Old Moon Yoga

“You caught me out with that sun salutation A again”  a fellow yoga teacher told me after class this week. “You call it sun salutation A but it’s really sun C.”

Wow I have been teaching this sequence for a couple of years now! Have I been naming it incorrectly all this time? I panic of course , it’s a disaster, a crisis. Do I have to give everyone their money back, how will I track them all down? Are there lawsuits pending? Will I be struck off of the “teachers who actually know what they are talking about” list? All of my yoga street cred gone, you don’t just get that back, you know. No front page of Yoga Journal for me now.

I didn’t make it up. I am sure I am not a lone wolf out there making my own stuff up. I learned sun As from multiple teachers. Including Shastri, a well respected Indian Yoga expert., who begins his advanced class with 25 minutes of the Sun As.  After 25 minutes of the same pose I thought I pretty much had it down.

The issues is whether, after the forward fold, you jump or step back to plank.  I can hear all the non Yogis reading this now say “what?”  It’s like being in a room full of computer nerds as they discuss the finer points of Nvdia vs Intel Graphics cards on board memory speed. All that really matters is  “Can I play Farmville on it? “

But this Yoga stuff matters. Where will it end. Downdog allowed to become “Wolfman”. Or worse yet “Fire hydrant pose” becoming “Dog peeing” or is that “wolf peeing.” It would be anarchy if we all started making the poses our own.  Oh wait, some styles of yoga already do that.

Time for a little research, Internet to the rescue. Despite Google’s best attempts to remove useful websites from its results, with it’s recent “farmer” release (subsequently re-branded “panda” by an embarrassed marketing department),  I track down several sites that explain in words and, for those of us dyslexia challenged, via video too.

Sun A is as follows.

1. Standing Mountain Pose — Tadasana

2. Upward Salute — Urdhva Hastasana

3. Standing Forward Fold — Uttanasana

4. Half Standing Forward Fold — Ardha Uttanasana

5. Four-Limbed Staff Pose — Chaturanga Dandasana

6. Upward-Facing Dog Pose — Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

7. Downward-Facing Dog Pose — Adho Mukha Svanasana

8. Half Standing Forward Fold — Ardha Uttanasana

9. Standing Forward Fold — Uttanasana

10. Upward Salute — Urdhva Hastasana

11. Mountain Pose — Tadasana

Each site confirms my worst fear, it’s that little transition into and out of downdog. To jump back or step back, that is the question. The demonstrations and explanations I find all suggest jump back.

My whole yoga career hangs in the balance here.  I search harder. Despite Google’s attempt to bring about my early demise, finally I find a site that knows what it’s  talking about. It’s buried in the small print, of course, but it’s there “Exhale as you step or jump back into Plank Pose (High Push-Up Pose), with your hands under your shoulders and feet hip-distance apart.” My heart beat returns to normal, I can breathe again

Step or jump back, there it is. Call off the lawyers, I am vindicated. By the way, if you do jump back, don’t jump back to plank as this text suggests. Jump with bent elbows to “Four-Limbed Staff Pose — Chaturanga Dandasana”  It is less jarring on the shoulders and less likely to cause injury.

OK so I am picking and choosing the bits of this site that best suit my argument. Isn’t that what the Internet is there for  I conclude from this that my Yogi teacher friend and I were both right. You can do Sun A either with a jump back or with a step back.  My old body prefers the step back until my knees have warmed up.  I save the jump back for Sun Bs

There is one loose end of course.  What is a Sun C ?  Check out the site below for an explanation of all 3 sun salutation.  There are other explanations out there, but this is the best one, it supports my case

http://yoga.isport.com/yoga-guides/how-to-do-sun-salutation-a-in-yoga

http://yoga.isport.com/yoga-guides/how-to-do-sun-salutation-b-in-yoga

http://yoga.isport.com/yoga-guides/how-to-do-sun-salutation-c-in-yoga

“Take dolphin, walk your feet in 6-8 inches and, if you want to, take your right leg in the air” This is part of my standard warm up sequence thrown in for those type “A”s who need more than down dog as a rest pose.  I continue “if you want to, take both legs in the air”  Feathered Peacock the perfect rest pose for the overachievers (you know who you are).

SMOTWENDY was a small gathering this week. So I asked if there were any special request.  It turned into a little impromptu inversion workshop. “I have never been upside down” one of our “secret” members confessed. “I thought when you said put your other leg in the air too, that you were joking.”

