The week of teachings with Geshe Michael Roach on the Bhagavad Gita has been intense. I have received so much valuable info. In pondering what to bring into my teaching right away, I focus on my genuine concern for the well-being of my students.

This morning in Shine & Refine, each teacher generously shared what was happening for them, what was hurting or interesting. Questions arose as well. What do we think of Positional Therapy when the muscles are slackened? How to validate a student who is injured and making modification on their own? We talked about Healing Back Pain by John Sarno.

Sukhasana Warm Up
— with right shin forward, interlace fingers and lengthen arms up
— twist right – left hand on right knee
— fold forward
— sit vertically, make eagle arms (right arm is on top)
— side bend with eagle arms, then unwind and side bend with right arm down
— circle the top (left) arm back to stretch the pecs,
— sit side saddle facing the long left edge of the mat
— unfold into forearm plank facing back
— sphinx
— baby cobra
— child’s pose
— all fours
— lunge right leg
— hamstring stretch with right leg straight
— Parighasana making a 1/4 turn to face right long edge of mat
— all fours, cross shins (right on top) to sit in Sukhasana to repeat the other side.

A question about Parighasana – what to do about the feeling of bone on bone restriction on the working leg (the straight leg)? Is that okay or even necessary to work on it? How to modify that for beginners? The question of stretching the ligaments/soft tissue vs muscles came up. We re-aligned the standing leg to take pressure of the working leg. We talked about different ways to lift up on the standing hip.

DD
— curling the tail like cat to come to plank 3X
— Knees, Chest, Chin
— Baby Cobra
— DD
— Uttanasana

Surya Namaskar
— Step Backs with deep lunges
— Standing Side Bends
— Jump Backs

Standing Poses
— Vira 1, from deep lunge
— Vira 2, T shirt arms
— Parsvakonasana
— Trikonasana
— DD

Walk in Place, with Standing Side Bends
Core Work from Tadasana
— Utkatasana
— Malasana
— Navasasana
— Halasana
— Malasana
— Utkatasana
— Tadasana

Shoulder Opening
— hands interlaced behind back, circle hands around buttocks
— Garudasana arms

Garudasana
Vira 3 with Garudasana arms, then arms reach forward
Standing Split, then move leg to side at hip height.

Virasana
Supta Virasana with block under shoulder blades for Sit Ups
Urdhva Dhanurasana arms prep, one at a time
Urdhva Dhanurasana
Sukhasana

Simple Supine Twist
Savasana
— with the song from Music From The Coffee Lands, Kothhbiro by Ayub Ogada

Such a sweet comment that I received via e mail:
“I am loving the class and truly feel like I am shining and refining. It feels great to be back in your loving, teaching arms.”