Full house...

I had a *very*  full class of 17 students at the yoga studio this morning...one of those days I didn't even bother to put out a mat for myself at the front of the room because there just wasn't enough space. Funny..when I began teaching yoga about 7 years ago now, I had an extremely difficult time leaving my mat. These days I can't seem to talk, teach, or much less cue unless I am OFF my mat and milling around the space. And formal lesson plans? I gave those up years ago. Can't begin to tell you how many times I'd have a certain flow or pose in mind only to have a completely different group of students show up, or different energy evolve in the room.

These days I usually come up with a theme or "intention" earlier in the weekend or even as late as on my 12 mile drive over the hill and through the horse farms, apple orchards, and grape vineyards on the way to the studio on Sunday mornings. This morning it evolved into a practice about "ease". My uncle had called me about 8:15am to tell me he was blazing up the Interstate 5 freeway from LA on the way to the Yukon, and wondered if I could meet him nearby to say hi and give him a hug. After a few minutes on the phone of trying to figure out where to meet him after yoga, if he was too close and whether it would hold him up at all to wait until 10:30am, giving him all the 411 of where to get off the freeway, etc etc.  All the while I'm trying to quickly drink my coffee, get dressed and I'm watching the clock tick later and later and fearing I might be late for my class. Needless to say, I was getting a little stressed. But, I got to the studio on time, checked everybody in, and we got started in easy seated pose. Ahhh. Ease. Finally. Ease in our breathe, in our poses, in our flows, in our minds, our hearts, and even off our mats as I sent folks out to enjoy the rest of their weekend.

I got done with class, drove up the street about 5 minutes to meet my uncle at Starbucks, got in a quick hug and it was all effortless. Ease.