Connecting with a Friend...

What fun last Thursday's yoga training class was.  We got to bring a friend to class! The qualifications were that they had to have no yoga experience or were just starting on their yoga journey. Most of my friends, that would be free for the evening, are yogi's or have a good knowledge of yoga already. My  friend Wendy is just starting out on her yoga journey (which I am so proud of!!!) so I decided to pick her. Also, we haven't seen each other in ages so it was really great to see her again and reconnect!  It has almost been three years but it was like we picked up where we left off. I was a little nervous as it has been so long and it was like "Hey, hi, how are you? Good. Now let me stare at area's your body and physically touch you to manipulate you in awkward yoga poses"  It wasn't like that at all though, we just got back to our usual giggly, silly selves. You could say we had a hard time concentrating as we were having so much fun giggling with each other. All the wonderful
teaching experiences I got aside, the giggly fun made the night priceless!!

So my intention for the night was to make Wendy feel comfortable. I tried to put myself in her shoes.  How would I feel about someone staring at me and touching me and fixing me in weird poses? Probably a little nervous.  Also to be in a room with a bunch on strangers doing things your not overly familiar with? Still awkward. I made sure to tell her that no one else was paying attention to her as everyone was concentrating on their own guest, which was true.  I told her she was doing really well, which was also true. And when she had a "light bulb" moment in a pose, I made sure to tell her she totally got it!! Which was also true and I feel she had many of those moments. 

So basically, our trainers told the "teachers" to guide our friends into a pose they dictated. As Wendy knows the gist of a few poses, I didn't have to show her how to get into them. I just told her to just show me the "Wendy version" of her poses.  Then the fun began and I got to finally test my knowledge!! I tried my best to be professional and adjust her in ways that I would adjust a stranger.  Therefore, no standing over her head or too close to her face or touching her body in ways that could be considered private to someone you don't know. I found that challenging as I know Wendy well and I felt like she would be comfortable with anything I did.  I did my best.  Sometimes we had trouble, just because it was funny.

I noticed right away that she had a tightening in her middle spine. Something that wouldn't release in any of the poses. I got excited by this because I don't personally experience this myself, so it was totally foreign to me.  I dug into my mental textbook and tried a few things to get her to soften though this area, to find some mobility in this rigid area of her body. The thing that seemed to work is, I placed my hand on her spine, told her to breath deep into my hand, then exhale deeply.  As she exhaled I gently pushed on the area with my hand and I felt her spine and heart soften underneath my hand.  Let me tell you, what a feeling! To feel someone surrender their body by your touch!! She even said, wow that felt really good. This solidified any doubts I had to becoming a yoga teacher. This is something I now CRAVE to do.

We had a few moments like that which were mutually beneficial to both of us.  I think I showed her some new ways to look at a pose and she totally taught me a zillion things! She got to experience yoga in a whole new way and I got to gain some confidence in what I have been learning. We went though eight to ten poses and I feel confident that Wendy can go back to her yoga practice with a safe knowledge of those poses and never injure herself in any of them. That is my number one goal!

As  I mentioned, we were quite giggly and silly for the entire evening. One of the funniest moments in the evening was when we were using a strap to do a hamstring and calf stretch. I noticed the way she placed the strap around her foot was causing some sickling in her ankle. Click here to see what sicking is, if you do not know. This sickling could cause great damage to her ankle and more importantly her knee. I explained what sickling was and why it needs to be avoided. She was buying what I was selling in that department! So, not really thinking, I said, and I quote, "I am going to teach you how to put a strap on"... just repeat it....and if your not already laughing your ass off then you need to repeat it again.  If your still not laughing, well I guess your not as big a pervert as her and I are!  Needless to say, this took us a few moments to recover from that one!!  She even asked me, what would you do if you said that in a class? That is a good question Wendy. A very good question.

There was so many great moments of that evening but I would be here all evening writing a novel if I went into all of them.  All I want to say is thank you, Wendy for your willingness to share my passion with me.  Thank you for trusting me and being such a wonderful, willing student.  Thank you for pushing past any vulnerabilities you may have had that evening to let a friend travel deeper down her path along her journey. I am so grateful for your enthusiasm you showed me that evening.  That was my favourite night of all the training so far!

 Namaste Wendy xo.