Thursday, May 3, 2012

Yoga Workshop by the Sea 

Sunday, April 29th, I spent the morning on the sea in Gamagori, Aichi, practicing yoga with my teacher's training instructor, Okada Sensei. As always, it was a great pleasure to bathe in his presence, and learn some helpful tips regarding yoga practice and teaching. We discussed being aware of our bones, of the joints in particular, and how this awareness can make our practice better. Imagining your bones in their sockets can help us open up wider and grow longer. 

Our potential is greater than we realize, but only as great as we can imagine. We are capable of doing most things, as long as we can imagine and then follow up the thought with the steady, continued work. 

Okada Sensei also demonstrated his feats of balance and flexibility, standing on one leg, while bringing the other leg up to his head - a complete, upright standing split! But even he started somewhere. So I will keep working at my yoga practice. 
My current challenge pose: 
the scorpion, Vrischikasana. 

He also taught us this cool pose, the Twisted Pigeon.