I am willing to guess that as a child she had been upside down. Didn’t they hold you upside down and slap your butt as a new born, back in the day? As adults though we, generally, never go upside down . Yogis are a bit of an exception course and with good reason, it feels so good. Like being a kid again only no one is smacking your behind:)

It is supposed to be good for you to invert. Not sure why. The body has evolved special arteries in the legs that ensure things work correct when we are the right way up. Presumably without this specialization the blood would collect in our feet and we would all walk around like we have diving boots on. Nothing above the heart is so equipped so when we invert the blood really does collect in the head. I am not a doctor, clearly, so why is an inversion good for you? Perhaps all the sludge collects in our feet over time and turning upside down mixes it up and flushes it out.

If you have not been upside down since the nurse held you up and pronounced “It’s a girl” it can be a daunting prospect. There are lots of options Headstand, Feather Peacock, handstand to name just a few. Well actually to name the few we practiced. All three can be approached in stages. In all stages the wall is your friend. Time to re-organize the house, good job we were on my home turf this week’s SMOTWENDY.

Stage 1 Find out if you have the shoulder strength. Poses like Dolphin build up the shoulder strengthen. Then try the Feathered Peacock or hand stand facing away from the wall but with one foot up it.  The other lifted over headt into position.  From here you can start to feel the weight and strength needed to hold you upside down.

A word of caution. One of the Yogis did this and moved on to stage 2 a little too early. Result – face plant. Don’t move to stage 2 until you are sure you can support your weight.

Stage 2 Full inversion using the wall for support.  This time you are facing the all and kick your legs up towards it. The secret here is to not get to close to the wall. The body bends as we go upside down, so the wall is closer than you think. If you are too close you just bounce off.

Stage 3 Getting straight. Getting the body straightened turns the pose from a battle of strength to a relatively easy pose with the skeleton doing most of the work. Getting straight when you are upside is harder than you might think. It is really difficult to figure out which way to bend, what to tuck or tighten.  Practice standing upright. When upside down try to reach the heels up to the ceiling.

Stage 4 Coming up with control. This mean using the abs and core to allow you to come upside down in a controlled manner. Practice headstand by walking the feet in close then bring the knees to the chest together and gradually straighten them to the full pose. For handstand jump up to a handstand but with the knees tucked into the tummy. Hold this pose before straightening the legs.

Stage 10 Inversion in the center of the room. You have been holding the inversion fine for weeks. Never needing the wall, never touching the wall. You are ready, you turn around and face away from the wall. Suddenly is a whole different pose. Sorry you are on your own for this stage.  Maybe brush up on your Judo break falls before you try.

I have glossed over a lot of the details here of course, a workshop is definitely the way to learn.  The results of our little workshop. One yogi went from 0 to handstand in 75 minutes.

Spring is here,  I know because we had our first outdoor yoga session this week.  The  gentle sounds of spring enhancing our experience. The cheerful bird sounds carrying far across the meadows.   The express train thundering through the nearby crossing, the 747 making it final descent overhead and the inevitable police chase through the back streets of Atherton. Really?  Another escaped tortoise I suppose.

SMOTWENDY met as usual this week in the garden of our gracious host. The group has been expanding recently with two new members.  (SMOTWENDY – the Secret Meeting Of The Wednesday Night Devi Yogis. Ok it’s not the shortest acronym out there and I had to force fit the “E” but it’s really easy to remember.  I guess it not too secret any more though).  Apparently our hosts children got the memo about the expansion too and joined us in the garden at the start of class. I think they are both around 18 months old and quite determined find out more about this oldmoonyoga teacher, or maybe they just don’t want to go to bed.

They are a little younger than my usual yogis, but twice as flexible. We all start that flexible and get stiffen up over time I guess.  Forward folds are child’s play (ouch sorry), down dog, even with a twist a natural part of movement.  One of these little yogis is tries hard to turn this into a Pilates session, repeatedly throwing me the ball with the endless enthusiasm that only a toddler can maintain. Then there is the problem of keeping them on the mats. Herding cats, something I have a lot of experience with, is easier.

Their  happy baby pose needed a little work though, as mum put them to bed. The girls are apparently convinced mum “doesn’t understand”. I am sure that will pass in time  They continue their protest as we close our eyes for some initial inward focus on the breath. The trains, planes, 911 emergency requiring 3 fire engines, 4 squad cars and 3 paramedics, and the police chase finally reduce our concentration to laughter. Are the elements ganging up on me this evening?  Patanjali never had these challenges when he was achieving the “cessation of the fluctuations of the mind”.

