Kim Lokan has a beautiful home in Wallingford and from time to time, she opens up her home for 3 hour-long yoga workshops.  She moves all her furniture out of the living room, and voila, we have a yoga studio that fits 8 people!  I have offered workshops at Kim’s house for several years now.  I think we have hit every season, but I must say I think spring is the most special.  As we practiced our yoga today,  my drishti (focal point) settled on a dogwood and lilac in full bloom!

The session went from 9-Noon.  We focused on the yoga requests the participants had emailed to me earlier:

hip openers, knee strengtheners, balancing poses, chest openers, and practice working on headstands.

Don’s request was to open up the session with having everyone share how we are trying to live in the “now”, how we strive to be present, and how we simply strive TO BE.  It was deeply inspirational to hear participants share  their wisdom and insight on their daily meditation/yoga practice.  Here is Don sharing his thoughts on the topic:

By the way, this is Kim’s cat, Kiwi (of Kiwi and Mango).  She graced the yoga session with her presence. She stayed close to us the whole time (while her sister Mango was nowhere to be seen!).  We had to be careful not to sit on Miss Kiwi when coming out of table top and bridge poses.

It is very hard to take pictures while I am teaching.  It is the last thing I am thinking about.  However, I managed to take a few.

Here is the sequence that we did in the 3 hour session (part of the session was spent in the discussion described above).  For simplicity’s sake, I have not used Sanskrit.  Also, I imagine that if you were not present at this yoga workshop, the descriptions may not make sense:

*Warm ups lying down (emphasis on hip openers):

Wind relieving pose (one knee drawn up to chest while the other is straightened and to the floor), Dead bug pose and add: release one leg and straighten, Windshield wiper pose (side to side, then hold to one side and emphasize stretch along one side), hand to foot pose (hamstrings, inner thigh, and outer leg stretches) with neighbors on either side of you grabbing hold of your ankle, bridge pose.

*Abdominal  (preparation for headstand and balance poses):

1) lying on your back with both knees bent, pelvic tilt, keeping lumbar on the floor, extend one leg, and repeat to side two, later try with both legs extended.  Make this more challenging by placing arms over head.

2) lying on your back, do a crossover workout:  lift left leg and lift right arm and head and bring arm over to opposite side of left leg.  Repeat other side.  Can start to lift both arms and bring both arms over to opposite raised leg.

*From hand and knees:

Cat/Cow, from hands and knees, bring right foot “half way forward, pointing right toes away from body” and then lean hips back towards heels…then walk hands over to the left.  Stretches the low back and shoulders.

Shasankasana  (hare pose) for the neck and upper back

Pigeon

*From Seated pose:

Table top, and then come to a pose similar to table top but this time your hands are facing the wall behind you.  As you raise your pelvis off the ground, lift right hand and come to a half backbend pose.  Reach for the wall behind you! Repeat second side.

*Standing Balance:

Double tree, double Dancer’s Pose, Group Dancer’s Pose

*Knee Strengtheners  (bridge is a great one and was done earlier):

Chair Pose with block at the knees, Chair with a real chair and lifting slightly off the chair, Horse Pose done with a chair and lifting slightly off the chair, attention to knee/ankle alignment

*Vinyasa sequence  (flow):

Tree–Triangle–Downward Facing Dog—One legged dog–Extended Angle Pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana)–Warrior II, Then reach one arm towards the back leg in Warrior II for an arch  and look up–stand to the front of the mat for Shiva’s Dance or Dancer’s Pose–Forward Bend–Squat–Plank–cobra–downward facing dog–pigeon–lift torso up from pigeon and right hand grabs hold of right foot and stretch your quads perhaps placing the foot in the crook of the elbow–downward facing dog–bow pose–half camel (both sides, then full camel pose)–child’s pose–downward facing dog–forward bend–mountain  and MOVE TO SIDE TWO!!!

*Headstands (talk of getting the pelvis up high and walking up rather than kicking up)

*Ending with Pair work:  Thai Yoga Massage: one person presses on the other’s thigh using foot

And all good  yoga sessions end with SHAVASANA.  Relaaaaaaaaaaax:

Guided Meditation (read slowly, leaving gaps of time between the imagery):

Relax your entire body.  Feel the fluidity of your body.  Imagine you are water.  Imagine that you are part of a river, a fast flowing cool river.  Your consciousness is one with the river.  Your head becomes a huge boulder, settled on the river bed.  This huge boulder parts the water, changing its course, creating an eddy where fish gather to rest.  Your arms and your legs become logs that have fallen into the river, jamming the river at certain parts, helping to create a unique flow of river.  Your spinal bones become the smooth stones of the riverbed, granite smooth as ice.  Water flows over the stones. Your consciousness is pure awareness , becomes the flow of water.  You are aware of the sound your river makes.  Sometimes it rushes, sometimes the sound is deafening, sometimes a gentle babbling sound comes forth.

You are aware that you carve out a path along the earth’s surface.  Your river is a vein of the earth, carrying water to a larger body of water.  You are in integral part of life.  You were once rain, snow, hail, glacier.  You have since melted into flowing water.  You are aware that you have struck your own path and you know there are many other rivers following their own course.  One day you and the other rivers will join the mother body of water.  She awaits you, welcomes you.

The day has arrived to join the great body of water and you feel your river is rushing swiftly.  You are comfortable with this.  Before you know it, you feel yourself merging with the larger body of water that welcomes you.  You are now a part of a larger body of water. Now you hold all sorts of life forms.   Schools of fish swim in your waters.  Mammals play and live in your waters.  Coral beds thrive.  Strands of sea kelp dance in the depth of your water.  Humans play and feel cleansed and refreshed in your water.  As a large body of water, you gracefully and generously support life.

After shavasana, Kim served up some of her delicious Carrot Top Soup (bet you didn’t know carrot tops are edible!) with oven warmed bread.  Kim, I don’t have the recipe here in Seattle…can you send it in as a comment?

A beautiful Sunday morning well spent!  Happy May!