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Feb 22, 2006

Backbend week has finished, I believe we start pranayama tomorrow. Geeta's Saturday morning ladies class was a reprise of the Wednesday morning class. I felt really good walking to the Institute Saturday morning and realized that my spine and back felt particularly supple and strong. The intensity of the previous night's class had had a wonderful effect and I was happily surprised that my thighs were neither sore nor tired. I felt as if I would be able to do whatever Geeta devised for the class with equanimity and readiness. I was glad of the repetition of the many instructions and explanations from the Wednesday class. They made a deeper impression the second time, especially when put into the context of the more vigorous backbends of the night before. 

In tonight's (Tuesday) class with Prashant we spent most of the time working on our own issues, minds and breath in dwipada viparita dandasana on the chair. Each one of us also had a turn hanging from the ropes in Sirsasana. Prashant also called us in close several times so he could explain more clearly how he wanted us to work when we went back to our chairs. He tries very hard to explain how to go past the exercise in the poses, how to use the exercise to advantage, but how to understand it with our bodies, minds and/or breath. We all have to work with our given issues, but we have to work past them too. We finished the class working on some standing back arches then Urdhva Danurasana, working again at our own pace, focusing on how we were using our breath and attempting to find a freedom in the pose.