Nov 4, 9:15

Twice within a week, I had a new (to me) teacher. Today another regular that I recognize from practice was standing on the podium instead. I wonder how many more of these are hiding out in my studio.

I enjoyed his class. I was able to really zone out during the standing series, and I had a strong practice that went by quickly. His dialogue is very much that - just the dialogue. No extra tips, nothing changed around, just the dialogue. (Funny how I couldn't recite the dialogue myself, but I know it when I hear it!) The only things that I noticed were missing from the dialogue were the parts that I think of as the "silly parts" - Japanese ham sandwich, no dingle-dangle, and a few others. I actually quite like those parts of the dialogue because they make me smile, and make beginners laugh, but I understand why some teachers choose to leave them out, too.

DancingJ's post tonight is about how moving one part of the body can have an effect somewhere else on the body that isn't immediately physically connected. She found that moving her shoulder forward had an effect on the angle of her foot. I had a similar correction today after class.

I was staying to practice Standing Head to Knee and Standing Bow, as usual, and Janet (teacher) had been practicing, and was on her way out the door. She passed behind me, and pointed at my hip. Of course I fell out, and then we whispered about it. She told me to drop the hip of my kicking leg down more in Standing Head to Knee. This is actually an alignment thing that I noticed a couple months ago (saw my hips on a diagonal line in the mirror and thought "hmm, I bet those are supposed to be level) and have been trying to work on anyway. So I asked Janet "But HOW do I bring it down." She said "Just think about dropping it." I tried again, and it was still too high, but when I thought about kicking forward more - boom! My hip came down level. Apparently, in order to lower my hip, I need to kick forward more, not just magically drop the hip down. Funny, I think that is in the dialogue - kick forward more. The answers are always there, even when you aren't looking for them!