Back to the Basics

I had a great private lesson today. My client is a wonderful older woman who is dedicated to our sessions. I usually make Tuesdays my work day and keep the girls at preschool all day. The past few Tuesdays I have been consumed with studio stuff and haven't allowed myself the time I need to prepare for my lessons. I moved my work day to Monday this week and this a.m. stayed away from my blog and spreadsheet and spent some time prepping for my classes. It doesn't take long to remind myself of the fact I am a brand new teacher. I don't do well "winging it" and I like to plan out and practice my sequences. Usually I come up with a theme for the week and then vary it slightly from class to class and modify for the gentler classes. So, the past few weeks I haven't felt as prepared and I really overwhelmed myself with my study of the brahmavaharas. My dear yoga friend talks about the "authentic voice" and I think because my personal life hasn't been full of lovingkindness and compassion for myself, I haven't felt authentic talking about it teaching. When I find myself getting lost on my yoga path (often), what seems to help is going back to the basics. Focusing on the very first poses I learned and using the textbooks I studied for my certification helps me to get back on track. The lesson that stands out the most is my teacher reminding us all as new teachers to KEEP IT SIMPLE. KNOW WHAT YOU TEACH, TEACH WHAT YOU KNOW. I felt so much more authentic tonight having and following my plan. Even the reading I did from Krishnamurti's "Meditations" felt right, simply because I have read it several times and I felt like I KNEW it. I left the studio...peaceful.

Isn't that life? If we can remember to focus on the basics and not get caught up in the superfluous, life cruises along. To borrow from another yoga teacher, "the lesson is the forgetting" we all forget the basics and the lessons we learn along the path to remembering are really the teacher, not the yoga.

News from the home front: My poor kids! The good news: Ellie finally had a solid poo, but Piper and Ivy still haven't-even after Immodium. So, it is time to visit the doctor, tomorrow afternoon.

I am feeling badly about my dog, Leo. He had surgery last week - a fatty cyst removed and his anal glands irrigated. lovely. Well we got home yesterday morning after our 7:15 a.m. breakfast. Yes, we were at the restaurant at 7:15 on a Sunday. Only the Tweedys. My kids got up at 6:00 and I couldn't bring myself to make the 100th meal of cinnamon toast. We had a nice breakfast then made a run for the border so ellie could "turn on the fan" in her own bathroom. At home, we notice Leo has a gaping wound! All of his stitches across a 6 in incision on his belly came out. And it is not an exaggeration to say it was GAPING. After a call to the emergency vet where we learned it would be $125 to walk in the door, Shawn saved the day and his wallet by steri-stripping the incision. (Shawn might have been feeling badly about the $80 he spent on wine at the auction the night before. Little side blog: Sneaking out of the girls' fundraiser at 9:15 p.m. during the live auction having spent only $5, (which is really bad since the pictures of Piper and Ivy were meant to be $10 donation each) I was secretly celebrating. Finances have been a bit tight and we are really trying to clamp down. Well, Shawn got caught at the front door empty handed and got suckered into buying the wine, which I berated him for the whole drive home...which he was too drunk to notice, AND after we forgot my sis in law and had to go back I learned she bought the WAY cheaper wine, which made me even madder..... Well, got to school this morning and there is a BIG bill for an auction item that I bid on, forgot about, and won. While I claimed to have been dead sober the whole night, I too was a bit tipsy, I now recollect. )

Today Leo went back to the vet and is wearing an ace-bandage body wrap, I am the proud owner of 20 boot camp sessions, and another day is wrapped up at the Tweedy household.

Follow up to the fudgesicles: AWESOME! Kids love them and I made a double batch, which made 16. Tonight we had our quinoa, green bean (except I used asparagus), tomato salad which I would include but I don't know how to link to a word document yet, and my kids had......bread.