Last weekend I went to a Yoga Conference here in Hong Kong . It was held at the Hong Kong Convention Center Victoria Harbor taken from Kowloon
I didn’t know what to expect at this conference. I still sometimes feel like a Yoga “imposter”. I’m older than a lot of the people I meet here that do yoga, in spite of the fact that Yoga is supposed to be good for older bodies. When I take the more advanced classes here I usually feel like one of the least proficient students in the room. Part of that is due to my problems with balance and coordination. Its one of the reasons that Yoga is good for me; I’ve noticed significant improvement in both areas. But improvement for me doesn’t mean I can do the crow position and get both feet off the ground or a headstand if I’m not balanced against the wall. I have to tell myself to be kind and patient with myself, and I’m always telling myself that it’s not a competition!
But still, walking into the conference that first day, I was nervous. Almost immediately I ran into a group of teachers and students from Pure Yoga, the place where I take classes here. They were all excited about the classes they were planning to take, and one of them, Patrick, was probably as nervous as I was, because he was teaching classes at the conference. At the last minute I realized that the teacher for one of the classes I had signed up for was an Ashtanga teacher, a form of Yoga with which I am not very familiar. I actually wondered whether I should cancel my participation in that class, but I decided to stick with it.
This first class was taught by David Swensen. It was a class on inversions and backbends, two areas where I both have trouble with a lot of the poses and hold a lot of fear. So, of course, it ended up being a perfect class for me to take! He ended up being a great teacher. He was funny, helpful, insightful, calming and encouraging. His instructions were both specific and given in such a way that certain poses became easier for me after that one class. He had us pair up for a series of headstands, handstands and backbends, with a partner of about our same height and weight. The girl next to me and I ended up being a perfect fit for each other. We were both nervous about the class, afraid of inversions to a certain extent, insecure about our abilities. Yet, as we helped each other with the poses we both found out that we had strengths as well as weaknesses in each pose.
One of the things Mr. Swensen did was give specific instructions to the person helping the other one get into the pose. I was very grateful for that information, because when we do partner work at Pure sometimes the teachers assume that we know how to help someone, and I didn’t before this class.
I was able (with assistance) to do every single pose Mr. Swenson walked us through, at least to some degree. During the class, my fears subsided, although they have since returned when it comes to thoughts of handstands. I really loved his class, and hey, he’s from Austin Hong Kong from time to time so I’m psyched to take another class from him whenever that opportunity presents itself.
This was on Saturday morning. I went home for awhile and relaxed and then went back for another class later that afternoon. This second class was by a woman named Ana Forrest. She is another very famous teacher, who has even invented her own form of Yoga “Forrest Yoga”. The theme of this class was “Journey to the Core”. I was intrigued by the title, since the core, i.e. chest, abs and groin, is such a basic foundation for all physical effort. And I’m obsessed with my poochie little stomach that will never be as flat as it was pre-children!
I was excited about taking a class from Ms. Forrest, but I ended up being pretty disappointed. I don’t really know if it was her, or if I was just crabby and tired. She turned out to be very commercial and self-promoting. She was one of those teachers that like students to stay in a pose for extended periods of time. I used to think that this was just part of some types of Yoga (and it is, for example Bikram) but I’ve found that if I stay in a pose too long I’m not really holding the pose correctly after a time, so I both think that the pose loses its point, and that the potential for injury becomes greater. At any rate, I came out of her class irritated and disappointed, not my usual state of mind after a Yoga class!
The best thing about the class was that she had several assistants placed throughout the room demonstrating the various poses (it was a very large class). The assistant closest to me was a young woman with an AMAZING physique. I’ve never seen anything like this girl’s abs – they were mesmerizing.
I didn’t go to the conference on Sunday, but on Monday I took a 3 class series called “Earth, Wind, Fire”. This ended up being a really interesting experience. The first class was by a teacher named David Life. He did the “Wind” class, so it ended up being about praniyama yoga, which is all about various breathing techniques. This was fun and energizing, but it was also one of those activities that bring out the best in my lack of coordination. Many praniyama exercises involve breathing in through one nostril and breathing out through another, often while doing various things with your abs and ribs, etc. I would get so physically confused sometimes all I could do is laugh at myself. The good thing was all that oxygen coursing through my veins. It was very energizing!
The second class, the “Earth” class, was probably the best class I took the entire weekend. The teacher’s name was Desiree Rumbaugh. She is a practitioner of Anusara Yoga, a type of yoga that is very grounded in physiological principles and using your body properly. It was a small class, so she was able to help each of us personally. As she walked us through various poses she wanted us to tell her if something was uncomfortable, painful or awkward. Then she would work with us to find the source of our discomfort and what adjustments we needed to make to eliminate it. I’d strained my back several weeks ago and it was still bothering me a little by the weekend of the conference. She really worked hard with me on my back problems and the things she told me to do have completely (well almost completely) eliminated my back pain. She changed how I am doing some poses and I’m finding that the things she said have carried over more into my practice this week than anything else from the conference.
She’s another one of those famous teachers that mainly travels. I would love to take classes from her again so I’m going to watch her schedule and see if that will be possible. She also had me thinking seriously about what kind of yoga studio I want to go to when (if) we return to Austin Hong Kong . I loved my little studio at the corner of the street that we lived on in Austin
The last class was the “Fire” class. This class was taught by Wade Morrissette. It turned out to be Kirtan yoga, which is chanting as meditation. This is not really my thing. I’m a terrible meditator, and I can’t sit unsupported in a cross-legged position for very long because it starts to hurt.
Mr. Morrissette has a beautiful voice – I’ve actually heard him sing a lot, because many of my teachers at Pure use his CD’s in their classes. Kirtan involves singing Sanskrit chants for the most part, but he also includes some English chanting, which is nice, since most of the time I have no idea what we’re chanting if its in Sanskrit. This sort of thing brings out my more cynical and skeptical side, but I tried to stay open to anything I might experience through this practice.
The best thing about the conference is that I came out of it feeling very excited and energized about yoga. My practice improved and my confidence increased. I feel less like an imposter than I did before last weekend.
I know this is a rather single-minded post on a subject that is probably of little interest to anyone else unless they happen to practice yoga, or are just fascinated by the workings of my little mind! But its fun to indulge myself occasionally; after all this is MY blog!
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