My Week in Yoga: Extremes

This week was one of extremes. Zero led classes in the week, followed by a 3hr masterclass with my favourite teacher, and then, well, read on…

Monday:  

After spending Sunday sequencing my upcoming (and very first) proper vinyasa class, I decided to do this as my practice on Monday. I whizzed through it in a quick 45min, but that seemed about right given I knew I would need longer on the day for breaking things down and adjustments. So I spent the extra 15min I had practicing my pincha of course.

Tuesday: 

Tuesday morning turned into lots of standing sequences – don’t you just love standing poses?! – followed by backbends. It is cooler in London this week and it showed in my range. But we’re not in it for the pose right? Well. That’s what we have to tell ourselves repeatedly some days. And I ended up more than a little frustrated. Hey-ho, we can’t always pick the lessons that yoga teaches us, but they are always worth learning. It’s not about the pose RAD, it’s not about the pose. 60min.

Tuesday evening took an unexpected turn when in addition to the talented Dutch handstand king Mark (@markdasyoga), my teacher Dylan (@dylanwerneryoga) and the crazy amazing Adell (@adellbridgesyoga) pitched up to stay with me for a week or so. I can prattle on about how amazing this yoga community is all day (and I will in many more posts I’m sure) but this is such a great example of how. I offered my spare rooms to them, and they accepted. No drama, no hand-wringing. Because they have all taught themselves how to receive gratitude into their lives. And they bring it with them wherever they go. Anyhoo, where was I… ah yes, Tuesday evening… what do you do when you have 3 handstand pro’s under one roof?! Get them to spot you so you can work on yours of course! 15min and I was cooked. But slowly slowly it’s coming, I can feel it. 

Wednesday: 

Another early start, but a good balanced 50min of flowing followed by 10min of pincha. I’ve been listening to the playlist I put together for the vinyasa class I am teaching at the weekend in the morning’s (rather than just a shuffle of my favorite yoga tunes) and I’ve found it so helpful as a background indicator as to where I should be in my practice. High intensity? Bringing it down for some floor work? The music is my guide. 

Thursday: 

The 4th 5.45am alarm of the week reminded me why I like to take classes in the day. Sleep is life., and getting up at 5.45am is not! Though thankfully I love yoga too and at the moment if it’s a choice of not practicing at all vs. getting up 60-75min early, I choose yoga. But this was a slow and gentle practice. Lots of hips and hamstrings and long holds. Threw some arm balances in there, and one good pincha, but I think I did about 2 chaturangas in the entire 60min. 

Friday: 

Rest day. 4x 5.45am alarms, plus a late night seeing the one and only at Adele in concert will do that even to the hardiest of yogis!

Saturday:

3hr master class with the one and only Dylan Werner, which actually turned into 3hr15min. I know three hours of vinyasa sounds insane, but the way Dylan teaches, you are carried through. You work HARD, but he sprinkles little ‘gifts’ throughout his wonderfully creative 100-pose-sequences. So you go from smashing through arm-balances and standing splits and handstand attempts to catching your breath in Upavistha Konasana. Bliss. Then you are whizzing through warriors into skandasanas and headstand presses before the next gift arrives – paschimottanasana. This was the first time I’ve be able to take Dylan’s class post the teacher training with him, and with so many of the YTT crew there too, it felt like coming home.

Sunday:

20min warm up flows pre a little photoshoot with the utterly delectable Kristina from @icreatelife. Then I taught my very first public yoga classes. 1hr vinyasa and 1hr yin. I am not counting this, or the photoshoot, in my tally, because practice not poses right?! Even though both experiences were utterly amazing, and I will write more about them as soon as I get the time, I promise. Though I did finish the day with a good 30min of messing around with inversions at home with another YTT friend so those you do see here…

• Self-Practice: 4hrs 45min 
• Classes: 3hrs 15min  
• TOTAL: 8hrs