Thursday, January 28, 2010

Stuffed

175 classes in 170 days.
28 classes in 27 days in the 101 challenge.

Since the first week of January, my studio has been packed most nights. I'm not exactly sure why this is. Part of it is the 30 day challenge and people wanting to start off the new year healthy (I guess). Part of it is people wandering over to my studio from the other two studios in Vegas that have disappeared. And there are a fair number of new people each night. Two nights ago there were 8 new people in class!

Whatever the reason is, I'm not sure how I feel about a packed room. Now I'm not talking about a packed room of experienced yogis, like when teacher training is going on. That's a whole experience by itself (and a fun one!) In the studio, I'm fine with packed classes when it's a lot of experienced people. A packed class with newer people is a little harder for me. The one thing I'll say is it helps me work on focusing more, because when there's that many people, you can have a lot of distractions, or potential distractions.

Oddly enough, the thing that distracts my attention the most isn't loud breathing, or drinking water or moving around by other people. It's the postures by other people. I like to be in the front row, but it's not always possible lately. So I often end up having less experienced people in front of me, and believe me I notice their postures. I'm not talking about minor corrections, but major things. It's hard to miss these things when the people are right in front of you. When I'm in the front row, I barely notice anything except myself, but it's trickier when people are in front of me.

Greg

8 comments:

  1. Samething going on at my studio. I think it's 'cause of the article in O Magazine. Oprah ran a 2 month article on I think a 60 day challenge. If Oprah touches something ... people act. It's made it hardier for me. I really have to focus on myself to stay calm and connected now. I'm sure it will fade off once O Magazine covers something else!

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  2. Oh I hear ya! Experiencing the same thing here (well not right now because of my injury). There's one teacher who will come in the room right before class and shuffle people around. She just takes mats and says...Nope your not ready for that spot! And puts the experienced people up front. I love it! Works well for everyone.
    I can't wait to get back in the studio. Sunday was my last class and I am so ready to get back there! Very jealous of all you who are practicing. Enjoy :)

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  3. LOL. I was going to blog @ the same topic. My studio is packed with brand new students. I don't know if it has to do with new year's resolutions or Oprah's article or something else. I have mix feelings on the subject too. On one hand, I am excited. The more the merrier & the hotter the room. On the other hand, it's a little bit distracting to me. I just need to make it to class 15 minutes earlier so I can get a good spot. Aghghgg

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  4. It's the same thing in my studio and the same problems with the corrections that some people need. And it's not better with new fresh teachers that doesn't give personal corrections.

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  5. Happens every January, without fail. Welcome to the January rush! Keeps things interesting. ;-)

    As for seeing corrections every time you see another person in the room - hi, welcome to my life!! Hehe. Gotta put those blinders on sometimes and remember that the new people aren't SUPPOSED to be doing everything right yet. They still have to learn. As long as they're not actually hurting themselves, it's ok. If they stick around, they'll sort it out soon enough!

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  6. I like beginner energy because they are generally so earnest and TRY so hard. As a teacher, the one thing you do not want to do is overwhelm a beginner with too many corrections. They would never come back, because they think they are doing it "wrong". I remember being distracted by newbies and by those whose postures looked like a train wreck. It has taken time, but those distractions have faded. I was probably most distracted by this just before I went to TT. As more experienced practionners, we generally like specific corrections to work more into our postures and practice.

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  7. Nice replies everyone. That's a good point about teachers not over correcting new students. That would have probably driven me crazy at the beginning. Of course, I'm a sponge for knowledge about the postures, and almost from Day One I was asking teachers about postures and corrections. It also makes sense about the Oprah article. That probably helped drive more people into the studio, which is always a good thing.

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  8. Oh I so have that problem when I'm in the back rows. But a couple of weeks back I had one of those weird exception. Had a girl in front of me who was in her first 3 classes. She was spot on in every posture. Didn't go deep at all, but was holding the postures just right. It shocked me, and I had to congratulate her after class. She got a huge smile then told me her sister was an iyengar teacher. I guess that explains a lot. I actually learned a few things about my practice from watching her. I still got a correction I think about in every class.

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