nominated for best prop in a supporting role

after the prior day's successful completion of all 108 sun salutations, i awoke early sunday morning with very sore shoulders (which warned me that i had some chaturanga/upward dog form corrections to work on, but that's beside the point). everything else, though, was fine. i thought about my plan to take hillary rubin's inversion workshop at city yoga later that afternoon. even if my neck, which had bothered me two days earlier, was finally pain-free, it was now my shoulders that were bothering me. i could drag myself out of bed, get dressed, drive across town, and hope for the best. but then again, it didn't make sense for me to pay good money for a workshop if i ended up spending most of the time resting because it hurt to hold myself upside down. sigh... and i SO wanted to learn how to do a handstand on my own. but it would have to wait until the next time.

i considered my other yoga class options for the day. given my somewhat weakened state, early morning "warrior" classes with matt, light, and vinnie were out of the question. i could take will's workshop/class, but with my luck, he probably had plans to focus on shoulders. argh. what to do?

frustrated, i rolled over and went back to sleep.

an hour later, i woke up and realized that rochelle robertson was scheduled to start teaching a restorative class at yoga desa later that evening.

(a little background history here: after meeting rochelle at the SYTAR conference last january, i had wanted to try out her class at jiva yoga in the palisades but had missed out because i waited too long; right around the time yoga works took over, rochelle stopped teaching there. it was only until she landed this time slot at yoga desa in malibu that i would finally get my chance again.)

with that decision resolved, i happily rolled over again and went back to sleep...

... until i realized that rochelle's class was scheduled to be held at the same time as the academy awards telecast, which i had planned to watch. now what?

long story short: i ended up recording the show while i attended rochelle's class. and i'm glad i did.

as i sailed up PCH and topanga canyon on my way to yoga desa, it became clear to me how many people weren't on the road that evening. after all, most of the residents of malibu were probably at some oscars-viewing party. or even more likely, at the awards ceremony itself, all the way out in hollywood. my calm and stress-free drive was just a taste of things to come.

there were only a handful of us who showed up for rochelle's class. it's hard to say if the class attendance was low because it coincided with the oscars, or because word hadn't gotten around yet about her new class. either way, it was all good as far as i was concerned; it just meant that we all would receive more personalized attention.

if you've ever taken a restorative yoga class, you'll know that it's highly prop-dependent. before rochelle came on board, yoga desa had on hand the usual blankets, blocks, and straps which are used in the more physical yoga classes already being taught at the studio. but they didn't have the bolsters, which are key to most restorative poses. luckily, she was able to get the studio to order those requisite props so that they would be received in time for her first class.

to celebrate the new acquisition, almost all our poses made use of those brand-new bolsters. though still needing some breaking in, the large overstuffed cushions comfortably supported our hips, abdomens, and backs as we eased into side twists, backbends, forward bends, hip openers, and an easy legs up the wall inversion.

and while our bodies rested and healed themselves in the various static poses, rochelle went from student to student, helping each of us stretch and relax even more. at the end of the class, while we lay in our final restorative pose, she beautifully chanted the gayatri mantra over and over again, lulling us all into a state of blissful relaxation.

by the time i got home that night, i found out that, with the exception of little miss sunshine and an inconvenient truth, i really hadn't watched most of the award-winning movies. strangely enough, though, i felt compelled to pick up a copy of the departed at the local blockbuster earlier that morning while i did my errands.

so was it a mere coincidence that i just happened to rent the movie that would win the most awards? or could it be that all this yogic restoration is opening up my mind and making me more psychic? don't i wish!