Diann ♥

I was in upward facing dog, I could feel the back of my deltoids actually burning, sweat was forming on my brow, and it was less than five minutes in, only the second pose of class! This is yoga with Diann, and so many of us love her for it! At long last, I can compose my first dedicated post to one of my "fave of all time" yoga instructors...

I've been practicing yoga all summer long, countless upward facing dogs have been performed, and not once have my muscles burned. I attend class with quite a few talented, challenging teachers...and they're all gifted, but not like Diann! So if a second-pose-up-dog is making my shoulders burn (totally in a good way, readers - I've blogged before about the need to not feel pain in yoga - this burn was warmth. I was arriving. I was building necessary warmth for the practice to come)...you must want to know what the first pose was.

Chaturanga! We held it for a loooooooooong time, too. Supported on blocks, of course, but the reason for this was for Diann to guide us into picture-perfect alignment. Then we visited the pose 3 more times within the practice (with and without blocks), to progress in the pose. Many of my "usual" instructors guide us and demonstrate perfect alignment and sometimes walk around and make subtle adjustments, but with Diann, she will talk you through the subtle adjustments until your muscles and bones are in the proper places, help you make those adjustments and not stop until she's satisfied that everyone is mastering the pose for their practice. Yes, there's luxury to do this in a small class, but I recall this about her guiding instruction when I was often a student in a 4o+ person class "way back when", when she taught at my gym, and of course, this is what got me "hooked".

So, Diann and the gym have parted ways - in fact, when it happened about a year ago, I just couldn't believe it! - and practicing with her now is a luxury in so many ways! She kicked my butt, and I don't think she'd mind me saying so, but I never leave class defeated. I feel I've grown, I've "tweaked" a pose or two, and I have an idea where my practice is going to take me next (if not physically, then definitely metaphorically). It's a great luxury to leave a practice this way. It's a great luxury to fit it into my weekend (practice is 70-75 minutes, and I don't always know if I have that long to practice or babysitting covered). It's a great luxury to be enriched by her vast knowledge of poses, yogic history, and wholistic philosophy. She's never preachy, but shares an outlook that makes you appreciate a lot of things you weren't even thinking about before. I've taken away a lot of how I feel about yoga from practicing with Diann - my love of the grace in each pose, my tendency to do a pose with intention, and the knowledge that this is a journey - just as I've "arrived" in one place I'm able to see where I'm going next!

Thanks, Diann, for a super practice today, and hopefully, I'll see you again before the next change of season ;) Familiar words to end a practice (or a blog entry):

Honoring the light above me, honoring the light below me, honoring the light on my right, honoring the light on my left, honoring the light within me, allows me to honor the light within each and every one of you.