Evolution - DAY ONE

0710 hrs -

Arrived at the Convention Centre after just 20 mins walking from Star Street, where I am staying. Registration was pretty easy and straight-forward. Could do better with the badge, it think, instead of just a printed plain white sheet of your time-table. After all it WOULD be a souvenir people want as a memorabilia. Even YogaZone did a much better one!

I took some time to get familiar with the layout of the conference, see where my classes are located so that I won't waste time looking for them after one another. I did have back to back classes today. Silly.

0800 to 1100 hrs - Yoga Anatomy for Teachers (Continued Education for Teachers) PT1

First class started on time. Martin Kirk went around to introduce himself personally, which I thought was a humble thing to do. His energy was nice. Always smiling and speaking with so much passion and dedication. Finding out only recently that Martin is an Anusara Teacher, made that my first Anusara workshop - something that I would NOT have chosen due to its conflicting techniques to my more familiar Ashtanga but I thought, what a heck, why not? The information that was divulged to us that first part was incredibly insightful as I learned the evolution of life from its inception form of a single cell DNA to what we are today! The part that I still dont appreciate is even after 20 mins, there were still people coming in!! What a distraction!! I am also NOT keen in finding a partner to work with but this IS an anatomy class and some parts we do have to feel it on others. And the horrible horrible spiritual ego that thrived in that class was making me sick. What with people unnecessarily coming into some contorting stretches with a face expression of a prima ballerina. Geez, GET OVER IT DARLING.... YOu'RE BLOCKING MY VIEW! Nonetheless, I enjoyed the class cos Martin covered my most favorite muscle - the Illiopsoas and he also came up with some kewl moves that would certainly help me with my Ashtanga practice, which was coming up next.

1130 to 1330 hrs - Universal Principles of Asana & Vinyasa

After a quick bite of a danish pastry, I went in for my second workshop. I have been looking forward for this as Paul Dallaghan stand as an authority of the Ashtanga Vinyasa system. And true enough, his teaching made sense of the system, teaching us how to direct our attention to the right issue. He touched on Udiyyana bandha, the part that is often neglected and boy did I go further, jumped higher and felt ever lighter!! Woo Hoo!! Paul was also a funny man showing if it looked cooler for those who always thought tucking the elbows in the ribcage for Chaturanga was absolutely necessary. HAH! there you go! A lot of old techniques were challenged by newly thought-out ones. It was amazing, true evolution of the yoga practice and vinyasa system. Although I know the ego in this class would be even more horrible but I didn't allow myself to get effected by not bothering to check out the others. HAHA!! ANd in the end, I learned more and absorbed more.!!

1400 to 1700 hrs - Yoga Anatomy for Teachers (CET) - PT2

The second part, we covered shoulders and knees but hardly absorbing as it was rushed through. At one point I fell asleep cos Martin spent too much time story telling and the point when he raved about how Anusara being bio-mechanically correct as opposed to other practices, I lose interest. As the workshop was drawing to a close, I got so restless and wanted to leave for my next class, telling myself - STICK TO ASHTANGA!!! Oh well, I gave anusara a try but it got egoistical on me. However, don't get me wrong, I did learn new things that were helpful, so i took whats necessary and dunk the rest.

1730 to 1930 hrs - Thai Yoga Massage

My last class today was almost missed cos I was feeling hungry and tired. But then, I thought, having a massage on an empty belly and feeling tired was perfect! I was initially skeptical about the teacher because her credentials didn't really impressed me. However, like all the classes, I went for the fun sake of it. Martina Lee not only had a nature of a true Yogi, she also made me feel at ease for being without a partner. I did eventually found a partner and a very good one at it, a Pure Yoga staff, Aida. She was very willing, skillful and receptive to information and feedback. A few times I fell asleep at her hands and if it wasn't for a really bad odor from this eastern european man next to us, I would be dreaming. Nonetheless, Martina's simple to follow sequence and technique has just put another skill under my massage belt.

2000 hrs -

Hurrah!!! What a day full of insights and incredibly amazing new information. I walked my way home with a big smile thinking and thanking my sponsors without whom all this evolution in yoga would not have evolved in me. (Eating his Napolitana pizza)......

Namaste,

A