Saturday, January 16, 2010

Terminé - GYT day 8

That’s what my father-in-law would sometimes say at the end of meal. It’s something he picked up during his 20+ summer holidays spent in the Provençe, so it was said with a smile. I’m saying it today. I’ve just finished my last master class, and it was a lot of fun. YogaYa in Leverkussen has a sweet vibe and a lovely community. It was the perfect end to the tour. There were some familiar faces from the previous days (Britta, Dani, and Markus), and both the owners of the studio were also there. It was a full room in more ways that one. Absolutely everyone who was there this afternoon made sure to shake my hand and say “thank you” for the class. There were also hugs and kisses from a few. No matter what the action, the sentiment was clear. I guess it makes nothing but sense that after 3 hours together (a fairly long commitment) and A LOT of back bending that we should all want to express such gratitude to be able to be in each other’s presence. I know that’s what I was feeling.


The big thing for me today is that I had to practice a lot of back bends, and ever since my last trip to teach in New York I haven’t really been doing many. One of my vertebrae has been a little cranky ever since I assisted a slightly nervous woman with dropping back into, as well as coming up to stand from, wheel. She wanted to help me rather than just letting me help her, and that’s never good. So since September, wheel hasn’t been part of my practice except on those rare days when I’m feeling EXTRA warm. So I have to admit I was, and still am, a bit unsure how I’m going to feel in 12 hours. But the tour finished on a real up-note. And much like the feeling at the end of a good meal, I’m feeling satisfied, satiated, and a little sleepy. Going into this trip I knew that I would be pretty wrung out by the end. Even though none of the days were long in the way that days can be at home, the attention that each class or workshop demanded was at least double what I have to put out in a regular week. I asked a lot of myself for this trip, and I’m glad I did. Something that I have learned, in teaching and in life, is that what you put out always come back to you twofold. I think I got what I gave, and what I got was good. I feel blessed to do what I do.

Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible:
My beloved
The Lotus
Nicole and Lord Vishnu’s Couch
Sabine and Vishnu’s Vibes
Natascha and Cool Yoga
Claudia and Michael and YogaYa

Jai!

3 comments:

Koeppchen said...

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, but also for teaching. I enjoyed your classes lot.

Markus

Keith said...

thank YOU, Markus!

Anonymous said...

Hey Keith,
Writing you from Malaysia - Teaching loads of classes and the students speak more Chinese than English. It's been challenging, joyful, so many things. Being in your SF classes is helping me here - Little things that make a big impact - like when I turn the music off and have students gather round me at the wall... Thanks, Teacher!