October 20th, 12 Noon Class

Maggie was teaching today, and she is slowly becoming a favourite teacher of mine. She has a great rhythm and pace that keeps me focused.

The interesting thing about today's class was that a local high school gym class was joining us. There were about 10 boys and 2 girls, plus a male and female teacher taking up the whole back row.

First, the funny stuff. All of the boys were wearing shirts, and the girls had tank tops on over their sports bras. At the beginning of class, Maggie said: "You might want to take your shirts off as it will get really hot." I watched in the mirror as the guys made faces that meant, "Yeah, like I am going to take my shirt off in front of the girls in my class." By the end of Standing Bow, they were all shirtless.

It was also interesting to watch teenage apathy fight with teenage ego. You know that the boys were thinking "yoga is for sissies, this will be easy." By Triangle, every single one of the boys was lying on the floor. The stayed there until it was time for first Savasana. Only two boys stood up to do Tree Stand. I had thought for sure that the need to prove they were strong and could do yoga easily fell to the teenage apathy of "the gym teachers want us here, I don't really care." I also wonder if it was the popular boys who lay down first, and then the others followed suit.

So, clearly I was paying too much attention to what was going on in the room, and now my own practice. However, I find in these situations (similar to Free Class days, which cause a very full room, full of beginners) that I am very motivated to stay strong with my own practice. For anyone who is not laying down, I want to make sure I set a good example. It also means that at least my mind is in the room (and not on the groceries, or work, or whatever), which is closer to it being just on myself. I did have a very focused and strong practice today, despite the small part of my brain that was watching the back row.

Having so many beginners in the room is also a nice reminder to see how far I've come. Sometimes I feel like I am at a standstill with my practice, or even that I am moving backwards. When you see beginners around you wiping their sweat every few seconds, laying down all the time, grunting, or even talking, it's a reminder of how much more focus I have now than I did a year and a half ago. As I hear Maggie say "toes and heels together" and watch several students just bring their feet closer together but not actually touching, I realize my listening skills have improved, too. As I'm lying in savasana throughout the floor series and she is reminding everyone "heels together, toes flop open" and to bring their arms to their sides, and to stop moving - I realize that I have trained myself to find small bits of stillness in my life.