Practice weekend...

This past weekend I had the lovely and very lucky experience of being able to practice with my teacher, Todd Norian, in Columbia SC. It was a weekend workshop, not any sort of training, and it was fabulous.

After all the immersion and teacher training work, to just be in the same room with Todd as he led us deep into Hanumanasana and Trivikramasana and into literally jumping around the room as monkeys was a huge gift. Plus, no matter that he is in some pain right now, he is the model of teacher I want to be. A person of service through and through. He took extra time to give me some therapeutics to keep working on undoing the imbalances of life and motherhood. He is masterful at spinning Tantric philosophy but also at infusing it with good common sense and with affirmations towards attracting the life you want, brilliant really. And, he's funny. I'd forgotten what a jokester he can be. I think it's his personal traveling joke to see how many words he can get to rhyme in each of his instructions. It's always entertaining to workshop with him.

So here are some of the gems from the practice this weekend. Some are Tantrik philosophy, some are affirmations, and some are just Todd being Todd:

• Don't wait for perfection to follow your heart
• Our greatness is not measured by our achievements -- more by how well we follow our hearts
• Yoga brings on soreness -- and is also the remedy for soreness
• We can't ever get rid of fear, but don't let it stop you from fulfilling your life -- take your fear with you
• Love is always stronger than fear
• Courage is a facility we all have to be able to follow our hearts from the known into the unknown again and again.
• The only way to the impossible is through the possible
• To get to the impossible focus on what you CAN do and go only one step at a time
• A setback is a set up for a comeback (one of my favorites he always says)

This one was new to me... and one that I've been paying close attention to in my life as of late:

• Let your afterwards be your teacher -- as in, after you do something, reflect on it to decide if you want to do that again (his example was drinking a full bottle of wine the night before a workshop... hmmm... maybe not so optimal)

Anyway... a year's worth of wisdom spilled out in 10 hours of yoga. 12 hours in the car to be there was totally worth it and allowed plenty of time for thought and reflection. I'm totally grateful.

You may hear one or two of these little gems popping out in the next few weeks of practice if you're close enough to take class.

Which one stands out to you today??