A rainy Tuesday in Manchester - a day I have waited for since May when I booked myself on the Ashtanga workshop in Manchester with Kino MacGregor. It seemed like fate that she should come and run a workshop 10 minutes away from my home!
My first knowledge of Kino was when I embarked on my Ashtanga practice about 3 years ago - having practiced Hatha Yoga since being a child and consequently training as a Hatha Yoga teacher I gravitated towards Ashtanga as a way of challenging my self practice. I bought the Kino DVD and also did a course to learn the history of this particular discipline.
I realised that what I really needed to do was to get to a regular Ashtanga class but with teaching Hatha yoga and being a full time Mum - there just wasn't the time, so self practice was my best option at this point in my life.
My self practice was very sporadic but I made some progress and complimented the Ashtanga style with regular Hatha practice and also further study and work on my meditation as well as my own teaching.
So yesterday came the day of the workshop, during the lead up, I had many self doubts about whether the workshop was really for someone like me......in one of my classes I teach chair yoga to seniors, my other classes are a gentle, slow approach to yoga, but Ashtanga a very strong practice! I have attended a few Ashtanga classes, but was I deluding myself that I could fit in with the Ashtanga yoga crowd?
The Hindu temple in Whalley Range is a lovely building, I immediately felt relaxed as I entered, I noticed many people had come to the workshop in groups, but I was attending alone.....however there were lots of smiles and I felt the buzz of how excited people were to be attending the class. I suspect most of the people there were like me and had watched Kino many times on her You Tube channel to learn new techniques and deepen their practice further. For some people who find it difficult to get to classes this is a good resource, but it is so important to try to get to classes and workshops whenever you can to experience the energy and challenge of a live class and have an experienced Ashtanga yoga teacher to guide you.
The workshop was geared towards strength, an area that I really need to work on in my practice, so was perfect for me. I have reasonable flexibility and part of me (probably my ego) missed doing some deep hip opening work, but that is not the area that needs quite as much attention (I need to work on some 'non-attachment' to those hip openers too!!)
Kino was as lively, charismatic and informative as I expected her to be and I have never known 3 hours pass so quickly. It has really encouraged me that Ashtanga yoga IS for me - even though I am 40 years old and struggle to maintain a consistent Ashtanga practice. It has inspired me not to just concentrate on the postures and the aspects of the discipline I CAN do but to work more on the areas I am lacking - like strength and technique.
On reflection I think booking myself on the workshop was me testing myself, if I felt out of my depth, like a square peg in a round hole - then perhaps Ashtanga yoga was not for me. But as tough and challenging as it was, I have learned I am more capable than I thought and I feel that I do not have to wake up at dawn everyday and do the full primary series, it is entirely appropriate for me to break the practice down to work certain areas and just fit the practice into my busy life as best I can, to work towards being the best person that I can be.......
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