Tempo
Missed posting yesterday because the blog fairy locked me out! Reason: Unknown. But, we have reconciled, recovered & renewed passwords & the blog goes on. 
Focusing now on Sloooooowwwwwiiiinnnng Doooowwwwwn. It’s a really necessary next step for me. I’ve a natural tendency to race & fidget & atomic squirrel, & it’s all part of staying disconnected & on the surface of life. It’s a combination habit, defensive shield & pain in the ass anxiety. If you want to go Ayurvedic, it’s over vata-ness. (Used to be more pitta, but I’m just not that pissed off anymore.
So slowing down, grounding, opening up & relaxing are all good practices for me. Not multitasking. Slowing down daily movements. (Hopefully, this will lead to fewer bumped shins.) Spending time savoring moments rather than racing through them to the next thing. It’s such an ingrained state of being & seemed so complementary to our ambition/achievement/hyperspeed culture. But it actually sucks at many levels — constant tension,, stress & hyperactivity is not conducive to a yoga career. Shocker. 
Lynne coached me to breathe more, slow down & open up to the flow around & within me. Focused on a gentler, deeper self-practice last night & this morning did a Liquid Asana DVD by Micheline to remind me of the wonderful time I had during her teacher training. Followed that on with some slower Forrest style stretches, especially twists. Chillin’ post-lunch now; will practice again later — likely an exact repeat!! Practice makes less perfectionistic, I hear.
I’m quite impressed that I’ve been finding some people & things too fast or harsh recently. Woah, that’s big for the atomic squirrel.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:15 am
You should totally try one of Nicoline’s classes. They’re really chill, especially her Lunar Flow class (did that one for the first time yesterday). It’s amazing how you can get into some of those deeper poses without having to go through a lot of work and sweat in order to get there! Heather’s Yin class is also a good chill class
I’ve been enjoying going slower this week as well…seemed like a good choice after 7 straight days of Forrest intensives last week! Kind of goes back to that whole idea of in order for muscles to get stronger, you have to let them REST after you break them down! Enjoy your chill time!
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:19 am
By the way, if you’re interested, here’s the blog spot we’re at for Kate’s Lifestyle intensive:
http://one-yoga.blogspot.com/
October 24th, 2009 at 6:00 am
Oooooooh, thank you for both. Missed you at Peter’s Forrest Intensive — it was a very mellow “intensive” focused on hips & really being struggle free/pain free in a pose. Good phrase was “not being a victim of a pose” & working with habitual responses/patterns of approach. Been hearing very good things about both Ame & Heather’s classes!