Last weekend I discovered that there is a very cheap yoga class held right next to the beach, on the Gold Coast, every single Sunday morning. I've seen these kinds of council-subsidised events before and even attended a few when I used to live in Sydney, but I hadn't been to any in years.
The northern end of the Gold Coast is a good hour from our house. It's a long way to go for a yoga class. And yet, when I met the instructor last weekend I immediately noticed how peaceful and present he was. I also walked away from our 10-minute conversation having realised just how much stuff he knows about not only yoga but also physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
I'm always looking for great teachers, who are knowlegeable yet humble, ready to be of service with nothing to prove. I had also wanted to start doing yoga in a class with other live humans, in real life (rather than just alone, at home). And since my partner Brad loves any excuse to go to the beach and likes having an hour or more on his own each Sunday morning to go for a long run he was all for this yoga class becoming part of our routine.
The weather this morning, however, was dubious. The rain radar (courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology) showed rain showers being likely. We decided to go anyway. I wanted to do yoga. Brad wanted to run. And if it rained, Mr B would run anyway, and I could always walk along the beach if the class was cancelled.
Thankfully, even though it had rained before the class leaving the ground quite wet and threatened us during much of the class itself, the rain held off, all bar about 12 sprinkles that is! I was so grateful for that, and that this yoga instructor is not easily spooked by a bit of rain or put off by the wind that blew through our outdoor class for at least half of it.
The class was great. It was hard enough that I had to concentrate on how I was using my physical body, yet easy enough that I came away feeling nurtured. There was enough stuff that I already knew and could easily copy from his example, yet some new stuff I'd never seen before (or it had been so long I had forgotten).
Apart from his gentle, playful presence, I was most grateful for the breathwork exercises he layered into the class. Chanting and mudras were mixed in with popular yoga poses and breathing exercises I'd only seen outside a yoga studio (within specific breathwork circles). We finished with a short Savasana, which if you're at all familiar with yoga you'll know that it's normally the last yoga pose that's done in a class. If you're not familiar with it, it's a pose done laying down, totally relaxed, making the most of all the movement and breathwork you've just done.
Inspired by Galen's challenge to do a 500-word post with a single photo, I wrote this post. The words above the photo are a story of what I did this (Sunday) morning in exactly 500 words. It's paired with one photo taken straight after my yoga class, but it was taken by Brad/my partner/@new.things who is forever taking photos of everything. Bless him for remembering. If you'd like to participate in 