The Beginner's Pro: Priceless.
She's got the patience of a saint, the body of a gymnast and the disposition of your favorite young, hip, high school teacher.
Yoga Journal Beginners' Expert Natasha Rizopoulos explains, for the 127th time, how to properly roll over the toes from Chaturanga Dandasana into Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. Yet she explains it with the attention to detail and the enthusiasm of the first time she answered the question. And it's clear that she's into it.
"I love teaching beginners," she says.
In this morning's class, Natasha taught the building blocks of Surya Namaskar. Focusing on proper anatomical alignment, especially in the shoulders, she led her students through the sequence, pose by pose.
I had my personal breakthrough of the decade in Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. I've always struggled to get my legs up and off of my mat in the pose, and never quite understood how my classmates could make it look so easy. Thanks to Natasha, I'm now privy to that information. A simple realignment of the my hand placement further down my torso served to bring me more leverage, and stability, in UpDog. I was relieved and excited at the same time.
I wasn't the only one.
Joan Callahan, a student from San Andreas, Calif., spoke excitedly to a friend just after the class.
"I used to just fudge through Updog to Downdog, but now, I finally did it right, and it felt good!" she exclaimed.
You can read expert advice from Natasha in our Ask the Beginner's Expert section, or submit your own question to her. She's also got some great DVDs if you weren't able to make it to the conference.
Thanks Natasha.
Comments
I so completely enjoyed Natasha's backbend class. She was every bit as thorough in going through the steps to open the hips, shoulders, and back as in the beginner's class. She truely encourages questions and has a way of making you feel that anything you need to ask is OK. Using her own body to demostrate both correct and incorrect alignments, she explains not only what to do, but WHY it is important to do it correctly. Along with this, she gives the various alternatives to poses for every skill level and she smiles that lovely bright smile at everyone! A wonderful class and teacher.
Posted by: Jackie | January 17, 2006 08:02 PM
Natasha, thank you so much for the workshop at the YJC in SF. It was a humbling reminder of how hard the basics can be. Most of all, you should know you are an incredibly gifted teacher. Your clear explanations and positive attitude were such an inspiration.
Alex Sinunu, San Francisco
Posted by: Alex Sinunu | January 20, 2006 10:35 AM
Natasha's DVD was like being in a yoga class. This DVD got me wanting more, I'm planning on buying sessions 2 & 3. The best thing about her teachings are; she goes slow, talks you through each movement, when to breath, proper alignment, everything! After you've done it a few times you don't even have to look at your TV. The music calming and her voice is very soothing, she doesn't ramble on and on like some I've seen. The whole lesson flows. Another thing I liked was there are only three people in the video, Natasha and two other people, one of which is the person to watch if your brand new to any kind of Yoga, he does the modified poses. Many of the exercise, Pilates & Yoga tapes I've watched, many instructors teach assuming you know what you're doing. That can be very frustrating when starting something new for the first time. Way to go Natasha, I'd love to take a real class from you one day! Thanks, Suzanne
Posted by: Suzanne Reeves | June 28, 2006 08:05 PM