I went to yoga.

I have never felt so much like a wet noodle. (This is not me. This is just what I did.)

Improv Class!

I've signed myself up for an 8 week acting improvisation class! It is the follow on from the two weekends that I've done and the first class was last night. There are about 15 of us and each class is three hours long. I gather that a number of different people from The Spontaneity Shop will be teaching us. Last night we had Claire, a lovely woman from Chicago. (There were 3 American women in the group, we had some USA love.)

Because it is level 2, it means that the group has self selected to be even more awesome. Level 2 is one that you can just hang out in for as long as you want, continuing to work on skills and playing and practising. It's a class but it's also a lab, if that makes sense. I think about 50% of the group has already done level 2 at least once before. Of the two weekends that I did only three of us managed to persevere this far. You do level 1 if you're curious or want to work on breaking out of your shell or whatever. You do level 2 if you secretly love this stuff. (Oh wait. Is that just my reason? Not so secret now.)

At one point I was telling someone about the improv choir that I did this weekend, and I think was also drawing parallels between what we were doing and contact improvisation. They asked if I had had an abnormally structured childhood...

ps. Yoga brag: I hung out in a head stand today. Just 'cause, you know, I can. Whee!

Yoga Class: Bragging Again

I'm not good at this pose. I have a lot of trouble with it. Normally I can catch my ankles, and if I'm doing really well that day I can catch the outside of my feet and then hover at 60 degree angle over my legs.

But today? Today my yoga teacher turned the lights off, had us close our eyes, and just relax into the pose. Something about the environment or the prep that we had done throughout the class or just how my body was today meant that I just melted. I kept realizing that I had just a little bit more, so I would shift and...melt. It wasn't a strain or anything, I mean, definitely a stretch, but not a strain. And then I felt my bangs brushing against my knees and realized that if I just flexed my feet then I would be able to... just a little bit farther...and there! There! My forehead touched my knees and then rested there. My hands were still wrapped around my feet, not out on the floor like that guy, but the rest of it? That's what I did.

I was so excited that as we came out of pose I whispered "did you see that?!" My yoga teacher thinks it was because I wasn't trying as hard. How very Zen.

I haven't been this psyched during a yoga class since the first time I did a headstand. And this time I didn't even end up breaking my glasses!

YOGA

I love my yoga class. With a maximum of four people, it is always so intimate and filled with personal attention.

Things I have learned- I've been doing triangle poses wrong for...going on nine years now. Basically you stand with your feet apart and your arms out at shoulder height, then reach one arm out over your front foot as far as you can, fold over, and rest your hand on your knee or shin or whatever. "Rest" was where I've always gotten that wrong because I really do just support my whole body weight on my hand there and it's not so very hard. What is actually supposed to be happening, however, is that your abs are both folded and holding you up. This is so very hard. My core aches today.

The other thing I learned this week is that I LOVE and adore arm balancing postures. Okay, I knew that already, but we did a new one on Tuesday and it involved hooking a foot around one arm, blancing on your hands, and then extending the other leg back behind you. And I did it! (This is pride right here. The whole point of this post is to be all "look at how cool I am!" and brag about the types of poses that come easily to me. Notice I'm not saying anything about forward seated folds because I am rubbish at them. But arm balancing? Looks impressive as all get out and works well for me.)Also I think it is cool how well you can feel your body's weight when all of it is resting on your elbows.

Yoga class! (and tykes)

This week we have new tykes and these new tykes, while adorable, don't really speak English. It's interesting (if totally predictable) that a different group of kids has a completely different dynamic. This week they are quiet and willful- they may not be hollering- but they make their desires known anyway. No problem. Even without the English.

This week they are also destroying the garden in new and different ways. Last week they destroyed the garden by digging holes and transporting mud around all over the place. This week they are just ripping all the petals off the rose bushes in the centre of the play area. To each their own.

Today it was raining a bit so our brilliant plan to go to the Diana memorial fountain had to be scrapped- so instead we built a gym in the hall. I love doing that- the kids all run around like crazy in a private, enclosed space. So pretty much all I have to do is periodically count them to make sure we still have the whole bunch of them and holler at them to quit it whenever they start pulling their friends around by hula hoops around their necks. Must be careful of tyke necks.

Here's an interesting question. One of the kids we've got currently is clearly, to my mind, on the autism spectrum. He doesn't make eye contact, he doesn't really respond all that quickly, he spends a lot of time lying on the floor, and he doesn't really talk. So I asked the teachers today what sort of support they get for special needs children. There are plenty of special needs at the school. The language issues are the most immediately obvious since so many of the children are foreign, but there are a fair amount of behavioural and developmental issues as well- for instance on Monday we had a six year old soil themselves. Not only that she tried to pretend like it hadn't happened...which seemed age inappropriate. Anyhow- basically there is not that much support for the teachers.

In other news: YOGA! I've been to two sessions now at this cute little holistic medicine office in Walthamstow. I found it by looking up the style of yoga I did in Baltimore and then plugging that into the yoga alliance site which is an organization that certifies yoga teachers. The teacher, Hayley, is wonderful and because it is at essentially a doctors office rather than a yoga studio the room is really small which mean that there are only four people per class (all that the room can fit) and that equals lots of personal attention. Which is brilliant. So now I feel all bendy and healthy and great. I've been using a spot that was free because someone was on holiday, but I'm on the list now so that as soon as a permanent spot opens up- I get it. Nice.