I must have been eager to get back to the mat or to see Graham, because I arrived 40 minutes *early* at the Life Centre. What a luxury, to have 40 minutes to spare! I used the time to run a few errands, and arrived before class with time to relax. I heard his belly laughter in the hallway as a few last students came through the door.
We started with a visual meditation on a flame that carried as a theme throughout the class. Dynamic from the start, we took a range of slow suryanamaskar including child’s pose, lunges and lunge twists. We moved into utkatasana, trikonasana arena chandrasana and virabhadrasana 3, and options were included appropriate for all levels of students along the way. Graham’s flowing voice ranged from gently leading the group to poking lightheartedly about the instructions given, for example, preparing us for dolphin, he told us to pound out forearms and fists to the mat. And then, deadpanning to the class “we do this because…it looks ridiculous…”
Towards the end we did some belly backbends, seated posture including ardha virasana, marichyasana c and paschimottanasana, as well as a couple rounds of navasana, twists and stomach strengtheners. We also took a couple rounds of kapalbhati in downward dog to keep stoking that inner fire. Sadly, I had to leave just before savasana, but I left feeling like I had a real chance to slow down and expand in the middle of the day.
Graham consistently teaches from his heart in a cheerful, knowledgeable and nurturing manner, and I’m looking forward to getting to his class again in early February.
Tomorrow? Wishing I could get the the Anusara workshop at Indaba with Zhenja La Rosa but fear I won’t have 3 hours to spare for practice…expect I’ll find something late afternoon..stay tuned.
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