Apologies for the absence. I've been meaning to sit down and document my classes, but then something always distracts me. Now it's raining and the laundry pile is slowly but surely becoming smaller, so I have a bit of time to write.
Classes have been good. I'm slowly moving away from the Warrior dance flow and headed towards triangle/revolved triangle/half moon flow. Lately, we've been approaching both half moon and revolved half moon, by way of crescent twist/revolved triangle.
Last night I interrupted my own flow to demo an arm balance, and couldn't quite get the flow back after that. People began doing their own thing, and the class got a bit choppy. Talking with B about it last night and Bettina this morning, and am leaning towards thinking that a class has to be one or another--flow or inversion heavy. I tried combining the two, but the levels of both ability and interest were quite varied, and no one really bit the tripod headstand/crow/jump back to plank move. But the flow portion, the first 3/4ths of class, was quite nice and everyone moved with fluidity.
What do you guys expect from a Level 2 flow class? I have some ideas, but am curious what everyone else thinks. Arm balancing, or just a really nice flow with loads of vinyasa?
I'm thinking of ditching the whole sequence, anyhow, and starting fresh with Bird of Paradise. More balancing! I am quite liking the binding and half moon stuff we've doing, and tomorrow morning might toss in bird of paradise to see how she flies with the early bird crowd.
More later!
5 comments:
finally!!
Love teaching a level 2 class. Most of my classes are quite mixed though. Inversions are offered toward the end of class to avoid losing that flow in the middle. (Inversions, if any, then floor work.) I usually will do a balance pose(s) half to 3/4 of way through the flow portion. What is Bird of Paradise?
Hi! Here's a link to a photo of Bird of Paradise: http://z.about.com/d/yoga/1/G/6/5/birdofparadise.jpg
I've been having them come into from a lunge with binding, then hoping the back foot up, so you end up in a twisted forward fold. Then carefully lift the leg and straighten. Then we go back down the way we came up, into the lunge, hop back to plank.
Where do you teach, BG? I find that most of my students are pretty advanced, so I feel like I should offer more advanced postures in the level 2s. What kind of flows do you use?
I teach 3 classes a week at a fitness club in Southern New Jersey (under tons of snow right now!). The classes are not designated by level. So I can get absolute beginners as well as the regulars. I have to admit sometimes I get a little ruffled worrying about the newbies and not challenging my regulars at the same time. That's my challenge right now. I would hate to have a first timer never come back because they felt overwhelmed or neglected. I have a small class once a week at a dance studio and I can introduce Bird of paradise and they will definitely be game and capable. Thanks for your great blogs!!
i like a flow class to flow. as long as you can migrate in and out of the inversions without having to "set-up" or move to a wall, it maintains that key state of sweaty trance.
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