As the class went on the evening calm crept up on us. The clear skies with occasional bright star brought a magical transformation to key poses like half moon. “Look up at the stars”. I love teaching outside.

My Thursday class follows a Birkam inferno, just 15 minutes after.  So I keep all the doors to the studio open in an attempt to get the room down to a temperature where the yoga mats don’t melt on contact with the floor. The trains continue to haunt me. It feels like that movie where every time the guy looks in his review mirror there is a truck bearing down on him. Each time I ask the class to close their eyes, up pops an express train, making absolutely sure we know he is going through the nearby level crossing.

By Friday I decide to I can’t beat Thomas, might as well join him.  “Close your eyes.” The sound of a train approaching is immediate.  I continue “Try to imagine a train approaching from your right, now let it pass behind you and disappear into the distance on the left”

As spring and summer warm up the studios we will have the doors open more often. The elements can try their best but I am ready for them now.

Two weeks in the UK is a long time to not write a blog. It’s also a very long time to not practice yoga. No one in my family back in England practices yoga or really understands why anyone would want to. Especially every day of the week. I started off with good intentions.  Up early, well the jet lag helped there of course. A few sun salutation before the rest of the family woke up were ok. Standing on my hands in the middle of the lounge while mum is trying to pass around cups of very hot tea was not my finest hour though.

I needed an ally. Dawn and my eldest daughter Anna joined me for the second week, surely this would be enough motivation. It could have been the climate change (England is freezing), the jet lag, the small space or  yoga mats, but I think it was the massive belly full of meat pies, sausages, bacon, custard slices and English chocolate that tipped the balance. My mother likes to make sure we are well fed. Last time I went to England I did not have chance to sample the beer either. A real cultural faux-pas which I did my best to correct on this trip.

My older sister has been having trouble with her back recently. Pinched nerves causing sciatic pain in her legs amongst other symptoms.  I have a similar condition, Darwin strikes again, my solution has been Yoga. So of course my suggestion is to try a few Yoga poses. Dave, her husband is roped in too. “So he can remember the moves if I forget” is Kim’s excuse. Dave a well built truck drive gives me look that suggests this is still not my finest hour. Neither Kim or Dave have stretched, in the yoga sense, probably since school gym class. I am not sure who was more surprised, me or them at how much their bodies has stiffened up.  I don’t think a 90 minute vinyasa flow session is going to work here:).

I needed something effective and quick to practice, that would hit the major areas that needed “loosening”.  Namely hamstrings for general back pain relief and spinal twists to help degenerating bones from fusing and pinching the nerves. Something where they could feel it was making a difference fast.

So here is Old Moon Yoga’s answer to general back pain for people who don’t do yoga, lots of twists.

Note the absence of back strengtheners.  Let’s see if this works then I will introduce these more intense poses.

So I did get to teach a little yoga whilst on vacation. Clearly not enough though as during my packed Saturday morning I managed to tweak a neck muscle.  I was on the little stage at the time desperately hoping that no one would notice my rapid transformation into something resembling Frankenstein’s monster. Looking left or right had become a whole upper body movement so as not to twist the neck. I feel the pain of my relations on the UK, I feel my own pain. That will teach me, no more meat pies and pasties for a while, better lay of the beer too. At least until my next trip to England.

“So I have been doing it wrong all this time?”  she asks. It does not seem polite to reply “well yes.”  Beside she has only been to 3 of my classes perhaps it’s a habit developed over the past couple of weeks and she is doing herself a disservice. “I see a lot people doing this pose incorrectly, all the time” I reply as diplomatically as possible.

It is true, especially true, in vinyasa classes that people do chataranga incorrectly. Chataranga was going to be the subject of this weeks blog. Saving people from rotator cuff injuries and other shoulder complains. “Oh its going to be one your boring blogs this week” Dawn suggests encouraging.  Well, no, because looking back I have blogged about this subject before. Yet still people are doing chataranga incorrectly. Does no one read my blog?

I could groan on about my groin strain I supposed. Yes its still with  me. Yes I should rest it. Yes yoga does make it worse.  oh wait I have blogged about that recently too.

The search for the perfect room temperature was a challenge again this week as heaters in the various studios where I teach orchestrated a mass revolt. I had classes full of women thinking the menopause had come early. They were looking to me for encouragement or a sign that it can’t be true. One minute waving a hand in front of their face and expelling air, like they have just taken a large mouthful of chicken vindaloo. Roughly translated this means “Turn the heating down before I expire” The next putting on an extra layer to hide the goose bumps on their arms. Roughly translating to “Were you born in a barn, can’t you feel how cold it is in here?”

