One of the many amazing things about Yoga Elements Studio is that there is always great yoga teachers visiting and giving workshops. This week came Marc Woolford the renowned teacher in the world of Scaravelli Yoga. What is Scaravelli Yoga? I had no clue either. But curious I was.
One of my friends joined his first session and told me,
“We did two poses in 2 and a half hours.”
“Huh? What poses?”
“Downward dog and wheel. It was great.”
Now that really got my attention! I made sure I join the next day. There were two ladies who also joined his first session. When he asked everyone for their requests, one of the ladies said, “Can we work on Urdhva Dhanurasana a little more?”
Marc in Urdhva Dhanurasana
I was amused and bemused. What magical power does he or his teaching has for someone to request to work on the same pose they had worked on for possibly an hour?
I found out.
“Through” and “Space”
The two words seemed to be the theme of the one session I went in. Marc emphasized the importance of the structure being supported under the gravitational force through the bones to the ground. All that should be done while the muscles are relatively relaxed allow space for the breaths to flow through.
Yea, I got it, too, when I first heard it. But it was only a bit later when he worked with me individually that I actually got it. Signals from him guided me along the direction he meant. For a split second, I felt like a participant in Karen Pryor’s clickertraining. Marc showed the acute sensitivity even in other people’s bodies. I cognitively learnt that he would signal ‘yes’ when I stayed in touch with the sensations in the body, and my mind naturally cleared off when I did so. The very second my mind swayed back to the critical and analytical tendencies, he would signal ‘no’.
How the heck could he be so darn accurate?
However how, it obviously worked. My experience was this:
1 I remembered to perform the shambhavi mudra– taking the peripheral vision that Adrian tirelessly preaches, and Marc once mentioned in the class saying something like “Look back”.
2 I slowly and carefully work my way toward the ‘final pose’.
3 Then my mind started to think: Am I working the muscles too hard?
4 And, I swear, the second my mind shifted, I lost it!
5 I imagined I had some sort of jedi power
6 Ready, steady, I go. Effortless in the pose. Wow, how can a pose feel this light. I don’t feel any weight. I can stay in the pose forever!
7 I thought of something like, “I’m a natural!” and that ego knocked me right over
8 Now my left shoulder is working way too hard. Gotta forget all about this again. Clear off the mind, clear off the mind.
9 One glorious second of present-ful-ness
10 Ah! This is mentally tiring. I need a break! *comes out of the pose*
I know it’s a cliche to say that a yoga pose is a meditation, but I never felt that statement true to the core of the finite details of truth before. The practice was so impressively subtle, so delicately fine, so intricately small and so powerfully present.
A cup of respect to you, Marc
