I taught my first yoga class at Prana Shakti today. Gabriela and James had to go to Rivas so she asked if I would do it. Simple as that. She’s never seen me teach but we both studied at Integral Yoga and she’s seen me practice so it’s nice that translates into implicit trust. Prana Shakti is her little yoga studio on Popoyo Beach. Sometimes Gabriela teaches at the hotels or with private clients nearby but Prana Shakti has a set schedule that she advertises on Facebook and on paper flyers taped up around the town. The studio is but a wooden shack on stilts. There is a little brick room below with a small kitchen and bathroom but when she lived here she lived in the room above. That’s where the deck is and the wide window that opens up to views of ocean blue and breeze. It is like doing yoga on the beach but without the sand.
To get to the studio Natalie and I decide to take the kayake down river to the beach then walk. We could bike but the kayake would get us there much faster. It’s not the first time we’ve kayaked together and while the two of us in one kayake is a tight fit we manage to make it work. I squeeze in first (engaging my moolah bandah to ease down without capsizing - by now an inside joke), then Natalie squeezes down in front of me. She paddles, manuevering the kayake expertly down the optimal path miraculously emblazoned on her brain. When the tide is lower finding the best path becomes tricky and I pitch in paddling against the river bed with my hands. Still, using the kayake is as nice a commute as any with fish jumping all around, beautiful birds flying and hunting, and lots of laughs.
The class itself is small - as classes on a surfer beach in a small rural Nicaraguan town are wont to be. It is just me, Natalie and Kai, our surfer friend who lives down the road four months out of the year when he’s not running his business in San Diego. This is only his second class but he seems committed. It is another hot hot morning in Popoyo and by the second sun salutation we are all dripping sweat on our mats. Natalie notes it is like doing Bikram. Every once in a while a breeze swoops in to cool us off, but not enough. I do an especially long sivasana at the end and skip kapalabati.
On our way back after class Natalie and I jump into the ocean. The waves and undertow are always a little daunting but the water is always perfect - just the right combination of sun-drenched warm and Pacific refreshing. We dry off as we walk down the beach back to the kayake, picking up interesting shells as we go. It is about 11 am on a Friday morning, another good day in Popoyo.
To get to the studio Natalie and I decide to take the kayake down river to the beach then walk. We could bike but the kayake would get us there much faster. It’s not the first time we’ve kayaked together and while the two of us in one kayake is a tight fit we manage to make it work. I squeeze in first (engaging my moolah bandah to ease down without capsizing - by now an inside joke), then Natalie squeezes down in front of me. She paddles, manuevering the kayake expertly down the optimal path miraculously emblazoned on her brain. When the tide is lower finding the best path becomes tricky and I pitch in paddling against the river bed with my hands. Still, using the kayake is as nice a commute as any with fish jumping all around, beautiful birds flying and hunting, and lots of laughs.
The class itself is small - as classes on a surfer beach in a small rural Nicaraguan town are wont to be. It is just me, Natalie and Kai, our surfer friend who lives down the road four months out of the year when he’s not running his business in San Diego. This is only his second class but he seems committed. It is another hot hot morning in Popoyo and by the second sun salutation we are all dripping sweat on our mats. Natalie notes it is like doing Bikram. Every once in a while a breeze swoops in to cool us off, but not enough. I do an especially long sivasana at the end and skip kapalabati.
On our way back after class Natalie and I jump into the ocean. The waves and undertow are always a little daunting but the water is always perfect - just the right combination of sun-drenched warm and Pacific refreshing. We dry off as we walk down the beach back to the kayake, picking up interesting shells as we go. It is about 11 am on a Friday morning, another good day in Popoyo.
1 comment:
Oh, how I'd like to be there doing your class. And I can attest, you should be doing the teaching - you managed to get a (almost former!) anti-yoga-ite interested and excited. Was it awesome!?
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