I spent this past weekend at a series of workshops called Exquisite Metamorphosis with Meghan Currie. It was fantastic, and just what my body, mind and soul needed. Here's the run down:
Friday: A two hour sweaty yoga sesh with super playful sequencing. Awesome music, including this delicious song called Mi Mujer by Nicolas Jaar. Meghan talked about letting go of armor we wear, and just dropping expectations, etc.- really a nice message, as many of us were a bit nervous about the weekend.
Serious sweat makes steam room yoga.
Saturday: A total of six hours of yoga! It was the most challenging day for me, as I didn't eat enough before the afternoon session and had a hard time pushing away pangs of hunger. But it was another awesome playful day of being lovingly pushed. I twisted my body into shapes I didn't know were accessible to me. There were a lot of moments where I felt a light go on with things she said, and pointers she gave. We sweat so much the studio became a steam room (see above pic). By the end of the day my abs felt like oatmeal (I have never done so much core work in my life), my upper back muscles felt like rocks and I had sweat a splashable puddle on my mat, but I felt so, so happy and so grateful. And grateful for the giant dinner I ordered afterwards!
Here I am about to do a handstand demo
Learning to press into handstand
Sunday: A two hour masterclass. We had a lot of fun putting together all the pieces from the days before. One of the things I'm working on in my practice is pressing into handstand, and I was so happy that we worked on that throughout the weekend. I used to think of it like, "Ok, I just need to use my core and upper body", but I realized it's more about using the entire body- the hands pressing down, the arms lifting up, the upper back muscles supporting, the chest pushing away from the mat, the low core lifting up, the legs reaching to the sky.... What a difficult thing to do, but the work - the sweat, the aching muscles, the determination, the concentration, the self-trust - is so rewarding.
basketball-ass
I loved: The asana practice was amazing, and I also really loved listening to the messages. All sorts of things came up in the practice. Everything from basketball ass-dribbling (it happened- see above pic), to discussing panic attacks and how to look at them as a great teacher, and this final thing which I loved: she spoke about this idea of feeling something uncomfortable and crawling into it. Basically, whether on or off the mat, be an observer of your own body, and when you experience something that we identify as being unpleasant- whether it's that painfully stabbing sensation of lactic acid buildup in your stomach when you've done so much core work you think your stomach might explode, or whether it's a super awkward conversation you're having with someone you don't particularly care for. You take that moment, find that unpleasantry, and crawl inside of it. Sit there, feel it, really experience it, and let the teaching that's to be had from it speak to you. Kind of a beautiful concept, right?
If you ever have the chance to take a class or workshop with Meghan Currie, I highly recommend it. It was challenging in the best way, and so nourishing.