practice makes sense.

Jill is blogging from India and people are reading and by people I mean specifically: me.

I've been thinking about practice. Specifically in regards to Vinyasa yoga. I am in teacher training for Vinyasa yoga and I'm starting to create a class plan which, with a little tweaking here and there, will probably be the class I teach for my final. There are so many little bits and pieces to put together and it's slightly overwhelming to me.

Ashtanga Yoga makes sense to me. I see how the sequence is pieced together. I see it and I feel it. I practice it and I study it and I understand it.

I am not saying that I do not understand Vinyasa yoga. That is not true. I understand it, but sometimes sequencing doesn't seem like it 'fits together.'

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I went to Tina's class tonight and I'M SO GLAD I DID!!!! (getting to the mat is seriously the hardest part...biking... cold weather.. makes for a difficult journey). This class, I can say from the bottom of my heart, was very much based off of the Ashtanga method. It made sense to me. This is how I want to teach. Simple sequencing. Less talking, more silence pauses. Less is more. I can appreciate an intricate vinyasa yoga class, for fucking sure! I mean that takes work and when it's done well... you sweat and laugh and have fun and sweat and it's all around a good time.

For me, the reason I practice Ashtanga yoga is for the silence. The Silence that is created in my Mind. In mysore style class, you hear ujayi breath and silence. You might hear someone stomp a foot. Or laugh (ADAM!) Or a teacher teaching quietly to one student beside his or her mat You might here baby Julian say "yoga! or david!" But all and all it is the silence I am there for. In Ashtanga led class, you hear a count. Ekam, Inhale. Dve, Exhale. And in those moments, you know that you are Inhaling your arms out and above your head, palms touching, gaze thumbs. Exhaling folding forward, deeply in half, finger tips in line with toe tips. It's magical to be in a room full of people that know what is happening next, but still wait for the count to move on to the next asana. Anyway, this blog is just a ramble now... but what I wanted to say is just that I want my sequencing for this vinyasa open class plan to make the most sense. I am drawing from my experience in the Ashtanga Method to make this happen.

This blog is not about Ashtanga versus Vinyasa. One is not better than the other. It's all personal preference. Obviously Vinyasa sprouted from Ashtanga, so in reality, they are same same. Yoga is Yoga is Yoga. Practice is Practice, despite what method you are practicing.

Anyway, just needed to journal and didn't feel like writing it all by hand in my TT journal, so I figured I do it here for tonight.

goodnight my lovelies. goodmorning to jillji and kcdv in mysore!!