Actually as the teacher it is quite hard to get a sense of the room temperature. Only half participating in the class and moving constantly around the room, I don’t become the victim of a cold air vent, or the target of a free blow dry.

“Can’t you do something about it?” I see the plea in their faces, clearly they all think this is part of my sadistic approach to Yoga.  Well no, even on a good day these new heating systems use “fuzzy logic” to decide when they will turn on or off. “I turned the dial, honest, in about 5 minutes it should shut down”  Machines are ruling our lives.  Apparently we can’t be trusted to decide when to turn off a heater. HAL has in all under control and will decide the perfect moment. Pity HAL is not in tune with the rhythm of a Yoga class.  One of the studios I taught at this week had a helpful digital display. It showed 90 degrees (my only choice apparently) a little flame, presumably the turbo charger for Bikram classes, now stuck in the on position, and a snowflake.  There by accurately summing up actual conditions in the room at various times during the class.

It seems this was the week for these noisy beasts to play games with the Yoga community. Perhaps they secretly communicating between themselves with all that advanced technology?  “This is HAL1 here, yeh each time he opened the door to cool things down I switched to blowing cold air. He is all yours now HAL 2” “Roger that, I like to switch to extreme noise mode just as he starts svasana. Of course I take 5 minutes to obey the off command for maximum affect. “

These studios are beautiful of course and the heater problems temporary and really only a minor inconvenience. The search for the perfect room temperature is …… but wait I have already blogged about this too.

Maybe I should have blogged about the return of themes this week. I taught a “Jacques Cousteau visits Africa” theme Friday evening. That was fun,  but I have blogged about that before too.

Perhaps I am blogged out, perhaps there is nothing more I can contribute, if indeed I have contributed anything to date. Both my readers may have to find other outlets for their boredom another cure for their insomnia.  Starting back the beginning of these blogs should do it.

Maybe I should have waited until I taught this morning before writing this blog.  The temperature was perfect. The sun warmed the room to perfection. No need for battles in fuzzy logic, just good old mother nature doing her thing.

It was 4:23am according to the trusty iPhone and I could not get comfortable. The weight of the enormous cat sleeping on my legs was too much for me to move without a sheering pain running through my upper leg. Unable to roll over I was gradually being inched out of bed by this feline giant. As I hit the floor the pain through my leg was going to be intense.

No this was not a dream. We really do have a monster cat and he really likes to sleep right on top of me. The pain was real too. I am not sure how I picked up this groin strain but there was no mistaking it now.

I had been wearing heavy boots all week because of the rain. I had lengthened my swim last weekend to a full mile. I had missed a Yoga class on Wednesday evening. Were any, or all, of these contributing factors? As I tried to roll out of bed, tried to get myself upright I felt  a 100  years old. I was like our dog, who is getting on in years, who now tackles the stairs like they are some kind of mountain to be conquered. Clinging on with all claws, pawing his way to the top one slow step at a time. He looks like “Kilroy  was here” as he get to the top step.  I claw at the furniture, the walls and the doors as I struggle to the bathroom. This getting old lark is no fun.

Today is Sunday, it’s my beginner class, the easiest class of the week, or perhaps not. In the classes I taught yesterday and Friday the poses are familiar to most of the Yogis. I could have stood at the front clutching my zimmer frame and conducted the classes. Well maybe not the headstand. In the beginner class though you have to demo everything, then bounce up to your feet and visit everyone in turn to make sure they are not doing themselves any harm. Beginner classes can be the hardest to teach sometimes.

This must be a pretty significant muscle to have caused all this pain. A chance for me to swat up, online, on some anatomy. A superficial muscle seems to be the guy in question or may be it’s just aponeurosis. I could be wrong of course, using the internet as my medical guide.  It certainly doesn’t feel very superficial. Hey I am a guy when we are sick we like it to be something macho. Like a “gluteus maximus”, or something that sounds more like a roman warrior that a Greek philosopher

For the past 3 days I had taught without much pain. Last week I messed up and with no sub my class had to be taught be the owner. I could not let the side down again today, beside I knew she was out of town, no chance of a sub at this late stage.

