Today is blog re-design day.

I was bored with the old layout so I changed it up,  even dipping the tiniest of toes back into the CSS tweakage.

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Dude.

That was a GREAT football game. And it went the way I called it.

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Nobody cares

That I’m officially done with school for the semester, but I am. My joke of a paper (more like a 5 page book report) is finished and now I just have to turn it in.

I also have to get the oil changed in my car, pick up some paint supplies, prime the bathroom, paint the bathroom, (hopefully) get the online billpay for our new bank set up, wire money to the new bank, close the old bank account, cancel satellite and internet services, throw away/donate food items, sweep the house, bag up and put out the trash, collect the windchimes, sort and pack all the things that have to be packed in my car, and lower and tie on the canoe.

Probably there are some things I’m forgetting. Like teach yoga tomorrow.

I woke up this morning a little sleep-drunk, so I’m headed to bed now. You don’t ever really catch up on sleep so I’m going to try and stave off the deprivation, at least. I also uploaded some (but not all) of the holiday music.

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Also?

What the shit is going on with wordpress today?

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Dear Michigan Residents,

It snows EVERY YEAR. It is not rocket science. Snow is slippery. Please drive accordingly.

 

No love,

yogagrrl

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I’m sitting in a Barnes and Noble

Using their Wi Fi. After my Charter debacle – which took, by the way, 2.5 days and 1.5 hours of me being on the phone/transferred/disconnected – I canceled my service with them. I will never ever recommend that anyone use their services EVER as it is possibly the WORST customer service I have EVER received (and that is saying something, let me tell you).

I’m waiting for AT&T to connect us with high speed (for less money, even) and BN will have to serve me in the meantime. Our local Starbucks doesn’t have WiFi but their connection (free for 2 hours each day if you 1) register a Starbucks card and 2) use it once a month) works at the BN probably because of the cafe. I don’t care as long as I get a taste of my delicious, delicious internets.

Alas, 2 hours isn’t NEARLY enough to serve my fix so I guess I’ll have to go home, eat pizza, and drink beer.

We’re taking a trip to our new hometown over Labor Day weekend and I am pretty darn excited. Alas, this comes at a time when my yoga classes are taking off LIKE WHOA. Isn’t that always the way?

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My break is already almost over.

Classes resume next week, so this week I’m trying to cram as much fiction into my life as possible. I’m looking forward to being back at the Bandwagon Book Club meetings and to get caught up for September I’ve got to read A Thousand Splendid Suns. I’m hoping there’s a copy at the U.

1990 mix night seemed to go pretty well. I’m not sure if everyone enjoyed the music as much as I did but no one told me they hated it. That’s a double-plus bonus.

I got some sad news yesterday. The studio where I did my teacher training, Rising Sun Yoga, is closing. It’s really too bad as Jim and Roger were great teachers and were obviously instrumental in my becoming the teacher I am today. Whenever someone gives me a compliment about a class or my teaching, I give a silent thanks to those guys.

One of the things I liked best about the studio, the reason I chose them, is because they used a Hatha approach. By Hatha, I mean the traditional ‘forceful path’ – asana and breath practice but not married to any One True Way – in addition to the other limbs of yoga (see above). Jim asked that when we came to training, we let go of our previous teaching (even if there was a particular style we liked more than others) and try to come to the training open to everything. As a result, I developed a strong base in the anatomy and physiology of yoga, correct anatomical form in asana, grounding in philosophy, and experience elocuting a class (which is harder than it sounds). He encouraged us to work from that base of knowledge and then embrace and integrate the aspects of other styles that we liked and enjoyed. That openness is what drew me to the school and it made me a better instructor. I’m sorry that they won’t be developing more teachers.

In unrelated news, I got a comment on yesterday’s post about the Detroit Institute of Arts from someone at the DIA. Apparently my experience was what they were trying to achieve, so kudos to the DIA! Mission accomplished.

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Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

Okay, I LOVE this and I’m bringing a little dancing joy to start your week.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about "Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)", posted with vodpod

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More yoga music

Wow. Imeem seems to work better on Saturday night – probably because everyone else is out having a life – but Firefox just crashed and now I get to write this post over again. It’s times like this when I wish I’d save a draft sometime.

Here’s the 70s mix I’m currently using in class.

One of the things I like about using music in class, and popular music especially, is that it tells students more about the class than I can convey with words. When you come into a class where a song you loved in high school is playing, it works on a couple of levels. 1. You’ve got a history with the song. 2. The class isn’t going to be as serious as you were afraid it might be.

The corollary to 1 is that a student may have a negative relationship with any of the songs I pick but in my experience number 2 outweighs that. I like quiet classes. I like classes with chanting invocations. But those aren’t the kind of classes I’m teaching and there’s still a high level of anxiety in my area about people ‘forcing’ some belief system on students. Marvin Gaye lets them know I’m not going to do that.

Contrary to popular belief, music (even popular music) doesn’t make yoga a less meditative experience – at least not if that’s what you came for. It provides a distraction which is helpful for some students, though most people let me know that they can’t hear the music once they start to practice. But the beats also provide a breath rhythm that students will work with, whether they realize it or not. And it reminds them to smile, which helps them to breathe.

I’m going to have to work up a mix that has Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer.

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Do you ever do that thing

Where you sleep funny on your shoulder and then when you wake up it feels like you pulled your entire trapezius muscle? Maybe it’s just me. So my right trap is all weird and I just have to wait until it sorts itself out. This is the downside of having ‘open’ shoulders.

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