Yoga In the Heart of the City - 2019

Each day of the week I laid down for pranayama practice and felt tears rising to the surface.

Throughout my life I have not cried often, only once every couple of years and I think I've gone even decades without. So I wondered on my mat,  if I let myself have a good cry, would the tears ever stop?

Grief in my body. Ah yes, there you are.

So it was the one hour of pranayama vs. the two hours of asana that was the most challenging for me this year.

I do believe this is the 10th year I've done Yoga in the Heart of the City. This year there were about 30 of us, with some long time practitioners mixed in with some newbies. Marlene was able to teach to the different levels in the room and when it came time for headstand and forearm balance, divided the class into two so that different approaches could be used. She started on Monday with Level 1 and by Friday had progressed to Level 4... not just the particular asana but the way in which it was taught. The more advanced levels calling for less explicit direction and requiring the student to integrate what they have learned from one day to the next.

to incorporate more these next few months at home: supported back bends + brahmari + rolled blanket under tips of shoulders with head raised on two blankets