Rajashree seminar - what a treat!!!

Today, I spent 8 hours with Rajashree. What an incredible person and what an incredible day. The seminar started at 9:00 am. I arrived at the studio at 8:20 thinking that I would be one of the first ones. When I open the door, there were only few spots left. There was one in front of the little “stage” so I took it. Sitting in front of me was Joseph Encinia (national champion) and to my left a guy called George who just finished teacher training in Las Vegas. He is going to be teaching at LV Red Rock. Michelle, if you are reading this, I mentioned to him that I knew you (well virtually :) and he smiled and said "ohh yeah, Michelle. She works with us.[Do you work at Dray’s now?] Hey come to our studios one day". Then he gave me his business card with some free class offer. Not bad. I guess I am all set for next year when I go to LV ;) BTW, George came all the way to San Diego with Lisa, another teacher from LV Green Valley, who later on asked him to sit by her side so he eventually moved.

The seminar started with 1 hour lecture. Rajashree went over some familiar concepts (the real meaning of "yoga", the connection between the mind and the body and how we are all part of the universe) and some new concepts too. She mentioned something about our backs and how they are divided into two by the spine. The right part representing the sun (ha) and the left part representing the moon (tha). The sun representing the masculine and the moon representing the feminine and receptive. All going back to hatha yoga. Very interesting concepts that I’ll definitely love to learn more about.

After the lecture, we had a 90 minute class. What a treat!! Practicing next to Joseph is so inspiring. He is a pretzel! The class with Rajashree was just amazing. She is sweet and tough. My goal for this class was to stay in the room fully focused & concentrated, giving it 100%. Mission accomplished!! This is the biggest class I’ve ever taken. Not sure how many students were there. Someone said 65. I got kicked in the head a couple of time, unintentionally of course. But it didn’t really bother me at all. On the contrary, it was very VERY nice. Not to be kicked but to be with so many people, hahaha. Rajashree gave us the best meditation during final savasana. As soon as she was done, I ran to the showers as well as 2 other students. I knew it was going to be crazy there. I took a really quick one, changed my clothes and had some free lunch at the studio. They had sandwiches, fruits, pita & humus, salads, Vitamin Water, Zicos, etc.. It was pretty good.

Right after lunch, we headed back to the room for posture clinic. The room was cold now. Rajashree asked Joseph to go over each one of the poses and to show us the right and wrong way to do things. It was very inspiring. He is a very funny guy and likes to make faces while doing the wrong things on purpose. Rajashree also provided us with a list of medical benefits for each pose. Wow, talking about information overload!!!

After posture clinic, Rajashree asked everyone "do you want to have another class?" Ten people (including me) replied "YES". Of course, we thought she was joking. "OK. Stand up" she said. You must be kidding. We did the standing series all over again but in the cold room. This time we did everything faster. Now, we didn't see this coming. I am glad I put some stretchy pants after showering. Some people were wearing street clothes. After second round, we had some time for questions and answers and we went around introducing ourselves (name, how long we have been doing yoga, what BY means to us, etc...) Some people had very interesting stories. Some were a living proof of the medical benefits of this practice. We finished the seminar with a half hour meditation and smiley faces. I took a good picture with Rajashree and also Joseph. Happy about it!! This is what I call a Perfect Saturday