After a week of intensive study and practice in Croatia, I am back, with classes returning as of now! David Robson and Jelena Vesic have been inspiring to work with, and I feel more deeply connected with my roots of Ashtanga Yoga than ever before.
If any of you think my teaching style is technical/exacting, you should go work with these two! They make me look like a kitten, with their meticulous count, drishti and vinyasa. It may tickle some of you to hear that I got more than one row during our 7 days working together (forgot to take shoes off entering shala (5 times), added handstands to a section of Primary series where they aren’t found according to the Jois lineage, chanted at the same time as David and Jelena rather than call and response, and moved past Kapotasana in Intermediate series without catching my heels first)!
On top of this, David got me to do all of Primary series backed with half of Intermediate, daily, which is the yoga equivalent of a marathon. It was close to two hours of consistently intense physicality, so for those of you who attend my Ashtanga classes, no more complaining about how hard half-Primary is!
Ultimately, Charlie and I left with lots of laughter, new connections, some fragmented Croatian and many happy memories. Speaking for myself, I have reconnected with my roots in Ashtanga; my first three years of practice were nothing but, and it’s only more recently that I’ve blended in other schools of thought and approach. To work with teachers so devoted to this rigourous form of asana was an honour and a pleasure. Also, I won a Liforme mat, which was cool!
All classes are now back on!
I hope and trust you’ve been practising in my absence – if you haven’t, I’ll find out soon!
Oliver