There were 14 in class today so I am glad a went. There was a new student too. She was a little older and more frail than my usual yogis. Sort of reminded me of myself today. She had knee pain, neck and back pain. It made me realize this beginner class is really quite challenging.  It was a hard class for her. It is hard for the teacher too, in more ways than one. Teaching a flow class, even a beginner class, when someone is struggling is challenging. Do I stop and spend a lot  of time with this one new student (all the others looking anxiously at the clock as we hold each pose for a lifetime) or press on with the sequence. The grimaces on this new yogis face told me this was not the class for her, but the language barrier between us made it impossible for me to communicate this. I did my best to balance the flow of the class whilst keeping her safe from harm. Little did she know I really did feel her pain today.

No one seemed to notice I was in trouble, which was good. I am going to have to rest for a few day. Take it easy kick back and relax, feet up, head on a pillow. Inevitably with an enormous cat sat on my chest.  Why does he always sit with his butt in my face ? “Does it  still hurt” Dawn asks looking at my squished face and hearing my shallow breath…. “only when I laugh”

“Hi Clive just checking  you are on your way?”  It is 5:59pm according to the iPhone. Do you ever get a feeling sometimes that something is going to go wrong?  For well over a month now I believed I had a sub for this 6:00pm Friday evening class. A once every 6 month commitment meant I had to miss one of my favorite classes of the week.

I had an uneasy feeling all day, but had double checked the emails and a sub was confirmed. Somehow I knew it was the call when it rang too.  What was most remarkable was that I actually had my phone on ring. It is usually on silent as anyone who knows me   will, in their most frustrated voice, tell you.

I was devastated as I hate to let anyone down. In this case it was the studio owner, who had to step in at 1 minutes notice to teach my class, and the Yogis themselves who were let down of course. Many many thanks for Wendy who saved my bacon.

Yogis are very particular about their teachers. They get psyched that it is going to be “Joe” or “Jane”. The best teacher in the world can walk in and they will still be disappointed. “Jane is great but I need her class on a Sunday morning, on  a Thursday I need Joe to teach”

I have seen people turn around at the door, despite having walked 5 miles in barefoot in the snow to get to studio, just because there is a sub. When people are paying per class this is understandable, but this happens even in sport studio settings where there is no  additional cost for the class. I could never understand it when I was a pupil. Why not experience the new teacher, who know you might like it.

Peacebank offered me a Thursday night gig, I started this week. I have been subbing  there for a couple of weeks now so the class is not yet billed as vinyasa 1-2 which is what I would like to teach there.

On Thursday one person left, before we even started.  I guess  shaking my hand and being introduced was more than they could bare. Another disappeared during the warm up,  pretending she had an emergency bathroom break:) I guess that is easier than announcing to the whole class that I am the worse teacher ever and she would gladly sacrifice her entrance fee just to escape

Clearly in a hurry to be anywhere else she even left a half drunk bottle of water  behind along with her mat. This only caused me to think she might be coming back and had somehow got locked out. So I spent the next 30 minutes monitoring all the doors just in case. It must have looked pretty desperate to the other Yogis

As a teacher you can never please everyone. I do think it is a shame when Yogis don’t “stick it through” to the end though, especially when they have paid for it. After all, its all about how you feel in the end. Different teachers get there in different ways. On the other hand credit to the Yogi with enough courage to walk out. I never could.

Peacebank has over sized mats that it provides for people who don’t have their own. They are extra wide. So unlike the tray of articles game where you remove one and try to spot what is missing. I have too massive empty mats in the center of the class. It’s like facing someone with no front teeth. However hard you try you cannot help but notice this large gap. “Quick everyone bring your mats closer while I get rid of these empties.

Many thanks to the many Freestylers who attended this month’s charity event last night. We even had an impromptu put luck food sharing too, very cool. The group is starting to grow in numbers. The more we get, the better the atmosphere and experience. Almost everyone who has come to a freestyle event has come back and many have become regulars. Just as with subs for classes though, people hesitate to experience it for that first time, the fear of the unknown perhaps. Unlike having a sub in a class though freestyle is all you. There is never a sub, just yoga exactly the way you like it. Oh and I am never going to miss one of these events though a mis-communication.

I never wanted to be on the stage. Right from an early age I knew it was not for me. At school we would be forced to “perform” in drama classes. At a tender age I was the last of 10 currant buns in a baker’s shop. The song gradually counting down from 10 each “bun” performing it’s own little solo to adoring parents. Clearly the intention was to strike as much fear into the heart of this little 8 year old as possible, as I had to stand on the stage and watch everyone before me. Well it worked because here I am, 100 years later, recounting the story vividly. I can even tell you where I stood on the stage, who was currant bun number 2 and even where my “proud” parents were sitting.  Presumably the theory back then was that you could “cure” an introvert through this simple process.  This was the same generation that  believed you could cure a lefty by rapping him over the knuckles enough times until he wrote with the “right” hand. No I never intended to be on the stage.

