Thursday, April 10, 2008

organic energy

Here's an exchange between me and my friend during teacher training a couple of weeks ago as we were setting up our mats for practice.

E: I just took the hardest Anusara class of my life this morning. I'm exhausted. I was dripping in sweat.
Me: What? You got to sweat in Anusara? Seriously? Who's class?
E: Chris Chavez.
Me: Who?
E: Chris Chavez.
Me: Where's he teach? You sweated? I totally want to go.
E: Out of his house. But it's by recommendation only.
Me: Well recommend me for chrissakes.
E: Ummm....
Me (grabbing him by the t-shirt collar): Ez, I'm serious. You HAVE to recommend me.
E (scared): Okay. Yeah. Sure.

I googled this Chris Chavez guy from my Blackberry during our lunch break.

Fast forward about a week. No word of recommendation or invite or anything closely resembling me getting the best of both worlds: Anusara AND a sweat. You see, I miss the heat. I miss leaving classes feeling wrung out and drenched and having to take a shower afterwards. I love this Anusara practice, and I just wish that we didn't have to always open the windows the second it gets above 70. And the fact that there's a list? This is the kinda stuff I lose sleep over.

I wasn't letting E off the hook so easy.

Me: Well?
E: Huh?
Me: The recommendation?! Did you recommend me?
E: Oh sorry, I forgot.
Me: What?! Can I just email him?
E: I think you have to be recommended.
Me: Really? (Despair.) Well, umm, should I send you a reminder?
E: Uh yeah, sure.

I texted, voicemailed, emailed him an Outlook task, and wrote on his arm. Or something like that.

By Tuesday, I still hadn't heard anything so I was forced to take matters into my own hands. I went back out to the website, looked for the contact information and sent my plea. Chris responded immediately. He'd see me in class and even asked what I'd like to work on.

What?! What happened to the "recommendation"? To the exclusivity? To the secret handshake?

Fine. I'll take it. He sounded incredibly approachable, which for a normal person would be a good thing.

So I went. Last night. He teaches out of his house in a simple, bare room and made jokes about people wanting the windows open. I got my sweat. I got my really great practice. Knowing that I'm in a teacher training, he even talked to me about how to theme a class. And I'm still sore. I felt really weak in a good way. In our email chain I had told him I wanted to learn piking into handstand, and floating into uttanasana from down dog. We went over it again and again and again. Feels like I'm miles away but Chris is the kind of giving, inspiring teacher that makes you believe it's right at your fingertips. I'll be back.

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