We were all encouraged to choose workshop topics that would be a stretch, back at the beginning of the 500 hour teacher training in March. I was immediately drawn to the idea of leading a hip opener workshop, recognizing fully that this was not much of a stretch for me. I love working in the hips, I am fascinated by the drives associated with the second chakra, and one of my favorite, transformational experiences in the physical practice was a hip opener workshop I attended in 2007. Heck, I even love orange, the color associated with the hips in the chakra system. (I’m wearing orange pants as I write this.)
That said, this workshop has been on my mind in some form for five months, and other than knowing I want to tie in the theme of creativity, I have been absolutely stuck on how to do that, and kind of overwhelmed by the anatomical portion. Turns out, this IS a stretch.
But, a funny thing happened on the way to the workshop…
Following our training weekend in July, I started teaching hip-intensive classes, LOTS of hip intensive classes. I teach five classes a week, and in all five, I included more hip-opening warm-ups, and greater focus on the movement in the hips throughout the practice.
After two weeks of teaching hip-intensive classes, I had spontaneously started a Tai Chi class and finished two short stories on which I had been blocked for months. After four weeks of teaching hip-intensive classes, not only are those stories are done and Tai Chi moving along swimmingly, WordFrolic is up and running and I have the wheels in motion for another class I want to teach in the Fall, AND I had a big breakthrough in my significant domestic relationship. And! And! And! So much more on the horizon.
I also have an outline for my workshop.
Hips make things happen, yo. The workshop is Sunday, September 26 at noon, Charm City Yoga Midtown. Be there or be… dealing with tight hips and their associated manifestations.
*Full disclosure: While it makes a nice title for this post, this song makes me cringe. A lot. I am twitching just thinking about that woman’s voice.
“AND I had a big breakthrough in my significant domestic relationship.”
Were you and Jamie having problems?
You know, she can be such a bitch sometimes, but I have to accept her for who she is.
All that aside, she is still my one true love.