I never wanted to be on the stage, but the position I held within the company required that I stand up in front of 1500 of our most valued users and talk, intelligently! These were not small affairs. Think 3 massive screens, multi-media synchronization, a celebrity personality (though I had never heard of her) to coordinate the show and a professional production crew. Under the burning lights and the rolling of multiple cameras I stammered out my presentations. My school training had left me ill equipped for this. This torture was an annual event too. No I never wanted to be on stage.

I never wanted to be on the stage. Nandi had a special event this week. Live Kirtan with Jai Uttal. A stage had been built especially for the occasion. A stage that was in the main studio. So was my growing Saturday morning class. We were in danger of running out of mat space. Am I  supposed to stand up there? I understand there are certain places in LA where the studios are so large that the teacher stands on a stage and leads the class from there. This was not my plan. I would have the class face me as normal leaving the stage off to my left. All went to plan until we got about 45 minutes in. I needed the class to turn to their right. Warrior II followed by a long sequence on that side  was coming up. There is no where for me to go if I am to demo. Once again I find myself on the stage.

The stage was really just a raised platform (mmm  I think that may be the definition of a stage )  about 12 inches high. Almost nothing, but once on it everything changes. I had been “performing” for these yogi’s for months, even years, but now  I have a completely different perspective. It is an odd feeling, the dynamic in the room changing. We are no longer equals as I look out over them.  They can see me too of course, right down to my feet. But this superior position feels wrong for yoga. Is this how basketball players feel all of the time?

As I got used to it though, it was really very handy having the extra levitation. Both for viewing the class and demos. Once the sequence was over it was back to terra frima for me. Apparently as we get older us introverts become more extrovert and visa versa.  But no, I never wanted to be on the stage. Not since currant bun number 2 was chased away by a bull, leaving me there all alone to sing my solo.  Once an introvert, always an introvert.

I don’t remember the pose we were in at the time. Only the cries from that side of the room. It’s always a little alarming, for the teacher, when you hear a cry from the other side of the studio. Usually there is only one though not a chorus. Last time that had happened someone in headstand fell forward creating a domino effect. Had 5 people all tweaked a hamstring at the same moment?   A wardrobe malfunction perhaps? Or perhaps a mass mutiny against this current pose. Quickly checking my Yoga insurance was up to date I go over to see what all the commotion was about.

The spider was large and black and had apparently dropped from the ceiling. It had suddenly appeared and was making a “bee line?” for one of the yogis. Spiders are not my favorite animal to have to deal with and spiders in the US have this annoying habit of giving you a poisonous bite too. The room was 90% female yogis, not the best time for me, as the instructor, to show fear. We don’t want a mass panic:)

In a previous life I might have dealt with “Boris” quite swiftly. This hairy intruder is no match for a size nine boot. But the room was full of Yogis and I am in barefoot. I can hardly excuse myself, go get my boots, clump back into the room and start stomping around on anything that moves. This would not be a great demonstration of  “Ahimsa” (Non harming). Isn’t that the first of the Yamas from the first limb of Yoga. It like yoga 101, don’t hurt the spider. Or to quote Yoga Journal “The best way–perhaps the only true way–to teach the yamas is to live them.” Easy for them to say. They don’t have a massive spider guarding the main exit and a crowd growing ever restless behind them.

All I had at my disposal was a small envelope. Well I also had ropes, blankets, yoga mats and a large pile of heavy blocks, but remember ahimsa. I held the envelop it in front of him and he climbed on. Now what? If he runs towards me I am likely to drop the envelope and jump back. My cover will be blow. “Stay Boris, stay, good spider.”  I take him out of the studio down the hall and out through the front door. All the time he sits quite still on the envelope quite happily. I put him on the sidewalk and turned to walk back in. Boris follows me. Great a pet spider, or does he just want some pointers on eight limbed pose? Sorry Boris this is a 1-2 class. Closing the door I assume he can’t get in, or if he can, it will take him until the end of the class to get back to our studio. Is it still Ahimsa if someone else opens the door and accidentally steps on him? Was I supposed to set him up in a new safe environment?

Mean while back in the class room there were looks of relief all around. I assumed it was because of my bravery dealing with the San Mateo reincarnation of Shelob. However I think they were just happy to take a break mid class. Where were we, what song is that on the sound system?