peep this

so i wanted to give a little peek into what was, and hopefully will be again, my weekly sunday yoga class.

after about a year of training with my yogi teacher, i taught my first class in september of 2012 to a pretty decent-sized intermediate group. susan had built up a following and most of them were kind enough to give me a chance :)

i made a playlist that looked something like this:
eyes- rogue wave
sunrise sunset- we are trees
skinny love- bon iver
the thoughts that give me the creeps- hello goodbye
vcr- xx
whole love- wilco
fidelity- regina spektor
heart it races- dr. dog
animal- miike snow
prophets- a.c. newman
tightrope- yeasayer
if there's love- citizen cope
dead sea- the lumineers
how to love- lil wayne
amazing eyes- good old war
the wooden sky- the wooden sky
*(fyi-all of my yoga class playlists are available on my spotify account)

i created a formula that would be 'my style'- a frankenstein-ian creation of all of the classes i had ever taken and loved. i would take barre, pilates, and yoga classes throughout the week and jot down notes if i liked something different that the teacher did. then i would go home and do p90x, or insanity, and incorporate moves from those programs, as well (sphinx push-ups, anyone?). when asked, i called it ashtanga vinyasa, but i was later told that my students referred to it as 'katie's yoga bootcamp' :) i would pick one or two peak poses in the same sort of category (hip-opener, arm balance, back bend, etc...) and build a class that would prepare them for those poses. starting out slow with stretches and small balance postures, moving quickly into sun salutations and vinyasas, pausing in between the flow to focus on a pose that would give them the confidence to fly later on. i wasn't sure if this was how to teach, but it felt right. after a few weeks, my students started telling me that i not only prepared them physically, but mentally for those challenging poses, most of which they had never been able to get into :) (did i mention how much i loved my yogis?)

i tried to come up with my signature closing (you know that thing that teachers say at the end of their class and it always sounds so effortless and all encompassing when they say it? like they just summed up everything you were thinking, and everything the person next to you was thinking, and now you can go in peace and just smile for the rest of the day...?). my teacher used to say the most beautiful phrase that began with 'may all beings be happy', and immediately i would go to a place of quiet content. after my first class ended, i looked out at my students and just said the first thing that came to mind- thank your body for what it's done for you today and thank you for allowing me to practice with you. namaste. it's really very simple, but now that i think about it, it's the core of ahimsa. be nice to yourself. thank you for being nice to me. go in light :)

where do i start?

it's been almost a year since my last song-lyric-titled, anti-cap-letters blog post and i've really missed it. sure, there have been plenty of times where i've thought, 'i should write about this on my blog!' but it never came to fruition. i think the longer i waited, the more daunting it became, which is just plain silly because nobody is making me do this. ease up on the self-inflicted pressure, girl in the mirror!

so here i am, a slow day almost coming to an end, tired of looking for the perfect bridal shoes online, and almost out of almond butter, thinking now is a good time to start this ol' blog up again.

it's almost impossible for me to begin where i left off, which was describing my wonderful, life-changing experience at last year's wanderlust festival in stratton, VT. i still have all of my classes written down and my notes from those classes, but i can't quite tap in to the overall feel, and it would be a disservice to try to recap at this point so i'll just move on. the good news is, i'll be heading to the 2013 wanderlust festival, so i will be sure to blog about that experience twice as much, just to make up for last year :)

i know i was giving you guys the play-by-play of my yoga trainings, but i haven't wrote since i actually began teaching. surprise! i am officially a yoga instructor at the local ymca and i am loving every minute of it. each week i try to attend 3-4 other yoga classes from various studios and teachers to find new tricks, and then i spend about 2 hours setting up my class and playlist. it is everything i ever wanted it to be and more. the students are amazing. their encouragement and feedback kept me working hard and coming back when i was so nervous i was getting sick every saturday night before i taught (i still get nervous, but not sick anymore, thank god.) i have regulars who show up every week, and when they cant make it, they call to tell me why :) they've nicknamed it the yoga bootcamp, because it's nothing like traditional yoga, and i always guarantee they will work up a sweat. joey and i make a playlist each week that is high energy, full of music from the likes of pearl jam, lil wayne, she & him, beyonce, the beatles, and vampire weekend. it's kind of like a dance party with a really wonderful group of people, in a room filled with mirrors, for one hour every weekend.

i recently got this tattoo to honor my practice and the whole yoga-teaching experience. it's sanskrit for ahimsa, which most people recognize as a symbol of 'non-violence'. this is true, but on a deeper level, it means to be kind to others, be kind to yourself, and not to allow others to cause harm to you. i'm really working on those last two, so this just serves as a small reminder to not be so hard on myself, and not to take what others say to heart.

i think that's all for now. i dont want you thinking that i suddenly became long-winded in my extended absence, and then swear off this lil' blog forever. be back soon,

xo