started this term, Robert came in as teacher, the school has a new website. I had a friendly chat with Alysha and Bell, before having a very productive turn with Lailani. I notice my tendency to poke my head forward more and more, and the little collapse in the front that goes with it. She suggested to think about keeping the distance between cheekbones and hip, which worked well for me (as long as I remembered thinking it).

The new student got their hello in the first meeting, and we got a quick intro to the new website, before we finally got into groups and did some hands-on work. With Marigold we played around with listening hands, and I noticed again the importance of taking care of myself. Lailani tried to go through some of Vivien's ideas, unfortunately just little time was left.

I hope for a bit cooler weather, I was sweating like a pig when I arrived at school after unicycling there. Well, I'll do it again tomorrow (unless its raining in the morning).

Spirals

I walked to school, which made it easier to adapt again to the 'Alexander thing'. My turn with Margaret taught me a lot, and my proprioception doesn't feel too screwed up after two weeks break.

In the group with Margaret and Ria we talked about the spirals formed by muscle groups that loop around the torso and the limbs. The comparison to the structure of fabric, and its different elasticity depending on the direction of tension within it helped me a lot to refine my ideas about muscles and fascia. While muscles work a bit like a sewed fabric, fascia acts more knitted fabric. (Take this with a grain of General Semantics).

In between the groups Maria and Anne worked with me, and I'm quite surprised about the difference in contact I notice when they put hands on.

Lailani took us very slowly through some asanas based on all fours. I manage more and more to forget about end-gaining while doing yoga, and really love to notice the increase in body awareness that comes with this changed attitude.

Common cold torso.

The weekend adventures left me with a cold, a new experience waited for me. Jane's table turn helped to start the week leisurely, and with new ideas about width in my torso.

Lailani showed a me bit more forward with the head, it still feels odd to organise my body below a head that's forward and up. I learned a lot about some of the holding pattern, but have yet to figure out what's left to release.

Yoga didn't feel to straining, probably I managed to use less effort just because of the cold (or the medication). I experimented with David's idea of releasing into an asana, and enjoyed the exercises.

We played with release of the ankles in Matt's mini group, just Will, Kaz and me. I liked revisiting an experiment after some time, and the information gained today felt more detailed.

Coming back

The first day at school was really busy, some new faces as well as some "returners" came in. I worked with Lailani, and get closer to understand the shoulder girdle a bit better. I still have difficulties to mentally integrate arms and legs into the torso, even though obviously lots of muscle groups in the back do the actual movements.

During the group work we tried to deepen the understanding of arm movement, and how much it can in the way of proper breathing. I felt quite tired after a weekend of travelling back from Germany, although I enjoyed observing myself in that unusual situation.

Heads

My attitude and Lailanis teaching approach didn't fit to well during our turn. I didn't feel addressed by her explanations, but felt a bit patronized, however, this gave me the chance to exercise inhibition.

The yoga turn brought no new revelations, yet I think I finally do the asanas a bit more in a desirable way. During our group work, with all first years, we took each other's heads on the table, a simple task with an amazingly high stimulus.

Shoulders

I had half a turn with David and a full one with Ria. I talked shortly with her about my emotional confusion, but I'm not too sure if I took her answer on board. I cannot get out the way I came in.

Lailani explained the shoulder a bit more, and I could experiment to direct Ria, while playing with the mobility of the arm. Learning details about the anatomy of shoulder and arm certainly helps me calibrating my sensations in this area. I felt the roundness of the shoulder blade, and its movements while the arm moved.

Yoga and Pilates

The third week started, and no repetition happened so far. I had my turn with Lailani, and learned about the subtle movement of the legs while sitting down and getting up. We delved deeper into this exploration at the group work, which offered plenty food for thought.

Maria had a short go to work with me, but I wasn't used as much as exploration object as I wanted to. However, after most 2nd and 3rd years had their go on Bo, our largest guy, David asked me to follow him sitting down. Although my fingers aren't too sensitive yet, I enjoyed the challenge to keep myself coordinated while having hands on.

Using my hands to direct others is a real challenge, as the teacher has to be more coordinated than the student. Without sufficient release I lack the sensibility to know what's happening with a potential student. I'm encountering now the difficulty to apply heaps of directions simulantenously, directing myself still takes some effort.

We started the Pilates session after school, with an assessment of strength and range of mobility. Initially I was happy to have the best scores, I grew even more happy when I found out about some of my weaknesses. I'm looking forward to the next sessions.