Day #25 - Practice Buddies

In the practice sessions quite often people buddy up and practice together.

It is a great opportunity to tackle some of those more challenging asana, especially if your practice buddy is more experienced than you.

Today Carole (my teacher) and I decided to practice together and we were going for arm balances because all week in class we had done so many backbends.

We decided to have 30 minutes doing our own thing and then we would come together for the arm balances. Lots of inner groins depending, sitting closed twists and forward bends

Then Lois Steinberg and Carole got chatting about the dates she was visiting our school (a practice often gets interrupted with teachers talking about logistics of visits or assessment) anyway Lois decided to join our arm balances gang.

You might not know, but in the hall along the walls are all the plates from LOY.

So our arm balance practice was pretty much just moving through all the arm balances plate by plate.

Many of which I have not done before or perhaps only once.

It was great because I could watch these very experienced teachers do it, try it myself and then they would give me corrections or points to make it more possible for me to do.

Then sometimes we would branch off on our own and keep working on a balance and then come back together and move on.

That is mentoring at it’s best. That is what we see everyday in the practice hall. People helping each other.

For example, I was practicing Eka Pada Sirsasana (not the one on your head, but where you take your leg behind your head) and I was doing it using the wall. I was practicing near Abhijata and she came up and kindly said, you are too close to the wall and went back to her practice.

They don’t tell you how to do, they just give you clues and the opportunity to figure it out yourself.

People are open and generous with their knowledge and time.

It is an incredible way for teachers to learn and I am all for creating an environment that supports more of this kind of learning and sharing.

Some of you are already familiar with my Peer Practice Program which is for trainees and teachers to come together and practice, learn, teach and share together online. Find out more HERE. Enrolments currently open to start live sessions in Jan 2020.

This is such an organic and natural way to learn, by watching and experiencing as a child would from their parents.

Here are a few of the poses we practiced today.

And can I preface this list with… we just did them, made the shape, attempted a second time with a bit more clarity and a third time and a fourth and they were by no means well done, they were simply an attempt.

Astavakrasana
Bakasana
Parsva Baksasna
Eka Pada Koundinyasana I
Eka-Pada-Bakasana–
tittibasana
dwi hasta bhujasana
Eka hasta Bhujasana
Sirsasana II going into some of the above asana too

There were probably others, it’s not really important, I just want to share with you that all these asanas should be attempted.