I’ve been watching the weather like a hawk for the past week, but watching it didn’t keep the rain away.
I mowed the grass in our practice space yesterday, just in case the clouds passed by, but bad weather settled in overnight and the morning was soggy.
Instead of the green grass, we practiced in the tatami room at Gonbei, Oyama Senmaida’s restaurant. It was the perfect space for six people and the setup for our Zoom participants worked out okay, too.
The class itself was not at all what I had planned. Expecting we’d be outside, I had sequenced sitting and standing poses, plus a sensory meditation and some breathwork. It was simple, but being outdoors makes even simple movements more meaningful.
Moving that practice indoors was not going to feel as good.
I whipped through my resources this morning and considered a few different programs, but in the end I decided to use the Yoga Common Protocol, as it is the base practice for International Yoga Day. That is how we started. Very simple asanas.
But after the first few movements, I saw that it wasn’t engaging anyone. No smiles. The mood was…meh. So I flipped to mandala yoga, which is always fun to do in person (thought I have to give apologies to the Zoom participants). It’s been a while and I really had to stretch my brain to remember the poses! I made some up as we went along and it didn’t matter – it was much more engaging than Yoga Common Protocol.
Grounding the class in touch was good. Leaning into one another and trusting everyone’s support provides an amazing stretch, creates deep connections and makes class more memorable. In addition, I did some gentle adjustments and gave foot massages during Shavasana. It’s untraditional, but foot massage was always one of the best parts of yoga class when I practiced in Tokyo and I love to pass that experience along to students.
My favorite local reporter, Saito-san, was there with his camera and interviewed people afterwards. Will we end up in the Bonichi Shimbun again? Maybe so. You know I’ll be sharing that if we do!
One thing that everyone asked me is “When is the next session?” and they didn’t mean my morning Zoom classes. So, hmm… I will be on the lookout for a nearby venue where I can teach in person from time to time. I look forward it!
(P.S. special thanks to Toshiko, Mamiko, and Ushimura-san for getting screenshots and photos while we practiced.)
