yoga on the road: middle ground

As I mentioned last week, driving back to the Midwest was quite interesting. It felt good to be in familiar territory. Even the little things, like eating at Panera felt kinda funny. All these things that used to be part of my daily life, were suddenly popping up all around me. I think I liked it, though.

So, it says "Chicago" on our tour schedule, but our event was actually in Lisle. Usually, we try and stay close to where our event is, so in this case, that meant Naperville, IL. We had to go set up for our event, just a few hours after we arrived at the hotel. Set up is not too bad, but after driving 2,000+ miles in the past 3 days, we were all exhausted. I went to bed super early that night, because the event started on Thursday. On Friday, my good buddy Jaime came in town and worked with me all day at the event. It was cool to have her around because it was like having one of your best friends on tour. How great would that be?! I taught her my "carnie" ways. Not to my surprise, she was a natural :)

I was happy Jaime came to visit. It was soooooooooo good to see her. When I am back home (living my regular life) Jaime and I are together non-stop. We hang out all the time - playing, laughing, singing, dancing...and more laughing. Needless to say, we have a blast together. The great thing about good friends is that it doesn't matter how much time passes, you always pick up right where you left off. Jaime and I did just that... and we managed to stir up a little trouble, while we were at it ;)

Friday was Independence Day, so we decided to go downtown Naperville to catch some fireworks. The town was much more happenin' than we expected. The streets were full of people and the restaurants and bars were packed. Partly because it was a holiday, I would imagine, and partly because Naperville was a fun town. The downtown was fairly small, but what is there, is worthwhile.

On Saturday, Jaime was my demo girl. I got to teach without doing every pose, like i usually would back home. When you are working with pre-beginners, they need to see what the poses look like to understand. When teaching at a studio, at least one or two students usually know what's going on - so new students can look around and see what to do. This also allows me to spend more time focusing on each student and giving more personal attention, when needed. It was really cool to see this work at an event. At the start of each class, I introduced Jaime and told people if they feel lost or confused, to look at her for guidance on each pose. I have worked with Jaime for a long time, so I knew I could direct her with words alone. Ideally, everyone would get in and out of each pose without looking to someone else for a demo, but for some folks that is a hard task to achieve the first few classes. It was fun to have my yoga "protege" there with me. I wish Jaime could come on the road with us as our demo girl :)

Teaching in Lisle was fun. There were a lot of teens that came my way, throughout the weekend. I think yoga is great for young girls that age. It helps boost confidence and builds up strength. Plus, its something they can do anywhere, at any time. That is a good thing, considering teens don't seem to be as active as they should, these days. I had a group of girls that came to class at least twice a day, all four days of the event. By the end of the weekend, they knew a few fun poses, a little bit of Sanskrit and where yoga came from. It was very cool to see them grow over just four days! They claim they are going to start a yoga club in their neighborhood. I gave them all Kashi yoga mats to get their club going. more power to them! I hope they do start that club.

Sunday was an exciting day... I planned to come home for a last minute family visit. From the second I woke up, I was anxious to get home! Since we will be in the Midwest two weekends in a row, I planned to come home Sunday and leave in time to drive to Indianapolis for the next event. It's been 3 months since I have been home to see my family. I missed them and just felt it was time to stop in and say hello. More to come next week on my time back home... stay tuned.