What you've been waiting for...

It's been a busy and wonderful week. Here are the highlights:

My shipment of yoga clothes from prAna arrived this week, a birthday gift from my better half who spoils me rotten. I would never have spent this kind of money on exercise clothes, I mean...I am a yoga teacher...I have no money. So I was a bit skeptical at the prices and whether the clothes would really be that much better quality than my Target and Kohl's outfits. I was so delightfully surprised! Inside of the brown paper package (can't help but sing "A Few of My Favorite Things" from Sound of Music) was the most beautiful, soft and well-fitting yoga clothes I have ever worn. On the outside of the package was written the same thing that was filling my mind....Thank you prAna for understanding.

Exactly!

The weekend was a lovely one. Just hot enough to feel like summer but not so hot that you are glued to the a/c. I taught a wonderful outdoor class on Saturday morning and had a record attendance of 14 people! It is finally beginning to feel like a community class and I couldn't be more pleased. After the outdoor class I taught for another teacher friend so that she could attend a bigger, more attended outdoor class in St. Louis. It must have been a good weekend for outdoor yoga because I was able to convince a few dear yogi friends to join me at our teacher's (Emmet's) outdoor class this morning in Kirkwood Park. It was exactly what I needed and what I had been waiting for all week....I am so glad I got the opportunity to go. I needed Emmet's words, the blue sky and my friend's company so much today. I would not have traded it for the world.

My yoga teacher rides a motorcycle.

Blessed Up and Blissed Out!!

First classes are always interesting!

Yesterday, I taught my first outdoor yoga class in Granite City and it didn't disappoint! I was a bit concerned that maybe nobody would show up. Of course, I was wrong and had a lovely group of yogis that came to share their energy with me. Sure, there were groups of giggling graduates taking photos behind us by the fountain in the park and there were a few emergency vehicles that flew by with sirens a-blazing. But overall, the group was focused and kind, the sun was shining and the breeze was warm. Truly, it couldn't have been a more inspiring day and practice! Favorite moment: students lying in savasana, birds singing.

After the outdoor class finished up, I took flight myself and soared along 270 to Edwardsville to teach my first ever private class at Hot Yoga. I couldn't ask for a better second, first class of the day! The two clients, who happen to be a few of my favorite students, booked this class for their friends and family to come and try out this "crazy workout" that they had been doing. I assumed that the newcomers were just nervous about attending a class with others who might be judgmental or more physically fit, etc. I was wrong...they were quite athletic and it was actually because they are all total cut-ups and had a very difficult time keeping it serious. What a fun class to get to teach! My favorite moment was when the whole class squatted down to get ready for standing forward fold and every knee in the building cracked or popped at the same moment! Got a great laugh! 

(sounds overheard in yoga class)

I had an hour or so and ran home to take my second shower of the day. Then it was back to Hot Yoga for a vinyasa workshop with my teacher Emmet Schmelig. I was almost spent when I arrived back at the studio and the 2 hour practice of flow yoga polished me off nicely. It was an incredible practice. I was interested in  being able to measure my own strength in comparison to where I was the first time I practiced with Emmet last September. I could barely do one chaturanga then. Now I am able to do everything in the practice and still keep my breathing steady and long. I even was able to bind in extended side angle and trikonasana, which I hadn't tried before. Favorite moment: my own savasana, listening to Emmet tell us that "you are perfect just the way you are."

my dear friend and teacher Emmet Schmelig

Finished the evening with a third shower, a large Dewey's pizza and an early bedtime.

Although every single tiny muscle in my entire body is sore today, there is a total contentment and calmness that is with me still. Yoga hangover...totally blissed-out!! I wouldn't have traded yesterday for anything! There is no question in my mind that it was a gift and a blessing. Namaste.