Les and his second sides

Ok so I was late, but just a little and surely for the first class of the day and with six venues to choose from there would still be space for one more mat? But barely, Les Levanthal had packed out the 8am class and I just managed to fit on the patio much to the amusement of the sound guy who now had a determined yogi to negotiate his way around.

Les’s workshop was a Hips and Twist extravaganza. The extravaganza was that he took us through every twist known to yoga plus more. I found my self binding in squatting, someone coming up to standing, taking a twisted chair, moving into bird of paradise – on both sides and then coming to the peak poses (of which there were several) including what Les described as ‘Road Kill’ representing a foot behind the head hip opener to die for.

Meanwhile, echoes of Rod Stewart and Michael Franti managed to get the balancing, twisting, wincing yogis to murmur along as Les reminded us that thankfully we weren’t highly evolved seven sided creatures as otherwise we would have six more sides to twist, not just one more.

Maybe the most effective verbal queues which Les shared was simply reminding us that even if we weren’t loving each pose, perhaps are neighbor was and that was a good enough reason to celebrate it. Moreover, even if we were loving the pose, perhaps our neighbor wasn’t; reminding us that through every day of our life suffering and compassion continue regardless of our personal experiences.

I left the class high on life and despite the hard core flow, full of energy to dance my way through the rest of the day.

Tomorrow Les will be teaching the “Art of Backbends” 1.30 – 3pm in the Yoga Barn Pavilion. I intend to arrive adequately early to ensure that I leave the sound technician enough room to do his job.

Photo courtesy of Ulrike Rienhold.

Written by : Administrator