February 20, 2009

This morning, Abigail and I met at 9 a.m. for a half hour of simple stretching.  We hadn't gotten together for 2 weeks, so I was anxious to see how she was feeling.

She came in silently and went right to work.  

I asked her how her body felt, what she might like to focus on.  She replied, "anything."

I had spoken to her trainer in the gym earlier, and asked him what he thought she might benefit from the most, since I didn't want to expend all her energy before he had the chance to work with her.  Dave suggested we do lots of gentle, slow stretching.  I asked him if balance poses might be a good idea and he said definitely!

So I went into today's half hour armed with a little info from Dave to help tailor the full hour for Abigail's benefit.

We started in Tadasana and did a few Upward Salutes.  On the third salute, I asked her to join palms, then exhale into Namaste.  In Namaste, I asked her to simply stand at ease in Tadasana, aware and breathing mindfully.  We went through a second sequence of this simple flow, each time really pausing to notice the breath in the body, and where we might be holding stress.

Still in Tadasana, we dropped our chins to our chest and did 3 sequences of tipping the head to each side and down--we went at our own rate, to our own breath.

We then went right down onto our backs on the mats.

Knees up, feet under knees, arms out stretched.  We inhaled our arms up to the ceiling, then down beside our heads, paying attention to the stretch in the ribcage.  We repeated this twice, then gave ourselves hugs, alternating arm-on-top, and stretching up and out to the side after each hug.  

With arms out at our sides, we brought our knees into our chests and gently rocked from side to side.

I instructed her to pay attention to relaxing the shoulders, neck, face, and really massaging the sacrum.  And I asked that she move slowly and mindfully.  We then rotated the knees in ever widening circles, in both directions.

We then went into a Spinal Twist.  Brought the opposite arm across the body, joined our palms together and came to lie on our sides.  Took a breath, then reversed the move, arm over head, for a greater stretch.  Repeated on the other side.  I asked that she take a moment to note how the 2nd stretch opened the chest and created greater stability and heart-sense.  I also told her how beneficial such stretches are for the internal organs, like wringing them out of toxins.

We came back to our backs, knees bent, and I told her we would go into a simple bridge, and that I wanted her to focus of using the quads and glutes for movement upward, along with the inhalation.  We went into Bridge, and stayed for a few breathes, then I asked her to curl down ever so slowly, allowing each vertebra to release.

I then directed her in Savasana, urging her to sink ever further into her relaxation with her exhalation.

Namaste.

Suddenly it was time to turn her over to Dave!

Before she left, Abigail said it had been an excellent half hour, the best so far, and that I was becoming a very good teacher.  She then asked if we might meet for 45 minutes next week.  

I think this might be a good idea, but I also don't want her to be tuckered out for Dave's half hour.  So I'm going to have to be careful.  I will also discuss it with Dave, to let him know what she is doing.

I do think it was the best session we've had--I went very slowly and deeply.  It seemed exactly what the moment called for, and it turned out it was what Abigail needed too!