July 24, 2009

I spent almost an hour and a half with Abigail this morning.

We had not met for over a month, so it felt a little like beginning at the beginning.

I think from her point of view this was certainly the case, and when I asked what she felt she might need, she said, "Balance.  I've lost my balance."

Interestingly enough, I had planned earlier this morning that we would do balance poses unless she had something else to work on!

So we started in Tadasana and simply checked in with the breath.

She had her eyes closed, and I suggested that she allow her eyes to be softly open, focused on a point on the wall or floor, but she really wanted them closed.

We inhaled the arms up in Upward Salute, brought palms together, bent the knees and brought the hands into Namaste.  We did this cycle for about 5 breaths.

Then we did a few Crane Poses, using the wall for balance.  In fact, I had her face the wall, place both hands lightly on the wall, and do the pose this way, because she was very wobbly.  We alternated right/left foot in Crane, and when she could, brought the opposite arm/hand up like a crane's neck and beak.

We did this for several breaths, and when I knew she was tiring, we shook it out, rolled down into Rag Doll, came back up slowly and did a series of Shoulder Rolls, Neck stretches and Arms Behind the Back to really open up the chest.  Then back into Rag Doll.

We  came back to the wall, found our balance and did a Tree series.

I made it very clear that a Tree can be as simple or as complicated as we would like to make it, just depending on how our body feels at that moment, which will be different tomorrow.  Our Trees grew branches, then came into Namaste.

We came to sit on our mats, using the wall for support, and I guided Abigail in Pranayama and Meditation, using several different hand mudras.

We then came into Savasana for a few moments, just to check into the body.

Beginning on the right side, we then did a series of Supine Tree poses, then a counter stretch and slight twist, with the knee leaning to the opposite side.  Then took it to the left side.  

I talked a little bit about the idea of "balance" here, how a Supine Tree Pose is in it's own way, still a pose about balance.  

Repeated the whole sequence once more, then did an 8 minute Savasana.

That was a good, long Savasana for her, and afterward she commented on how useful it was.   

We then talked for another 15 minutes about what has been going on in her life, and how to allow yoga to be present outside of the actual practice.  It's clear, and Abigail knows this, that our month "off" has taken her back to the beginning.  While she sees it as a "problem", I tried to encourage her to see it as a new beginning, a new opportunity. I hope it helps!