So, the ladies took a poll Thursday night and decided that they would like to start at 08:00 instead of 07:00 this morning.  I was sure that would mean there would be a number of people show up this morning, not so!  This morning we had SegoLilly & MO (my wife and daughter from last week), JF, TG and CA.  JF had her daughter, SF, who is still an infant.  I guess she had some shots yesterday and so was very unhappy which meant the two of them left shortly after we started.  About the same time Piglet came in . . . next week’s review of asteya and not stealing time will be an interesting one.  When 08:00 rolled around CA, MO and I were the only ones in the room.  The LDS culture has a bad habit of showing up 1 to 5 minutes late and considering that to be on time and being there 5 minutes early to be unfashionably early.  My Granddad always said that you should be at least 15 minutes early to everything and if his family was not ready to leave in time to be 15 minutes early, he would just leave them behind!

Despite the lack of continuity between the two classes, I am optimistic about the future.  We’ve decided on an alternating schedule, 07:30 one week and 19:30 the next.  One of the ladies also said that she would be bringing her oldest son and husband—when he’s in town.  I also talked to a couple of the youth leaders that were there to help clean the church and at least one of them is interested in getting back into a regular practice once her arm—she broke her elbow not too long ago—has its strength back.  I know she wants to get back into a regular practice as soon as she can so I’m researching variations that will allow her to practice without overstraining in poses like adho mukha svanasana.  If you have any insight that might help in my search, I would love to hear from you!  Please drop me a comment or two!

One thing I quickly discovered today is that 1 hour is a very very short period of time.  I had planned to go through a much larger number of poses today but we managed to review only a few new ones over last week.  This is definitely going to take a good deal more planning each week.  Of course, it’s not so much about doing something new as about exposing them to a broad range of poses so that they can find those they enjoy and then build upon them.  Of coure, the first trick will be to get regular attendance and the second will be to encourage regular—at least once a week—home practice.  It should be interesting.

Note to self, LE’s daughter wants information on certifiying as an instructor.

Namasté