The Good Life

After a lovely but all too brief two-night visit with the fam, I am once again on my own in O-town today. I loved having B and the kids come stay with me and even though it was chaotic and no one napped very well (but that totally gave us the freedom to do fun stuff like the Children's Museum instead), it was beyond good to have them in my arms and eyesight again. It about broke my ding-dang heart when Miss Raegan threw a fit this morning about having to leave (totally didn't help that Sweet Miss woke up with a fever to boot - boo! and poor, poor Ben, who is now home dealing with that on his own!). But I got in snuggles and kisses (and washed my hands immediately because, Please! No kid germs!!) and lots of waves as they loaded up and headed out early this morning. Then, I got down to business.

I realized, though, that I haven't been doing a lot of writing about the actual day-to-day of "Yoga School", so my "business" is still a mystery to most of you beyond the fact that it has been busy and sweaty (as I'm always sure to mention just how very sweaty I get every day, I think). The basic breakdown is such: we begin each day at 8 a.m., work until noon and then we go again from 1-4. During that time we have scheduled topics to work on, small group or partner work on poses, and classes. Typically, whenever there is a scheduled class at the location we're at for the day (Lotus has three studios around town), we join, too. And since our group is large (15ish), we tend to fill overwhelm the space which may account for some of the sweaties. I have loved the exposure to other instructors and class styles; from the very beginning of my yoga practice, I have learned something new in every class and of course teacher training is that x100. Also, for the sake of transparency/honesty, I will say that I totally thought Kundalini Yoga was going to be a walk in the park (not the asana-kicking workout it was instead). But my attitude remains, "bring it on." I love learning the things. I want to learn All. The. Things! So don't be surprised if, after my prenatal and kids certifications, you start hearing talk from me about doing a 300 or 500 level program, too. Yoga Grad School. I'm so excited!

But in case you're under the impression that once 4 p.m. rolls around I'm just a free lady rollin' around town, let me explain my additional requirements that I have to complete for this 200 program. On top of the day-in-day-out of the four weeks, I have to take 30 classes, do 10 observations, 10 assist teachings, and 6 kula (free to the community) classes. The good news is, I have a year to complete all of this extra stuff, but of course I want to take advantage of my kid-free time to knock out as much as I can while I am here this month. This means that I am trying most evenings to hit at least one and sometimes two extra classes (which meant, in addition to the classes we attended during regular hours on Tuesday, I did four -four! - yoga practices in one day. Oof!). I took Wednesday night off to see friends and Thursday night off to just decompress, but then this weekend I began my observations, of which I've now completed five. That's right - today after B and the kids left, I went to Midtown Crossing and then worked my way back across town, observing four different instructors teach their respective classes, visiting all three studios, throughout the day. Basic Power, (two) Flows, and Kids Age 6-10. So, so, so cool! Again, full disclosure...was totally going to go to a 4:00 flow so I could get my own practice in for the day but was so shot after the fourth observation that I ended up at Starbucks to blog instead. I promise - I will yoga in my furniture-free living room this evening.

As for the observations, I am envious every time of the people on the mats, but I learn so much sitting in the back of the room, taking notes on what the teacher is doing. And don't even get me started on my first one from yesterday - OmMama Prenatal. I am beyond jazzed to do that program later this year and can't wait to bring all that belly-lovin' goodness back to Hastings. Mama-to-be friends, you just wait - it's going to be amazing! And as for the rest of you, you might as well get your yogi-selves ready too, because you know I'm going to be talking off your ears about all this and the Kula requirement means I'll be asking y'all to be my guinea pigs for free classes! So. Come yoga. Come yoga with me (for free!)!

So, yes. I am indeed living the good yogi life, but it's hardly a life of leisure - not that I'd trade it for a darn thing though (except for wifi so I could skype with the Littles & Ben every day - that'd be the best).