Bon Voyage

Got to Volleyball Guy's at 5:30. Bikram Teacher, The Other Dave and Returning Guy were already there. Sanskrit Scholar and The British Director came in right after me. A few minutes later, The Contestant arrived.

How great was it, to see Volleyball Guy? Pretty darn great. I was so happy, from the very first adjustment in downward dog during Surya A. Good teachers must just really have a knack for adjustments. It's like they can share energy through their hands. It always makes me wonder what it takes out of them, all that sharing of energy with students.

I got to Janu A, and Volleyball Guy gave me the best adjustment ever. He stood behind me and used the back of his heel to push my folded leg even further back, then twisted my ribcage so I could lay my trunk precisely down the extended leg, and pushed me forward so I could rest my chin on my shin. The pose felt beautifully aligned and just incredibly flat. Hmmmm, that's another factor in the adjustments of a good teacher, I just realized: Volleyball Guy didn't just help me get into the pose, he helped me see the beauty and precision in the pose.

As a counterexample: I helped Sanskrit Scholar in Supta K. Volleyball Guy had to give his wife a ride to work, so he took off for a few minutes, and poor Sanskrit Scholar fell victim to one of my adjustments. I helped adjust her arms, then started in on her feet. I was walking them in slowly, probably way too slowly, but we finally got them sole to sole. She told me that I could push her legs up more on her shoulders, which I did rather tentatively, then I adjusted her feet to cross, then doubled back to her legs. So there are two kinds of amateur adjustment styles, I figure--the tentative style, which I subjected Sanskrit Scholar to, and the bold, terrifying style. I actually prefer the tentative, because the bold stuff scares me too much. It's one thing for Volleyball Guy to twist me up, and another thing for someone else to do it. I'm sure my "gentle" adjustment must have seemed endless, though. Sorry, Sanskrit Scholar! You are a good sport.

No Bakasana today. As usual, Volleyball Guy wanted handstands--three of 'em. I did pull off a nice Eka Pada Bakasana, though. As usual, the key is not to overthink it. I didn't even try to jump out of tittibhasana--now that I have a regular home practice, I want to save the really ugly stuff for when I'm alone ;-)

Volleyball Guy is off to the Philippines. I felt really sad when I hugged him goodbye. He told us a couple of times that next Mysore is March 13. I'm already looking forward to it.