Humbled.

When you have been practicing yoga for a while, going to the same studio, flowing through the same sequences, you start to go on autopilot (or at least I do). You know what transition is coming up, what the next pose is, sometimes even the next cue, before the teacher says it. You get used to poses, too. Example: it’s easy to get lazy in parsvottanasana (pyramid) when you’re already tuning out.

And then you take a two hour Pure-ification flow class with Derek Beres and you get knocked off your feet, cut down to size, and completely humbled. In the first 10 minutes. I used to take Derek’s class at Equinox for about a month or so, but when I left Equinox I stopped. I missed his sequencing and when I found out he was going to be at Pure this weekend (he moved to LA and only comes back to NYC for visits) I jumped on it. One of my fellow teacher trainer graduates came along with me, and we were both blown away by his flow today.

My class this week was going to be about being in the moment, but I will put that on hold. The intention of the week* will be:

Be humble.

Being humble means having and showing a modest estimate of one’s importance. It is about recognizing and being thankful for what we have without letting the ego get cocky. It is about inner strength, and bowing down, but remaining a strong warrior. Practice humble warrior to go deeper with this intention.

Source.

*By the way, this past week, in my life and in the class I taught, the intention was to embrace change. Because it’s the new year, people have made resolutions – to lose weight, to do more yoga, to read more, to be happier, and on and on – that is great. But what is greater is to be okay with it when we fail, and to keep on trying.

***

I mentioned this already, but if you are in NYC, come out for free yoga on Friday at my studio. I’ll be helping with adjustments. And I just happened to find myself in the ad for the class (the guy on the left is my friend that came with me to yoga today):

Yoga Vida Teacher Training Fall 2011