Today I practiced with Zephyr Wildman at the Life Centre, Notting Hill. Starting out seated, Zephyr seemed approachable and down to earth with an air of confidence and poise. She started by introducing a theme that was based on watching the ‘chittas’ (sanskrit for ‘mind stuff’) come up so that we could let go of the mental perceptions rather than holding it in. There was a lot of activity in the room as the class started up (some late comers setting mats out in the midst of her talk, etc) which made it difficult to follow the complexity of the details; despite this, Zephyr had a good ability to jump between the esoteric philosophy of yoga and real life application, and a few times throughout class her charismatic personality shined through; without a doubt the highlights of the class.
Zephyr is a very popular teacher who has a strong following. I enjoyed the class, though there were several times when I got completely lost in the instruction, whether it be because it was something I hadn’t done before, or what we were supposed to be feeling didn’t resonate with me (there were a couple of poses that she said we should get a stretch through the IT band but I didn’t). then there were the mix ups in languaging body parts or right/left sides of the body (with my self-diagnosed dyslexia and mild encephalopathy I have a lot of sympathy for this). I also had a sense that the technical instruction aspect of the class happened too much, too soon without having enough time to settle into my body before worrying about bending the left leg and keeping the right one straight and leaning onto the right forearm, eccetera.
Despite this, I received one very good direct and powerful adjustment, and the overall sequencing was unique. At the end of class, Zephyr chanted the gayatri mantra leading up to a few minutes of silence when I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to be meditating or something else entirely. If only it were communicated to sit with the breath it would have put me at ease.
While I don’t know Zephyr well, my experience of her is one of an interesting juxtaposition of an engaging, charismatic human and natural communicator; and Zephyr the teacher, who was trying to convey or communicate. My impression is that when these two halves of the same being join as one force who ‘keeps it real’ on the mat, Zephyr is in her element.